The negotiations between the three countries soon reached an impasse, with the French demanding the annexation of Italy and Austria proposing the annexation of the German Confederation, neither of which was acceptable to the British.

In this way, it is equivalent to releasing two great empires at the same time, and although France and Austria are already great empires, the British still do not want to see the two countries continue to grow.

If France and Austria are allowed to complete their respective strategic plans, Britain's world hegemony will be unstable.

You must know that France and Austria have never officially recognized the hegemony of the British, and there have always been voices within the two countries challenging the British supremacy at sea.

It was not twenty years ago, when the British had more industry than Europe combined, and the absolute disparity in national power made the British the hegemon.

However, with the completion of the industrial revolution, this gap gradually narrowed. Thanks to the advantages of human resources, Austria's annual industrial output is almost equal to that of the British.

The French are not much worse than the British, and it is estimated that after the annexation of Italy, in another three or five years, the total industrial volume of France will be able to surpass that of the British.

This is the advantage of the large area and large population of the country. Although the per capita is still not comparable, it can't stand the number of people!

Austria's native population is already as high as 69.76 million, and it can cross the 70 million mark within the year; Once France annexes Italy, the total population will exceed 54 million.

The British Isles have a total population of just over 32 million, and their birth rate is around 3.5%, far more than France, but lower than Austria.

This disparity is not visible in the short term, but over time, the consequences are catastrophic.

There is never a shortage of smart people in this world, and the impact of population on the strength of the country is naturally seen.

It's just that many people in the London government have been led astray by Malthus's "Theory of Population", ignoring the progress of productivity in the industrial age and the increase in population capacity with the advent of the colonial era.

It was under this theory that the Great Famine in Ireland took place, and the government bureaucrats, believing that the British Isles were populated enough, deliberately sat idly by and watched the Great Famine occur.

This theory is actually correct, the land can accommodate a limited number of people, but Malthus is a man of the last century, calculated by the standards of the feudal era.

The Industrial Age was different, and according to Austrian population experts, the population could be doubled and the colonies could support 200 million people.

Franz doesn't know if it's scientific, anyway, he took out this number and used it directly, otherwise how to encourage childbearing?

Of course, there are few Britons, mainly because of the small native population, not that there are few British. There are still a lot of English people overseas, otherwise the colonial empire would not be able to hold up.

Negotiations have reached an impasse, which is to be expected. There are too many interests involved in the alliance between major powers, which cannot be sorted out in a short period of time, and it is normal for it to drag on for several years.

The Franco-Austrian alliance actually dragged on for many years, and was discussed on both sides as early as 1848 after the French Revolution.

In the middle of the process, due to the change of power in France, the alliance was also interrupted for a time. In the late 60s of the 19th century, with the continuous changes in the international situation, it provided an opportunity for France and Austria to get closer.

Negotiation is negotiation, and the black hand that should be done is still to be done, but everyone tacitly reined in.

Franz canceled plans to occupy LinkedIn South Africa, and the British abandoned their strategy of uniting Portugal and expelling Austria from South Africa.

However, the struggle between the two Boer republics continued. It can no longer be said that it is a Boer Republic, and before you know it, German has become the mainstream of the local language.

There is no need to promote, and if there are more people who say it, it will be considered mainstream. The governments of the two Boer republics were also helpless, and they didn't want to do that, but they couldn't help it.

Since its birth, the Boer nation has been full of strong German flavor, which cannot be washed away at all.

There is no way, even the Netherlands in this era is deeply influenced by Germanic culture, not to mention their mixed race?

In 1830, about 12,000 Dutch, unwilling to accept British rule, moved to establish two Boer republics.

In order to increase the population, they accepted European immigrants. In a dozen years, about 8,000 immigrants from the German region arrived, and some French missionaries came, and the Boer nation was born.

By the mid-19th century, the combined population of the two Boer republics exceeded 30,000.

Beginning in 1856, the history of the Boer Republic changed, with a large influx of German immigrants that changed the demographics of both countries.

It was impossible to exclude German immigrants, half of the Boers at that time were of German descent, and if one was bad, there was civil strife.

Then assimilation is good, and despite the efforts of the governments of the two Boer republics, they cannot stand the large number of immigrants from the German region.

In the end, assimilation succeeded, but contrary to the original plan. As the Anglo-Boer conflict grew, the two Boer republics, which needed to hug their thighs, had to move closer to Austria.

Political changes, the immediate two Boer republican governments abandoned the original plan, and the German language became mainstream.

The situation has developed to this point, and the two Boer republics have been transformed into German states, and the Austrian rivers are a matter of time.

Franzko attaches great importance to the South African region, and the fertile land aside, gold alone is an indispensable part of Austria's future strategy.

No one will give up monetary hegemony, the British are tinkering with the "pound-gold system", the French are building the "franc system", and Austria is no exception, building the "Aegis-gold system".

Who can become the final victor depends not only on industry, but also on the amount of gold stored in their hands. If there is not enough gold, what gold standard hegemony is there to fight for?

This had nothing to do with ambition, Franz was initially not prepared to compete with the British for monetary supremacy, but as his power grew, interests were forcing Austria to move forward.

Even if the government does not move, capital will move on its own. At present, the struggle for international monetary hegemony has not yet reached the end of the day, but the financial capital of the three countries is already on the verge of bayonet.

