Chapter 357 The Truth Is Getting Farther and Farther
In the early morning of October 25, 1864, Franz, who had just woken up from his sleep, was stunned by the news that the Prussian government had declared war on the Kingdom of Denmark.
To be precise, the two countries declared war yesterday afternoon. It was late at night when the news reached Vienna, and the nimble staff dragged Franz to get up before reporting.
Without any recruitment at all in advance, the two countries suddenly went to war. As for the Prussian "liberation of the German compatriots," the pretext of war was directly ignored by Franz.
It is enough to have a casus belli. Historically, the Prussians still carried the banner of safeguarding German sovereignty. Under the butterfly effect of Franz, the Berlin government no longer dared to resist this banner.
With the revival of Austria, slogans and slogans related to "German unification" gradually disappeared from the official documents of the Prussian government.
Especially after the Paris Conference, both the Kingdom of Prussia and the newly established German Federal Empire have tacitly suppressed the idea of grand unity.
Everyone is not a fool. If you continue to promote it, you are making wedding dresses for Austria.
Once the ideas of grand unification are deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, they become the objects to be unified. For the people, reunification may be a good thing, but for the rulers, it is completely different.
Don't look at the great power of the governments of the states in the New Holy Roman Empire, but compared with being the master of the country, the power of the rulers is still greatly reduced.
Under the influence of interests, the international agreement of the Paris Conference to split the German region became the legal basis for Prussia to break away from the German region.
From a legal point of view, the Kingdom of Prussia is an independent country like Belgium, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.
If you continue to carry the banner of safeguarding the sovereignty of the German region now, wouldn't you tell the outside world that the Kingdom of Prussia is still a part of Germany, and provide a legal basis for Austria to annex them?
Such a stupid thing, the Berlin government will not do. The reasons for the liberation of German compatriots, although a bit suffocating, are better than planting a political bomb.
The Schleswig-Holstein duchies were involved in this Pudan war, and the Vienna government definitely needs to make a statement.
After a simple breakfast, Franz held a cabinet meeting in the palace.
Foreign Minister Weisenberg analyzed: "Your Majesty, according to the information we have collected, we can preliminarily judge that this war was premeditated by the Prussians, including the Polish independence movement that happened not long ago, and they are inseparable from it.
The Berlin government dared to declare war on the Kingdom of Denmark. Most of them had the shadow of Britain and France. They wanted to take this opportunity to attack the Russians.
The current situation of the tsarist government is very bad, domestic reforms are still in progress, the Central Asian War has started, and the Polish independence movement has broken out again.
With so many things happening at the same time, it was difficult for the Tsarist government's finances to support another major war.
If they interfered in the Purdan War, Britain and France would support Prussia to fight a proxy war with them, further draining their national strength and interrupting the reforms of the tsarist government.
If the tsarist government chose to make concessions, their international reputation would also plummet. Can't keep the little brother of Denmark, and the Russians are not qualified to call themselves the hegemons of the European continent.
Whichever choice the tsarist government makes, it will pay a huge price.
Perhaps the British are more inclined to fight a proxy war to weaken the Russians; the French are more eager to take the opportunity to pull the Russians down from their hegemonic position. "
On the bright side, if the Prussian government suddenly declared war on the Kingdom of Denmark, it must have been the collusion of Britain, France and Prussia. Otherwise, how could the Prussian government have the courage to challenge the Russians.
There are only a few people who know the things that the Junker nobles make up their own minds, and it is impossible for these people to pass it on.
Many people, including the Prussian military, believed that this was an action planned by the king, the cabinet and the military. No one thought that it was decided by the military's top brass.
Of course, only the high-level planning of this action will close the most basic loopholes. If it was planned by the bottom of the army, it is estimated that they foolishly shouted the slogan "for the unification of the German nation" and launched an attack.
This is also why Franz did not notice the actions of the Prussians in advance, otherwise he would keep the dark lines and attack the Danes with the slogan of unifying Germany.
Who can think of the political impact of this slogan. As long as it is passionate and inspiring enough, that's it!
Political propaganda slogans cannot be shouted indiscriminately. Once a slogan is shouted, it cannot be taken back.
Prime Minister Felix asked suspiciously: "But why does the Prussian government take grain from the fire for Britain and France?
Just for the Schleswig-Holstein duchies, they formed a deadly feud with the Russians. Even if the tsarist government does not care about them now, it will definitely retaliate in the future.
Even if the Prussian government is an anti-Russian faction, they can't ignore the power gap between the two countries and blindly enmity with the Russians, right? "
The current situation is different from history. The Russians lost their European hegemony in the Crimean War. The importance of the Kingdom of Denmark to the tsarist government has declined, and it is only a matter of face.
At this time, for the Russians, the Kingdom of Denmark was not only a matter of face, but also their status as the hegemon of the European continent.
