War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

As Prime Minister, Robert Peel was very puzzled as to how two mature diplomats could do something so substandard.

But when he learned the details, he even hesitated for a second between war and peace, and finally chose to tear up the letter to Queen Victoria.

"All the people on the European continent are freaks!"

Robert Peel was a little angry. At first, when he saw the Pope bombarding those Catholic countries, he thought this person was good, at least he could use it.

However, Robert Peel had given up that idea at this time. If this madman really succeeded, he might launch another crusade.

Robert Peel shook his head to clear away the images in his mind. Continuous natural disasters and increasing international challenges have caused the UK's economic growth to slow down significantly.

Wars in southern Brazil, along the southeastern coast of Albania, and on the Indian subcontinent continued to drain British finances.

In fact, the original purpose of these wars was to deflect domestic conflicts and use wars to stimulate the economy.

However, these operations failed, especially the surprise attack by the Afghans during the Sikh War, coupled with the general uprising on the subcontinent, which was now dragging Britain into an even deeper abyss.

This costly British military operation achieved nothing more than the conquest of the Sikh Empire.

The conquered empire was obviously in decay, and its people and land could not extract any oil or water at all. At the same time, due to the influence of religion and culture, the Sikhs had a particularly strong will to resist.

Sir Henry Harding felt that he needed to leave at least 50,000 troops to maintain local stability, because the Sikh Empire was close to the Kabul Pass, which was the only way for the Afghans to invade India.

The feasibility of completely conquering Afghanistan was discussed in Britain, but it was opposed by the vast majority of people.

There are several main reasons:

First, just a few years after the first Anglo-Afghan war, the bloody tragedy of the Kabul evacuation is still vivid in our minds. To launch another invasion of Afghanistan, we must be prepared to bear the consequences of failure.

In the expeditionary force of more than 20,000 people, only one military doctor survived.

Second, it is not difficult to defeat the Afghans, but it is difficult to maintain the occupation. If the nomads charge protection fees, then this is not a war of aggression, but poverty alleviation.

The British approach has always been to pull one by one and fight one by one, using their maritime advantages to attack quickly and replenish quickly.

However, landlocked Afghanistan obviously does not meet this condition. If the army is too small, it will be difficult to achieve full occupation, and troops that are too dispersed will be divided and annihilated by nomads.

However, the size of the army is too large and it is difficult to maintain supplies. If you want to maintain supplies for a large army, you need to mobilize more manpower and material resources, and the two costs will spiral upward.

Building railways may be a good choice, but there are currently no railways in the Indian subcontinent, and the efficiency of steel production is too low, and advanced machinery and equipment must be shipped from the mainland.

At the same time, the length of the entire railway will reach an astonishing 3,000 kilometers, during which it will pass through a large number of complex terrains, especially mountains and deserts, which are blind spots for British Railways.

The cost of the entire railway is expected to be more than 60 million pounds, and due to the uncertainty of economic value, no one will pay for it. The government needs to unilaterally prepay construction funds in the early stage.

During the construction period, various natural disasters and possible uprisings and wars must also be taken into consideration. In this way, the railway is a bottomless pit.

However, I have to say that Britain had a lot of talents in this era. Sir Henry Harding insisted on building the Indian Railway, and Robert Peel actually agreed despite huge domestic pressure.

The reasons for the two are different. The former is from a military perspective. Although it cannot directly build a railway to Afghanistan, it can build a railway on the Indian subcontinent first and wait until Britain has the strength to solve the Afghan problem.

The latter considers economics and politics. Railways are like the blood of the country. If you want to firmly control the Indian subcontinent, railways are indispensable.

But just having an attitude was not enough. Palmerston used his connections to find some Indian businessmen and princes who were willing to fund the construction of Indian railways for different purposes.

They did not know at this time that they were building a gallows to hang themselves.

After receiving the injection of funds, the Indian Railway project was officially established, but Franz was not worried because he knew that it was already 1858 when the first railway in India was opened to traffic.

As for what the British and Indians had done during these twelve years, Franz knew it without even thinking.

Perhaps people at this time were passionate, but they could not guarantee that the same would be true for those who came after them. When the temptation is large enough, it is difficult for morals, beliefs, and even laws in the usual sense to constrain people's thoughts and behaviors.

island of ireland.

At this time, it was experiencing the largest famine in history, but Emerald Island was still lush and lush, and even exported food to record highs.

Boxes of grain on the docks, and herds of cattle and sheep left Ireland in exchange for fine silk clothes and wine.

Franz did not see the desperate Irish taking up arms to take back the food that should belong to them. He only saw a gray-haired old man standing on the dock and roaring hysterically.

"This is our food! This is what we have grown with so much hard work! This is what we rely on to survive!"

Why do you take away our food? Why do you let us endure hunger? Aren't we British? "

But no one stopped, no one paid attention to him, and no one drove him away.

On the floor below Franz, a burst of laughter erupted in the corridor of the second-class cabin.

"Sir, why are you laughing?"

Franz asked politely, but no one answered.

The lower level was still filled with laughter and pointing. Bordeaux held the railing with one hand and was about to jump down to argue with the other party, but was stopped by Franz.

"What's so funny about this?"

Franz's words were no longer polite, and even sounded a bit sullen, which made people feel uncomfortable. Because the sound was so loud, the passengers in the second-class cabin turned around one after another, and some even uttered curse words.

However, when they saw the first-class people asking questions, these people immediately changed their attitude. They shut up their mouths and hid quietly. The guys who were looking for people with angry eyes now took off their hats in a friendly manner. salute.

"Good morning, sir. I'm sorry to have disturbed you, but it's all the Irishman's fault.

That guy O'Connell actually said he was British, how shameless. "

"Aren't the Irish English? Don't they live in this land?"

Lakshmi Pai on the side rushed to ask, and the British man below immediately changed his face when he heard this curry-flavored English and asked.

"Are Indians Americans too? Shouldn't they be grateful to you if you didn't crush the cockroaches or mice to death? Why should you ask for more?"