Grand Vienna International Hotel

Palmerston argued, "Monsieur Metternich, your asking price is too high, it is beyond the reach of the Kingdom of Sardinia!" ”

Metternich said unhurriedly: "Mr. Palmerston, we can calculate a battle, this time in the Austro-Saxon War, Austria spent 100 million guilders on the war, and also paid 12,000 casualties among officers and soldiers, even if no one pays a pension of 1,000 guilders, it is 12 million guilders."

The death toll of civilians was as high as 586,000, the death of nobles was 26,000, the title was as high as the marquis, and millions of people were left homeless.

According to the calculation of 500 dong casualty pension for each civilian and 3,000 dong for each nobleman, the total is 371 million dong, and the homeless people are a little less, at least 150 million dong for the resettlement fee, right?

Nearly half of the cities in Lombardy and Venice were destroyed by the war, the local economy completely collapsed, and the post-war reconstruction would have cost no less than 300 million guilders.

There is also the recklessness of the Sardinian army, which plundered a large amount of wealth from the people, at least 180 million guilders, which must also be returned.

……”

According to the calculations of the Austrians, the Kingdom of Sardinia estimated that it would not be able to pay it off by the next century, and before Metternich could finish speaking, Palmerston spoke:

"Monsieur Metternich, the account cannot be counted like this. Most of the casualties and economic losses were caused by the revolutionaries, and the losses inflicted on your country by the Sardinian army were only a small part of them. ”

Yes, these losses were the result of the combined efforts of the rebels, the Austrian army, the Sardinian army, but the losses were borne by the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Metternich said without changing his face: "Mr. Palmerston, we have sufficient evidence to show that the rebellions in Lombardy and Venice were orchestrated by the Sardinian government.

Naturally, the losses caused by the rebels also need to be borne by the Kingdom of Sardinia. We are only asking for Rp 1.66 billion in compensation, which is actually very little. ”

Palmerston naturally won't buy it, grinding with Metternich one by one.

Civilian casualties, for example: how could the Sardinian army kill so many civilians in such a short period of time without committing massacres?

Natural disasters, man-made disasters, and natural deaths are recorded in the Sardinian government, and they can barely be said in the past, but they can be related to it a little.

But the war has caused an exodus of people, and if these people are still alive, they should be compensated according to the number of people who died, isn't it too nonsense?

What rebel members are also required to pay compensation for casualties? Isn't that? They are all sinners, and the Austrian government needs to pay pensions to their dependents?

No, it has to be discounted.

Another example: the Sardinian army plundered the place, they were all in the prisoner of war camp, and the goods were all your spoils, okay? At most, give a little attrition fee, how can there be so much?

……

After half a month of arguing, Palmerston finally reached an agreement with Metternich that the Kingdom of Sardinia would pay Austria 338 million dong in war reparations and 62 million dong in a ransom for prisoners of war to end the war. (about 93.52 million taels of silver)

This is already the limit, the Kingdom of Sardinia has not yet undergone the reform of Cavour, and now their financial income is only converted into more than 10 million taels of silver.

In the face of this huge indemnity, they will definitely not be able to come up with it. The existence of the Franco-Austrian Secret Treaty cut off the possibility of their turn to the French financial community for help, and they had no choice but to borrow money from the British.

With John Bull's feces and urine, how can it be impossible not to take advantage of the fire to rob at this time?

It can be said that after this huge debt is borrowed, the politics and economy of the Kingdom of Sardinia in the future must be fully dependent on the British.

As for the opinion of the Sardinian government-in-exile, it no longer matters, they have lost their right to speak, and can only accept the arrangement of fate.

If you are disobedient, you can change to a government, and the British spent a lot of money to support an obedient chess piece in the Italian region and enhance their voice in the Italian region.

Of course, there is another reason that the British bank consortium is trapped in loans. The government of Sardinia still owes a lot of debt to the British, and if they don't find a way to keep them, these loans will all go down the drain.

This huge indemnity was not so much the limit of what the Kingdom of Sardinia could bear, but the limit of what the British were willing to continue to invest.

……

On July 7, 1848, the Austrian ambassador to London signed an armistice with the Sardinian government in exile in Britain.

