After a series of bargaining, on December 17, 1891, the anti-French alliance finally reached an agreement and signed the "Draft of the Disposition of France".

At this point, the spoils sharing meeting is almost complete. It was enough to get the French to sign at the Vienna Peace Conference and establish its legitimacy.

Although the countries of the anti-French alliance had agreed in advance, it was still a sign of efficiency that a preliminary agreement could be reached in less than two months.

After getting the signed treaty, Franz was very suspicious that everyone was going home for Christmas as soon as possible.

The "Draft" is indeed the "Draft", and apart from the agreement on the general framework, the specific details are basically blank, and even many of the provisions are ambiguous.

For example, the territory of France is divided into only one place, and the specific boundary line is not reflected in the treaty.

It seems to be very clear, but in fact, it is a huge gap. In the thousand-year history of Europe, the area governed by the same geographical name has not been static. The specific period is not clearly stipulated in the treaty.

As a vested interest, this is clearly a good thing for Austria. The absence of an explicit agreement means that there is more room for maneuver, and a slight shift in the boundary line is not a problem.

The boundary line is not clear, and the amount of compensation is also not fixed, but the distribution ratio of each country is agreed, and the specific details can be negotiated.

In any case, we must leave something for the Vienna Peace Conference to do, and by the way, listen to the opinions of various countries, otherwise the rest of the play will not be able to be performed.

The treaty reads as follows:

Territorial aspects

Austria recovered the Duchy of Lorraine, the province of Alsace, and parts of the Kingdom of Burgundy (Franche-Comté), totaling about 47,000 square kilometers;

The Flemish and Artois countries (northern Calais Strait region) were allocated to Belgium with an area of about 12,000 square kilometers;

The Duchy of Savoie (Haute-Savoie, Savoie) was assigned to Switzerland with an area of about 10,300 square kilometers;

Parts of Provence were assigned to the Kingdom of Sardinia, with an area of about 30,000 square kilometers;

Corsica was given to Tuscany and covered an area of about 8,682 square kilometers;

Spain recovered the Roussillon region, covering an area of about 24,000 square kilometers;

Andorra became independent (468 km²) and Monaco was restored to its original territory (20 km²).

War reparations

Austria 33.4%, Russian Empire 20%, German Confederation 25.5%, Belgium 15.5%, Spain 0.3%, Switzerland 0.2%, Italy 4.5%, Montenegro, Greece and Armenia 0.2% each.

France needs to pay a total of 500~80 billion Aegis in war reparations (the specific figure was determined at the Vienna Peace Conference), and various countries set up a joint bank to provide loans to the French government to pay reparations, with a monthly interest rate of 5/1000, and repay the principal and interest in 99 years.

……

Despite its efforts, Austria was unable to completely divide France. Even the expulsion of the French from the Mediterranean, it was not possible.

It's not that it can't be done, it's that it can't be done. If you lose a battle, there is no problem in cutting land, but there must be a limit to cutting land, and it is best to have a legal basis.

As the de facto hegemon of the European continent, Austria has become the biggest beneficiary of the rules system, and it is natural to uphold the rules of the game.

In this context, the partition of France and Austria was under the banner of recovering the lost land, and the land obtained was also the homeland of the former HRE.

This argument is indeed far-fetched, but it is better to have a legal basis than not to have it. Plus the fist is big enough, and it's barely legal.

In contrast, the land allocated to allies is less elaborate. Except for Spain, which reluctantly found historical support, the rest can be regarded as defeated.

It's not that Franz is unwilling to give more, the problem is that the allies are limited in size, and if they don't do it, they will choke to death.

Moreover, the distribution of benefits should also be fair, and it must be able to convince the public. If the line is crossed, the prestige that Austria has built up so hard will be gone.

A careful study of the benefit distribution plan shows that the treaty is full of compromises. Except that the reparations of the Russians were agreed in advance, the rest were carried out on the basis of respective contributions.

For example, if Spain played soy sauce on the battlefield, except for the pre-agreed reconquest of lost territory, the war reparations received were only symbolic.

And Belgium, because of its heavy losses in the war, made a lot of contributions, and received a lot of territory and reparations.

The German Confederation, which also made a significant contribution, received its share of the war reparations second only to Austria because it did not receive territorial compensation.

The Kingdom of Sardinia seems to have acquired a lot of territory, but in fact it was also based on the premise that the Duchy of Savoy was allocated to Switzerland, which was of a compensatory nature.

Moreover, these benefits are not yet something that their family can eat, and they must share them with other Italian states in the future.

This is still the result of Austria's deliberate care, otherwise it would be nice for the Italian state, which contributed a limited amount in the war against France, to be independent, and what more bicycles do you want?

This can be regarded as imitating the British tactics of burying nails, and it is estimated that the relationship between the Kingdom of Sardinia and Switzerland will not be good in the future, and the relationship with other countries will most likely not be good.

Putting down the text of the treaty, Franz asked suspiciously: "Why is there no content about the allocation of colonies?" ”

It's not that Franz is making a fuss, as the third colonial empire in the world, the French have many colonies, many of which are high-quality assets. It stands to reason that it should be something that everyone is fighting for, but now it is not mentioned in the draft.

Wesenberg explained: "Your Majesty, the colonial question has indeed been discussed, but everyone is more than they can do.

Belgium was too busy rebuilding after the war to run the colony; Spain also had to fight the Philippine War, not to fight for colonies.

Originally, the Russians wanted to get French Indochina, but unfortunately the British were eyeing it. None of us can compete with the British in the Far East, and even less so with the Russians.