Dominance is not only about strength, but also needs to be recognized by everyone.
A small Prussian kingdom can challenge their hegemony. If it cannot be suppressed, why should the Russian Empire become the European hegemon?
Even now Alexander II endured for domestic reforms
In the future, as long as the Russians want to compete for European hegemony, they must hold the flag of the Kingdom of Prussia.
In this respect, the Prussian government's approach is very unwise. Even if you gain benefits in the short term, there will be endless disasters in the future.
If you are unlucky, the tsarist government will call the door regardless. Even if they have the support of Britain and France, even if they win this war, they will be greatly damaged.
After thinking about it for a while, Franz replied: "I am afraid that the Prussian government has regarded the Russians as mortal enemies from the very beginning, and there is no such thing as offending or not.
I remember that the first target of the Russians' European expansion strategy was generally Poland.
Prussian Poland occupies 46.3% of the territory of the Kingdom of Prussia. From the standpoint of the Prussians, there is absolutely no possibility of compromise.
Faced with a powerful Russian empire that could attack them at any time, they could only move closer to Britain and France.
Now the two bosses, if they want to jump out and make trouble for the Russians, the reward is the duchies of Schleswig-Holstein.
The Berlin government also doesn't want to see the Russians succeed in their reforms. Since there are people who support it, they will do it first and catch the Russians by surprise.
It is not that they have no chance of winning. As long as they risk defeating the Russians once, they can not only eat the two principalities, but also make Russian Poland independent, become a buffer between the two countries, and change their strategic passivity in one fell swoop. "
Franz's brain supplementation level is still very good, and many people in the Prussian government also think so, but it is getting farther and farther from the truth.
The Junker nobles who were in charge of planning this operation can use their family glory to guarantee that they didn't think so far, and were just fighting for their own interests.
Defeating the Russians was simply not part of their plans.
Mao Qi's strategic plan was only to defeat the Danes as soon as possible, and then be able to defend the border fortress under the attack of the Russians.
Anyway, the tsarist government is now a poor ghost, and there are conservatives who oppose reform in the country. As long as it drags on for a few months, the Russian army will collapse without a fight.
Moreover, there are also Polish independence organizations. Before suppressing the Polish rebellion, the Russian army sent troops to attack the Kingdom of Prussia, and there was a possibility of being cut off by the rebels at any time.
In the eyes of many people, when the tsarist government suppressed the Polish rebellion, the wallet would have been exhausted, and where would there be money to continue the war?
The truth of the matter has no direct causal relationship with the decision of the Vienna government. Even if the Prussians are suddenly flooded with water, it will not affect Austria's decision-making.
After trying hard to accept the Prussian concept, Prime Minister Felix said: "Your Majesty, since Prussia and Prussia are going to meet, then we have to make a choice.
In relation to the duchies of Schleswig-Holstein, we had to support the Prussians in the Purdan war.
However, because of the Russian-Austrian alliance, we have to support the Russians in the next war that may break out.
Now that we too are at a crossroads, that choice is hard to make.
I suggest kicking the ball to the Russians. If the Russians want Austria's help, then Russia and Austria should divide up Prussia.
The Russians got Universal Poland and we got Universal Germany. The benefit gap, we can use cash compensation.
If the Russians are different from the conditions for the partition, then we will declare neutrality and not participate in this Prussian-Russian dispute. "
Franz rolled his eyes, where is the division of Prussia between the two countries, it is clearly to let the Russians express their support for Austria to unify the German region.
Open the map and know that if Austria occupied the German territory, the German Federal Empire would be surrounded by Shinra.
If under such circumstances, Franz could not use political means to disintegrate and gradually annex the German Confederation, he would be embarrassed to call himself the master of the Habsburg dynasty.
Although the remaining area of Germany is not large, most of these lands are fertile land, and the level of economic development is very high in Europe.
In addition to the economy, the population of these areas is also quite large. Without Universal Poland, the remaining half of the Kingdom of Prussia plus the German Federal Empire would have a population of 178 million.
With the current population of 60 million in the new Holy Roman Empire, the combined population of the Holy Roman Empire directly exceeds that of Britain and France combined. If only the local area is counted, the economic aggregate also exceeds that of John Bull.
Unless the tsarist government is collectively brainwashed, this condition is not negotiable at all. To release a Central European Big Mac, isn't that asking for trouble?
The real purpose of Prime Minister Felix was to stop the Russians from asking for help from Austria.
Otherwise, the tsarist government, holding the covenant of the Russian-Austrian alliance, kept asking Austria for loans and assistance. Will the Vienna government give it or not?
If you give it, it will easily arouse the resentment of German nationalists; if you do not give it, it will violate the covenant, and it is morally unjustifiable.
Now throwing this question, as long as the Russians refuse to support Austria's unification of the German region, the tsarist government will not be able to justify it if it wants to help.