Berlin

Ever since he heard that a large donation had been raised in Austria, Frederick Wilhelm IV was thrilled. That's right, it's exciting, it's definitely not angry.

With the exception of the Kingdom of Prussia, the donations collected throughout Germany amounted to more than 43 million guilders if converted into Austrian guilders, and Austria alone contributed more than 30 million.

This money is already equivalent to half a year's financial revenue of the Kingdom of Prussia, and if it can be obtained in its entirety, it will undoubtedly be a timely rain for the Prussian government, which lacks financial resources.

It is a pity that His Majesty the great Franz proposed a special fund, and as a result, many German states followed suit, and of course they did not do things as cautiously as His Majesty Franz.

So far, the Prussian government has received more than 5 million in donations from Germany, and most of the rest has been intercepted by their respective governments.

How could the bureaucrats do nothing with such a large benefit? Their donations are not as rigorous as Franz's, all of them are invoiced, and they can be refunded if they don't use them up.

It is conceivable that the rest of the money was destined to fall into the hands of the Prussian government.

What made Frederick Wilhelm IV even more depressed was that the Kingdom of Prussia had received donations from Germany, and the total amount had exceeded 100 million guilders.

In this era, the transmission of news is not smooth, there is no bank flow to check, anyway, it is all casually said, and all states do not want to lose face, and they all donate an astronomical amount one by one.

Really, this is heavy or?

Anyway, the data released by the media in various places is not officially recognized, so it doesn't matter if it is found out in the future.

If you encounter a shameless government and directly insist on giving the money to the Prussian government, no one can prove that it was not given.

Franz, for example, made the first donation to the Prussian government, totaling one million guilders, all in cash, which was handed over to the Prussian embassy in the presence of the media.

Of course, perhaps it was because one million was too little, and one million in the Viennese newspaper became three million. If Franz is a little unscrupulous, it is not impossible to swallow the extra two million guilders directly.

Not everyone was so particular about Franz, and lying about the donation figures was only a minor problem, and in many places only 200,000 yuan was given, and Prussian officials had to sign the receipt of 500,000 yuan.

Anyway, whether money is in the hands of others or not, in the face of interests, the bureaucrats' combat effectiveness is bursting.

This situation was less common except for the Prussian-affected states, which were particularly affected by the South German states.

Prussian Prime Minister Josef von Ladowitz said worriedly: "Your Majesty, we can't ask for this money!" ”

"What's wrong?" Frederick William IV asked suspiciously

Dissatisfied with the German states, but there is no need to get along with money? Even if a large part of it was embezzled by the bureaucrats of various countries, it was not a small amount in the end.

Now the Prussian government was in debt, and if it had not been for the different times, Frederick William IV would have been ready to declare the government bankrupt and pay off all its debts.

"Your Majesty, these states are nominally supporting us in our war, but in fact they are harboring evil intentions.

Now that they hold us so high, if the Russians insist that we give up the Duchy of Schleswig and Holstein, how will we end up?

Now that all the countries of Europe except Germany are on the opposite side of us, the Danes will not make concessions without fear. Josef von Ladowitz said with a wry smile

There is no doubt that this time the use of war to divert internal contradictions has gone too far, and now the Prussian government is riding a tiger. If it weren't for the fact that the two principalities of Schleswig and Holstein could not be recovered, they would not have been able to account for the people.

This was not only for the people of Prussia, but also for the people of Germany.

Domestic public opinion, they can still find a way to guide, foreign public opinion should not think about it, it is strange not to be hacked into ****?

Frederick William IV also thought of this question, but he had no choice, whether he received the money or not, the final result would not change.

Having succeeded in recovering the two principalities of Schleswig and Holstein, they are the heroes of the German nation, and if they fail, they are the national thieves of the German nation.

Unless they dare to fight with the Russians with real guns, then whether they win or lose, they can explain the past.

In this era, Russia was the hegemon of the European continent, and it was normal for Prussia to be unable to defeat the Russians alone, and the people could understandably transfer this anger to Austria and other states that did not participate in the war.

If a single shot is not fired, the Prussian government will shrink back, how can the nationalists, patriots, accept it?

In the eyes of ordinary people, now all the states in the German region are their backing, even if they are against the Russians, should they not be cowardly?

Public opinion is terrible, and the Russians are even more terrible!

If the Russo-Prussian War broke out, who would Austria help?

In the opinion of Frederick William IV, it was unlikely that Austria would turn to Russia, and under the pressure of public opinion, it would most likely support Prussia.

Unfortunately, this support was very limited, and it was impossible for Austria to really contribute. After all, the Kingdom of Prussia was finished, and the biggest obstacle to Austria's desire to unify the German regions was gone.

Austria's weak support also counteracted diplomatic pressure from the French side. A large group of German states waved their flags and shouted, which can be regarded as counteracting the diplomatic pressure of small European countries.

The diplomatic pressure on the Kingdom of Prussia is much less now than it was in history; However, the pressure exerted on them by the patriots at home has surpassed that of the same period in history.

