War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

In this generation, Napoleon III did not have the opportunity to display his talents. The continuous wars even made him think that the republicans were crazy.

But no matter what, the reputation of Napoleon III and the strength of France at this time are far lower than that of the same period. If this continues, I am afraid that he, the president, will become a burial object of the Second French Republic.

However, if Napoleon III chose to stand up and stop the crazy behavior of the Republicans, he would either be ruined in the torrent called public opinion, or be reduced to a puppet after being ignored.

Traitor, lackey of the Austrian Empire, ultraconservative, hypocrite, coward, any label can declare the end of his political career.

So can compromise be enough to preserve Napoleon III's presidential status and political capital?

The answer is simply impossible.

Because this is not a cooperative game, but a zero-sum game, where the winner takes all and the loser gets nothing.

The elimination of the Party of Order is the best proof. Albert de La Fleur not only wants his opponents to be discredited, but he also wants to kill them all and eradicate them.

Even if Louis Napoleon survived the fall of the Republic, would he have to face the mess at home and abroad alone and the wrath of the Holy Alliance?

So did Louis Napoleon choose to surrender? Or be exiled and imprisoned for life?

The situation was stronger than the man, so Napoleon III accepted Franz's seemingly crazy deal.

Sacrificing your opponent to gain the throne seems like a huge pie.

The price is the country's 100,000 troops, although these people are disobedient and lack combat power, and may even threaten their own regime.

But after all, he is a hundred thousand young men. Even if he is thrown into the colonies, it is better than being buried with the republicans. Although France has nearly 34 million people (more than 35 million at the same time in history), the loss of 100,000 troops will still affect the stability of the political situation.

Moreover, the loss of these 100,000 people will have an impact on all aspects of society, but in the mind of Napoleon III, it is nothing compared to the throne.

Louis Napoleon's Second Empire replaced the Second French Republic. In a sense, it was also what the people wanted. The Second French Republic had always implemented policies of high pressure and high taxes.

If there were no foreign wars and the economy was improving, this system could barely survive. But it is a miracle that the economic crisis, coupled with the continuous wars, can still maintain political stability.

Without the stimulant of nationalism, the Second French Republic might have been doomed.

Precisely because of what the Second French Republic had been doing, not many people stood up to oppose Louis Napoleon when he launched his coup.

No matter how generous the benefits promised by Albert de La Fleur were, no one was willing to take the risk. After all, the government of the Second French Republic had broken its promise not once or twice.

On the other hand, the wealthy people in France can no longer tolerate such a precarious life. National factories and national farms are simply unacceptable to them.

The Second French Republic was obviously unable to control nationalism. They needed a strong government to protect their property and prevent a possible "new revolution".

Just as they had given Louis Napoleon the presidency, so they would give him their full support this time as emperor.

At this time, France had already had a revolutionary trend. If it hadn't been for the bloody suppression and the placebo of nationalism, the flames of revolution would have burned throughout France.

In addition, Franz had already let out the news that the countries participating in the Vienna Peace Conference could only be monarchies, and the Austrian Empire would not accept proposals from non-monarchies.

This was also part of Franz's deal with Louis Napoleon, for whom it didn't matter whether Louis Napoleon was crowned or not, but not the Second French Republic.

Even if Louis Napoleon was crowned Emperor of France, Franz did not have to recognize the former's orthodox status.

For Louis Napoleon, this condition would make his behavior more justified, and even have some meaning of personal heroism and sacrifice in it.

This is very important for persuading the domestic opposition and stabilizing the situation in France. Taking advantage of the country's crisis to seize power through a coup will not only not appear despicable, but will instead appear to be full of human glory.

Louis Napoleon removed all obstacles on his way to the throne in one fell swoop, and Franz also accomplished his strategic goals. It can be said that this was a win-win deal.

Everything happened so fast that the British were a little confused. They had just received news of France's sneak attack on the Kingdom of Sardinia. John Russell thought that the Vienna Peace Conference would be forced to terminate.

In order to make the situation even more confusing, Viscount Stratford left Vienna overnight and deliberately released news, claiming that he "did not want to be buried with the Austrians."

However, the next day the Austrian Empire announced a great victory west of the Ticino River. The reason why it was emphasized on the west of the Ticino River was because it was the territory of the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the east naturally referred to Austria.

In less than a week, Louis Napoleon staged a coup and announced his acceptance of the Treaty of Vienna.

Before the British plan could be laid out, the window period ended.

Of course, the British were still a little confused at this time, and what would make them even more uncomfortable was yet to come. After Louis Napoleon's coup, he prepared a series of economic revitalization plans.

All these require a lot of money, so he plans to talk to the British.

Louis Napoleon did not really intend to default on his debts. He dared not not pay back the British money. He just used the debt issue to deepen the relationship between the two.

France was too weak at this time. It needed a strong ally. This ally could obviously only be Britain, but in order to lock it, it had to be tied to it with interests.

The same was true for Britain. The decline of France was not in the interests of the British Empire.

Although almost all the main leaders were arrested at the first time, Louis Napoleon still carried out a comprehensive sweep of the opposition in Paris.

On the other hand, Louis Napoleon was also mobilizing troops to sweep away opponents in the provinces. The riots in the provinces were mainly concentrated in rural areas.

This was not because Louis Napoleon was not good to the peasants. On the contrary, he promulgated a series of decrees to improve the current situation of the peasants as soon as he came to power.

However, these rebellions were not aimed at the Second French Empire. Even if the Second French Republic continued to exist, rebellions would occur, and some rebellions had even occurred before.

The rebellion swept through 27 provinces, but except for the republican strongholds of Vendée, the Rhone River Basin, Languedoc and southern Provence, the rebellion in other regions was not intense.

The Napoleonic Code was dug out again, and the propaganda slogans of the Second French Republic, "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity", were torn down and thrown on the ground for people to trample on.