On February 21, 1850, under diplomatic pressure from Britain, France and Russia, the Prussian government and the Kingdom of Denmark signed the Treaty of Prussia and Berlin in Berlin.

The Prussian government recognized the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Denmark over the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein, and the Prussian-Danish War officially ended.

Before the treaty was signed, under strong pressure from the Russians, Prussian troops had effectively withdrawn from the Kingdom of Denmark, including the abandonment of the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein.

After the treaty was signed, the delegation of the German Confederation left the scene in anger, refusing to recognize the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Denmark over the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein.

The Prussian government was trapped, and this time it was not only the German states, but also the Russians, and it was clear that Nicholas I was warning the Prussians to be honest.

At the time of the negotiations, at the beginning of the German federal delegation still supported Prussia, and there was a fierce quarrel with the Russian representatives, but under the unanimous attitude of Britain, France and Russia, the delegation soon relented and approved the mediation of Britain, France and Russia.

Originally, everyone signed the treaty together, but after the Prussian government signed the treaty, the federal delegation immediately slipped away and put all the responsibility on the Prussian government.

That's right, it's just slipping away. The so-called angry departure, that is all said to the people, anyway, the federal delegation did not sign the treaty, whatever you want.

The Prussians also thought that Britain, France and Russia would force the German Confederation to sign a treaty to settle the question of the Schleswig-Holstein principalities once and for all, but the Russian delegates left satisfied.

Without the Russians, Britain and France naturally did not bother to care.

In any case, the German Confederation was bordered only by the two principalities of Prussia and Schleswig-Holstein, and no matter how loud the slogans were shouted, the other states could only fire empty cannons.

The attitude of the German Confederation on this issue did not matter. Even this international organization is not actually a country, and all states have free diplomatic rights, and they themselves do not have the right to sign diplomatic treaties on their behalf.

Under the influence of the Treaty of Prussia Berlin, the prestige of the Kingdom of Prussia in the German region was greatly damaged, and it was unable to compete with Austria for the leadership of the German region.

At this time, the Prussian embassies of the German states were crowded with people collecting donations, holding high signs to collect debts in protest and demonstration, and from time to time rocks flew in.

The campaign was successful, and when donations were first collected, the newspapers published a strong statement by the Prussian government. Some of it is true, and most of it is made up by editors.

None of this matters, the people think it's true anyway. said that they would fight to the death with the Russians, but the battle was fought and coaxed, and the people who thought they had been deceived were venting their anger in this way.

The money will definitely not come back, and the Prussian government will be poor and clanged, even if the scolding is ten times worse, they will not be able to come up with the money.

In the end, the governments of various countries had to send troops to defend the Prussian embassy and provide them with living guarantees, and the Prussian embassy staff did not dare to go out to buy groceries when everyone was shouting and beating.

After the end of Prussia, the friendly relations between Austria and the German states began to turn cold.

The German Confederations, led by Bavaria, did not want to see the reunification of the German regions, and they tried to play a balance between the two states.

These states were close to Austria, and in addition to their religious and political influence, they were also related to the eating of the Kingdom of Prussia.

The Kingdom of Prussia was originally a small state, but it grew into the second largest state in the German region, and naturally it expanded all the way.

In just a few decades, the territory of the Kingdom of Prussia has tripled, and the black history of territorial expansion is naturally indispensable, which has aroused everyone's vigilance.

The foreign policy of the Metternich era was still valuable, at least to make the German Confederation think that Austria had no ambition to unify the German region, ignoring that Austria's national policy had changed.

At the recent Frankfurt Conference, the evidence of the Prussian government's involvement was poked out by Austria, which disgusted everyone, and the Austrian government gathered in a crowd with a single shout.

Now that the Kingdom of Prussia has been suppressed, the position of the Kingdom of Bavaria has changed again, and they do not want to see the power of Prussia unbalanced and a situation of dominance.

The normal combination is that the second child and the third child fight against the boss, and Austria can unite the third child to suppress the second child, which is already a great victory in diplomacy.

Now that it is back on track, the Bavarian government's diplomatic attitude has once again shifted.

Affected by the revolution of 1848, King Ludwig I of Bavaria was forced to abdicate. Before abdicating, Ludwig I issued a statement on March 6 promising that the Bavarian government would be committed to the cause of German freedom and unity.

This planted a political bomb for his son Maximi I, who succeeded to the throne.

There is no way, compared with Prussia to unify Germany, the national unionists in Bavaria prefer Austria, which has the same religious beliefs as them, to unify Germany.

Historically, Maximime stood on the opposite side of the people because he supported the constitution of the Frankfurt Conference and advocated the exclusion of Austria from the German region. In order to stabilize his rule, in 1851 it became pro-Austrian.

Regardless of who is leaning, the highest pursuit of the Bavarian government or the establishment of the triumvirate model of Opba, it is clear that the power of the Kingdom of Bavaria is too far from Pauba to do this.

