Chapter 568 London Conference

1874 was destined to be an extraordinary year. In addition to the Near Eastern War and the Russian-Polish War, the Asia-Pacific region was also unstable.

First, the French and the Annan government signed the Treaty of Peace and Alliance between France and Annan, and then the Japanese war of aggression against Taiwan broke out.

Needless to say, the latter naturally ended in failure. The Treaty of Peace and Alliance between France and Annan sounds very harmonious, but in fact it has a nice name, and it is essentially a service for colonial invasion.

The strategy has been contracted for so long, and some people in France are unwilling to be lonely. The world has been divided up, and there are only a few leftovers left, and no matter how slow it is, there will be nothing left.

In the struggle for rights of the Paris government, it was unwilling to do things outside, and it still could not stop the enthusiasm of domestic colonial expansion.

Colonial expansion does not necessarily depend entirely on fighting. For example, the signing of a treaty with the Annan people this time relies on diplomatic fraud, and even coaxing and deceiving the Annan government into signing it.

The seemingly ordinary treaty actually provided a legal basis for France to interfere in Annan's internal affairs. No matter what the Annan thinks, it is enough for the French to have a statement acceptable to European countries.

The three countries of Britain, France and Austria have formed an alliance, and the loose international situation has created opportunities for the French to expand in the Indo-China Peninsula.

The Indochina Peninsula is not within the scope of Austria's colonial plan and does not involve its own interests. Naturally, the Vienna government will not jump out and act as a messenger of justice.

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In the Vienna Palace, Franz's attention was attracted to the Kingdom of Poland, and turned into a melon eater, watching the performances of Prussia and Russia.

Foreign Minister Wesenberg reported: "Two days ago, reinforcements from the Kingdom of Prussia arrived at the front, and yesterday there was a small-scale exchange of fire with the Russian army.

However, both sides were very restrained and looked like they were acting. The Russians now occupy most of Polish Ukraine, about one-third of Poland's territory.

Preliminary judgment, this should be the reward promised by the Berlin government to the Russians. Next, the two countries will probably sit down and negotiate and stick to the agreed content.

Affected by this, the British Minister this morning sent an invitation to European countries, including us, to form an international intervention alliance to mediate the war.

The London government can't sit still. The smoke bombs we put out some time ago have already played a role. In order to curb our and the French's continued expansion on the Continent, the British couldn't help but take action. "

The Russian-Polish War, the Polish throne election, such a big thing, both France and Austria are watching from the sidelines, if there is no problem?

It's not that there is no action at all, Franz is still calling on everyone to exercise restraint and sit down and talk about something. The Paris government also warned Prussia and Russia not to play with fire.

specific action? It is a pity that both France and Austria are very busy and do not have the time to intervene in these trivial matters.

To keep France and Austria from intervening, there are naturally beneficial transactions behind this. A little analysis of the British can guess the content of the transaction, and it is not necessary to say that it must be sabotaged.

If you don't mess things up, is that still John Bull?

Franz nodded: "At this point, we will face a lot of pressure from public opinion, and the British are playing a big game.

The government must do a good job in guiding public opinion, but it can't let the British take the rhythm, otherwise there will be a big mess. "

Judging from various signs, Franz judged that the British wanted to take the opportunity to provoke a conflict between France and Austria, and at the same time divide the relationship between Austria and the German Confederation.

This is an unavoidable conspiracy. The French want to annex the Rhineland region. In order to be politically correct, the Vienna government can only stand up against it.

The German region has been divided for many years, and each state is used to being the master of its own. Under the pressure of nationalism, everyone was forced to look like they supported reunification, but actually wanted to keep their independent kingdoms.

Austria has the power to unify the German region. In order to protect their own interests, the high-level governments of various states have to move closer to the Vienna government.

However, once they found that Austria could not unify the German region under the containment of the foreign powers, or that they were strong enough to get rid of this threat, then the situation would change.

Just like the current Kingdom of Prussia, simply withdraw from the German region, instead of claiming to be a German state, play the Kingdom of Great Prussia.

Knowing is knowing, in fact Franz can only respond passively. Even if the Fao conflict broke out, the two sides would not be able to fight.

The only bordering area was in Italy, where the French still had no mass base, despite the fact that the French had occupied the kingdom of Sardinia for many years.

This is the aftermath of Napoleon III's ugly appearance and no legal basis. More than ten years have passed, and the local people still do not agree with the French rule

If they fight with Austria in the Italian region, they will not have any area to go on an expedition with the labor division and go deep into the enemy territory. They must not only fight against the Austrian army, but also be careful of the civilian partisans.

The boss of the Italian Independent League is the former Sardinian king, which is a ready-made pawn. If the French do not move, no one can do anything to them. As long as they are defeated once on the battlefield, the fragile Great French Empire may collapse.

