Chapter 723 The Closest Day to the Hegemony

The Prussian casualty report released by Austria quickly detonated public opinion. The number of "eight million" was too amazing, and everyone's attention was immediately attracted.

Countless people are amazed that it is another "Thirty Years War", but the difference from the last time is that the Russian-Prussian War only lasted for less than two years.

Is there a winner?

Perhaps uninformed ordinary people will say that the Russians won, but those who really understand the Russian-Prussian war know that it was a lose-lose war.

Both Prussia and Russia were losers, and the winners were the three fishermen of Britain, France, and Austria.

As the nominal victor of the Russian Empire, it seems to be called the "fourth largest country in Europe" by the media, but in fact it has also earned a name.

The political structure from the three major countries to the four major countries, it is enough to talk about it, whoever takes it seriously will be stupid.

Now the Russian Empire has only the potential to become the fourth leg, not the strength. If the future develops smoothly and the national strength catches up, then there is a chance to reproduce the pattern of the four major European empires.

Before the start of the first Russo-Prussian War, the Russian Empire was one of the four major European empires, and it was still the number one seed contender for world supremacy with the British.

After a round of tossing, he experienced two Prussian-Russian wars, lost millions of troops, paid tens of billions of rubles in military expenses, wiped out the accumulation of previous tsars, and took on huge debts.

The final gain was the fall from the continental hegemony to the fourth in Europe, and a little bit of territorial expansion that the Russian Empire didn't need.

"Reflection" is perhaps the greatest virtue of the European people. Looking at the list of losses between Prussia and Russia in the newspapers, everyone subconsciously came to the conclusion: the war is fucking terrible!

Not only ordinary people were frightened, but politicians were also frightened by sets of data. For a time, the hawks in various countries were greatly reduced, and the anti-war ideology began to spread to the world.

Versailles, the icy casualty figures of the Russian-Prussian War, gave the ambitious Napoleon IV a blow to the head.

Napoleon IV was very confident in the combat effectiveness of the French army, and the French people were equally confident. Everyone believed that the French army was number one in the world, and that the hegemony of the European continent would be France's sooner or later.

As for the Austrian Empire, which stood in the way of France's road to hegemony, if it wasn't for the international situation, they would have fought it long ago.

Well, that's just talking. War is no child's play, France has been busy digesting the Italian region all these years.

Now that the Italian region has stabilized, the Paris government has the energy to consider the issue of expansion, but they are still not ready to go to war with Austria.

Continental hegemony is important, but only if its own strength is strong enough to keep the fruits of victory. France has had a long farming career since annexing the Italian region.

Originally planned to wait for Prussia to lose both sides, then expand to Central Europe and win the coal mines that France needs most.

Napoleon IV believed that after Prussia and Russia were defeated, Austria had no strength to stop them from taking this step, otherwise France would not have the opportunity to annex Italy.

According to the plan, with the Rhine River as the boundary, France will eat Belgium, Luxembourg, Rhineland and other regions, and use the remaining territories of the German Federal Empire to appease Austria.

Not afraid of Austria, this is tactics. In military parlance, this is to cut off the enemy's wings.

Without Belgium and the German Federal Empire, when the Franco-Austrian War broke out in the future, Austria would lose two allies, increasing France's chances of winning.

After digesting these regions, France's shortcomings were filled, and then defeated Austria to seize continental hegemony, which was a perfect strategy.

In the military, Napoleon IV had a mental advantage. His ancestor Napoleon was so awesome. He beat the European continent one by one, and he almost won.

The situation is much better now than it was at the time. The Italian region has been occupied, Spain is an ally again, and Prussia and Prussia have suffered greatly because of the war.

There are few remaining independent countries, except for Austria, who can fight, basically it can be ignored, there is no reason not to win heads-up.

However, the plan did not change quickly. Seeing the casualty figures of the Russian-Prussian War, Napoleon IV's hegemony dream was shaken for the first time.

No way, as an old rival, the French government still has a deep understanding of Austria, and the huge reserve force can't hide it from their eyes.

Originally, Napoleon IV did not take the reserve service as one thing. No matter how many rabble people there are, they are all broken in front of the French army.

