Berlin

The arrival of Palmerston did not bring good news to Frederick William IV, and the British were also on their side this time.

"Your Majesty, the current situation is very unfavorable to us, the countries of Europe are on the opposite side of us, and Austria, the only one of the great powers who supports us, is only forced by public opinion that they will not provide us with any substantial help." Prime Minister Joseph von Ladowitz said with a frown

Single-handedly facing Russia on land, before the end of the Crimean War, no country in the whole of Europe had the courage to do so, and Prussia was no exception.

Encountering such a neighbor is the greatest misfortune of the Kingdom of Prussia, since it is better to be friends if it cannot win, and Prussian-Russian relations have always been the most important link in Prussian diplomacy.

"Is the bourgeois government still refusing to budge?" Frederick William IV asked with concern

Radovicz thought for a moment and said, "Yes, Your Majesty. Now the morale of the people is high, and after Austria has spoken out in support of us, all the German states are waving their flags and shouting for us, and they are trying to use the will of the people to force us to break out into war with Russia.

The bourgeois government, believing that it is not possible to demoralize the population now. They want to wait for Austria to deal with its internal contradictions and join forces with us to resist the pressure from Russia. ”

True, the Russia of the European gendarmes is really terrible and not comparable to Prussia. However, after the Prussia and Austria join forces, this situation will be reversed, and Russia will not be able to defeat the enemy with one against the other.

But the question is, why did Austria stand against the Russians in order to help Prussia expand its territory? Where are their interests?

Frederick-William IV thought for a moment and said: "Those who inform us take action, cool down public opinion in the country, and tell my Alimé to stop first, now is not the time to challenge the Russians." ”

No one could have imagined that the leader of the liberal faction would be the king's man, and it is no wonder that after the outbreak of the Revolution, Prussia was able to reach an internal compromise so quickly.

However, those who are familiar with history know that this Prussian-Danish War was only a war provoked by Prussia in order to divert internal contradictions.

Through foreign wars, the attention of the people was successfully diverted and favorable conditions were created for the counter-revolutionary clique to fight back.

How could a bourgeois government provoke a conflict between Prussia and Russia before the position of power was consolidated, if there was no one to guide it?

Whether it is planning the Polish independence movement or launching the Prussian-Danish War, it is challenging the bottom line of the Russians, and once the gun is misfired, the Kingdom of Prussia will not be able to hold back.

In order to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control, Frederick-William IV made several stops and eased relations. In a way, it was also a test of the Russians by the Prussians.

In August 1848, under international pressure, the Kingdom of Prussia made concessions to the Russians, and the Prussian-Danish War entered an intermission, and the two countries signed the Malmo Armistice.

……

Vienna

After receiving the Malmo Armistice, the Austrian government considered the Prussian-Danish War to be over, and the Prussian compromise was much to the displeasure of the nationalists in the German region, and the Austrian plan succeeded.

Only Franz knew that it was not that simple. With this temptation, the Prussians had already got the answer they wanted, and the Russians would not go to war with them easily.

The main reason was that the Tsarist government was relatively poor, and the Kingdom of Denmark could not afford to finance the war, and in the event of a war with the Kingdom of Prussia, many of the Russians' plans had to be put on hold.

"This armistice came too quickly, and the terms on it were too much in favor of the Danes, which was very wrong, and Prussia had the upper hand on the battlefield, and there was no reason to suffer this loss.

Under normal circumstances, as long as the Prussian government insisted a little, the Danes would give in, and maybe they could take advantage of it, so how could they suffer this loss? ”

Franz said.

Prussia is also a European power, even if it is only the lowest power, it is also a member of the club of great powers, how can it suffer such an obvious loss?

No matter how great the diplomatic pressure of various countries is, and everyone does not intervene by force, why should they make such big concessions?

Metternich seemed to have thought of something, but he was not sure, so he asked: "Your Highness, do you mean that the Prussians have a conspiracy?" ”

"Yes!"

"As the two largest states in Germany, we have always wanted to unify the German region, so don't the Prussians want to unify the German region?

After a series of failures, we found out that Austria would not let us unify the German region, and finally we had no choice but to give up.

