Chapter 416 The Second Industrial Revolution Begins

Franz is very busy. After the localization of African colonies was approved, more than a dozen colonial cities have applied for it.

There is no doubt that this is a circuitous route. Let the qualified areas localize first, and then wait for the remaining areas to meet the conditions.

Anyway, these cities are the core of the colony, and the surrounding areas still have to be handed over to them, and they will be split up when they develop in the future.

This is the consensus reached by the Vienna government and the colonial power factions. Now that no one wants to make independence, naturally they will not care about the division of administrative divisions.

In order to show his importance, Franz personally met with representatives of the colonies. These nobles are his support and the cornerstone of future rule over the African continent.

In terms of interests, everyone belongs to a large interest group. Franz is the majority shareholder of this group, and they are the minority shareholders inside. A loss and a loss, a glory and a glory.

Internationally, the British are restless again, and it seems that Fao's approach has stimulated them.

On September 2, 1866, the British Foreign Secretary visited St. Petersburg and publicly stated that he wanted to improve the relationship between Britain and Russia. On September 28, the London government issued a note to mediate the Russian-Prussian war.

If it wasn't for the information that the Russian Revolutionary Party had been secretly sent home by the Prussians, Franz would have almost believed it.

The French-Austrian alliance vs the Anglo-Russian alliance is exciting to think about.

However, this can only be thought. Except that the contradiction between Britain and Russia is too deep to truly form an alliance.

What's more, the Russian Empire is too powerful. As long as they complete internal reforms, they will be the hegemons of the European continent. As long as the London government is not crazy, it will not support such a Big Mac.

Then this is aimed at the Russian-Austrian alliance. In order to split this alliance, the British have tried their best.

This was a conspiracy, and St. Petersburg accepted the goodwill of the British, which was bound to arouse the suspicion of Vienna.

This kind of suspicion in normal times doesn't matter. In the Russian-Prussian War, this kind of suspicion is very embarrassing. If the Vienna government hesitates a little, the Russians will suffer a big loss.

Once such a thing happens, it won't be long before the Russian-Austrian alliance exists in name only.

Knowing is knowing, will Franz stop this from happening?

The answer is: no!

The reason is very real, the strategic value of the Russian-Austrian alliance has been completed. For the next ten or twenty years, the Russians had to deal with internal conflicts, and the Eastern Front was safe.

This security is more reliable than the security brought by the covenant. No matter what the tsarist government thought, they did not threaten Austria's strength for a short time.

In this case, is it necessary to tie up with the Russians?

The world is such a reality, what Franz can do is not to tear up the covenant and continue to maintain a good relationship between the two countries.

It is believed that Alexander II will make the same choice. The existence of the Russian-Austrian alliance is still valuable to them, and they can pass through the period of weakness in a stable manner.

For the sake of strategic security, the tsarist government will not tear up the covenant. This time limit was only established when the Russian Empire was weak.

As long as the tsarist government wants to expand on the European continent in the future, the Russian-Austrian alliance will almost come to an end. Similarly, when Austria unifies the German region, it is also the day when the alliance between the two countries ends.

Is there a solution? Of course there are, for example: instigating the tsarist government to fight India, then the alliance can continue for many years.

To achieve this, it is difficult to say, easy to say, as long as you are willing to spend money, you can do it.

The Russians want to invade British India. This road is not easy to take, and the cost of war is absolutely very high. As long as there is a financial master willing to pay, the tsarist government has absolutely no opinion.

I don't know what the future will be like, anyway, Franz can't afford the money now. If there is such a huge sum of money, he would rather drop it into the Industrial Revolution.

The second industrial revolution has begun to break out, Austria is one of the birthplaces, and 1866 is a symbol.

In May, Siemens, an engineer of the New Holy Roman Empire, invented the world's first high-power generator.

It marks the arrival of the age of electricity, before that, because the power of generators was too small to be put into industrial production.

Now that the age of electricity has come, as the center of the empire, it is natural to enjoy the fruits first, and Franz decided to install street lights in Vienna for the first time.

Electric lights have been around since the last century. In 1854, German watchmaker Henri Goebel invented a carbonized bamboo filament light bulb that lasted for 400 hours.

As soon as it was reported in the newspaper, it caught the attention of Franz, who bought the patent directly, although he had not registered it.

Franz still has integrity, and he can't do anything to steal people's patents. Then, of course, the carbon wire was replaced with a tungsten wire, and a vacuum environment was added.

Improvement can be much faster than research and development, and it takes more than a year to get it done. Then Franz took the lead in entering the age of electricity, and the lighting revolution was first launched in the palace.

