Holy Roman Empire

Maclean is not an idealist, and he does not think that European countries should follow their scripts.Whether it is Napoleon III or Franz, their main achievements are in politics.

Encountering such an opponent is much more difficult than Napoleon.What if the operation is not good and the hatred between the two countries is full, and France and Austria do not kill each other, but directly kill them, what should we do?

You must know that the Franco-Austrian alliance has not been disbanded. This alliance is not aimed at them, who else can it be aimed at?

Joining this alliance and further dividing France and Austria is the best policy.

If you can't do the latter point, the big deal is to take a step back. The three countries will join forces to dominate the world, and Britain just needs to find a way to become the leader of the alliance.

It can be said that the British have considered all issues comprehensively, and the only trouble now is how to persuade France and Austria to agree to form an alliance.

Macklin was thinking in his mind that the original plan had failed.What interests can be used to buy the two countries now, and the interests of Britain can be guaranteed to the greatest extent.

It is impossible to cut one's own flesh, the most is to be generous to others, sacrificing the interests of other countries to achieve their goals is what they are best at.

It was late at night, and McLean fell asleep while thinking about it.In his dream, he completed this diplomatic game, established Britain's world dominance, and became the greatest prime minister in British history.

……

It wasn't just McLean who was troubled by the Triple Alliance. The Palace of Versailles was brightly lit, and Napoleon III was also troubled by this problem.

Don't think that the pro-British faction will not be anti-British.In the face of interests, the positions of politicians can change at any time.

Napoleon III, who lived in Britain, was very aware of the horrors of the British, and even suffered from Anglophobia for a time.

Time will always dilute everything. After more than ten years of imperial career, Napoleon III's fear of the British gradually faded away.

The current France is far from comparable to that of the past, and the gap in strength with the British is actually not that big.However, Napoleon III's fear of the British has never faded.

Obviously, the British are a naval power. Although the threat to France is great, it has not yet reached the point where it can be fatal.If it really works together, both sides will suffer. The French can still do it.

On the contrary, Austria, which is also a powerful country in the army, may pose a fatal threat to France. However, Napoleon III has full confidence in Austria and is not so afraid at all.

The concept deep in the heart is also an important factor in determining the direction of politics.

Just like Russia in later generations, it is obvious that its overall national strength has fallen behind, but it is still the second most powerful country in the world in everyone's consciousness.On the contrary...

This problem is that Franz is similar to Napoleon III. He also fears the British, but he does not regard the French as a mortal threat.

So what if it is also a strong army?I just don't hesitate in my heart. Anyway, the geographical location determines that it is difficult for France and Austria to hit each other's core area.

The Alps Mountains are not suitable for large army operations, which means that it is impossible to fight from the Italian area, let alone the other side.

Throughout the two world wars, the Germans attacked France from Belgium, and they knew that the southern region was not suitable for large army operations.

Bypassing Belgium means that they have to cross Prussia at the same time before the two sides can start fighting.

Although there are no allusions about falsehoods in Europe, the Berlin government still dare not make excuses.Of course, even if they are willing to borrow, no one dares to pass.

Unless Belgium and the Rhineland area are occupied first, otherwise the army will be cut off as soon as it passes, wouldn't it be a tragedy.

Because they do not regard each other as a threat, France and Austria formed an alliance based on common interests. Both sides confidently waited for the completion of the strategic layout before slowly overwhelming each other.

It is impossible to deal with the British. Neither the Austrian Navy nor the French Navy has the strength to suppress the Royal Navy. The most optimistic estimate is that both sides will suffer.

This is also the reason why in the era of Napoleon III, after the relationship between Britain and France recovered, they were not able to form further alliances.

Now is no exception, both France and Austria regard the British as their greatest enemy, and the British also hold the same attitude.It is naturally not easy to form an alliance with one's enemies.

Taking a sip of freshly ground coffee, Napoleon III sighed.He didn't want to turn against the British, but John Bull was preventing him from annexing Italy.

Deep down in his heart, Napoleon III has already made a decision. If the British are willing to acquiesce in the expansion of France, then everyone will form an alliance, otherwise there is no need to talk about it.

If the alliance can't bring benefits to France, then don't play with the British.

……

Chapter 35 Buying and Soliciting

The negotiations between the three countries soon reached a deadlock. The French demanded the annexation of the Italian region, and Austria proposed to annex the German Federation. This is not acceptable to the British.

In this way, it is equivalent to releasing two great empires at the same time. Although France and Austria are great empires, the British are still unwilling to see the two countries continue to grow.

If France and Austria are allowed to complete their respective strategic plans, Britain's world dominance will be unstable.

You must know that France and Austria have never officially recognized the supremacy of the British, and there have always been voices challenging the British maritime hegemony within the two countries.

It is no longer 20 years ago. At that time, the total industrial output of the British exceeded the sum of Europe. The absolute gap in national strength made the British the overlord.

However, with the completion of our industrial revolution, this gap gradually narrowed.Relying on the advantages of human resources, Austria's annual industrial output is almost comparable to that of the British.

