On 1 July 1853, Prime Minister Felix visited the Grand Duchy of Baden again for a historic meeting with Prince Friedrich, the regent.

Prime Minister Felix continued to flicker: "Your Highness, the reunification of Germany is the common wish of all the German people, and the Bavarian government, which stands in the way of the mantis, has been abandoned by the people.

History has given us the mission to achieve national reunification at this time. As aristocrats of the German region, it is our duty to fulfill this obligation. ”

Prince Friedrich was a headache in the face of the deceitful Prime Minister Felix, and now that "reunification" was politically correct in the Duchy of Baden, he did not dare to make a mistake on this issue with the experience of the Bavarian government.

Felix's flickering was accompanied by the Austrian threat of force.

The Kingdom of Bavaria had been settled, and the Austrian army involuntarily moved to the borders of the Grand Duchy of Baden, not too many of them only about 100,000 men.

This figure has already made Prince Friedrich sleep badly. In his opinion, 100,000 Austrian troops were not needed, even 10,000 Austrian troops were a serious threat.

Fortunately, the Austrians knew that they saluted before they served, so there was room for manoeuvre. Even if it is going to be merged, it must be sold for a good price, right?

Prince Friedrich raised the question in his heart: "Your Excellency, as a nobleman of the German region, I am also willing to contribute to the unification of the German region, and the problem now is that the European countries do not want to see the unification of Germany."

Britain, France, and Russia all made it clear that they would intervene in the event of the unification of Germany, and the Prussians would collude with them.

If we fail to deal with this issue properly, we will have the liberty of embarking on a process of reunification, which is very likely to turn into a war of great proportions. ”

Aristocracy is not only a privilege, but also a responsibility, which is why European aristocracy is respected.

Prince Friedrich could not directly refuse the unification of Germany, and simply put the problem of unification in front of him, and by the way, he also blackened a wave of Prussians.

If Austria could not solve this problem, then there would be no way to talk about reunification, and it would be a big deal to let Austria eat Bavaria, and it would be over.

Prince Friedrich had no intention of holding grievances for the Bavarian government, and the Austrians had paid attention to their appearances and publicly promised that the royal families of the two countries would exchange their lands.

Although the exact location has not been disclosed, it is already the best option for the Bavarian royal family. As a royal family abandoned by the people, it is better to change places to keep the throne if they continue to stay in Bavaria, so it is better to change places to keep the foundation.

Felix said with a full conviction: "Your Highness can rest assured of this question. If we cannot solve the diplomatic problem, we will not dare to mention reunification at this time.

The current world situation, presumably His Royal Highness is also very clear, Britain, France and Russia are fighting fiercely in the Near East, and now even if they want to interfere, they are more than willing to do it.

As long as everyone agrees, the reunification of the German regions will not be a problem. The trouble now is the Kingdom of Prussia, which has always been ambitious and wants to annex the whole of Germany.

We will try to fight for it, and if the Prussian government is against it, and if it colludes with the Great Powers, then this time we will first unify the South German region.

This is the bottom line of Austria, and if anyone dares to hinder it, then see you at war! ”

Prince Friedrich understood that the first ones were all routines, and the last sentence was the real purpose of Austria.

After careful consideration, he found that the success rate of the plan seemed to be very high, the Kingdom of Bavaria was finished, and the southern German regions no longer resisted their forces.

If it is the reunification of Germany, Britain, France, and Russia will certainly not be able to tolerate it. If it had been replaced by the partition of North and South Germany, the result would have been different.

Austria is getting bigger, but this kind of bigness just stepped on everyone's bottom line, and it can't threaten everyone's survival.

For the British, there is no need to worry about the balance of the European continent getting out of control, and the stronger Austria is on a par with the French, at most it is a line stronger, and it is not as good as the Russians.

Anyway, Austria is surrounded by Russia, France and France, and at this point, it can no longer expand, even if it is a little stronger, it is within the range of bearing.

Not to mention the Russians, the Russian-Austrian alliance is a well-known thing, as long as it does not unify the entire German region and make the Russians feel threatened, the rest they can accept.

Prince Friedrich guessed that Russia and Austria had already reached an agreement, otherwise the Austrians would not have dared to act at this time.

France alone doesn't seem to be able to scare Austria, so who is afraid of who if it fights? As long as Napoleon was not reborn, Austria to unify the South German region was not at all intimidated.

Prince Friedrich involuntarily acquiesced in his heart that the people were in favor of unification, and in this view, the military strength of Austria was calculated with the strength of several states in the South German region.

There is nothing wrong with this calculation, when the French come over, they can't fight if they want to. Foreign enemies invade, and anyone dares to shout that neutrality is not possible?

Prince Friedrich thought for a moment and said: "Your Excellency, Prime Minister, in principle, I agree with the reunification of the German region, and the Duchy of Baden will not hinder the unification of the country, but we still need to discuss the specific details. ”

The competing interests cannot be retreated, and now Prince Friedrich naturally wants to fight for the interests of the Duchy of Baden, or rather for himself.

Felix showed joy and got a positive answer, he knew that the Duchy of Baden had been done, and he was afraid to talk about the specific conditions?

You must know that there is a law in the world called the Constitution, and the central government can completely restrict the rights of local governments through laws.

