The arms race in Europe has begun, and the Franco-Austrian negotiations are nearing completion. Napoleon III wanted to establish Greater France, and Franz also wanted to establish the Great HRE Empire, and both sides had their own calculations.

There is no doubt that a strategic conflict between France and Austria is almost a foregone conclusion. However, the time of the outbreak of the conflict is definitely not now.

Before the establishment of the empire, France and Austria were allies and needed to join forces to share the international pressure, which was a cooperation with the tiger.

On June 6, 1866, Wesenberg, the new Foreign Minister of the Holy Roman Empire, and Abraham, the French Foreign Secretary, signed the Treaty of June 6.

The contents of the treaty include: 1. The formal alliance between France and the new Holy Roman Empire is valid for ten years;

2. The two countries recognize each other's spheres of influence, mainly in the areas they currently actually control;

3. Austria sold the suzerainty of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the Papal States, Tuscany and other Italian states to France for 20 million Aegis (250 million francs);

4. France sold the French Balkans to Austria for 200 million francs (8 million Aegis) and the colonies at the intersection of West Africa to the new Holy Roman Empire for 50 million francs;

5. Austria acquiesced in France's annexation of Belgium, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the Papal States, Tuscany and other regions, and in exchange for France not interfering in Austria's unification of the German regions; (Disputed areas are put on hold for the time being)

6. The division of spheres of influence between the two countries on the African continent:

The French gained most of North Africa and parts of West Africa;

(Note: Mainly parts of present-day Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Western Sahara, Senegal, Gambia, Mali, Niger, Chad and Sudan...... ）

The New Holy Roman Empire gained most of West and Central Africa, parts of North Africa, and South Africa;

(Mainly in present-day Libya, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Central Africa, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Chod and parts of Sudan...... ）

Note: Most of East Africa and South Africa, which have not yet been included in the sphere of influence of the two countries, will be the first to go, and the two sides will recognize each other's sphere of influence on the African continent.

……

There is no doubt that the June 66 treaty is full of compromises and uncertainties, and the alliance has only been formed for 10 years, and both sides are mentally prepared to turn around in the future.

The core conflict, the Rhineland, is not explicitly stipulated in the treaty, which lays a hidden danger for the future of the two countries.

Of course, there is no verbal agreement in the treaty that whoever owns it belongs to whom. In other words, whose fist is the biggest one.

How to determine the specifics, when the French empire is built, or when the German regions are unified first, it is time to solve the problem.

In Franz's view, apart from sharing diplomatic pressure with the French, the treaty was divided only by the interests of the African continent, and France and Austria each occupied a third of the continent.

If it weren't for the lack of strength of the two countries in East Africa and South Africa, they might have ended up directly carving up the African continent.

Enclosure is just an agreement, and the African continent is not small, even if it is a third, it is more than 10 million square kilometers.

Franz sent so many immigrants there, and the actual control area on the continent was less than five million square kilometers, and the rest was only nominal rule.

Not to mention the French, even if Napoleon III emigrated from the Balkans on a large scale, there were millions of immigrants in the French African colonies, and it was okay to control the coastal areas, and there was no need to think about it further.

Austria's colonization is okay, even if there are still colonial strongholds of various countries, it is not a climate, and it is not difficult to get rid of it.

The French will have to be busy, for example: Egypt, did the British agree? Another example: the Moroccan region, but also ask Spain and John Bull if they agree.

It makes sense that East Africa and South Africa will not be divided for the time being. The French really can't swallow it, it's easy to sign a treaty, but they don't have the strength to turn it into reality, that's a joke.

The bifurcation of the African continent is just a matter of France and Austria behind closed doors, and in fact this plan cannot be realized until the British, Portuguese, Spaniards, and Dutch are kicked out.

For Franz, the Dutch were negligible, as were the Spaniards, two countries with little influence on the continent and no match for the new Holy Roman Empire.

A moment in the treaty of Austria, a moment of the new Holy Roman Empire, this is the European tradition of Europe There is no way, otherwise there is no legal effect.

The suzerainty of the Italian state was in Austria, although this was only tacitly acquiesced, but since the French now recognized it, they could only buy it from Austria.

Similarly, Franz was going to annex the French Balkans to Austria, and that would have to be paid for by Austria itself, otherwise the other states would have an opinion.

And the colonies were owned by the new Holy Roman Empire, which was naturally purchased with funds from the central government. Although for Franz it was a left-handed versus right-handed issue, what had to be done was to follow the legal process.

The states of the empire all reaped the benefits of the colonies, and the cost of colonization was naturally shared by everyone.

After the indigenization of the African colonies, there will be more problems, and now it is necessary to clarify these systems.

Franz was very satisfied with the treaty. Austria had long since lost control of the Italian state, or had never really controlled it.

If Italy is annexed, within ten years, Austria will become a copy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which should be called the "Austrian-Italian Empire".

Knowing that Italy has a population of more than 25 million people, and is still a nation with a unified culture and tradition, Franz has already experienced how difficult it is to assimilate.

After all these years, Lombardy-Venesia still has a strong Italian flavor, while the rest of Austria has basically changed under the influence of Germanic culture.

There is no way, it is easy for them to learn German and German, and it is enough to send the children to school, but it will take a lot of time to wash away the local customs and culture.

In any case, the imprint of Italy will be diluted a little bit after each generation, and it will take two or three generations at the current pace for Austrian Italy to basically complete national integration.

