War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

Austria Vienna.

The great powers gathered here again, with the natural purpose of maintaining peace in the Near East (carving up the Ottomans).

In addition to the five traditional powers of Britain, France, Russia, Austria, and Prussia and the Ottoman Empire, five more countries were added: Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark.

The reason is naturally to be bold, after all, there is strength in numbers.

Let’s talk about the factions here. Spain is naturally mixed with the French, Portugal and Denmark are lackeys of the British, and Sweden is diplomatically leaning towards Russia at this time. After all, this neighbor is too powerful.

In the same way, the Netherlands, which has joined the German Customs Union, must also look at Austria's face at this time.

As for Prussia, as the weakest and smallest power and a member of the German Confederation, it is naturally considered a member of the Austrian side.

Yes, Prussia is represented again. However, Prussian diplomats have long been accustomed to this, so they were a little excited to see so many new faces this time.

The representative of Spain is General Espartero. This general who took the blame in the civil war still stood out by virtue of his own strength.

In order to strengthen its international influence, he sneered at Russia from the beginning, and was then asked to leave the conference hall.

This is the reality. Second powers have no dignity at all in front of the great powers. Of course, this is also the premise that Britain, Russia and Austria unanimously agree, because no one wants France to have more say.

At this time, the French representative, Napoleon Lannes de Montebello, was also helpless. His name alone would cause criticism at such an international meeting.

If you are not careful, you may even trigger the "Anti-French Alliance" again.

Although Napoleon Lannes de Montebello is also called Napoleon, he has nothing to do with the Bonaparte family. The 43-year-old is the son of Marshal Lannes, the "Immortal Grenadier".

(The "Immortal Grenadier" Lannes died at the Battle of Aspern-Essling between Napoleon and Archduke Charles.)

At this time, the eldest son of his father-killing enemy, Justice Albrecht, was sitting opposite him. When the two introduced each other, they couldn't help but look at each other twice.

The reason why Archduke Albrecht appeared at the negotiating table was because Metternich was skeptical of Franz's plan.

In fact, Lord George Hamilton, the British Foreign Secretary, approached Metternich before the negotiations began, and the former proposed a more attractive condition.

That is, Britain will support Austria to completely annex Serbia, but the latter must give up its alliance with Russia to prevent the Tsar from moving further south.

Although Austria won the breath-holding contest between Britain and Austria, Britain kicked the ball to the former.

This proposal was very attractive to the pro-British Metternich. He had long wanted to form an alliance with the real world's most powerful country, not Russia, the false world's most powerful country.

Especially on the issues of Italy and Switzerland, if it can get the support of the British, Austria will have a lot to do.

In fact, Metternich himself was very concerned about the Swiss Civil War and even borrowed money to aid it. Historically, despite financial constraints, the Austrian Empire still provided a large amount of assistance to the Catholic League (Orthodox League) in Switzerland.

It's just that the weapons, money and materials provided by Austria ended up on the side of the Protestant Alliance (Freedom Alliance).

France and Austria rarely agree on one thing, but Britain does not want to see Switzerland split, because then Switzerland will lose its role of checks and balances and buffers.

As for the Italian issue, it poked the lungs of the French. It is impossible for France to give up the Apennine Peninsula.

This is the centuries-old hatred between the two Habsburg and Bourbon families, which cannot be easily resolved, and the so-called support from the British will most likely remain just words.

And once Russia is lost as an ally, it is very likely that the same situation as in history will occur. Countries like Prussia will jump up and export crazily in Austria's face, and eventually move towards madness and destruction in isolation and helplessness.

In addition, the most practical issue is that after the end of the U.S.-Mexican War, the honeymoon period between the United States and Austria was also over.

At this time, the Austrian textile industry relied on the United States for 70% of its cotton supply, although the West African colonies and Mexico were expanding cotton production.

But once the United States stops supplying cotton to Austria, it will be a devastating blow to the latter's textile industry.

At this time, the textile industry is the most critical link in Austria's industrial economy. Once it breaks, it will have irreparable consequences.

At the same time, its position in the German Customs Union will also plummet, and the rise of the steel industry will take time to settle.

When some opportunities come, pigs can take off, but when some opportunities are missed, it will require several times or even dozens of times of effort.

The spirit of Foolish Old Man is admirable, but it cannot be learned in the environment of the 19th century, because the path itself is wrong, and the price paid to achieve the same effect may be something Franz cannot accept.

The Russians also need Austria's hematopoietic machine, otherwise nothing on the former's land will be converted into truly usable resources.

In the end, the only option was to resort to violence and be drained of the last drop of blood by the Anglo-Saxons.

Back to business, Archduke Albrecht did not like this kind of diplomatic situation.

The Russian representative Neserlov, as usual, laid out Russia's propositions as soon as he came up, and shifted all responsibilities to the Tsar.

Even a layman like Archduke Albrecht thought the other party was stupid. He still remembered that the book Franz gave him said, "Know yourself and your enemy, and you will win every battle."

There was no way he would show his cards to others at the first moment. Archduke Albrecht simply had no interest in such an opponent.

At this time, British Foreign Secretary George Hamilton immediately raised objections. Although the words were high-sounding, the content was only two words: "No."

Neserlov and George Hamilton had different opinions on each other. The former looked at Albrecht with eager eyes, while the latter directly raised the conditions he had told Metternich at the meeting.

The Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire was faced with the carving up of his territory and vassal states by the foreign powers. Although Reza Pasha wanted to stand up and loudly reprimand the foreign powers for such blatant barbaric behavior, he was one person below ten thousand people in the Ottoman Empire. At that time, the two sides were fighting, and they couldn't even speak.

The half-million-strong army that the Ottoman Empire was proud of seemed completely unworthy of mention in front of the great powers. Previously on the battlefield in Morocco, the French army of less than 10,000 people defeated the coalition forces of the Alawi dynasty (Morocco) and the Algerians of more than 100,000 people.

Archduke Albrecht made this comment when he saw the people in the room and what they were doing.

"A clown who only knows how to make a fuss but cannot see his own strength, a weakling who only pins his hopes on others, a conspirator who likes to do little tricks and is self-righteous, and the Arab in front of him is almost the weakest person in the world." It’s written on his face.”