But once we have the opportunity to unify Germany, we will not give it up.

Now that the Prussians have set off nationalism, preached the idea of great unification, and put forward the unwritten Little German Plan, what is all this for?

There is no doubt that the Prussians, knowing that they did not have the strength to unify the German regions, retreated and prepared to kick us out and create a small German empire.

We had only recently foiled their conspiracy at the Frankfurt Conference, and why did Frederick William IV refuse to recognize the Frankfurt Conference, which was clearly inclined to Prussia?

Is it really because the crown is not orthodox enough? In my opinion, he did not dare. As soon as they supported the Frankfurt Conference, they were on the opposite side of the German Confederation.

The Kingdom of Prussia was limited in strength, and they could not disperse their forces, and now they compromised in the war on the Danish question, most likely trying to do things in the German region.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should keep in touch with the governments of the countries at all times, so as not to let the Prussians take advantage of the loopholes, and if necessary, we can send troops to help them stabilize the situation. ”

Franz analyzed in a logical way that the advantages of foresight were manifested.

Historically, the Prussians constantly colluded with the states of the German region and established the "Three Kings Alliance", in an attempt to replace the German Confederation controlled by Austria and take the first step towards the unification of the German region.

Although it was later slapped back by Austria and the Three Kings Alliance was dissolved, the status of the Kingdom of Prussia in the German region was greatly improved.

They even took advantage of this opportunity to deliberately show weakness and constantly proclaim the humiliation of Prussia under the Olmutz Agreement, and dilute the vigilance of the great powers against them.

These were all personal speculations by Franz, who greatly admired the ability of the Kingdom of Prussia to unify the German regions in the slits.

It's just that now his identity determines his position, and he is not a loyal fan - Peter III, it is impossible to sit his ass crookedly.

It is only possible to speculate on the actions of the Prussians with the greatest malice, so as not to leave an opportunity for the enemy.

Austria was prepared, and it was not so easy for the Prussians to pull allies. In terms of influence in the German region, Prussia had no way to compare with Austria.

If the fate of this era was decided by a referendum, Franz would have been ready to be crowned emperor of Germany, and the Habsburgs had an absolute advantage.

"Your Highness, the situation in many of the German states is now unstable, and if the Prussians want to intervene, they will probably try to win over some states to form alliances with them on the condition that they help them stabilize the situation.

Judging by their strength, the Prussians were likely to win over the North German states first, and then infiltrate the South German states.

As for the unification of the German regions, this was mostly only a pretense, and the unification of the North German regions was the limit of the tolerance of the countries towards the Kingdom of Prussia. Metternich analyzed diplomatically

This is true from the current international situation, but it is not certain in the future, and historically, the Kingdom of Prussia took advantage of the contradictions between the great powers to defeat the enemy one by one and unify the German regions except Austria.

Because of geopolitical, religious, and economic relations, it was clear that Austria had the greatest influence in Germany, but the bourgeoisie of the North German states generally favored the Kingdom of Prussia, so that Prussia would have a mass base for the unification of North Germany.

But now Austria could not tolerate Prussia's early unification of North Germany, which meant that the two sides would be brought closer together.

Franz had not yet completed domestic reforms, and the rise of a powerful Prussian kingdom would threaten Austrian interests.

"The Foreign Office is trying to disrupt the Prussian plans and to strengthen relations with the South German States. The government is ready to negotiate with the Customs Union, and Austria is also going to join.

If the Prussians obstructed, they would have rallied the South German states to come out and reorganize the Customs Union. If necessary, we can split the German Confederation! Franz said solemnly

In North Germany, Austria only had to delay the process of unifying the Kingdom of Prussia and, if necessary, exchange interests. And in the South German region, Franz will not let go easily in any case.

Even if it is not possible to annex these countries, it is necessary to build alliances and infiltrate them through politics, economy, and culture.

It would be a good idea to deepen the existing alliances, and if necessary, we could also work together to build a loose federal empire.

For example, modeled after the former Holy Roman Empire, as long as it is nominally unified, it will gradually achieve merger in the future by relying on economic and cultural influence.

。 m.