War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

Schonbrunn Palace, Franz's Study.

After Metternich left, Franz began to think seriously about how nationalism spread in the Austrian Empire.

If Metternich hadn't mentioned it himself, Franz would have never known that the nationalist trend in Austria had developed to such an extent.

Although historians at the time and later generations like to claim that Metternich was a dictator with absolute power, as long as you analyze it a little, you will know that this is simply nonsense.

Metternich was well aware of what these nationalist trends meant, but he was unable to effectively gather manpower and material resources to effectively deal with this challenge.

The "foreign ideas" that Metternich had been banning actually originated in Austria during the time of Joseph II. With Franz's intervention, the German Customs Union and the Apennine Customs Union continued to bring some messy ideas into Austria.

Although Metternich's secret police carried out more and more transnational law enforcement, they still could not stop the spread of these ideas.

The current trend of nationalism in Austria is much more turbulent than in history. The reason why Franz doesn't feel it at all is because the country's stability and rapid development have temporarily covered it up.

At the same time, Franz also focused his energy too much on the people at the bottom, especially the recent Danube floods, which took a lot of his time, so he ignored this increasingly serious problem.

What's even more frightening is that Franz inadvertently sheltered a large number of radicals because he had very low requirements for scientists except for professional standards.

During this period, the relationship between the Austrian government and universities was actually antagonistic. Metternich believed that universities were breeding grounds for opposition, so almost all presidents of public universities were members of the secret police. One of their responsibilities was to reduce the number of students and scholars at the university as much as possible.

That's why Franz saw the scene where the security guards of the University of Vienna would openly bully a scholar.

In the face of the surging nationalist thoughts, Metternich's idea was to build a high wall, using a high wall composed of censorship, spies and comprehensive repression to stop the progress of the times, as well as other measures such as slowing down the flow of social classes. attempts, and policies to reduce college enrollment.

All of this became the monstrous flood of 1848, and Metternich himself had to step down sadly, even causing the entire Austria to fall into desperate turmoil.

Franz felt that it was not difficult to deal with the national elite, nor was it difficult to deal with the local nobility, nor was it difficult to deal with the revolting workers and peasants.

(National elite refers to: businessmen, factory owners, scholars, and some bureaucrats)

But what is terrible is that the national elite and local nobles have joined forces to enslave the upper class and the poor. At the same time, natural and man-made disasters will occur. The combination of the above factors will make it even more difficult.

Compared to Prince Metternich's checking and filling in the gaps, Franz preferred to make the best of the situation.

The spread of various ideas is not all bad, such as the Greater German Thought. Due to the strength of the Austrian Empire, more people are willing to accept this view.

Especially after the natural disaster of 1838, many civilians who fled the disaster and participated in disaster relief came into contact with the Greater German thought.

The effect of the song adapted by Franz was much better than the speeches delivered by professors.

It's just that the countries in North Germany have a headache with the spread of the idea of ​​Greater Germany.

In the Kingdom of Hanover, everything went wrong for Ernst August I as king. First, his eldest son lost his eyesight due to an accident.

In the second year after he took over the kingdom, one terrible natural disaster after another almost emptied Hanover's treasury. At the same time, as the theoretical second heir to the British throne, he encountered strong resistance from Parliament.

Due to the continuous expansion of the German Zollverein, Hanover's market is shrinking, and the deterioration of the financial situation is a hotbed of opposition.

Ernst August I was a representative of the reactionaries. Faced with a precarious situation, he chose to abolish the liberal constitution, sent troops to comprehensively suppress the opposition, and caused the Göttingen Massacre.

Dozens of professors and hundreds of college students were arrested, a considerable number of whom died in prison, and the rest were brutally tortured.

The situation in Prussia was similar. The situation faced by Frederick William IV was much worse than in history. Not only was the sudden death of William III causing him to ascend the throne early, but also a series of impacts brought about by Austria's entry into the German Customs Union. It made him miserable.

The army asked for money to update its equipment, and the Prussian generals assured him that as long as they were equipped with breech-loading guns, his army would be invincible.

Frederick William IV did not know whether his army could be invincible, but he knew that his treasury was empty and he could only survive by issuing national debt.

The Minister of Agriculture demanded the construction of water conservancy projects, the development of new fertilizers, and the use of new agricultural tools. The Minister of Industry demanded increased investment in mines and new equipment. The most outrageous thing was that the Minister of Transport demanded the construction of tens of thousands of kilometers of railways and the dredging of all rivers in Prussia.

At this time, Prussia's finances were far inferior to those of the Austrian Empire. If it wanted to increase investment, it would have to increase taxes. However, the number of domestic opposition was growing day by day.

The previous food crisis further aggravated land annexation. Farmers who lost their land had no choice but to enter factories or flee to the Austrian Empire.

Historically, this food crisis created a large number of landless peasants, provided a large number of cheap labor for Prussian factories, and promoted the development of industry.

However, because Franz had been thinking of ways to attract immigrants, the Prussian farmers who had lost their land had another option.

Although the number of landless farmers entering cities has decreased, factory owners' exploitation of cheap labor has not weakened.

At the same time, due to the fierce collision of various ideas within the German Confederation, the call for a constitution was getting louder and louder. The Hohenzollern family could not accept this request to limit the king's rights.

As a result, the relationship between Prussia and Austria changed from hostility to joint law enforcement.

Unlike the fierce opposition and strong suppression by Austria, Prussia, and Hanover, the King of Bavaria chose to lie down.

Ludwig I himself was a conservative, but he was more addicted to enjoyment than cruel politics.

Ludwig I was very romantic, and the portraits of 36 beauties in Nymphenburg Palace bear witness to this history. The scandal with his mistress Laura Munster even made the whole of Europe aware of it.

He spent all his money on pleasure and naturally did not have enough money to suppress heretics, so he told the German Confederation that any country could suppress "reformers."

Other German states are also facing more or less the same problems, and the whole situation is becoming more and more difficult to figure out.

Although the Austrian Empire is much stronger than in history, the potential energy of this storm also seems to be much stronger than in history.

Faced with such a powerful wave, Franz did not dare to direct all flows towards Greater Germany, because a super empire that appeared out of thin air would inevitably be besieged by all of Europe.

Moreover, the position and situation of this empire are worse than those faced by France back then, and it is even more difficult to break through.

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