Chapter 428 The Troubles of Creditors

It is very unreliable to expect the African people to fight against the British aggressors. If they really had such a strong fighting power, the colonial era would have ended long ago.

However, the pit still has to be dug. No matter how effective it is, it can at least delay the expansion of the British.

There is a limit to the expansion of any country, and the British Empire, the world's first colonial empire, is no exception.

Population is a flaw, the British Isles add up to 30 million people. Ranked last among the four major European powers, with the completion of the industrialization of France and Austria, the comparison of everyone's strength is undergoing amazing changes.

There is no need to wait until the 20th century. The British are now the third in Europe and the fifth in the world in terms of the total domestic economy.

Of course, they are still the world's No. 1 industrial power. In this era, agriculture also accounted for a very important proportion of the total economic output, so that the British ranked behind India.

It is not surprising that a large number of people may not necessarily be powerful, at least the total economic volume is large.

It is a pity that the total economic volume is not equal to the national strength. It is the industry that determines the strength of the country. The British Empire is still the most powerful country in the family.

However, they suffered in the expansion. The population of Britain was less than two-thirds of France (including Sardinia) and less than half of Austria (including the Balkans). Among them were millions of estranged Irish people who thought about independence every day.

The population is insufficient, but the British colonies are large, and on average, each British has a colony of more than 1 square kilometer.

After the war in the Near East, the London government began to avoid war in Europe, which is not difficult to understand.

It was not easy to maintain this colonial empire, and thousands of colonists fell every year. If there are a few more major battles, the British will not be able to hold on.

This is the opportunity in Franz's eyes, to make trouble for the British in the colony, on the surface, it is inconspicuous, but in fact it adds up and slowly consumes their manpower.

This Ethiopian war is a good opportunity. As long as it can bring tens of thousands of casualties to the British, Franz is content.

There is no such thing as winning against the British. The British Army is not the Italian Army. This century-old joke cannot be made.

...

On the way of the British army to Ethiopia, the London Peace Conference has changed, and the Russian diplomacy is really not flattering.

Sweden did support them, but it was not the Russians, but the Kingdom of Denmark.

Helping relatives is not helping, the Kingdom of Denmark is a member of the Nordic Federation that is about to be established, and the old nature of Sweden has to take care of their emotions.

From now on, the Kingdom of Prussia has added another enemy, the soon-to-be-formed Nordic Confederation.

Of course, the threat of this enemy is very small, and the Danes cannot occupy the dominant position of the new government.

The German Federal Empire did feel the threat of Prussia, but it was useless, the Russians were not able to get their support, and finally they chose neutrality.

Needless to say about the rest of the country, Switzerland is neutral, which is what people call it: an eternal neutral country, no need for public relations, and the rest of the countries are supporters of Prussia.

Almost forgot that the Principality of Montenegro and Greece also supported the Russians. The former has always been supported by the Russians, the latter is just to hug the thigh.

Prussia is thousands of miles away, and it doesn't matter if you offend. And the Russians are so close at hand that the Greeks can't afford to offend them.

From the point of view of supporting countries, the Russians are not only inferior in number, but also incomparable in weight.

To keep the Russians from losing too badly, Wesenberg had to bite the bullet and propose a reduction in the number of negotiators.

Except for Britain, France, and Austria, only the participating countries were present as nonvoting delegates, and the rest of the country representatives became the audience.

Fortunately, the Russian representative Clarence Ivanov was smart enough to send the four Central Asian countries and the Eastern Empire successively, and signed an armistice treaty.

The Russians still had their might, and after satisfying their own interests, these countries resolutely chose to remain silent. As for the Prussian allies, sorry, they have never formed an alliance, and naturally there is no ally obligation.

Seeing that the momentum was not right, the Ottoman Empire also retreated. The Russians gave up the territory they had claimed in the Caucasus in the last war, and retreated a little, the two countries ended the war. (Note: present-day Georgia)

By July, only Prussia and Poland were left. Compared with the concessions in other regions, in Eastern Europe, the attitude of the tsarist government was completely different.

First of all, regarding the definition of Poland, the tsarist government did not recognize it, and handing over Lithuania and parts of Belarus was their limit.

However, the Prussians still wanted Latvia, and they did not make demands on Estonia, which was too close to St. Petersburg, and the Berlin government was afraid of provoking the Russians.

The representative of Poupo also made territorial claims for the entire Belarusian region, which apparently they have reached an agreement to carve up.