The Prussian-Russian War changed his view, and the Paris government also sent a military observation mission. The cruel reality told them that the reservists were also able to fight.

As long as it is equipped with qualified officers, the reserve can be reorganized quickly, and the combat effectiveness is so much worse than that of the regular army, and the quality defects can be made up for by quantity.

Considering the size of the standing army in France, Napoleon IV thought it might not be enough. If it really fights with Austria, their baby army is likely to be killed by the number of enemies.

If the army is expanded, the advantage of the French army in combat effectiveness will no longer exist.

Once the war cannot be resolved quickly, the scumbags across the strait will intervene. Even if the war is barely won in the end, France does not have the strength to dominate Europe.

There is nothing wrong. When France and Austria were making strategic plans, they both regarded the British as the enemy, because the risks they had to take as allies were just as great.

The original plan went bankrupt, and Napoleon IV was hesitating to "cut off the enemy"

Do you want to continue the implementation of the "Human Wing's Strategic Plan" or change it?

As for promising the British to support the establishment of the North German Empire, that is a joke. If you don't release kindness, how can you numb them?

You must know that most of the troops of the German Federal Empire are used to guard against France, and other areas are almost not fortified. It is almost as if no one will invade them except for France.

Facts have proved that this judgment seems to be true. Prussia and Austria will not invade the German Confederation, and Belgium, the Netherlands, and Switzerland cannot defeat them. There is indeed only one threat to France.

Before Napoleon IV made a decision, the French people made the choice for him. Anti-war ideology broke out again, and it started in Paris and spread to the world.

This is all young and inexperienced, otherwise Napoleon IV should have thought of it long ago. The various trends of thought, new ideas, and new doctrines in Europe... that did not start in Paris, and the "Holy Land" is not just a nameless name.

Napoleon IV should be thankful that he did not act in advance, otherwise the anti-war wave would break out, and the French people would teach him how to behave.

In a sense, Austria also missed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and continental hegemony has never been so close to them.

If he knew the French plan, Franz would definitely find a way to delay the exposure of Prussian and Russian casualty data until the French took military action.

Everyone knows that the combat effectiveness of the army is closely related to people's thoughts. The combat effectiveness of the French army in the anti-war wave is undoubtedly the lowest.

When the French army invaded the German region, only the French army was affected by the anti-war. The army of the German Federation was defending the country and the soldiers would not clamor for anti-war.

The Austrian army can also be unaffected and defend the territorial integrity of the German region, which is national justice. No matter how much you resist the war, it is impossible for the enemy to fight back and not fight back.

Anyone who has studied French history knows that when a wave of ideas breaks out, it is often a period of rapid spread of revolutionary ideas.

Against the background of the anti-war of the whole people, if there is another big defeat for the French army on the front line, there is a chance that there will be another revolution.

The success or failure of a revolution is not important. The most important thing is that revolutionary ideas will be contagious. As long as a revolution breaks out within, the great French Empire will be over.

The Italians' enthusiasm for independence is also not low. The revolution broke out in France and caught up with the French-Austrian War. It would be difficult for the Italian independent organization not to break out.

So many people are holding back, not to mention Napoleon IV, even if Napoleon himself went into battle, he would not be able to recover.

After winning the Franco-Austrian War, it would be difficult for the German region to not be unified. At that point, no one can stop it except God.

Once the German region is unified, the continental hegemony is a certainty. Even if France and Russia can slow down, it will be more than ten or twenty years later.

Such a long time is enough for many things to happen, for example: let the Italian region become independent, pull Spain over, or establish an alliance to tie the beans of Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the Nordic Federation to the ship.

There is no if in reality. Napoleon IV, who is sulking, does not know that the anti-war wave that made him depressed saved his dynasty.

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The Foreign Secretary Dumbledore reported: "Your Majesty, the Vienna government has sent us a diplomatic note, hoping to join us in taking the lead in formulating a European Army Armament Convention to avoid another continental war."

I have to say that now is a good time to limit the army's armaments. The Prussian-Russian War has just ended, and everyone is still immersed in the "eight million" loss figure and cannot extricate themselves.

The anti-war wave is still spreading. Whether it is the people or politicians, everyone's fear of war is at its peak.