A consortium of British banks provided a loan to the Sardinian government, paying the Austrian war reparations of Rp 200 million in a lump sum, and the rest to be paid over twenty years at an interest rate of 5% per annum.

……

The decision to ask for money or land was made by Franz, and if France's pig teammates did not have problems, then everyone joined forces to divide the Kingdom of Sardinia, and Austria could get the rich Genoa and Turin regions, which was indeed worth selling.

But now the French were left to fancy, and Austria was left alone. It's a pity that Austria has a bad appetite and can't swallow the Kingdom of Sardinia in one gulp.

If the Kingdom of Sardinia could not be destroyed, but only part of their territory would be occupied, it would be difficult to transform these areas into national power because of the threat of national uprisings for a long time.

Moreover, there were enough Italians in Austria that Franz did not want to continue to increase, which was not conducive to his policy of national integration.

Austria made concessions on the question of the Kingdom of Sardinia, and naturally it was compensated.

For example, the British would support Austria's expansion in the Balkans and acquiesce in Austria's overseas colonial expansion.

Compared to Italy, which had a complicated situation, with the support of the British, Austria expanded in the Balkans only by communicating with the Russians.

Overseas colonial expansion was even simpler, as long as Austria opened up the direction of the colony and did not conflict with the core interests of Britain and France, everything else was a minor issue.

It has to be said that Palmerston's judgment is very accurate, and Austria's strategic center of gravity has long been out of Italy.

The dominant force is the German faction, led by Chancellor Felix, which advocates the expansion of power in the German region.

This was followed by the Near Eastern faction, led by War Minister Prince Wendy Schretz, who advocated expansion into the Balkans.

and the colonial faction, led by the Grand Duke Louis, who advocated the opening up of overseas colonies.

The impact of the butterfly effect was enormous, and at this time in history, the Austrian government was busy suppressing rebellions, and there were definitely not so many people who wanted to expand abroad.

Behind these strategies is one, or more than one interest group. On the surface, everyone's reasons are very good, but in practice, there are a series of problems.

Franz did not rush to take a stand, and politics often depends not only on right and wrong, but also on the interest groups involved and the changes that may be triggered.

……

Palmerston's visit was not only for the Italian question, but also for the mediation of the Prussian-Danish war, and Austria also had a strong say in this issue.

"Mr. Metternich, I feel that there is a need for more in-depth communication between our two countries on the issue of the Prussian-Danish war.

The act of the Kingdom of Prussia in provoking war on its own is condemnable by the international community, and as a peace-loving country, it is necessary for us to take more active measures. Palmerston said

"Of course, Mr. Palmerston. The Austrian government has long made its position clear:

The Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein were traditional German states, and Austria wanted them to return to the Confederation.

However, they had to return as independent states, not as part of the Kingdom of Prussia. Metternich replied tentatively

Palmerston said solemnly: "Mr. Metternich, the two principalities of Schleswig and Holstein already belong to the Kingdom of Denmark, and this is a matter of history.

The German region is just a place name, not a country. The German Confederation is also only a union, and there is no such thing as sovereignty! ”

There is no doubt that the British were opposed to the unification of the German regions. Once a unified empire emerges on the Central European continent, the hegemony of the British Empire will be under attack.

Palmerston made his position straightforward, in order to dispel the illusion of a possible unity of Germany in Austria.

Metternich was opposed to the establishment of Greater Germany, believing that the unification of the German regions would not be possible, and that after testing the attitude of the British, there would naturally be no radical reaction.

"Mr. Palmerston, the question is not what we think, but the public opinion led by the Prussians, and now the Austrian government has been kidnapped by public opinion.

Having just experienced a civil rebellion, we had to take into account the feelings of the people, and in this war we had to support the Prussians diplomatically. ”

Metternich bit the word diplomacy very seriously, and Palmerston naturally heard the implication that Austria did not want Prussia to continue to grow, and its support for them was limited to diplomacy and would not take practical action.

This reply did not satisfy him, but it was not unacceptable, it was nothing more than that in this Prussian-Danish war, Austria was ready to fight soy sauce.

Seeking the involvement of the Austrian government in a coalition to put pressure on Prussia failed, and Palmerston did not continue his stay in Vienna and went straight to Berlin.