In the new government, Austria is absolutely dominant, how can these small states contend with each other?

Felix flickered and said: "There is no problem, considering that each state in the German region has its own system, in principle, we advocate the autonomy of the states.

Apart from the observance of a common Constitution, the central government does not normally interfere in the governance of local governments. ”

There is a prerequisite for all of this, and that is - temporary.

Prince Friedrich was satisfied, not satisfied, and Prime Minister Felix's attitude was too resolute, and the threat of force was so strong that he could not say no.

As for leaking the plans of the Austrians, Prince Friedrich was not so stupid, it was a thankless task.

Even if Britain and France knew, they would not be able to change the result of the unification of the Duchy of Baden in the end, and it was the best choice to sell the Duchy of Baden for a good price now.

If you turn your face, you can refer to the treatment of the Bavarian royal family. Replacing the land sounds good, but in fact they have lost a lot of money, and the results of several generations of business are gone, and they have to start over.

What if the Austrian government is shameless, and after ten or eight years, it has made a moth and found an excuse to take them down from the throne?

In the new land, they don't have a deep mass base, and if they abolish the royal family, they will be abolished, and they can't even toss up turmoil.

On 9 July 1853, after a week of negotiations, Chancellor Felix signed the Declaration of German Unification on behalf of Austria and the Duchy of Baden represented by Prince Friedrich.

To put it simply, from now on the Duchy of Baden and Austria are considered to be the same country, although the nascent Parallel HRE Empire has not yet been established.

Prior to this, the Duchy of Saxony had already signed a contract. The Austrian government coerced and lured a set of combination punches to beat it down, and the people in the country followed suit, and it was difficult for them to compromise without compromise!

Nationalism in Germany had been detonated, the Bavarian government, which was hindering national unity, was ousted by Austria, and the Duchy of Saxony and Baden came to an agreement with Austria.

It seemed that the day of the reunification of Germany was not far off, and by the time Chancellor Felix arrived in Württemberg, the crowd had already filled the streets and had to negotiate in a manor house outside the city.

When Austria declared war, everyone thought that war was inevitable, but the Bavarians succeeded in turning the war into an armed parade, and the dawn of peaceful reunification reappeared.

Before the negotiations began, the Württemberg government was already under great pressure. Prior to this, many people had already publicly stated that they would not help the government fight if a war of unification broke out.

In order to prevent the Bavarian government from repeating the old things, the Kingdom of Württemberg naturally succumbed, as long as Austria can handle the international pressure, then everyone is a family.

On July 11, 1853, the unfounded Parallel Empire of the HRE had emerged: Austria, Bavaria, Baden, Saxony, and Württemberg.

South Germany has basically been unified, Felix is on his way to Hesse-Darmstadt, and the Free City of Frankfurt has announced its entry into the HRE Empire.

By this time, Britain, France, Russia and other countries that were ready to intervene had already reached an agreement. On July 6, Britain, France, and Russia issued a joint statement declaring a one-month truce in the Near East.

The next day, 12 European countries, including Britain, France, and Russia, issued a joint note demanding that Austria halt the reunification of Germany.

Without any threatening language, with just this note, Austria had to stop the pace of reunification, but by this time Franz's goal had been accomplished.

The German region, which had just seen the dawn of reunification, immediately fell into a wail, and many people helplessly found that reunification was still far away.

The Kingdom of Prussia was also present among the intervening countries this time, and Franz was not surprised by this. What's the point of having a little infamy for the sake of profit?

Anyway, now that their reputations have been ruined, broken jars and broken, Frederick William IV doesn't mind being scolded a few more times.

If the Kingdom of Prussia had not taken part in this operation, it was certain that the partition of the German regions would have nothing to do with them.

Supporting Prussia against Austria? Such a good thing, just think about it in your dreams.

Britain said that Hanover is its own little brother and cannot give up, otherwise where will the boss's face go? Isn't it enough to counterbalance Austria, the French and the Russians?

The French said that Lao Tzu is not stupid, it is not enough to have Austria as a competitor, and now there is another one?

The Russians said that they can, support you spiritually, and you have to fight for your own practical interests, and Russia is not stupid.

The interests of Europe were so great that if the Prussians took one more, it meant that others would have to take less.

What idiot is willing to take out his own interests and cultivate an opponent?

The geographical location has been decided, and once the Kingdom of Prussia rises, it will be everyone's competitor. Because now there was not enough meat left for the Kingdom of Prussia, they had to go and grab it.

Balancing Austria? As soon as Germany was divided, Austria's expansion was stopped.

To the west were the French, to the east were the Russians, to the north were Prussia, to the south were the Balkans, the Kingdom of Sardinia in the southwest was the younger brother of the British, and the other states in Italy were originally the younger brother of Austria.

What can Austria choose? Oh, and there's a Switzerland that wants nothing and doesn't have any interest in the backbone of Europe unless the Vienna government has a collective brain flood.

According to the plan proposed by the Russians, Austria either stood still and went out to colonize if it wanted to expand!

This Britain and France really did not coerce, and Austria was really not an opponent in overseas competition, and the geographical location determined the passivity of the colonial strategy.

At least until the Suez Canal is dug up, Austria's overseas development will be stuck by Britain and France, and it will not be competitive.