Chapter 759

The University of Berlin had become the cradle of German nationalism since the defeat of the Prussian War. All kinds of radical ideas emerged.

Because of the defeat in the war, the Kingdom of Prussia was burdened with huge debts. In order to pay off the huge debts, the Government of Prussia was overwhelmed and had no money to develop the economy.

The people's lives were stressful and their dissatisfaction with society was high, which naturally intensified the spread of ideas.

After joining the German Confederation and receiving economic assistance from the central government, Prussia's domestic economy took a slight turn for the better.

However, all of this was over. With the signing of the coal export treaty with France, the era of the German Confederation relying on high-priced coal to make huge profits ended, and the central government's revenue was greatly reduced.

Without this revenue, the states were unwilling to pay taxes to the central government. The central government itself was in a situation where it could not make ends meet and naturally could not help the Kingdom of Prussia.

In this context, other than the coal-rich Rhineland region, the most intense reaction was from the Kingdom of Prussia.

From the beginning, the Government of Prussia firmly resisted the negotiations with France, but their words carried little weight in the Confederation.

To be able to enter the Empire's parliament, it was the result of many years of diplomatic efforts. They had no decision-making power at all.

The Government of Berlin could only accept it passively. The government accepted the reality, but the people couldn't help it.

Like all the regions of the German Confederation, anti-French demonstrations of different sizes broke out.

At the University of Berlin, a group of young students were discussing enthusiastically. It was obvious that they were planning an action to resist the French.

…

A young student walked to the podium, "Dear students, the demonstrations now are useless. The French can't see it at all, and the weak government doesn't dare to fight against the French.

If we want to change all of this, we must take more active measures to let the damn French know that we are not easy to bully. "

The anti-French demonstrations were effective. The domestic newspapers and magazines stopped publishing entertainment news and supported the patriotic movement organized by the students.

Workers, the middle class, capitalists, and even government officials joined in the demonstrations.

The monarchs of some small countries also came out to join in the fun and appeared in the crowd of demonstrators.

The influence was enough, but the effect was not good. The French didn't choose to compromise, and the German Confederation government didn't dare to tear up the treaty.

"Fritz, what do you mean by more active action?

Is it to besiege the French embassy?

It's useless. The corrupt central government has already sent troops to block the embassy area. We can't even get in!

Petitioning the government is even more useless.

The Berlin government has always opposed compromise with the French. In fact, all the states except Hanover do not support compromise with the French. "

As a state government, of course, they would oppose this kind of scolding.

Apart from the central government of Hanover, who had to go up if they couldn't avoid it, everyone else stayed as far away as they could.

From the fact that the Imperial Parliament did not reject the treaty, it was clear that the compromise was the common will of many states. It was just that the Hanoverian family had to take the blame.

Even William II, who had just ascended to the throne, issued a letter of condemnation, scolding both the French and the central government.

In any case, under the German Federation's system, the central government couldn't do anything to the sovereign, so it didn't matter if they scolded him.

Prussia was willing to cooperate with the central government in order to receive economic aid. This was also the condition for Prussia to agree to form the Bicameral Empire with Hanover.

Now that the promised assistance was gone, William II did not fall out with them. He only scolded them a little, which was already very nice of him.

Fritz shook his head. "Of course not. The central government is too weak. Hanover colluded with Britain and France to betray the interests of the Empire. This can't be solved by petitioning.

The best way to change the current situation is to let the French see our determination and force them to compromise.

Although we called on the people to refuse to buy French goods, it's not enough. If we want the French to compromise, we need to do more.

I've calculated that the total annual import and export trade between the German Confederation and France is about 67 million DER.

Coal exports account for a quarter of that. The French want cheap coal, so we'll make it so that they can't buy any.

The coal exported by Britain is not enough for the French. As long as we can cut off trade between the two countries, we won't have to worry about the French not compromising. "

This was a fact. Once the German Confederation stopped exporting coal to France, the French wouldn't be able to find enough replacements in a short period of time.