Because the power of the generator is too low, the cost of power generation remains high, and electricity has become a luxury in this era, only for the rich.

Now that high-power generators appear, not only the cost of power generation is reduced, but also the possibility of industrial application, Franz naturally wants to promote it. What's a more useful advertisement than Vienna lights up?

No need to pay for advertising, the newspaper will spread the news to the world. Then, London and Paris are sure to follow, and presumably if the tsarist government still has money.

It's the little things that make money, the most important thing is to make a name. Attract more people into the power industry

Otherwise, only relying on the promotion of Franz, the year of the monkey and the month of the horse will be able to popularize electricity into the industry.

In August, the transatlantic telegraph was completed, the first direct electricity connection between Europe and the United States.

This is different from the previous telegraph. Before that, the telegraph line between Europe and the United States was not directly connected, but passed on the islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, requiring ships to transmit messages in the middle.

This is a technical problem. Limited by the times, everyone knows nothing about the situation on the seabed. The laying of cables depends on luck.

If you are unlucky, it is directly destroyed by sea creatures and needs to be re-laid. In the case of special terrain, it may also affect the laying project.

One of the submarine cables has always had problems, and the problem has not been completely solved until now. Before that, this distance could only be relayed by ships. Not to mention the lag of news, the operating cost is still high and cannot be commercialized.

It is different now, and it can directly connect two continents, and the commercial value has greatly increased.

Affected by this, the British have announced the laying of: London-Canada, London-South Africa-India submarine cables.

The French are also preparing to lay: Paris-French America, Paris-French Asia submarine cables.

Franz also ordered the laying of two submarine cables: Africa-Central America, Africa-New Bavaria (New Guinea).

The telegrams between France and Austria to Africa have already been connected, and naturally there is no need to do it again. There is no way around the duplication of telegraph lines in various countries, and no one wants to be controlled by others.

Moreover, this is not a loss-making business. Telegraph lines in most areas can make money. No one will pave the loss-making line at all.

For example: Franz did not plan to lay the submarine cable connecting Alaska.

From the time the Russians took the land, there has been no development other than the establishment of a fur company.

If it weren't for the oath of sovereignty, the Vienna government would be too lazy to send the tax officer. This is a piece of land that cannot be paid for, and it loses tens of thousands of Aegis every year.

The establishment of telegraph lines is naturally unnecessary. Anyway, I am not afraid of being robbed. No country will fight a bloody battle with Austria for a country of ice and snow.

This was just the beginning, followed by the actions of the major colonial empires, and the strategic role of the telegraph was known to all. This is an essential link in order to strengthen control over the colony.

In September, Alfred Nobel invented the nitroglycerin explosive. Of course, this is still highly confidential and will not be announced until after the Russian-Prussian War.

After all, it is also a weapon that changes warfare. If it is announced in advance, it is also a headache for the Russians to buy, sell or not to sell.

If you don't sell it, it will affect the relationship. If you sell it, it will probably affect the outcome of the war. Explosives are a complete weapon against the bunkers and fortresses of this era. Many of the defense lines that used to be impregnable are not enough now.

On the face of it, Austria did not sell arms to Prussia. This proprietary new invention is destined to be impossible to sell two goods.

The Russians won the war, not what Franz wanted. If the tsarist government lost the war, it might take twenty years to recuperate; if they won the war, they might have to do things again in ten or eight years.

There is no doubt about the toughness of the bear, let alone the ability to kill. In order to avoid this trouble, Franz decisively chose to postpone.

Alfred Nobel is also full of legend. In 1860, he began to work on nitroglycerin explosives.

In 1863, Nobel returned to Sweden to develop explosives together with his father and younger brother. Due to an accidental explosion, the factory blew up and killed his younger brother. The government prohibited them from conducting further experiments.

Due to the explosion of the nitroglycerin factory, his brother Jermil died tragically and was forced to close the Swedish factory.

At this time, the Austrian arsenal threw an olive branch. The two sides hit it off and decided to jointly develop explosives.

In fact, most of the arsenals are cooperating with the government. Otherwise, who will sell the weapons they produce?

The butterfly effect played a role. At this time, Nobel did not break the boat, but chose a more secure cooperation.

Not surprisingly, Nobel was a scientist as well as a businessman.

Risk aversion is an instinct, and he was not the only one who was doing research on explosives at the same time. Before the results came out, no one knew whether there was a market for the product.

...

These are only technological advances with relatively large influence, and there are more small inventions. The second industrial revolution had broken out, and 1866 was just the beginning of a new era.