Struggle in Russia

The question Cavour poses is very direct and very important. Carlo Alberto, Mazzini, and Garibaldi only considered the best development, won the Papal State and commanded the whole of Italy, and then fought Austria in a decisive battle and won it.

The premise of all this is that Pius IX obediently cooperates, and he chooses to submit. Carlo Alberto can use this to call on all Italian Catholics to fight for unity.

But what would happen if Pius IX refused to cooperate? Depose Pius IX and install a new pope?

This option is probably not that simple. Because although Pius IX is the pope elected by the Catholic Cardinals with the acquiescence of France and Austria, he can be regarded as a puppet of the will of the two great powers, but this set of procedures is reasonable and legal.

If Carlo Alberto deposes the Pope, let alone whether Austria and France will accept it, even if he succeeds in deposing the Pope, the new Pope will still have to be elected by the College of Cardinals. Most of the cardinals of the 70-member group are the spokesmen of France and Austria. They may elect a new Pope who meets Carlo Alberto's requirements?

Even deposing the Pope is unlikely. This will directly anger Austria and France. Under the influence of the two countries, Catholics all over Europe will instead target the rebellious Carlo Alberto.

I am afraid that the all-Italian Catholic united front that Carlo Alberto expected at that time could not be formed. Instead, a European-wide Catholic united front against the Kingdom of Sardinia would be formed. Both France and Austria can reasonably and legally play the slogan of saving Pope Carlo Alberto. It was embarrassing then.

Cavour believes that the latter possibility is more likely, and judges that as long as the Kingdom of Sardinia attacks the Papal State, France and Austria have sufficient excuses to intervene. All will come together to deal with the Kingdom of Sardinia.

At that time, I am afraid that not only is there no hope for the unification of Italy, but it is very likely that the Kingdom of Sardinia will also be involved.

"The Pope may not be so stubborn, right?" Mazzini asked with some uncertainty.

Cavour smiled bitterly: "Then he can also choose not to cooperate. As long as he doesn't stand up and call on the whole of Italy, how many believers do you think will respond to you?"

"It should still be a lot, right?" Mazzini was still not so sure. He said in a speculative tone: "The unification of Italy is the general trend, and it is also what everyone expects. The people should respond positively!"

Cavour has heard enough of this kind of speculation. In his opinion, from the beginning, neither Mazzini nor Carlo Alberto were too optimistic, and their estimates of the strength of the enemy and ourselves were seriously underestimated. They obviously don't have many cards to play, but optimistically believe that the enemy is weaker, as if they can beat the Austrians away and unify Italy as long as they take to the streets and raise their arms.

This is so absurd, so naive, so ridiculous!

So Cavour didn't bother to talk to Mazzini and Garibaldi anymore. These two people were completely confused by the imaginary bright future, and they didn't want to see the reality clearly. Continuing to talk about difficulties will only cause the two parties to break up unhappy. In this case, let's talk about other issues.

Cavour suddenly asked, "What do you think of the conflict between France and Russia?"

Both Mazzini and Garibaldi are a little confused. Aren't they talking about the unification of Italy here? What's the matter with the Russians? Does this have something to do with our current mission?

"How come it doesn't matter!"

Cavour was in a hurry, and rather hated iron for being weak. These two guys have no international vision at all. The unification of Italy can only be done by following the trend, and all available favorable conditions must be used, and the great powers must be united vertically and horizontally. If the big country is not chaotic and the old order is as stable as a rock, how can the weak and small Italy be unified!

Only when frictions and conflicts break out between major powers, preferably fighting, can the weak Italy fish in troubled waters.

Therefore, we must pay attention to the dynamics among major powers, and in the past two years, the discord between France and Russia over religious issues can be exploited in Cavour's view.

"If a direct conflict broke out between France and Russia." Cavour described with a fascinated expression, "If we can find a way to trigger a direct conflict between the two countries, what do you think we should do?"

Mazzini was a little baffled. He didn't know why he was talking about such nonsensical things, but Cavour was influential after all, and he had to be respected.

So he thought for a while and replied naturally: "We should stand with the French. The Russians are conservative and corrupt, and they are also congenial to Austria, and they frequently make things difficult for us Catholics on the issue of the Holy Land... If France and Russia Conflict breaks out and we should fight the Russians on the French side!"

Garibaldi also nodded and echoed, "I don't like the Russians either. This autocratic and barbaric country is an ally of the Austrians and our enemy!"

Cavour was speechless again. Is this what he asked? What he asked was how to provoke an armed conflict between Russia and France, not how the two countries would stand in a fight. Do you still use Mazzini and Garibaldi to talk nonsense about standing in line? He is not an idiot.

"I'm asking how to intensify the conflict between Russia and France. It's best to let the two countries go to war in the near future!" Cavour knocked on the table and emphasized.

Once again Mazzini and Garibaldi were lost in thought. They still don't understand why Cavour is so hard on the Russians, what good is that? Could it be that because Russia and Austria are allies, attacking Russia can implicate Austria?

"Almost!" Cavour had to explain patiently, "If a war breaks out between France and Russia, then as a duel between the two European powers, the French will absolutely devote themselves to it. Then they will naturally have no spare power to interfere in the affairs of the Apennines." .At that time we only had to concentrate on dealing with the Austrians!"

Mazzini and Garibaldi looked at each other, and then they figured out what was going on in Cavour's brain circuit. For Cavour's idea, they think it is very good, but there are two problems:

"First, how can France and Russia go to war directly?" Mazzini asked. "The Russians are not weak. The number one army in Europe is stronger than the French. It is unlikely that the French will go to war just because of the Holy Land issue." ?”

"Second, although the French are not very good, they are not exactly the same as Austria on the Italian issue. The possibility of directly interfering with our actions is not very high. On the contrary, after France was entangled by Russia, the Austrians were gone. Containment, but will be more unscrupulous! Isn't this counterproductive!"