The Polish representative also made territorial claims on the Ukrainian region, mainly the Warren Oblast extending all the way to the Kyiv region. Without parts of Lviv, Western Ukraine was Austrian territory in this era.

If these conditions are agreed, it will mean that the Russian Empire will lose 860,000 square kilometers of land, more than 21 million people, and 30 percent of its industry.

At the same time, the Russian Empire will also lose its demographic advantage over Austria. After all, Central Asia has become independent, and the Far East and the Caucasus have given up a lot of land.

With less land, the population will naturally decrease. Fortunately, these areas

They are both vast and sparsely populated. Except for Central Asia, which has a population of five or six million, the other two places have only 1.8 million.

Eastern Europe is different, this is the core area of ​​the Russian Empire. Any piece of territory is precious, and the tsarist government will naturally not give up easily.

The meeting reached a deadlock again, and representatives of Britain, France and Austria held a secret meeting. There is nothing to be ashamed of, the weakening of the Russians is what the three countries would like to see.

After all, the Russian Empire is too huge. Once industrialization is completed, everyone's interests will suffer.

At the same time, France and Austria did not want to see the Kingdom of Prussia become bigger. The attitude of Britain and France was exactly the opposite. They wanted Prussia to block France and Austria.

The French wanted to support Poland, and the Austrians took the opposite view.

There is no room for others on the side of the couch.

In order to curb the rise of Poland, Austria did not hesitate to support Prussia to obtain Lithuania and block the Poles' access to the sea.

This is also creating contradictions. The problem of exporting to the sea cannot be solved, and the relationship between Pubo will break down sooner or later.

Of course, they can also do land swaps. Obviously this is even more impossible. The Poles can't exchange the Warsaw area for the sake of the sea, right?

The Kingdom of Prussia could not be fortunate enough to fight hard, and the last benefit was not obtained. Geographical location determines that expansion into Lithuania is their only option.

The conflict between Britain, France and Austria has made the negotiations more complicated.

In the summer, the smell of gunpowder in Eastern Europe is once again strong, and if there is still no agreement, the war will continue to break out.

Don't look at the Prussians on the battlefield, but they have no money! Once the war continued, the British were the last to pay.

The London government is not taking the big bait, they are always calculating the cost. Now that the goal of suppressing Russia has been completed, if they continue to kill Russia, they will not get much benefit.

Don't look at Russia and Austria as allies, allies are dangerous when they are weak. In case the Prussians are lucky and win another great battle, the tsarist government will collapse directly. Who knows if Austria will fall into trouble?

The shrewd British will not do it by making their own money and making their competitors cheap.

Moreover, they have lent a lot of money to Prussia and Poland, and the debt is constantly increasing, and the possibility of bad debts in the future is also increasing.

To end this war, the three countries of Britain, France and Austria must first reach an agreement, otherwise everyone will stab each other and fan the flames, and a bad war will be ignited again.

For the sake of the pound, Raislin also had to convince France and Austria to join forces to put pressure on them to end the war.

Not only the British are worried about this, but France and Austria are also worried. Everyone is a creditor, except that Britain and France mainly lent money to the two countries, while Austria lent money to Russia.

The Britons have lent the most, with a total of £320 million; Austria is close behind, with a total debt of £240 million; and the French are the least, with £120 million.

Whether you admit it or not, this war is actually a game of capital. There is no doubt that the black hands behind the scenes are the winners, and everyone is working together.

Even if all these debts die, everyone can still recover the cost from somewhere else. Of course, no one wants to do that.

Why should a loan that can be recovered become a dead debt?

Don't look at a few debtor countries with a lot of collateral. If something goes wrong, these collaterals may not be able to be honored.

Take Poland as an example. If the Polish government is destroyed, who will Britain and France ask for money?

In contrast, Austria still has an advantage. The distance is close, and it is really impossible to cut a piece of land and come back to make up for the loss.

The French can also pay attention to the Rhineland, which is a reasonable excuse anyway.

The British are miserable. Even if others dare to cede land, the question is whether they dare?

Various taxes, minerals, and road rights mortgages are the prerequisites for fulfilling the preconditions for ensuring the stability of the regime of the debtor country.

This means that after the war, they continued to lend money to the two countries. Otherwise, these two poor ghost governments will either declare bankruptcy or collapse due to financial crisis.

Of course, the risk is proportional to the profit. In this war, the British made a lot of money.

Not only did he gain the position of world hegemon, but he also gained a few younger brothers, which ensured the security of India and completed the strategic layout of the Eurasian continent.