At a critical moment in the Anglo-Austrian negotiations, his mother, Princess Sophie, brought him a piece of news that captured Franz's full attention.

His uncle, Ferdinand I, was about to abdicate early, so he was prepared to ascend the throne early.

The conscience of heaven and earth, Franz dared to swear in the name of God that there was no such thing as his handwriting. As the legitimate heir of Austria, he would not be so anxious to force his uncle to abdicate.

It was not Ferdinand I who really made this decision, but the Habsburgs collectively.

Although Austria was known for its conservatives, after so many years, the people's tolerance for the mentally handicapped emperor had reached its limit, and the Vienna Rebellion had a factor in this.

This was a disaster for the Habsburgs, whose majesty and jokes were frequent, and if it continued like this, it would shake the royal family's position.

At this time, Franz came out as a regent, took power in a short period of time, and put down the rebellion in the country, which gave many people hope.

The power of the Austrian Empire is constantly declining, and the royal family members are also seeing it in their eyes and anxious in their hearts, but these grand dukes are powerless and have no ability to turn the tide.

Franz's outstanding performance made their eyes shine, and it seemed that the Habsburgs were about to usher in a master of ZTE.

Then everyone privately summed up that Ferdinand I could not continue to be disgraced in the position of emperor, and the Habsburgs had become the laughing stock of the aristocratic circle in recent decades.

For the sake of long-term interests, they unanimously decided to let Ferdinand I abdicate early and replace the outstanding Franz in his throne, restoring the glory of the Habsburgs.

The decision was made, and everyone took turns to persuade Ferdinand I to abdicate. No, it should be to persuade Empress Maria-Anna to agree to the emperor's abdication.

Ferdinand I was sometimes sober and sometimes confused. Maybe he just agreed to it in the front, and then immediately forgot about it, and what he remembered most was the order to the cook: I am the emperor, and I want to eat dumplings.

When he is awake, he is not much different from normal, it is just that his reaction ability is a little sluggish, his IQ is a little lower than that of ordinary people, and once he is sick, he doesn't know anything.

The most important thing is that he has to get sick several times a day, and no one knows when he will be awake and when he will be sick. It was too unreliable to let him make decisions, so everyone decided to help him make the decision.

In order to avoid making jokes, it was necessary to convince Empress Maria-Anna that Ferdinand I's own opinion was negligible, as long as she did not object.

There is no doubt that Empress Maria-Anna was never a power-hungry person, because her husband was unable to hold power, and the Viennese court was more of a cage for her.

Especially after the outbreak of the Vienna Revolution, she was even more frightened, for fear of following in the footsteps of Louis XVI.

Everyone happily agreed to abdicate Ferdinand I as soon as possible, and Franz to clean up the mess.

True, the Austrian Empire was a mess in the eyes of many. Although the rebellion has been put down, the problems in the country remain acute.

In the eyes of many, one of the main reasons for the outbreak of this rebellion was the loss of the prestige of the monarchy, and Ferdinand I was no longer able to gain the approval of the Austrian people.

Ascending the throne early, Franz did not exclude. If the name is not right, it is not good, and many things are much easier for the emperor to do than for the crown prince to do.

Perhaps enough of the endurance was made, and the time of Ferdinand I's abdication was quickly set, as was Franz's accession to the throne, both on September 1, 1848.

It was now the end of June, and with just over two months left, Franz had to make arrangements for the country and make sure that there were no jokes at his enthronement.

……

Franz was generally satisfied with the outcome of the Anglo-Austrian negotiations. Not only did he knock a bill from the Kingdom of Sardinia, but he also gained the support of the British on the Austrian Balkan issue, and got the ticket to colonize overseas.

The only problem was the position of the British on the German question, and all the great powers, like all the powers, were opposed to Austrian expansion into the German region.

Unlike the Kingdom of Prussia, Austria's influence in the German region was too great, and the Habsburg signboard was too loud. Once the German region is unified, the impact will be much greater.

Among other things, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Belgium were once the birthplaces of the Habsburg dynasty, and the idea of great unification prevailed in the German region also existed within these countries.

Who knows if Austria will have a way to integrate them? Whether it works or not, no one is willing to take risks.

The influence of the Habsburgs was very fearful, and once Austria was ready to unify Germany, it would encounter the same situation as Napoleon.

