The Rise of the Empire

"Our little brother in southern Germany seems to have made a lot of things recently." In the Berlin Imperial Palace, Frederick III sat in the middle of the study and said thoughtfully. Some things that have happened in the south recently can be described as one after another. First of all, there was a lawsuit between the Bavarian royal family and the Imperial Navy Department, which led to major changes in the personnel of the Imperial Navy Department. The Kaiser said it could be tolerated, after all, it was a problem with the Imperial Navy Department. Then his son and the prince of Bavaria had a verbal battle with many shipyards in the newspaper. And they are preparing to set up a ship design bureau in full swing. These are no problem, they haven't ascended the throne yet, so if you want to play, you can play.

But then something made him feel a little dissatisfied. According to the intelligence reality, it seems that the Bavarians have also developed a rapid-fire artillery for the army! The rate of fire is at least 4 times that of the artillery currently used by the German Army! In terms of performance, it completely crushes all field artillery currently known in Germany! If the Army bids for artillery again, wouldn't the German Army have to use artillery produced in Bavaria if it is based on the principle of fairness and reasonableness? Although we are a family, but always feel a little uncomfortable!

"In fact, there is no need to worry. Bavaria's production capacity is not enough to meet the needs of the whole of Germany. We can buy a production license and then produce it at the Krupp Gun Factory. After we contacted Bavaria, they also had this intention. From the current point of view , Their purpose is only one, and that is to make money. There is nothing wrong with this." The Prime Minister on the side took it very lightly.

The Kaiser just felt uncomfortable, and most of this discomfort was caused by some psychological blows. The Kingdom of Bavaria has no second thoughts about Germany. After all, in the German-Austrian War, Bavaria was almost neutral. At that time, it did not really confront Prussia, and it is even more impossible now. But at the same time, the current Germany can't do anything to Bavaria. This is not only because Prussia and Austria declared at the time of the armistice to guarantee the territorial integrity of the kingdoms and grand duchies such as Bavaria and Sax. This treaty is only superficial. The fundamental reason lies in the relatively chaotic problems within Prussia!

Why did the Prime Minister say that Austria should be excluded when formulating the German reunification strategy instead of destroying Austria? Austria is stronger than France? Obviously not the case. The fundamental reason is that if Germany swallows Austria, (let's swallow it for now), then the various problems facing Germany will be more serious! First of all, the religious issue is the first hurdle that cannot be bypassed!

The North German Confederation headed by Prussia is Protestant, the South and Austria are Catholic. At this time, religious issues were still a matter. In history, a relative of William II converted to Catholicism, and William removed him from the family. And his younger sister, the Queen of Greece, also made the emperor very angry because she converted to the Orthodox Church, and announced that she would not meet her within three years. This decision was made under the persuasion of the queen! This is the Kaiser's own sister!

If the Austrians enter Prussia, Germany will directly have more than 10 million Catholics! Protestants immediately became a minority! Even in 1906, German Prime Minister Birov worried that after the disintegration of Austria-Hungary, once the Catholics in the German-speaking area were incorporated into Germany, it would affect the dominance of Prussia! As a Protestant emperor, how do you let Germany deal with this religious issue? Well, apart from religious issues, there are many internal problems in Germany. Don't think that Prussia can do whatever it wants within the empire! If those little princes are determined to resist, the Kaiser can't do anything, unless you fight a civil war! And after the Franco-Prussian War, wouldn't Germany be courting death if it fought a civil war?

For example, in 1871, when King William I of the Kingdom of Prussia was most proud, the King of Prussia held the coronation ceremony of the Kaiser at the Palace of Versailles! With the prestige of defeating France, the Kaiser tried to use the title of "Emperor of Germany". But because this title has the meaning of having sovereignty over the various states in Germany. So it caused the dissatisfaction of the little brothers.

The Kingdom of Bavaria and the Kingdom of Württemberg refuse! The final result was that the Kaiser gave up and changed to the title "Emperor of Germany", because the latter is only of national significance.

