Chapter 113, I was cheated
Vienna, as a good neighbor Franz had always kept a close eye on the civil war of the Russians, and looking at the information gathered in his hands, he knew that the tsarist government was about to make concessions.
In order to ensure domestic stability, Alexander II has been holding back, and as a result, the power of the rebels has snowballed and has threatened the rule of the tsarist government.
At this point, any shrewd monarch will choose to assert his rule first. Alexander II had to end the war before he could clean up the interior and use political means to break up the rebels.
The dog will jump over the wall and launch it before the end of the war, and if these moths collude with the Kingdom of Prussia, it is estimated that St. Petersburg will not be saved.
In order to confuse these people, Alexander II has already made several scapegoats, and it looks as if the matter has passed.
This kind of muddy practice, except to stall for time, actually has no effect. For a country, such a compromise is chronic suicide.
Franz had come into contact with Alexander II, and he knew very well that this was not a mediocre king. Already in the time of Nicholas, Alexander II proposed the reform of the social system.
It is a pity that Nicholas I has already pushed through a round of reforms, and it still ended in failure. In his later years, Nicholas I did not have the courage to break with the domestic interest groups.
By the time of Alexander II, the difficulty of reform had increased dramatically, and he did not have the prestige of Nicholas I to subdue the large and small mountains of the country.
Comprehensive social reform shrunk into limited social reform, following the same path as the original time and space, and Alexander II adopted a gradual approach to social reform.
At a critical moment, the Polish uprising broke out, followed by the Prussian-Danish War, which challenged the hegemony of the Russian Empire.
In order to maintain imperial hegemony, Alexander II had to wage war. The defeat of the war and the intensification of social contradictions in the country have created the current situation.
Franz made a decision on the spot: "Prime Minister, urge the Berlin government to fulfill the conditions, otherwise we will let them not want to get anything!" ”
This was political blackmail, the negotiations were deadlocked, and the Berlin government panicked. In these months, the tsarist government armed hundreds of thousands of more troops.
Fight again? The Prussians said that they were panicked, and that they had suffered a lot of losses so far in the war, and that if they had a hard encounter with the Russians again, they would have lost even if they had won.
If their own strength is insufficient, even if they cede a large area of land from the Russians, they will not be able to swallow it!
The Junker aristocracy was also insightful and knew that the current Kingdom of Prussia could not afford to lose a single defeat. France and Austria are still eyeing each other, and if they don't do it, they still have the strength to fight.
Whoever makes the first move, will be cheaper for the other. Coupled with the severity of the international situation, Fao is worried that the first entry will be plotted.
In the face of interests, the covenant is not much more useful than waste paper. If you get caught, where can you cry?
This created an opportunity for Austria to blackmail Prussia. Prussia only knew that the attitude of the Russians was still tough, and did not know that the tsarist government was going to compromise, and the Berlin government did not dare to let the war continue.
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Prime Minister Felix replied
……
The plan never changed quickly, and the Berlin government did not panic at all after receiving a diplomatic note from the Vienna government.
The two sides directly discussed the conditions, and Prussian Foreign Minister MacKkett questioned: "Sir Robson, what about Silesia and Prussian Saxony, you know it well, how can you buy five million Aegis?"
As far as I know, Guangpu belongs to the Saxony region, and the treaty you signed with the Russians also agreed on 50 million Aegis. That's still a high-risk loan, and it can't be lower than that now!
We sell Prussian Saxony and Silesia for 120 million Aegis, which is definitely worth the money. ”
Robson, the Austrian minister in Berlin, explained unhurriedly: "Your Excellency, the accounts cannot be counted like that. First of all, the Silesian region was agreed upon by us before the war, and there is no need to pay for it anymore.
This is only in Saxony, so in addition to money, our political efforts are also included in the scope of the transaction.
Your country wants to acquire the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein, Lithuania, Latvia, and most of Belarus, and so many places add up to three-quarters of your territory.
It's not so easy to get there, at least the French support the Poles for access to the sea in the Lithuanian region, and the British have a warm attitude, if you don't want to take another enclave......"
The enclave is a sad problem, a Rhineland under the noses of the French is a sleepless thing for the Berlin government, and another enclave under the noses of the Russians will not be able to live.
As soon as the Poles gained access to the sea in the Lithuanian region, both the Belarusian and Latvian regions that Prussia wanted turned into enclaves, and this defense pressure was enough to collapse.
Not only were they threatened by the Russians, but even the Poles had the strength to threaten them. If the forces can't be gathered, what else can be used to annex Poland and create a Great Prussian Empire?
It was in the interests of the French to weaken Prussia and strengthen Poland. It not only created the conditions for them to annex the Rhineland, but also supported a chess piece to contain Austria.
For the British, both are younger brothers, and they tend to be bad for either one, and John Bull, who is good at dancing sleeves, will certainly not take the liberty of expressing his position.
