Chapter 217
Negotiations are still in a stalemate, and the gates of Munich have opened. At this time, it was already up to Maximilian II to call the shots.
From the beginning of the negotiation, everyone knew that there was going to be a new owner. Jonas was not obliged to keep them secret, and now everyone in the city knew that Maximilian II was going to exchange land with Austria.
In this case, there is no pressure for everyone to take refuge in the new master. It's not a new thing to change land from time to time in European history.
It's just that this time is special after all. The Bavarian royal family is a little down, and all the chips in their hands have been lost. The only thing that can be relied on is legal reason.
Originally, most of the Bavarian people still had a little obstacle in their hearts. After all, Maximilian II didn't do anything angry, and it seemed unreasonable to abandon him like this.
However, as soon as the news of the replacement of the country came out, everyone's heart was no longer in the way. It wasn't that they wanted to betray the king, but the king himself wanted to go, and it was none of their business.
Everyone can feel at ease. As long as Austria does not treat the royal family badly, they think they are worthy of Maximilian II.
...
baden
As a good ally of Bavaria, he was the first to know what was happening in his neighbor's country. The Baden government was stunned, and there is no need to play like this. In the war with others, the local government declared "neutrality", and then the domestic army followed suit.
Prince Friedrich, the regent, asked: "What should we do now, the Bavarians have no resistance at all, and Austria just went on an armed procession to the city of Munich.
According to the current situation, the Bavarians have given up the government, and Munich will not be able to hold on for long, and the Bavarian Kingdom will not be able to support the arrival of reinforcements. "
Not to mention the arrival of reinforcements, the shadows of reinforcements cannot be seen anywhere. Prussia is calling on the German states to organize coalition forces, and Britain and France are also calling on everyone to send troops to intervene in the war.
But it will take time. With so many small states in the German region, no matter how fast it is, it will take a month or two to organize the coalition forces, right?
Who knew that the Kingdom of Bavaria was so cowardly, and it was the third largest state in the German region anyway. Even if you couldn't beat the Austrians, you had to hold on for a while, even if you insisted on guerrilla warfare.
At this time, Prince Friedrich did not know that the two sides had compromised, and Maximilian II was negotiating terms with the Austrians.
Foreign Minister Nikolaus analyzed: "Your Highness, Bavaria is unfaithful, no matter how hard the government tries, it is useless.
It seems that we still underestimate the place of unity in the minds of the people, and the Bavarians regard this war as a war of national unity.
It is not so much that the Austrian army hit Munich, it is better to say that it was invited to Munich by the Bavarians.
Now we are in great trouble, and if the population at home is like the Bavarians, the risk of interfering in this war is too great. "
Nicholas was intimidated, not just him, many people were intimidated. If the people in Baden have the same attitude and they forcefully send troops to intervene in this war, will the people rebel?
Even if they did not rebel, they also learned that the Bavarians remained "neutral" in the war, and the Baden government would be destroyed.
Prime Minister Waltz added: "Your Highness, this situation is very likely to happen. Most of the domestic public opinion is against sending troops, and everyone is reluctant to send troops to rescue Bavaria."
Prince Friedrich was silent, he understood the reason why his lips were cold and his teeth were dead, but the risk of sending troops to intervene was too great, and he might be involved in himself.
After a short pause, he said slowly: "Forget it, let's remain neutral in this war!"
...
Obviously, it was not just the Grand Duchy of Baden who made this choice. Many small German states that were intimidated chose neutrality.
It seems that at this moment, everyone has become a supporter of public opinion, and Austria's political offensive has begun to exert force.
As the small states declared their neutrality, the German Confederation Army, which had not yet been born, died prematurely in the womb.
Berlin
Watching more and more states declare their neutrality, the pressure on the Prussian government is also increasing. At least half a million Austrian troops have been gathered in the Prussian border area, and this number is still increasing.
Whether these troops have combat effectiveness is still unknown, but the Prussian government dare not move, the number is there, who dares to take it lightly?
What if they sent troops to rescue Bavaria on the front foot, and the troops on the back foot entered their homeland? Even if these troops are all parallel imports, Prussia can be piled to death depending on the number.
The Kingdom of Prussia has limited strength, and it is impossible to learn from the Austrian government to mobilize millions of troops.
Even if they burst their livers, at most they can only deal with one Austrian army, and there is no way to do the other.
Whether it is sending troops from the mainland or fighting from the Kingdom of Bavaria, it is not a problem for Austria.