Neither Prime Minister Joseph von Ladovi nor King Frederick William IV could make up their minds to abandon the two principalities of Schleswig and Holstein.

Too much had been invested, and the war expenses of the Kingdom of Prussia for this war had already exceeded the expenditure of Austria in the Auss-Sa War.

Since the outbreak of the war, it has lasted for more than a year, although the real battle between the two sides is very short, and the Prussian army also beats the Danes, but the military confrontation also costs money!

Military spending in wartime was often several times or more in peacetime, which was not easy for the militaristic Kingdom of Prussia.

Since the accession of Frederick II in 1740, the number of Prussian troops has surged from 70,000 to 200,000, accounting for 9.4% of the country's population, and military spending has to spend 4/5 of the government's entire budget every year.

At that time, Prussia was only the tenth largest in Europe in terms of area and thirteenth in terms of population, but its army was second only to Russia, France and Austria, ranking fourth in Europe.

Moreover, this number increased to 235,000 men under Frederick II's successor, Wilhelm II, and the army of the Kingdom of Prussia almost never fell below this number in the following days.

With such a large army in peacetime, the financial pressure on the Kingdom of Prussia, which had a small population and had not yet completed industrialization, could be imagined.

For the country, fiscal deficits are commonplace. Under these circumstances, it was very difficult for the Kingdom of Prussia to seek loans or to issue bonds.

It was only when the government ran out of money that Frederick Wilhelm IV would put down his face and turn to the German states for help. Even though he knew that the money was not easy to take, he still accepted it.

"It's too late to say this, let's let our people collect evidence first, and if something happens in the future, we can also pull them into the water.

This is all a good idea, and the last resort is to keep the two principalities of Schleswig and Holstein, and when the time comes, these states will obediently send the money. Frederick William IV said fiercely

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid things are not so simple, and most of these states will ask for the independence of these two principalities at that time." Joseph von Ladovi thought for a moment and said

"Don't worry, as long as we succeed in recovering these two principalities, they won't be able to do anything when the time comes, and we won't be without supporters." Frederick William IV said confidently

After so many years of propaganda, the Little German Idea has overtaken the Greater German Theory in many areas, and there are many people who support the unification of Germany in the Kingdom of Prussia.

Had it not been for Franz who upset the Frankfurt Conference, Little German thought would now be the mainstream in the German region.

……

The insistence of the Prussian government made it very difficult for the government of St. Petersburg.

From the very beginning they sided with Denmark, and the Tsarist government announced that it would use force if the Prussian government did not back down.

Now what? hands-on, it will be cheap for the Austrians; If you don't do it, will you want to lose face in the Russian Empire?

Even their little brother can't keep it, and the tsarist government has reversed course, are they embarrassed to mix in the international arena?

It can only be said that it is not as good as it was then.

The tsarist government of that year could use credibility as toilet paper and throw it away when it was used; Now the Russian Empire is already vying for world hegemony, and if they don't pay attention to credibility, who will obey them?

The lonely world boss looks majestic, but in fact he is in crisis. Unless the world can be unified by force, it is enough to refer to Napoleon.

saint petersburg

Nicholas I asked with concern: "What does the Austrian government say, and whether they are willing to mediate in this Prussian-Danish war?" ”

"Your Majesty, the Austrian government refuses to participate in this mediation, and the old fox of Metternich says that the Austrian government's participation in the mediation will only be on the side of Prussia due to domestic public opinion." Foreign Secretary Carl Worthelrod replied in embarrassment

It is no secret that the Russians did not want to go to war with the Kingdom of Prussia, and that the Tsarist government was trying to avoid war by all means, and naturally the Prussian government learned about it.

Tragically, the Prussian government, after obtaining this information, made them directly make a strategic miscalculation, believing that the Russians would not intervene by force, which increased their confidence.

"Damn, I'm afraid the Austrians are still dreaming of us helping them remove the obstacles to the unification of Germany, aren't they afraid that we will leak the Russian-Austrian secret treaty?" Nicholas I muttered to himself

Everyone is a person with eyes, and they don't dare to answer stupidly: not afraid.

Once the Russian-Austrian secret treaty is leaked, Austria's strategy behind it will be in trouble, and Russia's strategy behind it will be completely finished.

The annexation of Austria to the South German States would have made the British jealous, and at best raised the danger level to a level close to that of the French, but it was not worth mentioning compared to the Russians who annexed the Ottoman Empire.

The former also has a way to restrict, whether it is to support the Kingdom of Prussia, or to sow discord between France and Austria, or to drive a wedge between Russia and Austria, it can play a role as a check and balance.

The latter is different, the current Russian Empire, the British can only look at them in a daze, if they are allowed to annex the Ottoman Empire, it will be a matter of time before the world hegemony changes hands.

Even if Nicholas I wanted to get Prussia on board the ship, he did not dare to divulge the slightest information to them, and even during the deliberations, secrecy was raised to the highest level.

……