At that time, under that circumstance, when the Prussian saber made the whole of Europe feel terrified, the younger brothers dared to do this. It can be seen how powerful the mountains in Germany are. Well, let's talk about something else! army! To put it bluntly, the German Army was composed of various states. Taking World War I as an example, the German Army had a total of 25 armies before the start, and Prussia had the most, with 19 armies. And Saxony are 2 armies and 1 army respectively! The cavalry counts separately. These armies are usually under the command of the various kingdoms. When there is a war, they will be unified under the command of the general staff. But you have to say that the gun is inside! For example, if you want to attack Bavaria, what will the other two kingdoms think? What will France and Russia think? Do you dare to do it?

What's more, your resolution won't pass in the federal parliament at all! Germany has two parliaments, the Bundestag and the Reichstag. People like the German Social Democratic Party and the Conservative Party can only hang around in the Reichstag. In theory, they have the right to veto the proposals of the German government, as long as they have enough votes! But they don't have the right to propose major policies! Who makes the decision? It's the Federal Parliament! And who constitutes the Federal Parliament? Of course the kings and grand dukes of Germany!

There are 58 seats in the Federal Parliament. Basically, the votes are distributed according to the population ratio. Of course, in order to ensure that all the small princes have at least one vote, Prussia and some big countries need to cede some interests. The distribution of votes is like this, Prussia has 17 votes, Bavaria has 6 votes, Saxony has 4 votes, Württemberg has 4 votes, and Baden has 3 votes! Most of the remaining small countries have 1 vote, and some have 2 votes! And the federal parliament implements an absolute majority, you need to get three quarters of the votes to pass the proposal! It is true that Prussia can veto all proposals that are not good for itself, but in the same way, it is not difficult for others to veto your proposal, isn't it just 15 votes? Southern Germany is not just three kingdoms!

And the most important thing is that the Imperial Parliament, His Majesty the Emperor finds it displeasing, so he can directly announce its dissolution. Do you dare to disband the Federal Parliament? That's the rhythm to split! The Reichstag has been dissolved several times in German history. When did you hear that the Kaiser moved the Bundestag?

Why didn't Bismarck go to colonies in the 1970s? I didn't have a neat home at home, so I went out and made a colony! Bismarck mentioned a problem within Germany in his memoir "Meetings and Thinking"! The people of Germany do not identify with a nation! Instead, identify with your own king or leader more! They can take up the sword and fight against their neighbors who are of the same race at any time under the king's order! In fact, if you think about it, you can understand how many times have there been internal fights in Germany in history? It is normal for a war to break out between various lords and electors! In this situation of national identity, religious antagonism, and everyone has even fought wars, accidents will happen if things are not handled properly. There is a reason for the Prime Minister's conservatism!

So now the question is, since my younger brother is so dishonest, how should Prussia, the boss, discipline him? Prussia's talented and iron-blooded prime minister can be called a generation of arrogance! Wouldn't it be enough to suppress them directly and let them be grandchildren one by one? In fact, on the contrary, Prussia mainly buys these younger brothers! It stands to reason that everyone is a family, and the central government spends money, so you have to express it! All right, guys, according to the discussions between the Federal Parliament and the Imperial Parliament, countries other than Prussia need to share a total of 19 to 31 million marks in the 10 years after the establishment of the empire! Isn't that great?

But there is a strange thing in Germany that, in addition to getting money from various states, the central government also allows each state to collect part of its own customs tax revenue! And according to the Customs Tariff Act of 1879! This benefit is more than the money that the federal countries give to the central government! It was like that from 1883 to 1898! In the end, it was because of the sharp increase in government financial expenditures in 1899 (the naval plan was a big reason.) that this situation changed.

After most of the younger brothers have benefited from the naval construction plan, they no longer worry about this small amount of money. And apart from what is on the surface, the German central government has never been short of funds for the various royal families! In 1910, more than 5.7 million marks were given to the Bavarian royal family! At that time, the government expenditure shared by all the German states exceeded the imperial repayment, which was only 17.3 million marks... .

The prime minister did not solve the problem of relatively strong hilltops in Germany, and neither did Wilhelm II. However, as Ruprecht, he enjoys these benefits. So it's not going to help. Nonsense, that is to weaken oneself and make Prussia cheap, why should I be so selfless?

The recent addition of favorites is very slow--! The side view makes my heart cool~~~. Today's side position is a bit stronger, double shift! ! Can you guys support me?