The Kingdom of Bavaria moved closer to Prussia, which was welcomed by the westward Austrians. Dealing ruthlessly with allies, that influence is too bad, and the Austrian government also wants to be embarrassed.

If it is not ruthless, even if Austria unifies South Germany, these states will still exist independently, which will affect the centralization of Austria.

These states are mainly Bavaria, and the other small states are weak, and without this leading brother, they dare not cause chaos to the central government.

The appearance of Maximius I, the dying pro-Prussian king, undoubtedly provided the Austrian government with an opportunity to annex the Kingdom of Bavaria.

Now it will be up to him to see if he can create an excuse for Austria to justifiably abolish the Bavarian royal family.

In the Austrian Chancellor's Office, Felix said in a deep voice: "Austria's alliance with Bavaria has become an obstacle to our unification of Germany.

It was imperative to break the alliance, but Austria could not renegade on it, and it was better for the Bavarian government to betray it on its own initiative. The time for the dissolution of this covenant must also be chosen, not too early or too late. ”

This degree is difficult to grasp, and if the alliance is terminated early, because of geopolitical relations, then Austria's influence in the German Confederation will be greatly affected, and the Holy Roman League may also be affected.

If the two sides had maintained their alliance when Austria launched the war of unification, Maximi I would have directly declared the Kingdom of Bavaria to change its flag.

Anyone in Bavaria can be the leading party, but the king can't be the leading party, which is too costly.

If that happens, the Austrian government will cry.

Referring to the historical German Empire, the Kingdom of Bavaria retained independent political rights and could recruit its own troops.

Pulling several other states, the Bundestag, the highest authority of the German Empire, also had the right to veto provisions against them, the central government had nothing to do with them.

Metternich frowned and said, "There will always be excuses to find them, the question is whether our plan will succeed?" If the game had collapsed, the good fortune of the Austrian Empire would have been gone. ”

He doesn't like to take risks, and he doesn't agree with the Russian-Austrian Secret Treaty. But his arms could not reach his thighs, and in the current Austrian government, it was no longer his word.

Felix thought for a moment and said, "Mr. Metternich, the risk of Austrian unification of the South German region is not militarily.

If we had sent troops under the banner of a united Germany, there would be a very high possibility that the armies of these states would defect, and most of them would have supported German unity.

The enemy has no fighting spirit, and the possibility of our military defeat is almost zero.

The real risk comes diplomatically, and you have the best say in that.

The Russian-Austrian Secret Treaty has been signed, and in the absence of accidents, the Russians will be on our side.

The British were beyond their reach, and the danger came from two directions, France in the west and Prussia in the north, and if we could manage one of them, we would be victorious.

If the Austrian government can make concessions elsewhere, do you think it will be possible to convince the French to support us?

You don't need their support, just let the French government acquiesce.

Even by letting the French government waver within itself and delay their decision-making, we can unite with the Russians to subdue Prussia! ”

Metternich was lost in thought, easier said than done. There are many factors that affect the outcome of diplomacy, and they must be carefully considered, especially when it comes to the fate of a country.

After thinking about it, Metternich frowned and said: "There is a big hemorrhage in the Italian region, and the promise to cede all the territory west of the Rhine in exchange for the French to support us has three layers, and the possibility of neutrality has six layers.

As for delaying the decision-making time of the French government, if it were the current French government, even if it did nothing, they would have to dispute it for several months. ”

In his opinion, Felix is going crazy, is it good to be neighbors with the French?

In the future, a large part of Austria's defense budget will be spent on guarding against the French, which is why the Russians allowed Austria to annex South Germany.

Moreover, the so-called strategic estimates are not reliable at all, and who knows when the French government will change again?

Chancellor of the Exchequer Karl said dissatisfiedly: "Prime Minister, can this issue be discussed later, don't forget our current task, I am against any expansion before the country is straightened out." ”

The Austrian government was financially well-off, and in 1848 it confiscated a large amount of aristocratic property and extorted a large sum of money back in the Austro-Saxon War.

Since the Russian-Austrian Secret Treaty, seeing the Russians' preparations for war, the Austrian government has judged that the pattern of the European continent is about to be broken, and in order to deal with unexpected situations, this money has become a war reserve.

Then the Ministry of Finance had to make careful calculations and live within its means.

Not long ago, a dispute over the route broke out in the Imperial Palace, and without a result of the discussion, His Majesty the Emperor proposed to purge the ranks of officialdom and put an end to the dispute.

Originally, the topic was to clean up the officialdom, but now the news of the change in Bavaria's foreign policy has been diverted from the topic.

There is no doubt that Prime Minister Felix wants the cabinet to support his westward expansion strategy, but unfortunately everyone is very assertive and not everyone is interested in expansion.

Felix laughed and said, "I'm sorry, it's my fault!" Lately, my mind has been full of questions about the South German region, and I can't help but go off topic.

We will continue today's topic on a concrete plan for the rectification of officialdom. ”

。 m.