The five members of the Frankfurt Preparatory Committee all had ugly expressions on their faces. The Austrian delegation raised a strong protest on the grounds that the Austrian Empire was a whole entity.
The representatives of the Frankfurt Conference were allocated based on population. In theory, one representative would be elected from 50,000 people. If they didn't kick out the non- German Region, this conference would be Austria's.
During this period, Schleswig and Holstein were still part of Denmark, and Austria still controlled some Regions of Italy. In terms of population, Austria exceeded the sum of the small German Region.
The protest was fine since Hungary and other regions were not part of the German Region, so they weren't afraid of wrangling.
However, they didn't expect that the Austrian representative would expose the matter to the reporters and publicly expose the dark side of the conference.
Because of the customs union, Prussia, the most developed industrial region in the German Region, had the greatest influence among the capitalists. This conference was indeed biased.
By now, everyone knew that the Austrian delegation was here to cause trouble. Not allowing the Austrians to participate in the conference?
Could this still be considered Germany's preparatory parliament? The Austrians would probably leave happily. The parliament, which didn't have much legitimacy to begin with, would become a laughing stock after losing a corner.
"Everyone, we must take action. The recent public opinion is very unfavorable to us. If this continues, the enemy's conspiracy will succeed!" Merlin said seriously.
The media exposing their dark history didn't arouse their vigilance. All the capitalists in the world were birds of a feather. Who didn't have a dark history?
What they were most worried about now was the Austrian delegation. As the largest state in the German Region, Austria often played the role of the big brother.
Whether they were willing or not, Austria's influence in the German Region was huge. Without Austria's participation, it would be impossible to get the approval of the people.
"Why don't we just change the name to Small German Parliament and get the Austrians out!" A Prussia representative suggested.
"Impossible! Winstall, you are dividing the great German Empire. If it's only Small German Parliament, then we will also withdraw! "The Bavarian representative objected.
The main purpose of this congress was to expand the political influence of the bourgeoisie. The unification of the German Region was actually secondary. The Frankfurt Conference was not as important as the history books described.
Otherwise, in the end, even the Kingdom of Prussia would not have refused to recognize the conference. The conference was too idealistic and expanded the rights and interests of the capitalists. It was not feasible at all.
The interests of capitalists were not the same. Capitalists in different regions and industries often had different interests.
The establishment of a small German Empire was in the interest of the North German capitalists. They could avoid competition from the Austrian capitalists.
But it was different for many capitalists in South Germany, especially in the Kingdom of Bavaria. The local economy was closely linked to Austria. Once they were separated, it would be a disaster for them.
Because of the Austrian delegation's protest, the conference hadn't started yet. Naturally, there was no way to solve the problem by voting. If they lost the support of the South German delegation, then this conference wouldn't even need to be held.
…
The bourgeoisie was naturally willing to compromise. After a week of dispute, everyone reached a compromise. Bohemia and Hungary were allowed to participate in the conference, but their number was limited.
The upper limit of the number of representatives was set. No state could have more than 200 representatives. Only Austria and Prussia could participate in the conference.
There was no doubt that the next step was to wrangle the status of Austria and Prussia. As the largest state in Germany, it was necessary to have equal status.
The Austrian delegation, led by Anderson, was originally here to cause trouble. How could they give up?
They insisted that Austria must have the most number of representatives. In any case, Austria had the largest population. In this era, there were no professional statistics. Who knew how many Germans there were in Austria?
The people of Prussia, who wanted to obtain the same status as Austria, naturally did not agree. The conference was planned by Prussia's internal interest groups. The purpose was to exclude Austria.
The Austrian delegation started a tug-of-war. It quickly spread and became a regional conflict between North and South Germany. All the representatives were involved.
The dispute lasted until June. The Austrian delegation was gradually at a disadvantage. But it did not matter. At this time, the Frankfurt Conference, which was full of scandals, had become a joke.
The Vienna newspaper described the conference as a "capitalist's feast." There was even a picture of a group of fat capitalists slaughtering a cow with knives and forks.
The Neue Rhein newspaper also published an article by Engels. It strongly criticized the Frankfurt Conference. The Frankfurt Conference was ridiculed as a "capitalist's profit distribution conference."
The Munich Post even made a series of reports on the Frankfurt Conference. It introduced in detail the information of all the members who participated in the conference. Without a doubt, the focus was all on the dark history.
In the end, it was even described as "the dirtiest parliament in history." There was no way to clear this name. The representatives who participated in the conference were all black.
Including the scholars, civil servants, and members of society who participated in the conference. Election fraud was the biggest dark history.
For example, a representative was elected with 30,000 votes, but there were less than 100 people who voted. Another example was a regional election. There was only one candidate, but by default, he was elected unanimously …
To sum it up, it was election fraud. The election from the beginning to the end was less than a week. Many places might not even have enough time to pass the information. How could the results be acceptable?
Experts and scholars formed groups to criticize the election from a technical point of view. For example, the newspaper published where the election would be held today, but the election would start the next day. There was no time at all.
Countless questionnaires showed that 90% of Germans did not know about the election, and 99% did not participate in the election.
At this point, there was no need for Franz to continue. The representatives who participated in the conference were criticized from head to toe. Many people could not stand the pressure of public opinion and voluntarily withdrew from the conference.
The conference lasted until July. Due to the changes in the political situation, under the internal and external troubles, the conference spontaneously organized by the bourgeoisie collapsed.
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