At a critical moment in the Anglo-Austrian negotiations, his mother Princess Sophie brought him a message that attracted Franz's full attention.
Uncle Ferdinand I is about to abdicate early, so let him prepare for early accession to the throne.
Heaven and earth conscience, Franz dares to swear in the name of God, there is no his handwriting in it. As the legitimate heir of Austria, he would not be so anxious to force his uncle to abdicate.
The real decision was not made by Ferdinand I, but by the Habsburg family collectively.
Although Austria is known for its conservativeness, after so many years, the people's tolerance for this mentally retarded emperor has reached the limit, and the Vienna Rebellion has this factor.
This is a disaster for the Habsburg family. The monarch is dignified and jokes are frequent. If it continues like this, it will shake the status of the royal family.
At this time, Franz turned out to be the regent, took control of the power in a short period of time, and quelled the domestic rebellion, which made many people see hope.
The Austrian Empire's national situation is constantly declining, and the members of the royal family are also watching and anxious, but these archdukes are powerless and have no ability to turn the tide.
Franz's outstanding performance brightened their eyes. It seems that the Habsburg family is about to usher in a master of resurgence.
Then everyone summed up in private and felt that Ferdinand I could not continue to be ashamed of the emperor's position. The Habsburg family has become a joke in the aristocratic circle in recent decades.
For the sake of long-term interests, they unanimously decided to let Ferdinand I abdicate early and replace the outstanding Franz to reshape the glory of the Habsburg family.
After a decision was made, everyone took turns to persuade Ferdinand I to abdicate. No, it should be to persuade Queen Maria-Anna to agree to the emperor's abdication.
Ferdinand I was sometimes sober and sometimes confused. Maybe he just agreed in front of him, but he forgot it immediately later. What he remembered most was the order to the chef: I am the emperor, and I want to eat dumplings.
When he is awake, there is not much difference between him and normal people. It is just that his reaction ability is a little slow, and his IQ is a little lower than that of ordinary people. Once he is ill, he will not know anything.
The most important thing is that he gets sick several times a day, and no one knows when he wakes up and when he gets sick. It was too unreliable to let him make the decision, so everyone decided to help him decide.
In order to avoid making a joke, everyone had to convince Queen Maria-Anna that Ferdinand I's own opinions could be ignored as long as she did not object.
Undoubtedly, Empress Maria-Anna was never a power-hungry person, and the Vienna court was more of a cage for her because her husband was incapable of holding power.
Especially after the outbreak of the Vienna Revolution, she was even more frightened, for fear of following in the footsteps of Louis XVI.
Everyone happily reached an agreement that Ferdinand I should abdicate as soon as possible, and Franz would take over to clean up the mess.
Yes, to many people the Austrian Empire is a mess. Although the rebellion has been quelled, domestic problems remain serious.
In the eyes of many people, one of the main reasons for the outbreak of this nationwide rebellion was that the monarch's prestige was damaged, and Ferdinand I could no longer be recognized by the people of all ethnic groups in Austria.
Ascension to the throne ahead of schedule, Franz does not reject it. If the name is not right, the words are not right. Many things are done by the emperor, which is much easier than the crown prince.
Perhaps it was enough to endure, and everyone unanimously chose to cut the mess with a quick knife. The time for Ferdinand I's abdication was quickly determined, and the time for Franz's ascension to the throne was also determined, both on September 1, 1848. .
It is now the end of June, and with just over two months left, Franz must arrange domestic affairs to ensure that no jokes are made at his enthronement ceremony.
…
Franz is generally satisfied with the outcome of this Anglo-Austrian negotiation. Not only did he get a knock from the Kingdom of Sardinia, but he also won the support of the British on the Austrian Balkan issue, and got a ticket to overseas colonization.
The only headache was the British position on the German issue. Like all powers, everyone opposed Austrian expansion into Germany.
Unlike the Kingdom of Prussia, Austria has too much influence in the German region, and the signboard of the Habsburg dynasty is too loud. Once the German region was unified, the impact was much greater.
If nothing else, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Belgium were once the home of the Habsburg dynasty, and the idea of grand unification prevailing in Germany also exists within these countries.
Who knows if there is a way for Austria to integrate them? Whether it works or not, no one wants to take risks.
Everyone is very afraid of the influence of the Habsburg dynasty. Once Austria is ready to unify the German region, it will encounter the same situation as Napoleon.