The French are not much worse than the British. It is estimated that after the annexation of Italy, in three to five years, the total industrial volume of France will be able to overtake the British.

This is the advantage of its large area and large population.Although the per capita is still not comparable, but there are too many people!

The population of Austria has reached 6976 million, and it will pass the 7000 million mark within this year; once France annexes Italy, the total population will exceed 5400 million.

The total population of the British Isles is only 3000 million and 3.5 million, and their birth rate is around [-]%, which is far higher than that of France, but lower than that of Austria.

This gap is not visible in the short term, but as time goes by, the consequences will be disastrous.

There will never be a shortage of smart people in this world. Naturally, some people can see the impact of population on a country's strength.

It's just that many people in the London government were misled by Malthus's "On Population", ignoring the progress of productivity in the industrial age and the increase in population capacity due to the advent of the colonial era.

The Great Irish Famine happened under this theory, and government bureaucrats thought the British Isles were overpopulated and deliberately let the Great Famine happen.

This theory is actually correct. The population that the land can accommodate is indeed limited, but Malthus is a person from the last century, calculated according to the standards of the feudal era.

The industrial age is different. According to the estimates of Austrian population experts, the population that can be accommodated in the mainland can be doubled, and the colony can also support [-] million people.

Franz didn't know whether it was scientific or not. Anyway, he used this number directly. Otherwise, how could he encourage births?

Of course, the number of British people is small, mainly due to the small local population, not to say that there are few British people.There are still a lot of Englishmen overseas, otherwise the colonial empire would not be able to support it.

Negotiations have reached an impasse, which is also expected.The alliance between major powers involves too many interests, and it cannot be cleared up in a short period of time. It is normal for it to drag on for a few years.

The alliance between France and Austria has actually been delayed for many years. As early as 1848, after the French Revolution, both sides were discussing this issue.

Halfway through due to the change of French regime, the alliance was interrupted for a while.In the late 19s, as the international situation continued to change, it provided an opportunity for France and Austria to move closer.

Negotiations belonged to negotiations, and the black hands that should be dealt with still had to be dealt with, but everyone restrained themselves tacitly.

Franz canceled the plan to occupy British South Africa, and the British also abandoned the strategy of uniting Portugal and expelling Austria from South Africa.

However, the battle surrounding the two Boer republics continues.It can no longer be said to be the Boer Republic, and German has become the mainstream of the local area without knowing it.

There is no need for promotion, if more people say it, it will be mainstream.The governments of the two Boer republics are also very helpless, and they don't want this, but there is no way.

The Boer people have been full of strong German flavor since their birth, which cannot be washed away at all.

There is no way, even the Netherlands in this era is deeply influenced by Germanic culture, let alone their mixed race?

In 1830, about 12000 Dutch people were unwilling to accept British rule, so they relocated and established two Boer republics.

To increase the population, they accepted European immigrants.In more than ten years, about [-] immigrants from the German region arrived, and some French missionaries came, and the Boer nation was born.

By the mid-19th century, the combined population of the two Boer republics exceeded 3.

Beginning in 1856, the history of the Boer Republic changed with the influx of German immigrants, which changed the demographics of both countries.

It was impossible to exclude German immigrants. Half of the Boers at that time had German ancestry.

Then assimilation is good. Although the governments of the two Boer republics work hard, they still cannot hold back the large number of immigrants from the German region.

In the end, the assimilation was successful, but it was the opposite of the original plan.With the increase of the Anglo-Boer conflict, the two Boer republics that needed to hug their thighs had to move closer to Austria.

Political changes, directly two Boer republican governments abandoned the original plan, and German became the mainstream.

The situation has developed to this point, and the two Boer republics have become German countries, and it will be a matter of time before they merge with Austria.

Franz attaches great importance to the South African region. Regardless of the fertile land, the gold in the ground alone is an indispensable part of Austria's future strategy.

No one will give up monetary hegemony. The British are tinkering with the "sterling-gold system", the French are building the "franc system", and Austria is no exception. They are building the "Aegis-gold system".

Who can become the final winner depends not only on industry, but also on the amount of gold stored in their hands.Without enough gold, what kind of gold standard hegemony is there to fight for?

This has nothing to do with ambition. Franz was not prepared to compete with the British for monetary hegemony at first, but as his strength grew, interests were forcing Austria to move forward.

Even if the government does not move, capital will move by itself.Now the international monetary hegemony struggle has not yet come to the end, but the financial capital of the three countries is almost on the verge of red bayonet.

Different from the battle for world hegemony, the battle for currency hegemony is much more subtle. The battle has already begun before ordinary people are aware of it.

In this round of struggle, the British took advantage of the opportunity of the Franco-Prussian War to severely damage France and won the final victory.

Of course, the French, who were the losers, also got a piece of meat. The franc became the internationally accepted hard currency second only to the pound, and the rest of the countries were struggling.

As an emerging power, the German Second Empire, when it carried out the gold standard reform, could not receive enough gold, and was finally forced to compromise with the British.

