At the end of the 19th century, the colonial wave also came to an end. The land of the world suitable for colonization has been carved up, and all that remains is scraps and hard bones.

As colonial expansion deepened, buffers between countries ceased to exist, and international conflicts increased.

In particular, the competition for the remaining land is even more intense. This situation continued until the "Anglo-Boer War", after the Anglo-Austrian PK in South Africa, everyone realized the horror of the war and gradually calmed down.

The essence of European colonization was to make money, not to expand its territory. While fighting for colonization, we must first consider the issue of investment and return.

Britain, France and Austria were all big winners in the colonial era, and even the French Empire, which had the fewest colonies, started with tens of millions of square kilometers.

As vested interests, Britain, France and Austria are all full. The pursuit of the colonies has become less fanatical, the most fertile areas have been carved up, and the remaining marginal areas are no longer worth fighting against.

The British took the initiative to propose an alliance between the three countries, in addition to dividing the Franco-Austrian alliance, but also to ease the contradiction with France and Austria.

If you open the map, you can see that Britain, France and Austria have occupied half of the world, and as long as there are no internal problems in the three countries, this hegemony cannot be shaken at all.

For those with vested interests, stability is the best option. Everyone wears shoes now, and they can't play as much as they did when they were barefoot.

The three-legged stand is the most stable structure, and until the balance is broken, it will be difficult for the world to be chaotic. Including the contradictions between Prussia and Prussia, in fact, they were deliberately laissez-faire by the three countries.

It is better for three countries to divide the world together than for four or five countries to divide the world together.

Neither Prussia nor Russia is weak, and if they do not confront each other, they also have the strength to participate in the partition of the world, which all the old empires do not want to see.

Under the common will of the three countries, the contradictions between Prussia and Russia cannot be resolved. Just like the Franco-German contradictions in the original time and space, there is no possibility of alleviating without distinguishing a winner or a loser.

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At the Vienna Palace, Franz also had high expectations for the Trilateral Conference. Don't look at Britain, France and Austria confronting each other, but everyone still agrees on core issues.

For example: maintaining stability in Europe, fighting the challengers of the nascent empire, and consolidating the world hegemony of the three countries.

If you want to look at the hegemonic distribution ratio, Britain, France and Austria are basically 4.2:3.0:2.8. Judging purely from the data, Austria seems to have suffered a loss, which is completely inconsistent with the national strength.

However, the so-called hegemony is essentially the right to speak in the international arena. Austria joined the colonial expansion much later than Britain and France, and its influence overseas was naturally not as good as that of Britain and France.

This is not something that can be changed overnight, anyway, it is enough to get the substantive benefits in hand, and Franz is not in a hurry with international influence.

Foreign Secretary Wesenberg handed over a document: "Your Majesty, this is the draft of the first day of negotiations. There are two main parts:

First, to clarify the sphere of influence of each country in a treaty situation, reduce international conflicts, and may invite other colonial powers to participate in the later stage;

Second, to jointly suppress potential competitors, the British also divided the bins according to the size of the threat.

In the first echelon are: the Russian Empire and the United States of America;

The second echelon are: the Popov Federation, the Confederate States of America, and Spain;

There are more in the third echelon, including: the Nordic Confederation, the Federal Empire of Germany, Brazil, Argentina......

In general, except for the countries of the first and second echelons, the rest are not to be worried. These countries may have the potential to develop, but there is no sign of any of them rising in the short term. ”

There is no doubt that this threat report is simply a fabrication. Now the only real fear of threat in the minds of the British is France and Austria, and the other countries are too far from them.

If you really want Britain, France and Austria to cooperate sincerely, unless the Russian Empire opens up and swallows the Pop-Polish Federation in one gulp, then it may cause panic among the three countries and join forces to attack.

Otherwise, everyone will talk about it or make it difficult diplomatically. It is usually impossible to directly target them, the relationship between the three countries is not so good, and it is too difficult to want everyone to completely let down their guard and cooperate.

Franz took the document: "Let's talk about the division of spheres of influence first!" Where do we have access to it, and what do we have to give?

It is not an overnight problem to suppress the newly-born powers, as long as we do not let the United States unify and prevent Prussia from winning or losing. ”

It's not that Franz doesn't know the importance of suppressing competitors, the problem is that these countries are not yet limited in strength, and people are not aware of the threat at all.

The fact that the British were able to come up so early is already strategically astonishing. It's just that these threats exist only in the future, full of uncertainties, and the interests of dividing spheres of influence are in sight.

Politics cannot be taken for granted, and no one can ignore immediate interests in order to strike at possible enemies in the future.

Instead of worrying about potential competitors, it's better to think about the competitors in front of you. It is good to have a good vision and a long-term vision, but the premise for all this is that Austria is still strong.

If you are not strong enough to share the world hegemony, then even if you kill these potential competitors, it is to make a wedding dress for others.

Wessenberg replied: "This time it's a very wide range, almost the whole world. Including the Mediterranean, West Asia, South Seas, Far East, Africa, South America and other regions.

Our interests are concentrated in the Mediterranean, Africa, the South Seas, South America, as well as West Asia and the Arabian Peninsula. ”

Franz was shocked that if this plan became a reality, the international situation would change dramatically.

The great colonial empires did not seem to have much effect in dividing their spheres of influence through treaty situations, but in fact, once an agreement was reached, conflicts between countries would be reduced by more than half.

Even if there is a conflict, everyone can get the three major powers to intervene and mediate, which greatly reduces the possibility of war breaking out.

From this point of view, it doesn't look like John Bull's style at all. When did the British become so peace-loving?

Well, Franz admits that he is biased against the British, but this is the conclusion that countless cases have piled up.

In recent centuries, more than half of the wars in Europe have been related to the British, and they really have nothing to do with peace-loving.

"Do you know why, why did the British suddenly want to reduce international conflicts?"