Even before the unification of the German region, the intervention armies of the countries had already set off. This conclusion hurt everyone, especially the Big Germans.

There is no way, an Austria with only 8 million core nationalities is everyone's best ally, and an Austria with a core population of more than 40 or 50 million is a European nightmare.

After the unification of Germany, Austria surpassed Russia in terms of population and France in industry, and was completely a giant in Central Europe.

The British saw it very clearly, so they encouraged Austria to expand into the Balkans, and as long as the Juche nation did not occupy an absolute advantage, internal friction was inevitable.

An Austria with serious internal friction cannot threaten the world hegemony of the British Empire, and everyone can still be good friends.

Franz comforted: "The position of the British was expected by us, and now it is not us who should be the trouble, and the Kingdom of Prussia also wants to unify the German region, and they have less choice."

Unable to expand into Germany, we can go to the Balkans, we can go to open up the colonies, and Austria will not stop advancing. ”

This is also self-consolation, Prussia is just an excuse that the Kingdom of Prussia in this era did not have the strength to unify the German regions.

Austria had the strength to unify the German region, but the international environment did not allow it.

The British, who are most likely to stay out of the way, are strongly opposed to German reunification, not to mention Russia next door, where can they sleep soundly on the side of the couch?

If Austria could not annex the German region, it could only solve the national contradictions at home first, and then slowly accumulate strength through honest farming.

The so-called expansion was just picking up some scraps, and in the Balkans it had to make concessions to the Russians, and to open up overseas colonies and had to compromise with Britain and France.

Felix proposed: "Since the British are opposed to the unification of the German regions, how about we settle for the next best thing, and divide the German regions with the Kingdom of Prussia?"

If we can annex South Germany, we can do it even at some cost, and it is a big deal to give up the Italian region in exchange for the support of Britain and France, and cede Austrian Poland to the Russians in exchange for their understanding. ”

Metternich sighed and said, "It's not that simple, many states in South Germany are our allies, how can we expand?"

If we attack our allies, do we still want reputation? Who will dare to form an alliance with us in future diplomacy? ”

If he had known that the international situation would have turned out to be the way it is now, when the Vienna system was first constructed, he sent the Wittelsbach family to Italy, and Austria directly annexed the Kingdom of Bavaria.

Unfortunately, in order to guard against the French, Austria supported the Kingdom of Bavaria as an ally as a buffer, but now this ally is blocking Austria's expansion.

Before the rise of nationalism, people did not think that the Juche nation was important, but after the Great Revolution, everyone understood the weakness of the multi-ethnic state.

The Hungarians want independence, the Italians want independence, the Poles want independence, and the Czechs want autonomy......

Fortunately, nationalism did not penetrate the whole society, and it was only the capitalists and some nobles who rose up for independence, and Austria suppressed them.

The greatest wealth of the South German region is none other than the fifteen million people.

If the South German states with the same religion, language and culture were annexed, Austria would be able to become more than half of the main ethnic groups in an instant, and the crisis of division would be reduced to a minimum.

Franz thought for a moment and said: "We should not only think about expansion, but we can also think of ways to solve the national problem."

There were more than 20 million illiterate people in the entire Austrian Empire, and how many of these people knew which ethnic group they belonged to?

The Ministry of Education compiled a textbook for me, and I went through the various ethnic groups in each region to find out the roots of their Germanic peoples.

If it really doesn't matter, just talk about national integration for me, I don't believe that their ancestors have nothing to do with the Germanic people?

As long as you don't know what ethnic you belong to, tell them that they are Germanic.

Ethnic minorities with cultural heritage promote the Austrian system to them. It is emphasized that everyone is of mixed race in terms of blood, with multi-ethnic blood, which naturally includes Germanic blood, and those who don't believe it let them go home to find their own family history.

After so many years of ethnic integration, I don't believe there are still many pure-blood peoples?

After clarifying the relations between the ethnic groups, we should first promote the German language throughout the country, or Austrian, and gradually replace the local dialects. ”

Franz is already ready to play helpless, the main nation is not enough, then make it yourself.

Whether it's really Germanic or not, try it first, as long as they think it is.

As long as the bureaucrats work hard, it will not be long before the Germanic nation will expand rapidly.

Historically, the Kingdom of Prussia also underwent a Germanization, and their own Germanic peoples were also not dominant, but simply dominated by language assimilation.