The Rise of the Empire

"Do you think the Kaiser is satisfied with the situation where there are many kingdoms in the country? The German Bundestag is the highest authority in the empire, with a total of 57 seats. The Kingdom of Prussia occupies about 60% of the country's population and land, but only 17 seats! In order to ensure Every state, free city, and grand duchy can have a seat. Prussia has compressed its own votes, and all these efforts are just to make the German states form a whole. This is the current Germany, William I and Bismarck. Achievement!" Princess Mary said with some emotion. "After the defeat of France and the king of Prussia became the emperor of Germany, Bismarck was not satisfied with this kingdom, because it still had the possibility of division, not only in internal affairs, transportation and postal services, but more importantly, the kingdoms themselves were not unified. Keep a large number of troops, and Bavaria bears the brunt! Am I right?" "You are right, but the Kingdom of Prussia tolerated this reality. In peacetime, the kingdom's army is still owned by the king. Only in wartime, Prussia Only the General Staff has the power to command military orders. And in terms of financial appropriation and taxation, Prussia has indeed given other states a certain amount of support,” said the prince. "That's just due to the situation, because the total military strength of the three kingdoms of Bavaria, Saxony, and Württemberg has reached about 30% of the entire German Empire! Prussia has no ability to seize the military power of the three kingdoms, because it is likely to lead to civil war. And once a civil war breaks out, France, Russia, or even Austria-Hungary may intervene. France is Germany's old enemy, and my father was also brooding over the failure that year. You don't deny this, right?" Princess Mary calmly Said. "That's right, it's like this. If the situation does not allow it, if I am the Kaiser, I will inevitably strengthen the centralization of power. In order to ensure my independence and interests, I must strengthen the strength of the kingdom. Everything I do is also based on the From this point of view, judging from the current situation, the effect is still very good." Ruprecht is not defenseless against Prussia. Whether in history or in reality, Prussia's penetration of various countries has never stopped. When Germany was just unified, the railways and postal services of the North German Federation headed by Prussia and the southern states were not unified. Over time, Prussia tried to change this situation for various reasons. For example, in history, in 1905, Prussia incorporated the railway of the Kingdom of Saxony into the national planning in the name of war readiness. In this plane, Prussia still took similar probing actions against Bavaria, and neither the prince's grandfather nor his father made concessions in related aspects, and considering that the relationship between Prussia and Bavaria is not bad, the former did not delve into these Question, but Prussia's approach still makes the prince very upset! As a traveler, the prince must first ensure his own interests, and everything else is imaginary, because the collapse of the German Empire will lead to the collapse of the Kingdom of Bavaria, so the prince will avoid this from happening. And if the strength of the German Empire will cause damage to the interests of Bavaria, then the prince will naturally take some actions to prevent this from happening. It's not that the prince has never thought about the impact on the country after Germany wins the Eastern Front in World War 1 and a tie on the Western Front. He thought that the Kaiser would use the prestige brought by the victory in World War 1 to further strengthen the centralization, so Ruprecht also offset this influence by strengthening the military power of the Kingdom of Bavaria and uniting Austria-Hungary. If Bavaria can maintain its status in Germany, the prince feels that this influence is not too great. "But the whole environment will change after World War I. We can assume that the end of World War I is as you imagined. Russia collapsed, and Germany gained a lot of benefits from Russia. Well, answer me a question, How will the millions of square kilometers of territory, resources, and population obtained from Russia be allocated? Do you think Bavaria can benefit from it?" the princess said meaningfully.

"This..." Ruprecht was stunned for a moment! He never thought that he would ignore such a big problem, that is, the distribution of post-war dividends! After the signing of the Treaty of Brest, Russia's western border has almost shrunk to the level of later Russia! That's millions of square kilometers of land! Tens of millions of people! So how will this war dividend be divided? "You don't think the German central government will allow Bavaria to have an enclave in the newly added territory, do you? How can Bavaria, which has a population of less than 10 million, control this enclave?" The princess paused and continued: "If Bavaria's industry and national strength can now account for one-fifth of the entire German Empire, then once the central government digests these colonies, can the national strength of the Kingdom of Bavaria account for one-tenth of the total? I have no doubts This point is doubtful!" "Facing the unprecedentedly powerful Prussia, then I am afraid that Bavaria's power will no longer be dreaded by Prussia? Think about it, once all this becomes a reality, Prussia will eat most of the victories fruit, then its population can be doubled at least! It can reach more than 70 million! There are also millions of square kilometers of land, which is several times that of the entire territory of Germany now! It has stronger economic power, sufficient resources, and huge market, or even several times the military power, then tell me, if you were William II, what would you do?" the princess said quietly. "Little wealth is peace!" For some reason, these words popped out of the prince's mind, and the prince suddenly realized that he was too unpursued, and he was satisfied just for the crown of a small European country. Too simple thinking limited his vision. He only thought about the problem of the crown falling on his head, but he did not consider the impact of the changes in the world political situation after World War I on him. Although it was embarrassing, the prince had to admit that what his future wife said was very reasonable! If Prussia swallows most of the fruits of victory, then the next step is probably to cut down the domain! Bavaria's interests will definitely be damaged. It's not even impossible to become a business card king yourself! "Why? Still hesitating? Do you think the Kaiser will not do this? Or is he incapable of doing so?" Princess Mary asked with a smile. "If this is the case, Prussia can indeed completely solve the other kingdoms, but if he does so, isn't he afraid of causing political turmoil?" the prince asked. The third one is here~~~! \u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e