Prussian Foreign Secretary MacKate retorted: "Sir Robson, the emergence of a strong Poland is not a good thing for your country, and Polish nationalism is not for Austrian Poland!" ”
Minister Robson smiled and said, "Your Excellency, you think too highly of the Poles. Austrian Poland never existed, and the local population did not consider them Poles.
The newborn Poland dared to challenge Austria, and it would not be long before they would become history again, and the gap in strength could not be bridged by a few slogans. ”
The Viennese government was emboldened in this regard, having been suppressed by the local population as early as twenty years earlier when the Polish aristocracy in Galicia was fighting for independence.
After so many years of assimilation, now the traces of Poland have long been touched, and the locals consider themselves Austrians.
The Polish traditions have remained in the minority, and the number of Polish nationalities in the country has dropped to less than one million, according to the Vienna government's ethnic statistics.
The reduced Poles did not disappear, but mainly assimilated. The new generation did not consider themselves Polish, and the number of Polish nationalities naturally decreased sharply.
The division of Austrian ethnicity is not based on blood, and after so many years of development, there are a lot of mixed-race children, and it is not clear at all.
Rather, it is carried out in accordance with many factors such as language, traditional customs, and people's self-identification with the nation.
In this regard, the policies of Prussia and Austria are similar, and both are promoting Germanization. The results on both sides were good, but Austria went one step further and couldn't find a job without learning the lingua franca.
Of course, the re-independence of Poland would still affect the assimilation of Austria, but the Vienna government was prepared.
Franz also advocated freedom, since he wanted to be a Pole, it would be better to go back to Poland, and Austria did not lack hundreds of thousands of people.
Deporting hundreds of thousands of people is difficult in other countries, but not at all in Austria. Protest and make trouble, then expel them together.
The Polish threat lies internally, not externally. The strength of both sides determined that militarily Poland could not threaten Austria. As long as you dare to be ruthless in internal problems, the threat is just like that.
Austria can not do it, but McSkett cannot. Prussia was still very interested in Poland, and Polish national independence did not scare the Berlin government.
In a way, the Junker aristocracy is their nemesis. East and West Prussia are examples, where a group of Junker nobles suppressed the localities and did a very good job of national integration.
The successful experience has increased the confidence of the Berlin government. No matter how much the outside world criticizes the backwardness of the feudal aristocracy, this system is indeed very effective in stabilizing the localities.
……
After some bargaining, on August 11, 1867, Robson, Austrian Minister in Berlin, and Prussian Foreign Minister MacKkett signed the "Prussian-Austrian Land Deal".
The treaty contained only one article: the Kingdom of Prussia sold Silesia and Prussian Saxony to Austria for 38 million Aegis.
Note: After the signing of the treaty, the Kingdom of Prussia will complete the transfer with Austria within two years after receiving the payment, and Austria will need to pay an additional 10 million Aegis relocation costs.
Undoubtedly, the other conditions were hidden and not mentioned by both parties.
Vienna, looking at the signed treaty, Franz was in disbelief. It gave him the impression that Prussia wanted to sign a treaty as soon as possible, and there was no so-called resistance.
The only problem was that the Prussians demanded a long time for the handover, but this was not a big problem, and the Prussian kingdom could not recover in just two years, and it was not strong to repay the debt.
Moreover, the Berlin government gave a reasonable explanation that it would take time for them to withdraw their investment. Unless Austria pays for the above properties, it will have to give them a time buffer.
There was no such thing as a purchase of property, and the Vienna government was not wronged. If you really buy it by market value, Austria can't afford it!
There are bubble economies in all eras, and the Prussian Saxony and Silesian regions together have more than 30,000 square kilometers, and the mines, land, factories, and real estate on them are worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and the market value on the surface will increase several times.
Since the Prussians were willing to move, the Vienna government would not mind. Not all factories are valuable, these industries exist in Austria itself, and staying there has no real effect other than intensifying competition in the market.
Precisely because there was no need, the Viennese government decisively signed a treaty with the Prussians. Soon the Viennese government realized that something was wrong, that the Prussians had moved a little too completely.
The factory moved away, and it was actually taken with the workers. The aristocrats and farmers also moved with their families, along with the peasants who cultivated their land.
Of course, it was half a year later when I discovered this problem, and at that time the wood was already in the boat, and Franz could only pinch his nose and admit it.
The treaties have been signed, so you can't go back, right? Moreover, the people did not go out, and the people who supported Austria still stayed, which was considered a consolation prize.
Now the Vienna government is celebrating this great diplomatic victory, Austria has regained the long-cherished region of Silesia, and the Kingdom of Saxony has regained Prussian Saxony.
The reaction from the people was even more enthusiastic, and many people saw it as a further step forward in the unification of the German region, and the theory of unification of distribution became more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
The Vienna government, which had taken the benefits of taking people's money and people to eliminate disasters, also changed its stance at the London Peace Conference.
Many of the demands made by the Kingdom of Prussia were tacitly acquiesced in and were no longer firmly opposed at the beginning.
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