Chapter 367： Two Bankruptcy Countries (1/2)

Palace of vienna

Foreign Minister Weisenberg said with a smile: ”His Majesty, in order to seek our support, the conditions for both Russia and Russia are almost the same.

The Russians promised Silesia after the war if we supported them; Prussia promised to cede Silesia after the war as long as we remained neutral. ”

The Russians promised to be generous to others, and the Tsarist government would not mind buying Austria in the interests of Prussia.

The Berlin government promised that it was forced to do nothing, and they were not willing to give up Silesia. To win the war, they must stabilize Austria.

After winning the war, their efforts can be doubled back; if they lose the war, Galicia cannot keep it.

Despite all these years, the Austrians still have a grudge against Silesia. Especially in recent years, with the increase of strength, the call of the Vienna government to withdraw from Silesia has become increasingly high.

Once the Prussian kingdom becomes weak, Austria will surely fall. Now the Berlin government has to stabilize Austria.

Looking at Felix, who was still talking, Franz asked, ”What does the Prime Minister think?”

The Prime Minister Felix replied: ”Your Majesty, neither of these is the best choice. What we need is a general defeat for both Russia and Russia.

Now our alliance with the Russians is very eye-catching, and European countries are working to split this alliance. If the tsarist government continues to triumph, we will only have more trouble in the future.

For us, the Russian Empire is strong enough now. If the Tsarist government completes its internal reforms, it will be hard to say if the Russian-Olympic alliance has any value.

Likewise, a stronger Prussian kingdom is not in our interest. Europe is too small to accommodate so many powers. ”

This is the most ideal state in which both Russia and Russia are defeated. Not only can the reform of Alexander II be interrupted by the hands of the Prussians, making the reform of the Tsarist government more incomplete than in history; at the same time, it can also interrupt the ambitions of the Prussians. After this failure, they have no chance of rising again. .

But it is very difficult to achieve this, at least Franz does not think Austria has the ability to play this balance.

The Prussian kingdom is lost once it is lost. On the surface, the Russians can lose many times. In fact, this is very false. There are too many internal problems in the Tsarist government, and Franz is not sure of their loss tolerance.

This is not the same as the Near East War. At that time, the Russian army hit Constantinople at the door. All classes in the country were supporting the war. No matter how great the loss of the Tsarist government, they must insist.

Franz thought for a while and said, ”Stop this idealistic plan. It's easy to crash. The last two sides are not flattering.

According to actual needs, we only need to do two things:

1. Use the Prussians to disrupt the reform of the Tsarist government. As long as the Russians cannot win in a short period of time, Alexander II will give in to the conservatives, and this reform will not be thorough;

Second, the Kingdom of Prussia cannot be enlarged, and a strong country in the German region is enough. There is no need to add another competitor.

The matter of strengthening Prussia's strength can let Britain and France do it. All we have to do is to transfuse the Tsarist government when necessary and strengthen their determination to fight. ”

It is impossible to please the two ends. If it is done that way, the final result is mostly two-phase rejection, and people inside and out are not people.

The role of the Russian-Australian alliance is declining, but without a day's lifting of the covenant, Austria cannot openly stab the Russians.

This is related to Austria's credibility in international politics and diplomacy. A country without credibility should never want to gain everyone's respect.

Fortunately, the Prussian government was smart enough to play without declaring war and not invade Russia, otherwise Austria was dragged into the war under the covenant.

The situation now is that the Prussian kingdom invaded Denmark, and the Russians declared war on the Prussian kingdom in order to protect this younger brother.

This situation is not within the scope of the Russian-Austrian alliance that must participate in the war.

The Kingdom of Denmark is an ally of the Russians, which does not mean that they are also an ally of Austria. The Vienna government does not need to stand with the Russians.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Carl reminded: ”His Majesty, the tsarist government's finances are very bad, and the Russians have been slow to move, largely due to financial constraints.

Not long ago, bonds issued by the Tsarist government were cold in the capital market, and investors feared that the Russians would default on their accounts.

According to the analysis of the data we have, if the Russians' finances have not improved, the tsarist government may declare bankruptcy again. ”

The Russian-Austrian alliance has stipulated that it must be obliged to provide material assistance to its allies without prejudice to its own interests.

Theoretically, how can the Vienna government help in this case? This is a matter of selectivity. However, how to support it depends on the actual situation.

Providing loans is aid, and donating materials is also aid. The specific situation depends on benefits.

Without enough benefits, just picking up some weapons and ammunition from the warehouse can also cope with the past.

The attitude of the Chancellor of the Treasury is very obvious, that is, the tsarist government's finances are very bad, it is very likely that it will go bankrupt after the war, and Austria does not need to jump this pit.

Fiscal bankruptcy is never new in continental Europe. In particular, the Tsarist government will declare bankruptcy once the government debt exceeds its capacity.

The bankruptcy of the government means that the previous debts were suspended indefinitely, which can also be understood as not paying back. This kind of thing has been done much by the Tsarist government, and many creditors have been weeping without tears.

Of course, not every country is eligible for debt collection. In this era, there is another way to collect money: to collect debt by force.

Even if a small country declares bankruptcy, it usually only depends on personal debt, and the debts of the major powers have to be repaid. For example, the major powers supervise their finances.