War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

Berlin, Charlottenburg Palace.

Since the establishment of the German Customs Union, Prussia's fiscal revenue has been on a steady upward trend, with total tariffs nearly tripling, from 18 million florins to 54 million florins, accounting for 39% of its total revenue. .

But this favorable situation did not reveal expressions of relief and pride on the faces of its monarch, William IV, and his advisers.

Because the excessive financial burden of this "military-owned country" means that if war suddenly comes one day, its financial situation will deteriorate sharply, and a large deficit may even directly crush the country.

What's even more frightening is that the factory and commodity production structure in Prussia is quietly changing, and the person who realizes all this is a farmer from Pomerania.

In an investigation report written to the Prussian government, he pointed out that although the output value of the kingdom's textile industry had nearly doubled after joining the German Customs Union, 25 of the 97 textile factories in the country closed down one after another within seven years.

80% of the reasons for the closure of these 25 textile factories were due to poor management. In this era of rapid development of the textile industry, how to define "poor management"? What is the main reason behind it?

The answer is obvious: Austrian competition. Anyone who has entered an emerging industry and wants to get a share of the blue ocean will be wiped out by these guys who take advantage of every opportunity. The blood of those pioneers quickly dyed the ocean blood red.

The sudden increase in entry barriers caught Prussian factory owners and businessmen by surprise. They either chose to surrender and be acquired by the Austrians, or they could only keep their one-third of an acre of land through blood transfusions.

However, their Austrian counterparts are backed by state endorsement and the methods they use are endless. In addition to common business practices, they can even manipulate raw material prices and bribe officials of other countries.

There is a terrible logic behind this behavior, that is, if you don’t want to stay as a dog, then you shouldn’t do it as a human either.

In fact, this is not surprising. After all, in order to make money in this era, not to mention the capitalists, even the countries that claim to be "maintenance of order" have already done everything they can.

But this keen farmer gave his analysis. The Austrian Empire was deliberately turning the Kingdom of Prussia into an agricultural-based source of raw materials. This made the Junker landowners who made a lot of money even help Austria. It’s not difficult to tell someone’s attitude towards this matter just by talking about it.

“However, the foundation of a strong country lies in self-reliance.”

The farmer's words are heartbreaking. But it also caused dissatisfaction among other Junker landowners. After all, they did not think that this was taking advantage of Austria, but just profiting from free trade.

"Your Majesty, this rough farmer is too arrogant. Who is he and dares to discuss state affairs?"

War Minister Gustav von Rauch frowned. In his eyes, this ignorant country bumpkin was threatening the interests of the entire Junker aristocracy.

After tasting the sweetness of the food crisis, the latter discovered that they should not plant too much grain, because too much grain will lead to a drop in grain prices, so the best way to maintain price stability is to reduce the planting area of ​​grains.

However, simply reducing the area of ​​grain cultivation will cause a large amount of land and labor to be idle. Unfortunately, due to conflicts with Hungary, Austria needs to import a large amount of Prussian sugar beets and feed, and the improvement of the German Confederation's railway network has greatly reduced the cost of exporting crops within the Kingdom.

The short-sighted Junkers naturally had no reason to give up this opportunity to make money, and one after another switched to planting sugar beets and feed. As for the potential threat of food shortage, they confidently believed that it could be solved by the Russians next door. After all, their monarch's brother-in-law was Tsar Nicholas I. No matter what way or channel, the problem would be properly handled.

Under the guidance of this idea, the Prussians planted a large number of crops such as pasture, barley, oats, black beans, and sugar beets on their farmland.

Of course, the source of their confidence is also closely related to their eastern allies. After all, Imperial Russia was the largest exporter of agricultural products in Europe at the time, so it would be beneficial and harmless to earn more trade surpluses.

The Tsarist government did not mention a word about the previous betrayal, and the Junker nobles who traded with it would naturally selectively forget it. For the tsarist government, the international situation faced at this time had not fundamentally changed.

The people of the islands in the west continue to worry about the strait issue, but if they really give up the "Winkar-Iskelesi Treaty", it will be equivalent to giving up the advantageous position they have gained in the strait over the years.

In fact, the real beneficiaries of Britain's so-called "international condominium" proposal will only be themselves. Other major powers have neither the inclination nor the strength to be entangled in the competition for Black Sea hegemony at this time.

What's more, their proposal still has many imperfections. For example, the substantive content related to international condominium has been vague, and there is no mention of its wartime status. It can be said that the Straits Convention proposed by the British was the trigger for the Crimean War.

The Polish Nationalist Army and the Polish Democratic League in the country are constantly causing trouble for His Majesty the Tsar. Although the power of the two seems ridiculous now, the several campaigns against them have ended with little effect, which is enough to prove their strong vitality. .

The most fundamental reason why the Poles in Russia were able to fight and lose again and again like an unbeatable little power was that they had the three great powers of Britain, France and Austria standing behind them.

The friendship between France and Poland has a long history, and France once helped Poland recover during the Napoleonic Wars. Although Louis Philippe did not have a good impression of the Bonaparte family, he coveted their inheritance for a long time.

In the eyes of French senior officials, of course, the Poles must make good use of such useful chess pieces. As the saying goes, "One hand can determine the fate of heaven and earth." After all, at this time, Poland has the final say whether Eastern Europe will be in chaos or not.

The ancestors of France throughout the ages never concealed their ambitions for the Rhineland and Northern Italy. Now both places are occupied by enemies of the Anti-French Alliance, not to mention their solid ally Russia, which was the biggest culprit that led to the decline of the First French Empire.

(Before the Napoleonic Wars, France was a very powerful colonial empire. After the defeat, almost all overseas interests belonged to the British, so it is wrong to say that the Peace of Vienna did not weaken France. Although the British paid a lot, they were also the biggest winners. .)

As long as Poland does not give up its dream of independence, the three Russian, Prussian, and Austrian families will never have peace. As long as they make a big enough noise, they may eventually turn into a war like the Greek War of Independence. At that time, active and British intervention will further weaken the Holy Alliance, a stumbling block that has existed for many years.

At the same time, the July Dynasty was full of pro-British factions from the king to the cabinet. Standing with Britain has always been their dream.

For their continental balance of power policy, John Bull can choose to support the Carlists in the Iberian Peninsula. Of course, they can also support the Polish restoration forces. Coupled with the conflicts with the Mao Xiong in the Near East, they are very happy to see the Tsar's House. Fire.

Although historically from the time of Poland's first subjugation to World War II, the British never truly fulfilled their promises to them, the latter had always had faith in the former.

Austria was the biggest contributor to the Polish rebels' ability to retreat several times. Due to the existence of the natural barrier of the Free City of Krakow, Russia was never able to completely eliminate the Polish rebels.

Krakow was nominally a free city but was protected by the Austrian Empire. To send troops there without authorization is to declare war on this ancient empire that has been entrenched in Central Europe for hundreds of years.

In fact, Krakow was reserved by the Austrians to disgust the Russians. Its main function is to prevent the continued spread of Big Slavism.

Moreover, this city has actually been included in Austria's sphere of influence for a long time. Because of this, Krakow became the center of the Polish independence movement and the largest refuge for its restorers.

After all, I stopped updating for a day and I didn’t want to mess it up, so I changed it a few times and wasted time. Please forgive me.