Chapter 252 Vienna Peace Conference

Time flies, and the much-anticipated Vienna peace talks begin. The protagonists are naturally the three countries involved, Britain, France and Russia, and there are many supporting roles, and representatives from all European countries are here.

I don't know when this started. As long as there is a big event in the European continent, no matter whether it has anything to do with them or not, everyone loves to run over to join in the fun.

Euphemistically called: concern about international politics. In Franz's view, this is to brush up the sense of existence and attract the attention of great powers.

Don't think that these small countries don't have much right to speak, and think that their attitudes are not important. On the contrary, when the big powers are deadlocked, the position of these small powers determines the final result.

Now there are no superpowers in the European continent, and the power gap between the major powers is not huge. No country can really fight against one another, let alone convince all countries.

It doesn't mean that whoever is stronger must do what the other party does. If a war really breaks out, it is more likely that both sides will suffer.

The facts of the war in the Near East have told everyone that modern warfare requires high costs, and the final benefits are often not proportional to the costs.

In the face of the cruel reality, everyone's concept has changed, and governments of all countries are trying their best to avoid wars with big powers.

Against this background, all parties came to the Vienna Conference with sincerity.

The British wanted to get out of the war in the Near East as soon as possible and join the movement of colonial expansion, because the speed of their colonization was delayed because of the war.

The French are no exception. Napoleon III was influenced by the British colonial movement and was very interested in opening up overseas colonies.

Apart from curbing the expansion of the Russians, the war in the Near East will not bring any benefits to France in essence. Now Britain and Russia are fighting for world hegemony, and there is no need for them to continue to fight to the death.

The Russians wanted to end the war the most, and Constantinople got it, although it was acquired through a secret deal, and Nicholas I didn't care.

Political interests and religious interests have been obtained. If the war continues, there will be no benefit except to worsen the finances of the Russian Empire.

The current Russian Empire is already strong on the outside and cadres on the inside. In addition to its superficial strength, it has long been full of internal contradictions. The tsarist government urgently needs to recuperate.

Not to mention the Ottoman Empire, the rule of the Sudanese government is already crumbling, and it is enough for them to fight the national uprising in the country.

The Principality of Montenegro has no right to speak, even if they fought very bravely and brought a lot of casualties to the British, they still could not give them the right to speak.

...

In Vienna's St. Stefan's Cathedral, Metternich, the host of the meeting, said solemnly: "Welcome to Vienna, today's meeting is for world peace.

Throughout human history, there have been too many wars, and these wars have often brought disasters. In fact, many of these wars can be avoided. As long as everyone strengthens exchanges and communication, many misunderstandings will disappear.

 …”

Metternich is a pacifist, which is recognized throughout Europe, and it is also the habit of this "European Prime Minister" to hold high the banner of peace.

Politicians all know that they are framed, and representatives from various countries have begun to show off. At this moment, it seems that everyone is a pacifist.

After everyone had finished pretending, the reporters were invited out, the negotiation officially started, and the harmonious atmosphere disappeared.

As the representative of the Ottoman Empire, the younger brother, Ade, took the lead in complaining about the atrocities of the Russians:

"This war was provoked entirely by the Russian Empire, and they should take full responsibility for this war..."

Before Ader could finish speaking, Russian Foreign Minister Karl Wossel said tit for tat: "Your Excellency, please pay attention to your words, we are just regaining lost ground.

Constantinople is a holy place in Christ's world, and you cannot be the master of it just because you have invaded it for hundreds of years.

After all, you are the invaders. We just accomplished what the Crusades didn't accomplish, please don't smear this holy and just war. "

When it comes to religion, the Ottoman Empire suffers. On this issue, neither Britain nor France dared to deny that Constantinople was the holy land of Christ's world, let alone admit that it was the territory of the Ottoman Empire.

Even though everyone has acknowledged this place for a long time, at the negotiating meeting with written records, everyone dared not say it.

Seeing that the Ottoman representative was taken into the pit from the beginning, Thomas immediately changed the subject and said, "Duke Carl, these historical issues cannot be explained clearly in a few words.