Entering the era of hot weapons, even if they want to take risks, they can't do it. As long as the logistics supply is cut off, the army with the strongest combat power is only a soft-footed shrimp.
In addition to the military threat, the more troublesome is the political problem. The performance of the Bavarian people also terrified the Prussian government.
Even Frederick-Wilhelm IV had confidence in the domestic army and did not think they would learn from the Bavarian army to be neutral without firing a shot, but he had no confidence in the people.
The confidence of the army comes from the fact that Prussia was "the army"
Owning a country" is a kind of treatment that no other country can give.
The people are different. Don't look at how the Prussian kingdom is touted by later generations. In fact, they are using military force.
Now the economic situation of the Kingdom of Prussia is not good. In order to maintain the huge military expenditure, the government has to increase the burden on the people.
Coupled with the exploitation of Junker aristocrats, the life of ordinary Prussian people in this era is not very easy. In history, this hard time lasted until after the Franco-Prussian War, and they got out of the predicament only by the reparations of the French.
Frederick William IV suppressed his anger and said: "What should we do now, those free cities have long declared neutrality, now Baden is neutral, Hanover is neutral, Württemberg is neutral, Felix is about to visit Saxony , if nothing else, Saxony will soon be neutral.
The strength of the remaining small states is not worth mentioning. If we continue to organize an army of intervention, I am afraid we can only do it ourselves. "
There are a lot of states in the German region, but there are very few powerful states. Apart from these few states with a little strength, the remaining small states can't make up 50,000 troops.
Without the army of these states as cannon fodder, Prussia would not dare to fight with Austria.
The reason why the Kingdom of Prussia maintains a large active-duty army is to ensure the quality of its soldiers, because they cannot afford the quantity.
Prime Minister Josef von Radowitz persuaded: "Your Majesty, the current situation is uncertain, and we cannot take the lead. Although Austria is rotten, their military strength has not declined.
Judging from the intelligence we have collected, Austria has mobilized one million reserve troops, and with their 500,000 active-duty troops, the number of troops now ranks first in Europe.
With our strength, we no longer have the ability to intervene in this war. We might as well wait and see the situation and wait for the reaction of European countries! "
The plan did not change quickly. If Austria did not mobilize the whole country, then the Kingdom of Prussia and the German Confederation would have the strength to intervene in this war.
The current situation is obvious, the small states are either forced by public opinion or shocked by the strength of Austria, they have retreated.
The coalition can't afford to organize. To go up and fight Austria one-on-one, relying on the 200,000 troops of the Kingdom of Prussia, Joseph von Radowitz has no expectations at all.
Even if it is a nationwide mobilization, the Kingdom of Prussia cannot afford to consume it, and it will be over if it loses once. Perhaps Austria does not have the strength to annex Prussia, but it is very possible to dismantle the Kingdom of Prussia.
After all, the Kingdom of Prussia is not impeccable. In the three divisions of Poland alone, it obtained 141,100 square kilometers, accounting for 47% of the Prussian territory.
This means that there are still a large number of Poles in Prussia, although these people are almost assimilated and will be digested in a short time, but that is based on the absence of external forces.
Once the Kingdom of Prussia is defeated and Austria forcibly splits Prussia, it will be difficult to merge again. The odds are too low, the risks are too high, and Prime Minister Josef von Radowitz doesn't want to take that risk.
Foreign Minister Andrea suggested: "Your Majesty, Metternich will visit Berlin soon. We will listen to what Austria has to say before making a decision. If the conditions are right, it is not a bad idea to join forces with them."
To put it bluntly between countries, it is interests. Prussia opposes Austria's annexation of Bavaria because of interests. If the interests are suitable, then it is not unreasonable to sell Bavaria.
Andrea was a supporter of the idea of the partition of North and South Germany, and he did not mind an exchange of interests with Austria. Of course, this is not to say that he did not want Prussia to unify Germany.
The main reason is that the strength of the Kingdom of Prussia is limited, and everyone has ambitions to unify Germany, but they do not think it can be achieved.
Before Bismarck came to power, the Prussian government was not ideologically prepared to unify Germany.
Even after the three dynastic wars were won, everyone was skeptical of a unified Germany.
If it wasn't for Bismarck's strong insistence and strong enough political means to confuse many states and achieve a nominal unity, the powerful German Empire of later generations would not have been born.
After hesitating for a while, Frederick William IV still said sorry to the Kingdom of Bavaria, not because he refused to help, but because his strength did not allow it.