Even before the unification of the German region, the intervening armies of various countries have already set off. This conclusion hurts everyone, especially the Great Germans.
There is no way, an Austria with only 8 million core nationalities is everyone's best ally, and an Austria with a core population of more than 40 million to 50 million, that is the nightmare of Europe.
After the reunification of the German region, Austria surpassed Russia in population and France in industry, and was completely a Central European giant.
The British saw it very clearly, so they encouraged Austria to expand into the Balkans. As long as the main nation did not occupy an absolute advantage, internal friction was inevitable.
An Austria with serious internal friction cannot threaten the world hegemony of the British Empire, and everyone can still be good friends.
Franz comforted: "The British position was what we expected, and now it's not us who should be the headache. The Kingdom of Prussia also wants to unify the German region, and they have less choice.
We can't expand into Germany, we can go to the Balkans, we can expand our colonies, and Austria's progress will not stop. "
This is also self-consolation. Prussia is just an excuse. The Kingdom of Prussia in this era has not yet had the strength to unify the German region.
Austria itself has the strength to unify the German region, but the international environment does not allow it.
The British who are most likely to stay out of the matter are strongly opposed to the unification of Germany, not to mention Russia next door, how can you sleep soundly on the side of the couch
If the German region cannot be annexed, Austria can only solve the national contradictions in the country first, and then honestly farms and slowly accumulates strength.
The so-called expansion is just picking up some leftovers. In the Balkans, it has to make concessions to the Russians, and to open up overseas colonies has to compromise with Britain and France.
Felix proposed: "Since the British oppose the unification of the German region, we should take the second place, how about dividing the German region with the Kingdom of Prussia
If we can annex South Germany, we can even pay some price. The big deal is to give up the Italian region in exchange for the support of Britain and France, and cede Austrian Poland to the Russians in exchange for their understanding. "
Metternich sighed and said: "It's not that simple, many states in southern Germany are our allies, how can we expand
If we attack our allies, do we still need reputation? In the future of diplomacy, who would dare to ally with us? "
If he had known that the international situation would become what it is now, when the Vienna system was built, he sent the Wittelsbach family to the Italian region, and Austria directly annexed the Kingdom of Bavaria.
Unfortunately, there is no such thing as history. In order to guard against the French, Austria supported the ally of the Kingdom of Bavaria as a buffer, but now this ally is blocking Austria's expansion.
Before the rise of nationalism, everyone did not feel the importance of the Juche nation. After the Great Revolution, everyone understood the weakness of a multi-ethnic state.
The Hungarians wanted independence, the Italians wanted independence, the Poles wanted independence, the Czechs wanted autonomy…
Fortunately, nationalism did not permeate the entire society, and only the capitalists and some nobles rose up to fight for independence, and Austria suppressed them.
The greatest wealth of the South German region is none other than the 15 million people.
If the southern German state with the same religious belief, language and culture is annexed, Austria's main ethnic group can be more than half in an instant, and the crisis of secession will be reduced to a minimum.
Franz thought for a while and said, "Let's not just think about expansion. To solve the national problem, we can also find a solution internally.
There are more than 20 million illiterate and illiterate people in the entire Austrian Empire. How many of these people know which nationality they belong to
The Ministry of Education compiled a textbook for me, linking the ethnic groups in various regions to me, and finding out that they are the roots of the Germanic ethnic group.
It really has nothing to do with it, just tell me about ethnic integration, I don't believe that their ancestors have nothing to do with the Germanic nation for eighteen generations
As long as you don't know which ethnic group you are, tell them that they are Germanic.
Ethnic minorities with cultural heritage, the Austrian system is promoted to them. It is important to emphasize that everyone is of mixed blood in terms of blood, with multi-ethnic blood, which naturally includes Germanic blood. If you don't believe it, let them go home and find their own family history.
After so many years of ethnic integration, I don't believe how many pure-bloods are there
First clarify the ethnic relations, and then promote German to the whole country, not to promote the Austrian language, and gradually replace the local dialect. "
Franz is ready to be helpless. If the main ethnic group is not enough, he will create it himself.
Whether it's a real German or not, try to fool around first, as long as they think they are.
Fudge one by one, as long as the bureaucrats work hard, it will not take long for the Germanic nation to expand rapidly.
Historically, the Kingdom of Prussia also underwent a Germanization, and their own Germanic nation also did not dominate, but simply relied on language assimilation to dominate.