Now that the war is going on, there is no need to blame anyone. Now let's discuss how to end this! "

"No problem." Russian Foreign Minister Karl Wossel replied coldly

Thomas said solemnly: "For the sake of world peace and the stability of the European continent, I propose that the warring parties now return to their pre-war state and end this unnecessary war!"

Involving self-interest, Russian Foreign Minister Karl Wossel immediately objected: "Impossible, we absolutely cannot tolerate Constantinople falling into the hands of infidels."

Thomas said without changing his face: "Karl, please rest assured that the Duke, we will not let Constantinople fall into the hands of heretics.

As a holy place in Christ's world, Constantinople should be shared by all Christians, and I suggest an international consortium of Constantinople. "

...

Obviously, this is unacceptable to the Russians

, How could Constantinople, which was captured at such a great price, give up so easily?

The representatives of Britain and Russia began to argue with each other for more than an hour, but there was still no result. It is surprising that the French actually paddled by the side.

Thomas, who had already discovered something wrong, pretended to be nothing, not because he was thick-skinned and pretending to be confused, but in fact he was trying to test the relationship between France and Russia.

Metternich said with a smile: "It's lunch time for the two of you, why don't you continue in the afternoon!"

The negotiation cannot be concluded so easily. Now it is only a dispute between Britain and Russia, followed by the contradiction between France and Russia, the contradiction between Britain and France, the contradiction between Austria and the Ottoman Empire...

Apart from mediating the war in the Near East, the Vienna Conference also had the purpose of building a new international order, and there were still many issues involved.

Since the collapse of the Vienna system, in just a few years, the European continent has broken out: the Austro-Sad War, the Purdun War, the German Unification War, the Near East War.

The five countries of Britain, France, Russia and Opp were all involved, plus the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Kingdom of Denmark, the Kingdom of Bavaria, the Principality of Montenegro, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Greece, most of the countries in Europe participated in the war.

If it continues like this, it won't be long before a new continental war breaks out, which is not what everyone wants.

In fact, the benefits that everyone can obtain from fighting to the death on the European continent are very limited. Under the mutual restraint of countries, no one wants to eat the fat.

At this moment, everyone realized the importance of the Vienna System, and the voice for rebuilding the Vienna System naturally became louder.

In particular, many small countries in Europe are even more insecure, and they urgently need a stable order to protect their own interests.

Under the needs of common interests, Metternich, who led the establishment of the first Vienna system, was pushed out again by everyone.

Can the Vienna System be rebuilt? No one can answer this question. In short, everyone now needs a stable international system.

The Russians need to carry out internal social reforms, the three countries of Britain, France and Austria need to carry out overseas colonial expansion, and many small European countries need an international order to protect their own security, all of which need a stable European continent.

In the evening, the results of the first day's peace talks were passed on to Franz. There was no accident. The British were at a disadvantage in this negotiation.

What can't be obtained on the battlefield, how can it be easy to get it back at the negotiating table?

Hairy bears are not easy to bully. The French began to paddle, which made many threats from the British useless.

Now the biggest bargaining chip in their hands is the maritime advantage. Once the negotiation fails, the foreign trade of the Russians cannot be carried out normally, mainly because the grain export cannot proceed smoothly.

Grain export is the biggest source of foreign exchange for the Russians, because of the war in the Near East, grain export trade was cut off.

In order to purchase strategic materials, the tsarist government had to take out a large amount of gold and silver for trading.

Although the Russian Empire has been in a trade deficit for a long time, the annual trade deficit of several million rubles is completely different from the annual trade deficit of hundreds of millions of rubles.

There are minerals in the Russian Empire, and there is really no shortage of gold and silver. The mere millions of rubles are not as much as the gold and silver they excavated in a year.

But hundreds of millions of rubles are different. This level of gold and silver outflow has already affected the Russian financial market. It takes time to mine gold and silver, and this loss cannot be made up in the short term.

However, now that the war is over, there is no need to import weapons and ammunition from the outside world, this trade deficit will soon come down, and this threat from the British is not enough to make the Russians concede.