The rest of the countries were about the same, limited by national strength, and even if the colonial interests were determined at the conference, they were not able to defend them, so they simply shelved this part. ”

There is no mention of the German Confederation, and that is because the German-Austrian merger is already underway. Now it was only in order to set off the image of Austria that the German Confederation was separately involved in the distribution of benefits after the war.

Otherwise, Austria will take too much, which will easily cause unbalance in everyone's hearts.

In fact, there are already people who are unbalanced in their hearts. Otherwise, there would not have been a question of "shelving" the allocation of colonies.

The fattest "French Africa" was swallowed by Austria in one gulp, and the remaining French colonies were scattered all over the world, all of which had their own peculiarities and were not at all for everyone to peep into.

Since you can't get it, it's natural that you can't see it. The allies did not participate in the distribution of colonies, and Austria naturally could not force everyone to endorse it.

Franz nodded: "Since they are not willing to participate, then we will solve the problem of the colony ourselves."

In addition to the French Africa that we have already won, we also want to get as much as possible the French colonies overseas, as well as the French part of the Americas.

As for the French Indochina Peninsula, we can't take care of it for the time being, and if the British want it, we will give it to them, and we can't stop it anyway.

These are minor problems, but the real problem is the debt problem of France.

The final war reparations, whether 50 billion or 80 billion, cannot be paid by the French, and a debt default is bound to occur.

These questions must be taken into account as to what we should do and what we can do in the event of a default on the French debt, preferably explicitly in the treaty. ”

If it is tens of billions of francs, it is estimated that the French government will be able to get it together by gritting its teeth, but it is a pity that the anti-French alliance wants Aegis.

Even according to the minimum standard of 50 billion Aegis, it is 183,000 tons of gold, and it may not be possible to get it together if it is sold in France.

Not only can the principal be repaid, but even the interest cannot be repaid. According to the monthly interest rate of 5/1000, the interest of each month is 250 million Aegis.

Mo said that the French, even Austria, the Aegis seal, could not afford this debt.

It doesn't matter if you can't afford it, Franz was not ready to let the French pay it back. With this debt under its weight, Austria had sufficient reason to prohibit the French from developing armaments.

In fact, the plan of the French to restrict Germany in the original time and space was not wrong, but there was a problem in the implementation of it, and they killed themselves.

Prime Minister Karl reminded: "Your Majesty, the amount of this debt is too great for the French to pay it off.

Even if the Paris government agrees, the French people will oppose it. Once all the French people resist, I am afraid that we will not only not get the reparations, but will continue to spend military money on it.

For the good of the Empire, it is better to set an amount of indemnity that is within their reach. It can not only limit the development of France, but also avoid the pressure of public opinion. ”

If you can't pay it back, you won't pay it back, and it's not news that you're paying off your debts. If it were to be pressed, France would probably enter into a long period of anarchy, and then the mountains would be full of guerrillas.

This is the European continent, and many extreme measures cannot be used. If the worst were to happen, there would be nothing Austria could actually do.

The so-called military control of France is actually still intimidating and has more practical significance. The anti-French alliance is strong, but if it really doesn't see a return, I'm afraid no one wants to go crazy with Austria.

Franz nodded: "The Prime Minister is right, the French really can't afford this reparation." If you force it too much, it's not beautiful.

However, this amount of reparations was approved by the meeting of the anti-French alliance, which means that most of our allies approve of this figure, and we cannot easily change it.

In two months' time, the Vienna Peace Conference would begin, and it would be left to the conference for discussion, leaving it up to the French themselves to find a way to persuade the countries to reduce the amount of reparations.

As long as the French Government is willing to disband its armed forces and pledge not to develop armaments, we will not make things difficult for them on the issue of reparations. ”

Frankly, Franz did not think that such a huge reparations figure could be passed at an internal meeting of the anti-French alliance.

According to the prior plan, as long as the French were able to bear the reparations of 3 billion Aegis, Franz was satisfied.

It's not too much, it's really meaningless. France, which has lost its overseas colonies and suffered from the baptism of war on its own soil, is no longer the French Empire with deep pockets.

The compensation of 3 billion Aegis is 15 million per month. To make up the monthly reparations, the nascent French government had to not only disband the army, but also save money.

The huge indemnity was in itself intended to make the allies oppose, to be precise, to induce the Russians to oppose it, and to make the Russians stand in opposition to the West, Sweden, Belgium, and Sa.

I don't know if the Russians discovered the plan or were tempted by the huge amount of reparations. In short, the Russian representatives did not jump out against it.

No one objected, and Austria could not have come out to oppose it on its own. Add up the losses that all parties have taken out, and then the astronomical amount of compensation comes out.

Fortunately, this is only a draft, and there is room for revision. If a formal treaty is signed, it will force the French government to play dead.

A similar case has occurred in the original plane. After the First World War, the French proposed an indemnity of 6000~800 billion gold marks to the Germans, and then it was cut all the way to 132 billion gold marks.

In the end, it was helpless to find that the defeated Germans still could not afford to pay the reparations. In order to allow the Germans to pay reparations, the Entente came up with brain-dead industrial products to pay off their debts.

Not only did it preserve the industry for the enemy, but it also allowed German manufacturing to enter the British and French colonies through reparations unimpeded. The capital consortium took the opportunity to make a windfall, and the sequelae was the domestic economic depression, and no one invested in manufacturing.

With such a precedent, Franz was naturally wary. Always remind yourself that reparations are only a means to suppress the enemy, not an end in itself.