"In this case, let's keep silent first, the domestic army mobilization cannot be stopped, and we must strictly prevent the Austrians from launching a sneak attack on us.
We will make a decision after Metternich arrives and the conditions of the Austrians are clarified.
Before that, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should try its best to stabilize the small states, without them waving their flags and shouting, they would be very passive to us politically. "
Betting on the national luck, it also depends on the situation, at least you have to be sure of 30 to 40% before you can bet? Frederick William IV was not a gambler, nor was he a gambler, nor did he play stud blindly.
After the high-level meeting, Frederick William IV immediately summoned the ministers of Britain, France, Russia and the West to inform the four major European powers of the situation, and asked the four countries to send troops to intervene.
There is no doubt that the Kingdom of Spain is already empty at this time. The ability to maintain the status of the foreign powers depends on the prestige of the ancestors. Now it is busy with internal struggles and is not keen on interfering in the affairs of the German region.
The three countries that really have the right to speak are Britain, France and Russia, or it is more accurate to say France and Russia. Although the British had great influence, their army was limited in strength and did not have the strength to send troops to intervene in the German region.
But
Britain, France and Russia are in a super friendly match at this time, and they can't stop for a while. Both sides have invested so much, and whoever admits to it will be unlucky.
The Russians cannot let go of Constantinople, this is the will of the entire Russian people, and the tsarist government cannot back down at the last minute.
Britain and France also couldn't back down. The British made concessions, and despite the heavy losses, Downing Street was about to change.
Not to mention the French. If Napoleon III dares to admit his counsel, his throne will be unstable, or his throne has always been unstable. The purpose of launching this war is to divert internal conflicts.
Except for the Spanish Minister's explicit refusal to send troops, the Ministers of the Three Kingdoms did not give an answer and had to wait for a domestic decision.
London
The Georg Cabinet once again convened a cabinet meeting for the German region.
Foreign Minister Thomas said: "Gentlemen, the situation in Germany has changed. The Kingdom of Bavaria fell without any resistance. In this war, the Bavarian people and the army chose to sneer and watch.
It is estimated that the battle with Austria this time is the idiot of Maximilian II and his idiot cabinet.
Affected by this, most states in the German region chose neutrality, because public opinion supported the unification of Germany, and the governments of these states did not dare to take risks.
Last night, I received word from the minister in Berlin that the Prussian government had backed down.
We had planned to use the power of the German regional states to contain the Austrians, but now we cannot continue.
If we do not take forceful measures, the unification of the German region will be inevitable. The Austrians are on a political offensive, and it is estimated that most of the German states will be forced to join the Shinra Empire that the Austrian Lord has entered. "
Thomas despised the behavior of Maximilian II, and everyone agreed. For a king to do this, he really needs strength.
If the Kingdom of Bavaria is a little stronger, even if it only resists the Austrian army for ten days and a half, or even defeats the battle all the way, everyone can accept it.
This is a gap in strength, and no one will slam them for being incompetent. It can be said that as long as they resisted, the German Allied Forces could be organized.
Now everyone has retreated, not only because of the military strength of Austria, but also because of the actions of the Bavarian people, which makes everyone feel uncertain and dare not go against the will of the people.
George Hamilton-Gordon thought for a while and said: "It seems that we are going to join forces with the Russians. We and the French alone cannot let Austria let go.
The unified German Empire is too powerful, presumably the Russians do not want to see this monster appear, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs communicates with the Russians. To show good faith, we can suspend the offensive on the Crimean peninsula. "
"Prime Minister, suspend the offensive at this time, the advantage we have is equivalent to giving up in vain. As long as the Russians refuse to give up Constantinople, this war will not end.
We can't back down unless we want to fight the Russians in the Indus Valley to defend India. ' War Secretary Stanley reminded
It is impossible to back down. Whoever dares to make concessions on this issue will wait to be nailed to the pillar of traitors and cast aside by the people for the rest of their lives!
George Hamilton-Gordon sneered and said: "This loss is still within our range. Even if we can't compromise with the Russians on the Near East issue, but on the issue of preventing German unification, our position is still consistent.
As long as our three countries are aligned, the Austrians will have to give in. Once the Russians put pressure on Austria, will their alliance continue?
Once Russia and Austria break apart, the subsequent war will be easy to fight. Now fool the Russians and let them interrupt the road to German unification. "
When it comes to diplomacy, John Bull is not cowardly. Even if they wanted to join hands with the Russians to intervene in the German Unification War, they did not forget to dig a big hole for the Russians first.