Unlike the struggle for world hegemony, the struggle for monetary hegemony is much more subtle, and the battle has already begun before ordinary people are aware of it.

In this round of struggle, the British took advantage of the Franco-Prussian War to severely devastate France and won the final victory.

Of course, the French as the losers also got a piece of meat, and the franc became the second international hard currency after the pound, and the rest of the countries were forced to suffer.

As a new power, the German Second Empire was unable to receive enough gold when it carried out the reform of the gold standard, and was finally forced to compromise with the British.

In the struggle for currency hegemony among Britain, France and Austria, the French, who lacked gold, were already the first to go out. Although they co-opted Switzerland, Belgium, and Italy to form the Latin Monetary Union, it did not change all this.

John Bull already owns gold from Australia and Canada, Austria gets most of the gold in West Africa, and the French don't have enough gold and are still sticking to the gold and silver standard.

If it weren't for the French, there was nothing to be seen by Franz, and he would have considered exposing the gold of Alaska and making a deal with Napoleon III.

After all, having mastered South Africa's gold, Austria's "Aegis-gold system" has stabilized. To enjoy exclusive monetary hegemony, Austria is not strong enough.

No, it should be said that Franz took a fancy to it, and the French would not give it; What France can give, Franz can't look down on.

There is no way to do it, the transaction will not go ahead. If a traveler were to look at the map, they would see that more than half of the world's top 10 gold mines were in Austrian-controlled territory.

……

After the fresh rain, the air is exceptionally fresh. The dark clouds on the head of President Pretorius Jr. did not dissipate, and the wrinkles on his forehead increased a few more.

He was also one of the most important figures in Africa of his time, becoming president of the Transvaal Republic in 1857 and president of the Orange Free State in 1859.

Little Pretorius, born in 1819, became president before the age of thirty and reached the pinnacle of his life, and now should be the time for him to be in high spirits.

However, the opposite is true. President Pretorius Jr., who has been elected for the third time, has long lost his original vigor, and only his face is full of sorrow.

The movement for the union of the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State, which he led, failed again. Unlike before, this time it was a complete failure, and there was no next chance.

There was no way, the Vienna government opposed the creation of the Republic of South Africa. The magnates of the Boer Republic, who had already hooked up with Austria, did not hesitate to sell the government.

Now the two sides are negotiating a price, and if the interests are right, the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State will soon be history, and his presidency will end early.

Minor Pretorius planned to merge the Transvaal with the Okanji Free State to form the Republic of South Africa, and then join the HRE Empire as a single country.

Unfortunately, this plan was opposed by the Vienna government. The emperor did not want to see the republic appear, and this reason left him speechless to prepare.

If nothing else, the Transvaal and Orange Free States would become part of Austrian Africa, and then become part of the empire through indigenization.

People are selfish, and both the Transvaal and the Orange Free State are small countries that have no bargaining power at all.

As an emerging country, everyone's sense of identity is not strong, especially the newly joined German immigrants, who identify with the HRE more than the Republic.

There are too many smart people, and everyone knows that instead of fighting for the interests of the new country, it is better to fight for the interests of oneself, and you can get more.

There are not many opportunities to step into the aristocracy, and such an opportunity must not be missed. As for the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, can the two grass platform teams compare with the HRE Empire?

Don't say yes? Then you don't need to say yes, the people below will take your place.

"Public opinion" is not an issue, and the current procession of petitions outside proves that joining HRE is in line with the will of the public.

The mantis arm blocking the car, the clever little Pretorius would not have done it. With Austria's influence in the Transvaal and Orange, it would have been too easy to change presidents.

It's not that he didn't work hard, in order to reduce the influence of Austria, after little Pretorius took the throne, he also worked very hard to introduce Dutch immigrants, but he was opposed by the Dutch government.

The reason is very simple, the Netherlands is only a small country with a limited population, and the government is busy expanding in the South Seas, and there are not enough immigrants to Indonesia, so how can it be possible to support them?

In this case, little Pretorius could not do anything. It is clear that there is no return on their investment, and the Boer Republic, sandwiched between Britain and Austria, is doomed from the start.

President Pretorius Jr. asked with concern: "Karen, how are they negotiating with the Austrians?" ”

As a president, he is not qualified to go to the negotiating table, and I have to say that this is a tragedy.

There is no way, who got President Pretorius Jr. to assert: to merge the Transvaal and the Orange Free State to establish the Republic of South Africa, and then negotiate with the Austrians.

The Vienna government simply ignored him, bypassing the president and sending people to negotiate with powerful factions within the Boer Republic.

There was no way around it, and none of the cronies of President Pretorius Jr. refused to be wooed by Austria.

In the face of interests, everyone's discipline has been lowered. Those who actively cooperate have the opportunity to become nobles and continue to dominate in the new era to come.

If you are on the wrong side, you will be marginalized in the new round of power reshuffle.

In this era of the jungle, once they are eliminated from the game, they don't need to be done by others, and their interests will be devoured by their companions.

Little Pretorius is the president anyway, and as a banner man, as long as he does not openly oppose it, the Vienna government will be properly placed in order to eat the appearance, which is the reason why he has done it.

You must know that little Pretorius can become president, not only because of his father's political legacy, but also because of his own political ability.

He still understands the truth that his arms can't twist his thighs. Since it cannot be stopped, it is necessary to find a way to get involved, and paying attention to the negotiation process is a must.