Many of the other nationalities in Austria have become Germans.

For example, the Czechs have long been culturally assimilated, and apart from the difference in language and writing, there is no difference between the local life and customs influenced by the aristocracy and the Germans. Now that the language is unified, the final problem no longer exists.

Franz could not do anything with more than 20 million Italians, so he could only send them to the scourge of the French. No matter how powerful the French Empire can be in the short term, as long as France and Italy merge together, sooner or later they will follow in the footsteps of Austria-Hungary.

Don't look at the fact that the total population of France is now close to 440,000, which is the result of the annexation of the Kingdom of Sardinia and the bringing with it more than 6 million people. The main ethnic groups of France now include: French, Corsican, Breton, and Italians.

It's just that the French, Corsicans, and Bretons have completed their national integration, and the new Italians are alien to them.

Annexation of a few more Italian states, and the majority nation of Napoleon III's Great French Empire would become Italians.

It is estimated that he will not care about this question, in the case that the emperor himself is Italian, the Italians have become the largest nation, is it still a problem?

It was too early to talk about this, and the biggest question for Napoleon III was how to annex these Italian states, not how to think about the troubles that would come with annexation.

It is impossible to swallow it raw, and the European countries will not let this happen. France is also not the HRE Empire, and several state seats can be added.

De jure, the Kingdom of Sardinia was still an independent state, and they were co-monarchs with the French, not part of France.

Although the Parisian government controlled the internal and foreign affairs of the Kingdom of Sardinia, it could not change this. The French wanted to unite the Kingdom of Sardinia, and they had a long way to go.

What Napoleon III thought Franz did not know, but Franz had already helped to prepare the plan for the annexation of the Italian states.

When the conditions are ripe, it will appear in the hands of Napoleon III. The solution was very simple: first form the Italian Confederation, join the Italian states, and then let the Italian Confederation and France form a new federal empire.

Does it sound familiar? That's right, this is what Franz designed specifically for Napoleon III with reference to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Anyway, if you haven't experienced it, no one knows how pitted the dualistic empire will be. Just like the original time and space, the formation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is considered a revival of the Habsburg Empire.

Coupled with the fact that Napoleon III did not have the legal system of the Italian region at all, and there were very few supporters among the people, and now he could only ascend to the throne by force, this hidden danger was even greater.

Prime Minister Felix said worriedly: "Your Majesty, we have obtained the French Balkans, and there are still a series of problems to deal with in the future, and one bad will lead to even greater trouble."

It was clearly stipulated in the Russian-Austrian Secret Treaty that the current French Balkans were assigned to the Russians. Even though we bought it from the French, the treaty was not a small problem.

The Dardanelles, in particular, have always been eyed by the Russians. Now they are busy with the Russo-Prussian war, maybe they will not say anything, and in the future these are hidden dangers in Russian-Austrian relations. ”

The annexation of the French Balkans was, of course, a good thing for Austria. Not only did he pull out a nail in the back, but he also extended his influence to the Aegean region.

However, the consequences are not small, Austria acts as the door god of Europe, blocking the Russians in the Black Sea, and the Russian-Austrian alliance is bound to be divided.

With an ambitious France and a-stirring stick Britain to the west, and the Russians to the east, Austria will not have a good time ahead.

Franz said indifferently: "It doesn't matter, this is our deal with the French." If the Russians are interested in these areas, they can pay for them, multiplying the price by 10.

We can also accept the exchange of land, and if the tsarist government is bent on gaining access to the Mediterranean, let them pay the price they deserve!

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs can make contact with the Russians, and it is acceptable to all regions bordering our homeland, except for the Polish region, which we do not want. ”

This is nonsense, if the tsarist government had been so rich, it would have conquered the entire Balkan Peninsula in one fell swoop, and the Russo-Prussian War ended last year.

At that time, the Polish region had not been lost, most of the military rations could be solved locally, there was a waterway to connect Austria, and logistics was not a problem. As long as they were willing to throw money at it, the million-strong army would have pressed all the way over, and the Prussians would have already knelt on their knees.

If you don't have money, you can only replace the territory, don't look at the great business of the Russians, but the territory bordering Austria, in addition to Russian Poland, is only the Western Ukraine region. This is almost a clear telling the Russians that they have their eye on the region of Western Ukraine.

The tsarist government disagrees with the specific land exchange, and this is not the point. Anyway, for twenty years, there is no possibility that the Russians will make a comeback.

Twenty years is enough time to change a lot of things, and by then Austria's Africa strategy will be almost complete, and the French will jump into the pit if nothing happens.

With any luck, the French themselves may have collapsed. Napoleon III is almost sixty years old, and his health is not very good, the original time and space were hung in 1873, and it is not known how long he can live now.

He had many illegitimate sons, but only one legitimate son. Born only in 1856, Napoleon III would not have been able to control the empire if his son had lived a few more years.

The dualistic empire is not something that ordinary people can play with, and if they don't have enough prestige and skills to suppress the opposition, they will have problems when they say it.

And in Paris, the holy land of the revolution, where any disturbance could trigger a revolution, the young monarch was a disaster.

Even if there is no disaster, it can be artificial, for example: supporting the independence of the Italians, or the sudden outbreak of the Franco-Austrian war.

As long as France is defeated and the crisis of fighting on two fronts is freed, Russia and Austria can really get along amicably.