In the struggle for monetary hegemony among Britain, France and Austria, the French, who lacked gold, were the first to be out.Although they wooed Switzerland, Belgium, and Italy to form the Latin Currency Union, nothing changed.

John Bull already owned the gold in Australia and Canada, Austria got most of the gold in West Africa, and the French didn't have enough gold, and they still insisted on the gold and silver double standard system.

If it wasn't in the hands of the French and there was nothing worthy of Franz's peeping, he would have considered exposing Alaska's gold and making a deal with Napoleon III.

After all, after mastering South Africa's gold, Austria's "Aegis-Gold System" has stabilized.To enjoy exclusive monetary hegemony, Austria's strength is not enough.

No, it should be said that Franz liked it, but the French would not give it; what France could offer, Franz didn't like it.

There is no way out, the transaction cannot go on.If a traveler looks at the map, he will find the top ten gold mines in the world, more than half of which are in the Austria-controlled area.

……

After the new rain, the air is exceptionally fresh.The dark clouds over President Pretorius Jr.'s head did not dissipate, and a few more wrinkles appeared on his forehead.

He was also a prominent figure in Africa in this era. He became the president of the Transvaal Republic in 1857 and the president of the Orange Free State in 1859. He served as the president of two countries at the same time, which was also a historical precedent.

Born in 1819, Pretorius Jr. became the president before he was 40 years old and reached the pinnacle of his life. Now he should be in high spirits.

However, the opposite is true.President Pretorius Jr., who has been elected for the third time, has long since lost his original vigor, leaving only a sad face.

The merger movement of the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State led by him failed again.Unlike before, this time it was a complete failure, and there was no next chance.

There was no way the Vienna government was against the establishment of a South African republic.The dignitaries of the Boer Republic who had hooked up with Austria sold the government without hesitation.

Now the two sides are negotiating the price. As long as the interests are suitable, the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State will soon become history, and his presidential term will end early.

Pretorius Jr. planned to merge the Transvaal and the Austrian Free State to establish the Republic of South Africa, and then join the Shinra Empire as a single country.

Unfortunately, this plan was opposed by the Vienna government.The emperor didn't want to see the Republic appear, and this reason left him speechless.

If nothing else, the Transvaal and the Orange Free State will become a member of Austrian Africa, and then become a member of the Empire through localization.

People are selfish. Both the Transvaal and the Orange Free State are small countries, and they have no bargaining power at all.

As an emerging country, everyone's sense of identity is not strong, especially the newly joined German immigrants, who have a higher degree of identity with Shinra than the Republic.

There are too many smart people, and everyone knows that instead of fighting for the interests of the new country, it is better to fight for their own interests, so that they can get more benefits.

There are not many opportunities to step into the noble class, and such opportunities must not be missed.As for the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, can the two grassroots teams compare with the Shinra Empire?

Do not agree?Then you don't need to agree, the people below will take your place.

"Public opinion" is not a problem. Now the team of petitions outside has proved that joining Shinra is in line with the wishes of the public.

The clever little Pretorius would not do the thing of manipulating a man's arm as a cart.With Austria's influence in the Transvaal and Orange, it was too easy to change the president.

It's not that he didn't work hard. In order to reduce the influence of Austria, Pretorius Jr. also worked very hard to introduce Dutch immigrants after he came to power, but he was opposed by the Dutch government.

The reason is very simple. The Netherlands is only a small country with a limited population. The government is busy expanding in Southeast Asia, and there are not enough immigrants to Indonesia. How can it support them?

In this case, there was nothing Pretorius could do.There is obviously no return on investing in them. The Boer Republic sandwiched between Britain and Austria was doomed from the beginning.

President Pretorius Jr. asked with concern: "Karen, how are their negotiations with the Austrians going?"

As a president, he is not qualified to be on the negotiating table. It has to be said that this is a tragedy.

There is no way, who let President Pretorius Jr. advocate: first merge the Transvaal and the Orange Free State to establish the South African Republic, and then negotiate with the Austrians.

The Vienna government ignored him at all, directly bypassed the president, and sent people to negotiate with the powerful factions in the Boer Republic.

There is no way around this, including the cronies of President Pretorius Jr., did not refuse Austria's wooing.

In the face of interests, everyone's integrity has been lowered.Those who actively cooperate have the opportunity to become nobles, and can continue to be in a dominant position in the new era in the future.

If you stand on the wrong team, you will be marginalized in the new round of power reshuffle.

In this era of the jungle, once eliminated, Yuhi's companions will devour their interests without the need for others to do anything.

Pretorius Jr. is the president anyway, and as a banner figure, as long as he doesn't publicly oppose it, the Vienna government will properly arrange it for the sake of gaining favor. This is the reason why he can sit still.

You must know that Pretorius Jr. was able to become president not only because of his father's political legacy, but also because of his own political ability.

He still understood the reason why his arms couldn't twist his thighs.Since it cannot be stopped, we must find a way to participate, and it is necessary to pay attention to the negotiation process.