Welcome to 19th-century Europe, where strength reigns supreme

When Cavour heard about the European Union, he had never heard of it, so he talked about it in detail.

In Europe, the concept of alliance is actually relatively vague. After all, contemporary covenants are generally just toilet paper. You can't tell whether the good brother standing behind you will stab you tomorrow.

Therefore, in this era, the concept of the European Union is very new. You can't say whether it is advanced enough or not. You can only say that it can indeed ensure that the two sides will not have a war to a certain extent.

"To maintain peace between the two sides, both sides must be honest with each other. Prussia will not attack Italy, and Italy must promise not to attack Prussia, but both sides will definitely have suspicions. When both Prussia and Italy rise in the future, we will Some people with ulterior motives may inflame national sentiments among us, and no matter what the reason is, these people will steer the situation to the side they want, so both sides must take some measures to prevent this from happening."

August said that what she said does make some sense, but there is a problem, that is, how to restrict the law and limit armaments. This may not work. A strong army is the most important force to ensure national security, but there are no restrictions. Army, there is no guarantee that you will change your attitude and use this army to attack the opponent.

But is this a problem, says August? To produce weapons and equipment, coal and steel are needed. It would be better to give both parties the power to control production, investment, prices, and raw material distribution within the alliance, as well as to develop or close certain enterprises or departments. This is equivalent to exposing one's back. Showing it to the other person, isn’t this interesting enough?

Cavour was a little embarrassed about this. This covenant didn't sound like a good thing. He always felt that August was setting a trap for him.

"Your Highness Auguste, Italy is a newly established country. Even if Prussia is our friend, there is no such thing as directly showing all the things related to national security to Prussia, right? We have great trust in Prussia. , but we can hardly trust other people with ulterior motives, or the opposition in the Prussian government."

Cavour actually doesn't trust Prussia. If that's the case, it's better to limit the number of troops. At least he won't expose his underwear to other countries. Brothers have to separate themselves from each other, let alone two people with different cultural backgrounds. Planted country.

"Mr. Cavour, you also said that Italy is a newly established country. In order to achieve rapid development, it is difficult to have other trustworthy allies besides relying on Prussia. And I think we are already very interesting. Italy Now we are a country in ruins. Our annual steel output is less than ours for one month. What can I do for you? I have no territorial demands for Italy. We only have one idea, which is to have one more country in the Mediterranean. Allies, and all the conditions of the European Union are very favorable for Italy, it just needs to release a little bit of sovereignty.”

So what is included in these ceded sovereignty? Italy's future state-owned enterprises need Prussian investment, Italy's future scientific research results need to be shared with Prussia, Italy needs to pay money to the European Union, and Italy needs to regularly report its military strength to the European Union, including the most cutting-edge Technology, no weapons of mass destruction must be hidden, and Prussia needs to be consulted when there are major changes in the country, and national leaders cannot be elected who will irritate Prussia. The most important thing is that Italy and Prussia, or future joining countries, must Use the currency of the European Union institutions, and this currency is the euro that has broken away from the gold standard. It is dominated by Prussia and supervised by other member countries.

Adding up these messy terms, Cavour whispered to others during a break, "Prussia's conditions are terrible!"

After receiving the terms required of Italy, Farini also called them unacceptable terms. The only difference between this thing and the deed of sale is that this thing is called a covenant, but the conditions offered by Prussia are also very tempting. Any developed member country in the European Union needs to provide assistance to less developed countries, which includes industrial assistance, economic assistance, military assistance, and the most important thing is the military mutual assistance clause. In order to distinguish all special circumstances, this One chapter fills a piece of paper.

If a war is initiated on the initiative, other member states may have the right not to participate in the war, but must provide certain humanitarian assistance. If a member state is invaded by another country, it will be regarded as a declaration of war on all countries in the entire European Union. This clause is copied from NATO. In fact, the EU does not have relevant clauses.

In August's vision, the EU was to be built into a political, economic, and military alliance that transcended countries. Prussia and the German Empire that would be unified later would stand at the center of the EU with absolute hegemony in military and technology, and eventually reach The effect of dominating Europe.

Unlike the previous empire, August also knew that Europe in the [-]th century would be difficult to unify as completely as the mysterious power of the East. There were many languages ​​and nations in Europe, and it was impossible for a single power to unify the entire Europe. Even if unification can be achieved through unparalleled military strength, the empire will fall apart when nationalism reawakens.

But what if it’s an alliance? We do not rely on power or aggression. Countless politicians in the world have proven that we can live a good life without engaging in aggression or massacre. Of course, August also knows that this is difficult. It is a bit unrealistic and he has no experience. Europe, which had gone through the world war, was still eager to change its international status and national borders through war.

Now Italy has just finished the civil war and has just achieved the unification of most regions. It is still difficult to recover from this situation. The entire country has almost completely collapsed from industry to economy. The Italian people have experienced this for thirty or forty years. There is civil strife in China, and they are unable to fight now, let alone want to fight, so the olive branch offered by Prussia seems very tempting.

Italy can quickly recover from the huge shadow of the civil war with the help of Prussia, but the price is that Italy will not be able to launch any war against Prussia, and will have to share all national technologies with Prussia. Of course, these are two-way, so These alone are actually fine, but what makes Cavour most unacceptable is the currency issue.

