War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

Vienna, Hofburg Palace.

Franz was not surprised by the British backstabbing, but he also did not expect that the British's real purpose was the "Winkar-Iskelesi Treaty."

It seems that the British's obsession with sea power is really immeasurable. Even if there is even a slight possibility of threatening their maritime hegemony, they will have trouble sleeping and eating.

Franz quickly dug out the naval plan sent by Friedrich. According to the latter's original plan, by the time Franz's first five-year plan was completed in 1853, the Austrian Empire would have:

Four "Trieste" class super flagships, twelve "Venecia" class super first-class battleships, twenty first-class battleships, various light ships, and one hundred and twenty auxiliary ships.

The "Trieste" class refers to super flagships with a tonnage of more than 7,000 tons. Currently, the Austrian Empire has only produced one, and all data is completely top secret.

However, spies from other countries still collected some intelligence, that is, this warship does not have many guns.

The "Venecia" class refers to super first-class battleships with a tonnage of more than 5,000 tons, but this is the classification method of the Austrian Empire and is not recognized by other countries.

This kind of battleship is actually an enlarged and thickened first-class battleship, which is currently the main battleship of the Austrian Empire.

Most of the auxiliary ships of the Austrian Empire are transport ships, and there are also two ship types that are not currently available in other countries, mine clearance ships and minesweepers.

This was many times better than when there was only one old retired British first-class sailing battleship just for show. However, Franz felt deeply uneasy.

In this era, there is no possibility of the so-called sea power being settled in a corner. Even if the Russian navy is hiding in the Black Sea and nestled in the Baltic Sea, the British will still not let it go.

The Austrian Imperial Navy achieved a series of impressive victories, but this did not make the British retreat in spite of the difficulties. Instead, it made the latter focus on the former.

As long as there is an opportunity, the British will spare no effort to destroy the Austrian navy, a force that may threaten their maritime hegemony.

Franz decided to add additional construction plans to increase the planned number by 50%.

Franz knew that this was a huge waste. These battleships were high-end goods now, but in a dozen years they might be scrap metal that could only perform simple tasks and be expensive to maintain.

But he could not be sure when the British would provoke trouble. If war broke out, without this scrap iron, the Austrian Imperial Navy might not be able to survive even the early stages of the war.

In the past, the Austrian Empire could use strange moves and technological differences to catch the opponent off guard, but Franz did not believe that the British, who had been traversing the sea for many years, would not consider countermeasures.

Franz's previous estimates of the future were too optimistic. He felt that he had caused Britain and France so much misery, and the Russian-Austrian alliance was so strong, that the Crimean War would definitely be postponed or even impossible to happen.

However, Franz ignored one issue, which was the sensitivity of the area where the Austrian Empire itself was located, and the impact it had on the world.

Maybe this war will not happen in Crimea, or maybe this war will happen in more places than Crimea

Russia, St. Petersburg.

Some things cannot be sealed after all. The Archbishop of Cologne openly recruited anti-Russian people and raised donations for the Poles. News of the Prussians importing grain from Russia and selling it to the British reached the tsar's ears.

Now Nicholas I wanted to kill people. He really wanted to kill these duplicitous Prussians and his group of incompetent idiots.

The Prussians actually sold their grain to the British, ignoring their trust in them. It turned out that there was not a problem with Duke Uvarov's strategy, but that there was a thief in the Holy Alliance.

The Tsar had begun to seriously consider how to deal with Prussia and exclude it from the Holy Alliance.

However, he soon thought of another issue. Prussia was not only a member of the Holy Alliance but also a part of the German Confederation.

And the Austrian Empire also existed in the German Confederation, which was really a difficult problem to solve.

The German Confederation itself was a mess, but if you add the Austrian Empire, it would be difficult to deal with. Even Russia needs to carefully consider the gains and losses of this war.

Unless Prussia is not a member of the German Confederation, or Russia can win over Britain as an ally

Soon Nicholas I discovered that he had more troubles than that. The traitors in the Baltic Sea actually claimed to be Germans, and they were obviously Eastern Slavs.

You must know that the German Confederation has a criminal record. Someone who claims to be German will often attract the German Confederation.

Then there are the wars surrounding this area. The German Confederation will incorporate the land of the defeated countries into it, turning it into the territory of the German Confederation.

Why is it that the Baltic Sea region adjacent to Prussia shouted such a slogan when nothing happened elsewhere?

Nicholas I had to suspect that this was originally a planned performance. Is the German Confederation going to take action against itself? No wonder Franz refused to marry his own daughter.

At this point, the Tsar's logic has formed a closed loop

Russia agreed to the British conditions and decided to abrogate the "Winkar-Iskelesi Treaty" and a new treaty would be negotiated and decided with Britain and the Ottoman Empire.

Although things went smoothly, Palmerston was very depressed. Even if he was being watched and left alone, he was not so aggrieved.

Nicholas I never summoned Palmerston. The Tsarist government directly skipped the British ambassador and negotiated with the British government. Palmerston was ignored.

Although Palmerston's plan was successful, it was a Waterloo for him personally. It would be difficult to get rid of the title of "unappreciated diplomat".

Earl Derby was very happy when he heard the news. He was willing to see the arrogant guy suffer a setback. The Tsar did it too well.

It is hard to say that the Earl of Derby contributed to the smooth negotiations between Britain and Russia, because according to past experience, Britain is always greedy in the diplomatic field. It is a bit abnormal that they did not take the opportunity to gain more benefits.

Earl Derby was afraid that the night would be long and dreams would be many. After all, the Russians are notorious for their love of going back on their words. At the same time, he did not want to give Palmerston any chance to make amends.

Russia signed a statement to abolish the Treaty of Unkar-Iskelesi. The British cut off trade with the Poles and the Baltic Governorate on the same day.

At the same time, the British government also handed over all the intelligence collected by the MI6 from Poland to the Russians. Much of this intelligence was top secret, including detailed troop deployments, and even lists of officers and supporters of the Poles.

In fact, it was not that everyone in the British MI6 was James Bond, but that the Poles took the initiative to reveal it.

After all, the British were supporting Poland before the war, and after the war, they spared no effort to send military supplies to Poland, and even British volunteers and mercenaries participated in the fight against the Russians.

So when the British intelligence department claimed to exchange intelligence with the Poles and help formulate strategies to deal with the Russians, the Polish side did not hesitate to reveal most of the intelligence to the British.