The main coal producing countries in Europe were Britain, Germany, Russia, and Austria. Russia's coal was sold at a sky-high price, and Austria's coal was rarely exported.

Although the British exported a lot of coal, the sudden increase in the market couldn't be made up in a day or two.

An enlarged version of France consumed an astronomical amount of coal every day. Once there was a shortage of coal, the French economy would immediately face problems.

However, it wasn't just the French economy that would suffer. The German Confederation wouldn't fare well either.

If the trade between the two countries was cut off, the German Confederation would also suffer heavy losses. Countless enterprises would go bankrupt, and millions of people might lose their jobs.

Hearing this crazy plan, the rational Hans exclaimed, "Fritz, your plan is too crazy. The French will go crazy if we do this! "

Losses and whatnot were minor problems for the nationalists.

After all, most of those who could enter university were from well-off families and hadn't been beaten by society. They didn't know how heavy the economic losses would be. The focus was still on the French's reaction.

Don't be fooled by their loud slogans, saying that they were not afraid of the French. If the French really attacked, everyone would still panic.

Fritz sneered, "If we want to defend our country's sovereignty, how can we not take risks?

Even if the French really attacked, what can they do?

His Majesty Franz has already publicly promised to protect our safety. Everyone knows his reputation.

With the combined strength of all the countries in the German Region, we are not afraid of the French. In fact, we are even stronger.

What we are afraid of now is the corrupt central government. They are worried that the outbreak of war will lead to the unification of the German Region and they will lose their power. "

Looking at the emotional crowd, Hans fell into self-doubt. It seemed that the outbreak of war wasn't that scary.

Although the French were strong, the German Confederation and Austria weren't weak either. No one knew the difference in the combat power of the two armies before the war started.

But on a fundamental level, Germany and Austria looked good together. The population was twice that of France, the economic output was 2.7 times that of France, and the heavy industry was four times that of France …

In fact, the German Confederation's steel production was the same as France's, and the steel production was even higher than France's.

Putting aside other factors, just looking at the data alone, no one could find any reason to be afraid.

Even if the French army's combat power was off the charts, everyone could just pile up the numbers. The war between Prussia and Russia had proven that as long as there were enough numbers, no matter how high the quality was, it would still be buried.

From the beginning to the end, the opinion of Franz was represented by everyone. They tacitly agreed that he would fight for the unification of the German Region.

…

Cutting off the trade between the two countries was easier said than done. At least, the students from the University of Berlin didn't have the ability to do it.

A vigorous movement started from Prussia to the entire German Region.

Once the number of people involved increased, it could no longer be kept a secret. The news of the students' collaboration soon appeared on the table of the leaders of the various states.

After receiving the news, William II, who was at the source of the storm, was dumbfounded. Trouble was coming.

It wasn't easy to make a choice. The students dared to take the gamble, but it didn't mean that the rulers dared to bet everything on it.

After personally experiencing the defeat of the war between Prussia and Russia, William II didn't have the arrogance of the original ruler. The current Kingdom of Prussia wasn't the powerful Second Reich.

It was naturally the best choice to force the French to compromise without the outbreak of war.

But what if the situation went out of control?

Once war broke out, as a member of the German Confederation, the Kingdom of Prussia wouldn't be able to stand alone.

If they lost the war, the Hohenzollern dynasty, which was already unstable, would be destroyed. Even if they won the war, it would just be a wedding dress for someone else.

If it wasn't for the fact that Austria wasn't ready for war, William II would have suspected that this was a conspiracy by the House of Habsburg.

Of course, William II had another option, which was to immediately stop the students from collaborating to prevent the outbreak of a national anti-French movement.

However, it would affect the prestige of the monarch. It might even be seen by nationalists as a betrayal and weaken the foundation of his own rule.

George I was also in a state of confusion. As the central government of the German Confederation, they bore almost all the firepower.

Sometimes, George I really wanted to be reckless. If he won the war against the emperor, if he lost the war against the state king, then he wouldn't have to suffer so much.