C2446 The Golden France (1/2)

In the history of mankind, the weak countries have always challenged the strong ones, and the military miracles they created were often accompanied by their own arrogance and prejudice.

Just like the France right now, it was difficult for the later generations to understand just how arrogant the France was before the Franco-Prussian War.

In history, the biggest challenger in Britain was France. No matter whether it was the war for the independence of the United States or Napoleon's victory over Europa, France's strength had almost toppled the top position in the entire world.

First of all, the France was the second largest colony in the world, after Britain. Secondly, the technical level of the France was not worse than that of the British, and both sides were basically running at the same starting line.

Both sides had superior and inferior military strength. Although France was not as good as Great Britain in terms of naval strength, France's naval strength had challenged the Royal Navy several times in the past.

As for the army, that Frenchman looked down on the British with his eyes half-closed. This was the pride left behind by the Napoleon the Great, the French army was so strong that they were not pulled down the altar until the rise of the Germany.

In this era, even the British admitted that the French army was the best in the world.

In terms of economics, Britain's industrial production and financial capabilities were indeed superior to the masses, but the France was not weaker. The entire French civil finance industry was extremely huge, and the scale of the empire's lending to the whole world had exceeded that of the Unending Sun.

Even Big Beard was impressed to say that France was a usury imperialist, and that the French preferred a strong army to an expanded colony in the occupied territories to ensure the sustainability of their usury business.

The wars between the different countries in Europe would usually go to the French and British financial markets to raise money. For example, Sha Russia's slave abolitionist program and his industrialization process would go through countless loans from the France. Every year, the French would eat a huge amount of interest.

No one dared to not pay their debt, the powerful army maintained by the France was the umbrella for this kind of loan business. Any country that dared to renege on their debt would definitely take extremely cruel revenge.

As the high interest loan business of the France was a large business invested by the people, the rich and middle class people seldom took the money to sleep in the banks. They all liked to put their money into this financial game of lending and borrowing.

As a result, it was very difficult to calculate how much wealth the commoners had earned from usury, even the Government of France found it hard to estimate this number.

But after the Franco-Prussian War, the wealth of the French people stunned all of Europe.

That year, Bismark had directly asked for 5 billion in war reparations from the big mouth of the Gold franc. Actually, this was the biggest mistake Bismark made in his life.

He thought that the compensation of 5 billion Gold franc would crush the France's economy and cause them to be unable to pay it back within 50 years, thereby completing the Prussian military occupation of the France for a continuous generation.

But they never would have thought that the French would raise money from the public by issuing government bonds. In just two years, all 5 billion Gold franc had been completely repaid.

Germany no longer had any excuses to garrison troops in France's territory, he could only leave with his money in a dejected manner.

When the five billion Gold franc s were compared to the exchange rate at that time, it was close to 720 million silver, which was equivalent to the Great Qing's gross national income of 14 years.

What was even more alarming to the entire world was that the Government of France's national treasury had sold for a total of 5 billion Gold franc, but the amount that the citizens had subscribed for was not just 5 billion.

After paying three bills, the total amount that the citizens had to pay was a terrifying 45 billion, which meant that the citizens of France had already prepared to pay 450 Gold franc s to buy the bills.

With a total of 6.5 billion silver flowing through the citizens of France, the wealth of this country could be easily imagined.