Hearing this news, Napoleon IV's depressed mood was relieved a little, and he pretended to despise: "The Austrians are afraid, it seems that they are not very courageous!"

Everyone is old fritters, and it is natural to see that Napoleon IV's words are insincere. Everyone is a normal person. After seeing the cruelty of the Prussian-Russian war, who can not be afraid.

The most typical example is the members of the military observation group sent. Many members of the main war faction, after feeling the cruelty of the war, all became the vanguard of the anti-war.

It's not that they are afraid of war, it can only be said that they have matured, become rational, and know how to weigh the pros and cons.

After relieving his depressed mood, Napoleon IV continued to ask: "What else? Austria is not short of money now. They can't limit their armaments just for world peace, right?"

When it comes to the word "no shortage of money", Napoleon IV still has a trace of unnaturalness. There is no way he is jealous. Now the two countries with the strongest financial resources in the world are Britain and Austria.

Although France is one of the three major countries, it has fallen behind financially. Don't look at the fiscal revenue France does not need to be less than Britain and Austria, that is everyone's calculation method is different.

Taking Austria as an example, the finances of the central government and the state governments are separate, and there are only a few taxes included in the fiscal revenue, and most of the fiscal revenue remains in the hands of the state governments.

The same is true in Britain, where the taxation of the London government is likewise divided. Otherwise, the navy will take half of the annual income of only 700 million to 80 million pounds, and the rest may not even be enough for the salaries of public officials.

If nothing else, the Indian colonies alone spend tens of millions of pounds in maintenance costs every year, and the colonial expenditure of the British Empire is an astronomical figure.

On the surface, France has the highest financial income, almost equal to the sum of Britain and Austria. In fact, they are the poorest.

High fiscal revenue, that is unified into the central financial

results of the political settlement. All expenses require funding from the central government. It seems that the government has a lot of money, but in fact it is just a pass.

Dumbledore, the foreign secretary, replied: "There is news from the Embassy in Vienna that the Austrian Admiralty submitted a military expansion plan to the government not long ago, and it has entered the government's discussion stage.

Perhaps stimulated by the Prussian-Russian War, the Austrians gave up their European hegemony. At this time, they proposed to limit the army's armaments, which may be a precursor to the strategic focus on the sea. "

Napoleon IV did not find it surprising that Austria's strategic center of gravity shifted outward. In fact, the Paris government agreed that someone proposed to abandon the continental hegemony and turn its strategic focus to the ocean.

"Do you think we need to follow up?"

Undoubtedly, the result of the follow-up was to agree with the Austrian proposal to limit the size of the army and put the saved money into the navy.

The Minister of the Navy, Hamdi Halbauwi, replied first: "Your Majesty, the European continent is really too small. There are more than a dozen countries in just one corner, and the most powerful countries in the world are gathered here.

It is too difficult to make a difference in the European continent. With the same investment of resources, we can earn ten times and hundred times overseas.

Facts have proved that the future of the world lies in the ocean, and whoever controls the sea will control the world. "

"If your so-called benefits are territory, then I have nothing to say. The cost of expanding on the European continent is more than enough to obtain ten times the size of colonies overseas.

It's just that there are differences between land and land. Can the land of the colonies be compared with the land of the European continent? ' retorted War Secretary Patrice McMahon

Axiology, this is the most common view. Almost all Europeans feel that European land is more valuable.

Admiralty Minister Hamdi Halbaugh shook his head: "The land overseas is not worse than Europe, it's just that it has not been developed. All the resources we need can be obtained from overseas, but this is impossible in continental Europe.

Even if it cannot be developed and the value of overseas colonies is reduced, quantitative changes will lead to qualitative changes. For the same investment, the gains from overseas colonies definitely outweighed the expansion on the European continent. "

This is a fact, investment on the European continent may not necessarily pay off, and overseas colonial expansion can basically pay off.

On the European continent, France must be cautious, and if you are not careful, you will be beaten by a group of people. The Paris government does not even dare to take a big step.

Overseas is different. France's strength is swept overseas. Basically, it can't meet a decent opponent, and its competitors are only a few colonial empires.

Compared with the timidity on the European continent, if you disagree with each other overseas, you can start working. Anyway, there are plenty of colonial conflicts, as long as you don't play too much, you can't cause a war.

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