1874 was destined to be an extraordinary year, in addition to the Near East War, the Russo-Persian War, and the Asia-Pacific region was also unstable.

First, the French and the Annam government signed the "Treaty of Peace and Alliance between France and Annam," and then the Japanese war of aggression against Taiwan broke out.

Needless to say, the latter naturally ended in failure. The Treaty of Peace and Alliance between France and Annam sounds harmonious, but in fact it is a nice name, and it is essentially in the service of a colonial invasion.

The strategy has contracted for so long, and there are people in France who are not willing to be lonely. The world has been carved up, and there is only a little leftovers left, and no matter how slow it is, there will be nothing to be gained.

In the struggle for power in the Paris government, it had no intention of doing things outside, but it still could not stop the enthusiasm for colonial expansion at home.

Colonial expansion does not necessarily depend on fighting, for example: this time the treaty with the Annan people was signed by diplomatic fraud, and even coaxed and deceived the Annan government to sign it.

What may seem like an ordinary treaty actually provided a legal basis for France to interfere in Annam's internal affairs. No matter what the Annanites think, anyway, it is enough for the French to have a statement that is acceptable to the countries of Europe.

Britain, France and Austria had formed an alliance, and the relaxed international situation created opportunities for the French to expand in Indochina.

Indochina was not within the scope of Austria's colonial program and did not involve its own interests, so the Vienna government naturally would not jump out and act as a messenger of justice.

……

At the Vienna Palace, Franz's attention was drawn to the Kingdom of Poland and turned into a melon-eating crowd, watching the performances of Prussia and Russia.

Foreign Secretary Wessenberg reported: "Two days ago, reinforcements from the Kingdom of Prussia arrived at the front, and yesterday there was a skirmish with the Russian army.

However, both sides showed great restraint and looked like they were making a show. Now the Russians have occupied most of Poland Ukraine, about a third of the territory of Poland.

Preliminary judgment is that this should be the reward promised to the Russians by the Berlin government. Next, the two countries will probably sit down to negotiate and settle the agreement.

Influenced by this, this morning the British Minister extended an invitation to all European countries, including us, and proposed the formation of an international intervention coalition to mediate the war.

The government in London can't sit still, and the smoke bombs we put out some time ago have already worked. In order to curb our and the French's continued expansion in Europe, the British could not resist taking action. ”

The Russo-Polish War, the election of the Polish throne, such a big thing, France and Austria are watching from the sidelines, if there is no problem, it is strange?

It's not completely inactive, Franz is still calling on everyone to exercise restraint and sit down and talk about something. The Paris government has also warned the Russians not to play with fire.

What do you do? Unfortunately, both France and Austria are too busy to meddle in these trivial matters.

If France and Austria do not interfere, there will naturally be a trade of interests behind this. With a little analysis, the British can guess the content of the deal, and it is not necessary to say that it must be sabotage.

If you don't mess things up, is it still John Bull?

Franz nodded: "At this point, we will face a lot of public opinion pressure next, and the British are playing a big game of chess."

The government must do a good job in guiding public opinion, but it must not let the British lead the way, otherwise there will be a big mess. ”

Judging by all indications, Franz judged that the British wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to provoke a Franco-Austrian conflict and at the same time divide the relationship between Austria and the German Confederation.

This is an inescapable conspiracy, the French want to annex the Rhineland, and for the sake of political correctness, the Vienna government can only stand up against it.

The German region was divided for many years, and the states became accustomed to being in charge of their own affairs. Under the pressure of nationalism, everyone was forced to make a pro-unification appearance, but in fact wanted to keep their independent kingdom.

Austria was so powerful that it had the power to unify the German region, and the top leaders of the state governments had to move closer to the Vienna government in order to protect their own interests.

But as soon as they found that Austria was unable to unify Germany under the control of the Great Powers, or that they were strong enough to escape the threat, the situation would change.

Just like the current Kingdom of Prussia, it simply withdrew from the German region, did not claim to be a German state, and played the Great Kingdom of Prussia.

Knowing is knowing, in fact, Franz can only react passively. Even if the Franco-Austrian conflict broke out, the two sides would not be able to fight.

The only bordering area is in the Italian region, where they still have no mass base, although the French have occupied the Kingdom of Sardinia for many years.

This is the sequelae of Napoleon III's ugly appearance and lack of legal basis. More than a decade has passed, and the local population still does not agree with the French rule

If they were to fight Austria in Italy, they would have to fight not only with the Austrian army, but also with the civilian partisans.

The boss of the Italian League of Independence is none other than the former king of Sardinia, which is a ready-made pawn. If the French did not move, no one could help them, and a single defeat on the battlefield would have led to the collapse of the fragile Great French Empire.

