War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

At this time, the Austrian Empire was in great glory in the diplomatic arena, and its political influence on the European continent even exceeded that of Britain.

After all, the seemingly powerful Britain seemed to have no way to deal with the Austrian Empire, and used an excuse that even laymen sounded very lame to keep the British Navy out.

This was proof of the power of the Austrian Empire in the eyes of ordinary people, and this view was also deeply affecting those small countries.

The British side thought of countermeasures. The idea of ​​the Navy Minister Francis Behring was to blockade the Mediterranean from the outside, and treat the enemy in his own way.

However, the reality was that the Austrian Empire's navy could not come out of the Mediterranean at all, and the British side did not have a reasonable excuse. Facing the Austrian Empire Navy that was close at hand and fully armed, no general was willing to take risks.

If the soldiers were unwilling to take risks, it would be even more impossible for politicians to agree.

The reason why Britain's actions at this time were difficult was that there were too many enemies and too few allies. This was exactly the opposite of Britain's situation in history. The British could not pull in strong allies, nor could they break up hostile alliances.

When Britain once weakened the influence of the Austrian Empire, the latter not only did not dare to resist but even fully cooperated.

At the moment before Britain sent troops to Crimea, Russia still regarded Britain as its loyal ally.

Even though Nicholas I and Foreign Minister Nesherlov knew that British Ambassador Lord Radcliffe had encouraged the Ottoman Sultan to reject Russia's request and even promised him that Britain would support the Ottoman Empire as before, they still felt that the British would stand on their side.

If it were in the past, it would be too easy for Britain to deal with the Austrian Empire. Just pull in Russia, Prussia, France, and Sardinia, and you don't even need to send a single soldier to beat Austria half to death.

Maybe Britain can easily achieve its strategic goals without even needing a war.

The same logic applies to dealing with the Russians

But this time it is completely different. The Austrian Empire firmly occupies Central Europe, and the Russians are obsessed with beating the Ottomans.

It is impossible to deal with Russia and Austria, or even the entire Holy Alliance, at the same time. British politicians are not stupid. When they can't let them fight internally and can't find pawns, the best way John Russell's cabinet can think of is:

Avoid fighting with both countries at the same time.

Relatively speaking, the Austrian Empire was not very threatening, at least not to the British sphere of influence, and there were not many trade frictions between the two sides.

Although the Austrian Empire occupied many colonies, it overlapped with the main colonies of Britain, and there was no competition in the Far East and India.

Or the Austrian Empire deliberately avoided competition with Britain, so that the latter could not eat more, but would not suffer any loss.

Over the years, the two sides have had many open and secret struggles, but the outcome was mostly the defeat of the British side.

Even Britain's attack on the colonies of the Austrian Empire did not benefit. Simply capturing the port could not force the Austrians to surrender, and the local tribes had either been expelled long ago or posed no threat to Austria at all.

On the other hand, Russia's threat to British interests was more direct. In addition to the direct threat to the Near East, Russia was also threatening Persia, India, the Far East, and even Canada.

These areas were areas that Britain attached great importance to, and they were also the source of its taxes and goods.

At this time, the control of Alaska was still in the hands of Russia, and in order to expel the power of the French, Nicholas I also specially sent more immigrants and troops.

Although Russia is much larger than the Austrian Empire, it is obviously easier for Britain to deal with Russia. At least Britain has absolute confidence in Russia's navy.

On land, the Russian-Turkish border is vast, at least it will not be as difficult to deal with as the Austrian Empire. The Austrian Empire has a narrow coastline, and there is no difference between forcibly landing and committing suicide.

Against Russia, the British have at least never lost, so the British chose to wait.

However, Franz knows very well what is behind this infinite scenery, more crises, and heavier burdens.

The cost of withdrawing troops from Spain alone is unimaginably high. Just hundreds of thousands of Holy Alliance troops and their equipment will cost tens of millions of florins.

However, the Holy Alliance is not the biggest problem. The Austrian Empire has formed a Spanish Legion in Spain, and more than one-third of the 300,000 people are willing to leave with the Austrian army.

If their families and some Spaniards who voluntarily immigrated to Austria are counted, the total number is very terrible. According to the rough calculation of the Austrian Imperial Statistics Bureau, there are probably millions of people.

And Franz can't fool them with the identity of laborers. They need to be treated as citizens and given living space.

It is unlikely to send these Spaniards to colonies, unless they are highly developed or very close to Europe.

The first resettlement area is the Spanish colonies obtained by the Austrian Empire in the Spanish Succession War. These areas have a large number of Spanish populations and are more convenient to resettle.

But most of the Spaniards who followed Austria did not want to go to the colonies, so Franz could only send them to Galicia, Transylvania and Hungary in batches.

Finally, they were sent to Dalmatia and Tripoli. The former was a piece of land that no one in the Austrian Empire was willing to take over, after all, the environment was harsh, but in the eyes of the Spaniards, it was nothing. The broken coastline and towering mountains were just like going home.

As for the issue of Tripoli, Franz was too lazy to pretend anymore. After all, the local families were all traitors, and even took the initiative to contact the British Mediterranean Fleet during the war.

As a result, the commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet sent the evidence to the Austrian Empire as soon as possible in order to protect himself.

In view of the repeated rebellions of the upper echelons of Tripoli over the years and the extremely serious hatred among the lower echelons, the safety and interests of the Austrians in Tripoli could not be guaranteed.

Franz decided to solve the problem once and for all

Let the local government borrow money from the Austrian Empire to build the railway, and force the indigenous people to participate in the railway construction.

After the railway was completed, the property was confiscated due to debt issues, and finally the Austrian Imperial Government and immigrants completely controlled the coastal areas of Tripoli.

Although Franz promised to lift the alert within three months, this unprecedented withdrawal operation would take at least one to three years.

Moreover, with the handover between the Austrian Empire and the new Kingdom government, the policy is likely to change dramatically. After all, Ferdinand II cannot afford to continue Franz's policy, and the number of people who choose to immigrate may increase further.

For Ferdinand II, sending people away is also a good way to stabilize the situation. After all, with fewer people, theoretically there will be more resources to allocate.