In general, the longer the Grand French Empire existed, the more favorable it was for Austria. Not only can it help Austria share the international pressure, but also accelerate the national integration movement in Lombardy and Venice.

At the beginning, when there were a lot of states in the Italian region, the Italians in Lombardy and Venetia also wanted to become independent, and the progress of national integration was very poor.

Since the French annexed the Italian region, the national independence movement in Lombardy and Venetia suddenly fell into a low ebb.

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This round of social beatings has awakened many people. The local capitalists no longer supported the independence movement, but actively moved closer to Austria.

In recent years, the popularity of the Austrian language and writing has accelerated in the local area. Newspapers, books, and advertisements on the streets are all in Austrian, and traditional Italian is abandoned.

Social ethos has changed, not knowing Austrian is despised, it's hard to get around in the city, and no capitalist will hire a worker who doesn't speak Austrian.

Before the death of Napoleon III, he wanted to emulate Austria's national integration policy, but was forced to give up at the beginning.

It's not easy to be a socialist emperor, and social welfare benefits have been improved, and financial expenses have inevitably increased.

In addition to financial problems, there is resistance from the Italian local government. The French forcibly annexed the Italian region, but there was no way to replace all the local officials with French.

Without the cooperation of local officials, how can the policies of the central government be implemented?

This is different from Lombardy and Venice. When Franz promoted national integration, there were hundreds of thousands of Germans and a group of nobles loyal to the Habsburg dynasty. supporter.

All Italians, how can the French government change? Even if the person is changed, they are still passive and slack at work. To establish a local government loyal to the French Empire is not something that can be accomplished overnight.

The national integration policy that Napoleon III could not carry out, now in the hands of Napoleon IV, will only be more difficult.

Without real national integration, Grand France is a powder keg that could explode at any time.

An enemy with weakness is not terrible. The French have such obvious weaknesses, and Franz will naturally not worry about France becoming bigger.

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The German Federal Empire itself was a joke, and Franz never worried that the alliance would become a threat.

At the beginning, European countries wanted to forcibly upgrade them to empires. In addition to the existence of kingdoms within the German Confederation, they were more worried about the peaceful evolution of Austria to achieve reunification.

No matter how much the British provoke relations, it cannot change the nature of the cultural homology between the two sides. The ruling class also needs to consider the feelings of the people. The Kingdom of Prussia has no way to get rid of the influence of German nationalism, let alone the German Federal Empire?

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Called by the British government, on July 16, 1874, European countries convened an international conference in London to discuss and resolve the ongoing Russian-Polish War and the Near East War.

In the Austrian embassy in London, Britain and Austria are conducting secret talks.

British Foreign Secretary Marquis MacLean: "His Excellency Minister, the world needs peace, and a stable Europe is the foundation of world peace.

On the issue of maintaining European stability, the interests of our two countries are the same, and now it is necessary for your country to take more active measures to contribute to the stability of Europe. "

Austrian Minister Hummel smiled slightly and put down the coffee in his hand: "Your Excellency Minister, we are also happy to work for world peace, but the facts tell us that world peace needs to be maintained by everyone.

Maintaining the stability of the European continent is the common responsibility of all European countries, not the responsibility of one or two countries. We have done enough for European stability.

History has taught us that sometimes doing too much can be counterproductive. Occasionally let go, there may be unexpected gains. "

There is no doubt that Hummel is speaking of the Metternich era. At that time, the Vienna government was an active defender of the European order. However, Austria maintained the stability of Europe, but its greatest interests were taken away by the British.

After the Anti-French War, Europe was stable for three decades, creating favorable conditions for British colonial expansion overseas. However, Austria, which is striving to maintain the European order, locked itself in the European continent and was unable to carry out colonial expansion.

It was not until after Franz came to the throne that the Vienna government abandoned Metternich's European balance strategy and caught up with the train of colonial expansion.

Maclean was unmoved, and said nonchalantly, "That's not necessarily true. Letting the situation develop is also risky. Once the situation gets out of control, everyone's losses will be even greater.

Rather than letting the situation develop, take the initiative. Presumably your country does not want to see the French continue to expand.

If they get the Rhineland area, I am afraid that Belgium will be difficult to preserve, and even the German Federal Empire will be cut by them. "

This is an inevitable result. With the resources of the Rhineland region, the strength of France will be further strengthened.

There is little chance of preventing them from annexing territories west of the Rhine. For Austria, this has exceeded the bottom line of tolerance.

Hummel nodded: "The whole of Europe doesn't want to see this kind of thing happen, and we are no exception. I don't know what plans your country has, but as long as it can be prevented from happening, we will be happy to cooperate."

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