On the whole, the Empire of Grand France was more favorable to Austria for a longer period of time. It not only helped Austria share international pressure, but also accelerated the national integration movement in Lombardy and Venexia.

At the beginning, when there were a large number of states in Italy, the Italians in Lombardy and Venesia also wanted to fight for independence, and the progress of national integration was very difficult.

Since the French annexed Italy, the national independence movement in Lombardy and Venesia fell into a low ebb all of a sudden.

This round of social beatings has made many people sober up. Instead of supporting the independence movement, the local capitalists actively moved closer to Austria.

In recent years, the spread of the Austrian language has increased dramatically. Newspapers, books, and advertisements on the streets were in Austrian, and the traditional Italian was abandoned.

The social climate has changed, and non-Austrian speakers are despised, and it is no longer possible to move an inch in the cities, and no capitalist will employ workers who do not speak Austrian.

Before his death, Napoleon III wanted to emulate Austria's policy of national integration, but was forced to abandon it at the beginning.

The socialist emperor was also not easy to behave, and the social welfare benefits were raised, and the financial expenses inevitably increased.

In addition to financial problems, there is also resistance from local governments in Italy. The French forcibly annexed the Italian region, but there was no way to replace all the local officials with French.

Without the cooperation of local officials, how can the central government's policies be implemented?

This is different from Lombardy and Venezia, when Franz promoted national integration, there were hundreds of thousands of Germans in the local area, and there were a group of nobles loyal to the Habsburg dynasty.

It's all Italian, so how does this change the French government? Even if it is a different person, people are still passive and slacking off. Establishing a local government loyal to the French Empire did not happen overnight.

The policy of national integration, which Napoleon III could not carry out, is now in the hands of Napoleon IV, and it will only be more difficult.

Without real national integration, Grand France is a powder keg that could explode at any moment.

An enemy with a weakness is not terrible, and the French have such an obvious weakness, Franz naturally does not worry about France becoming bigger.

……

The Federal Reich of Germany was a joke in itself, and Franz never feared that the alliance would become a threat.

At the beginning, the European countries wanted to forcibly upgrade them to empires, in addition to the existence of a foreign kingdom within the German Confederation, they were more worried about the peaceful evolution of Austria to achieve unification.

No matter how much the British try to stir up relations, they cannot change the essence of the cultural identity of the two sides. The ruling class also had to take into account the feelings of the people, and there was no way for the Kingdom of Prussia to escape the influence of German nationalism, let alone the Federal Reich of Germany?

……

On July 16, 1874, at the call of the British government, European countries convened an international conference in London to discuss the settlement of the ongoing Russo-Persian War and the Near East War.

At the Austrian embassy in London, secret talks are taking place between Britain and Austria.

British Foreign Secretary, Marquess Maclean: "Your Excellency, the world needs peace, and a stable Europe is the foundation of world peace.

Our two countries share the same interests in maintaining stability in Europe, and it is now up to you to take more proactive measures to contribute to stability in Europe. ”

Austrian Minister Hummel smiled slightly and put down the coffee in his hand: "Your Excellency, we are also happy to work for world peace, but the facts tell us that world peace needs to be shared and maintained.

Maintaining stability on the European continent is the responsibility of all European countries, not of one or two. We have done enough for the sake of European stability.

The lessons of history teach us that sometimes doing too much can be counterproductive. Indulge once in a while, and perhaps there may be unexpected gains. ”

There is no doubt that Hummel is talking about the Metternich era. At that time, the Vienna government was an active defender of the European order, but Austria's greatest interest in maintaining European stability was taken away by the British.

After the war against France, Europe stabilized for thirty years, creating favorable conditions for Britain's overseas colonial expansion. Austria, on the other hand, struggled to maintain the European order, locked itself to the continent and was unable to carry out colonial expansion.

It was not until after Franz succeeded to the throne that the Viennese government abandoned Metternich's strategy of balancing Europe and caught the train of colonial expansion.

McLean was unmoved, and said casually: "That's not necessarily, and it's risky to let the situation develop." Once the situation gets out of control, everyone's losses will be even greater.

Rather than letting the situation develop, it is better to take the initiative. Presumably, your country does not want to see the French continue to expand.

If they get the Rhineland, I am afraid that Belgium will be difficult to preserve, and even the German Federal Empire will be cut by them. ”

This is the inevitable result, with the resources of the Rhineland, France's strength will be further strengthened.

When the time comes, it will be almost impossible to prevent them from annexing the territories west of the Rhine. For Austria, this is already beyond the bottom line of tolerance.

Hummel nodded: "All of Europe doesn't want to see this happen, and we're no exception. I don't know what your country's plans are, but as long as we can prevent this from happening, we are happy to cooperate. ”

……