Currency is the foundation of a country. If you ask Italy to give up the gold standard, it's not a big deal. Just give up. What's the big deal? At most, the currency has no credibility, but anyway, the value of currency in this era depends on market feedback. Yes, to put it bluntly, it’s the same with or without him.

But you have directly confiscated Italy's coinage rights. You might as well merge Italy with Prussia. Italy can't even trade without money. What should I do if something happens in Prussia?

After a day of research, Cavour mentioned it at the meeting the next day.

"Italy can accept most of the terms, but one thing is that we cannot agree to the issue of coinage rights. We have no interest in territories outside of Italy, so the needs of the European Union are basically in line with Italy's interests, but it is impossible for Italy to hand over Just because we trust Prussia with the right to mint money does not mean that we will give our whole heart to Prussia."

Of course Auguste knew this. She said this on purpose yesterday. Even though Cavour was speaking so forcefully, he was actually really panicked.

He was also afraid. He had just provoked Austria and had some minor frictions with France. If Prussia was provoked and beaten by the three big powers, Italy would be in trouble just after it was founded.

Auguste said that she wanted Italy to use the euro, but she did not say that Italy did not have the right to mint coins. She played a psychological game. She felt that Cavour would be anxious because of this matter, and normal people would. Italy and Prussia Negotiations were inherently unequal. Italy wanted something from Prussia.

To be fair, the conditions offered by Prussia are actually quite interesting. In addition to high loans, Prussia is also willing to provide a lot of free assistance. Although Cavour is a bourgeois politician, he and his colleagues also really love this. country, otherwise he would not have repeatedly gone to dangerous areas to incite mass uprisings.

He was unsure, let alone him, the King of Italy, Vittorio, did not come to the meeting today.

"Of course Mr. Cavour, after all, I am not a devil. As a member of the European Union, Italy also enjoys all the rights of the European Union, including the right to mint euros. If you read the terms carefully, in fact, the European Union Unlike any other form of alliance in the world today, it combines the destinies of two countries. We link strategic materials, military intelligence and currency together, just like one country.

Back to the topic of minting rights, Italy can of course mint currency, but the issuance needs to be approved by the banking departments of each country. The euro is linked to all member countries. If the value of the euro plummets or rises, it will affect all member countries and trade with the European Union. It has a huge impact on our trading partners, so the minting of the currency will be negotiated by the Prussian National Bank and the Bank of Italy. We will not embarrass any of the participating countries, and Italy is our partner. Naturally, we will not stick to Italy’s neck anywhere. , after all, according to the European Union treaties, fast-developing countries are obliged to help slow-developing countries. "

Auguste succeeded in impressing Cavour. Everything Auguste said was a bit too ideal. Cavour was a very realistic politician. He didn't quite understand why Auguste was helping Italy. Even if Auguste is somewhat pro-Italian due to some of his origins, is this a bit too heartfelt? This seems wrong.

"Your Highness Augustus, Italy has enjoyed so many benefits from Prussia, so Italy should give some back to Prussia. Does Your Highness Augustus have any interests in Italy or the Balkans?"

Cavour could only think of the Balkans. If August's goal was the Ottoman Empire, then there was nothing wrong with wooing Italy. Italy could feel at ease with receiving these aids, but they were free. You could use the things they brought to you inexplicably. I just have some doubts, why should she be so nice to me?

"Mr. Cavour laughed. There is only one reason why we are so wooing Italy, because Prussia's security has been threatened. Italy is located in the south of the Alps and has a natural wall with France, Austria and other established powers, but Prussia does not Likewise, Prussia is surrounded by undefeable great plains on the left and right, with France on the left and the Russian Empire on the right. It is sandwiched between these two great powers. No matter how strong Prussia is, it cannot withstand the pressure of the two empires, so we also I hope to cultivate a strong country in the Mediterranean and help Prussia share some of the pressure."

Auguste smiled very sweetly, as if she really thought so in her heart. In fact, she was just greedy for Italy's few resources and money. It is very unclear that you expect the Pasta Country to be able to fight. matter.

After repeated considerations, Cavour decided to sign the alliance contract with Prussia. Italy really needed this batch of supplies and financial assistance now. It was too embarrassed to talk to others if he didn't have money to go out.

how do you say?

As for using euros... Cavour still has to find a way to convince the people to replace all their money with euros. Prussia's aid is euros, not Italian lira, let alone Prussian marks.

And where is the EU’s central bank now? In Berlin…

Auguste's empty-handed trick fooled the whole of Italy. It took a long time before the Bank of Italy got it together, and all the euros were issued by Prussia.

Is Italy also being tricked? But Auguste said it well, let’s have a hard time in Italy first, good brothers, let’s take a look at the situation first.

August also plans to convert marks into euros, but the problem is probably that a sudden change of currency will cause some panic, right? So let Italy test the waters first. It makes sense for a new country to use a new currency, symbolizing rebirth, and use new money, right?

After a long negotiation, both parties reached relatively satisfactory results. Prussian monopolies also signed contracts with the Italian government in industry and other infrastructure sectors. As long as the money is in place, construction can start immediately.

Italy received aid and a lot of good things, and Prussia also made a lot of money. First of all, the monopoly groups must be the happiest. They signed orders worth millions of euros in one go.

There is a sense of mutual joy when harvesting rice.

And this can be considered a diplomatic success, right? Italy has been included in Prussia's sphere of influence. According to Auguste's idea, many countries will be willing to join the European Union after hearing about Italy, and Prussia will be surrounded by it and become the hegemon of Europe.