Berlin
Frederick Wilhelm IV was thrilled when he heard that a large donation had been raised in Austria. Yes, excited, definitely not angry.
In addition to the Kingdom of Prussia, the donations raised in the entire German region, if converted into Austrian guilders, are about more than 43 million guilders, and Austria alone contributed more than 30 million guilders.
This amount of money is already equivalent to the fiscal revenue of the Kingdom of Prussia for half a year. If it can be obtained in full, it will undoubtedly be a timely rain for the Prussian government, which lacks financial resources.
It is a pity that the great His Majesty Franz proposed special funds, and as a result, many German states followed suit. Of course, they did not act as cautiously as His Majesty Franz.
Up to now, the Prussian government has received more than five million guilders from the German region, and most of the rest have been intercepted by their respective governments.
How can the bureaucrats do nothing with such a large benefit? Their donations are not as rigorous as Franz's, and they all have receipts, and they can be refunded if they are not used up.
As you can imagine, the rest of the money is destined to never reach the Prussian government.
What frustrates Frederick William IV is that according to the media, the Kingdom of Prussia has received donations from the German region, and the total amount has exceeded 100 million dong.
In this era, news is not smooth, and there is no bank to check. Anyway, they all say casually. Countries don't want to lose face, and they donate an astronomical sum.
Really or not, does this matter
Anyway, the data are released by the media in various places, and they are not officially recognized. It doesn't matter if they are found out in the future.
If you come across a shameless government, you simply insist on giving the money to the Prussian government, and no one can prove that it was not given.
For example, Franz allocated the first donation to the Prussian government, a total of one million dong, all in cash, which was handed over to the Prussian Embassy under the witness of the media.
Of course, maybe one million is too little, and one million has become three million in Vienna newspapers. If Franz is a little unscrupulous, it is not impossible to directly swallow the extra two million dongs.
Not everyone is so particular about Franz, and it is only a small problem to lie about the donation figure. In many places, only 200,000 was given, and Prussian officials had to sign the receipt of 500,000.
Anyway, the money is in the hands of others, whether or not they want it. In the face of interests, the fighting power of the bureaucrats is bursting.
Except for the states that were heavily influenced by Prussia, the phenomenon of this situation was less, and the states in the South German region became the hardest hit area.
Prussian Prime Minister Joseph von Radowitz said worriedly: "Your Majesty, we can't ask for this money!"
"What's the matter?" Frederick William IV asked suspiciously
Dissatisfaction with the German states returns to dissatisfaction, but there is no need to live with money? Even if a large part of it was embezzled by the bureaucrats of various countries, it was not a small sum in the end.
Now the Prussian government is heavily in debt. If it were not for a different time, Frederick William IV was ready to declare the government bankrupt and relinquish all the debts.
"Your Majesty, these states are supporting us in our battles in name, but in reality they all harbor evil intentions.
Now that they hold us so high, if the Russians insist that we give up the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, how will we end
Now, with the exception of Germany, all countries in Europe are on our opposite side, and the Danes have no fear and will not make concessions. ' said Josef von Radowitz with a wry smile.
There is no doubt that the use of war to divert domestic conflicts has gone too far. Now the Prussian government is riding a tiger. If it weren't for the fact that they could not take back the two principalities of Schleswig and Holstein, they would have no way to explain it to the people.
This is not only the people of Prussia, but also the people of Germany.
They can still think of ways to guide domestic public opinion, but don’t think about foreign public opinion. Is it weird not to be hacked into ****
This question, Frederick William IV also thought of it, but he had no choice, whether he received the money or not, the final result would not change.
Successfully recaptured the two principalities of Schleswig and Holstein, they are the heroes of the German nation, and if they fail, they are the thieves of the German nation.
Unless they dare to fight the Russians with real swords and guns, then whether they win or lose, they can explain the past.
In this era, Russia is the hegemon of the European continent. It is normal for Prussia to defeat the Russians one-on-one. The people can understand that they will transfer this anger to Austria and other countries that did not participate in the war.
If the Prussian government is held back, how can the nationalists and patriots accept it
In the eyes of ordinary people, all the states in the German region are now their backing, even if they are against the Russians, shouldn't they be cowardly
Public opinion is terrible, the Russians are even more terrible!
If the Russian-Prussian War broke out, who would Austria help
In the view of Frederick William IV, it is unlikely that Austria will fall to Russia. Under the pressure of public opinion, most of them will support Prussia.
Unfortunately, this kind of support is very limited, and it is impossible for Austria to really contribute. After all, the Kingdom of Prussia is over, and the biggest obstacle for Austria to unify the German region is gone.
The lack of support from Austria also offset the diplomatic pressure from France. A large group of German states waved their flags and shouted, which can be regarded as offsetting the diplomatic pressure of small European countries.
Now the diplomatic pressure on the Kingdom of Prussia is much smaller than in history; the pressure exerted on them by domestic patriots has surpassed the same period in history.
Neither Prime Minister Joseph von Radovey nor King Frederick Wilhelm IV were determined to give up the two principalities of Schleswig and Holstein.
Too much has been invested, and the war expenditure paid by the Kingdom of Prussia for this war has exceeded Austria's expenditure in the Ossian War.
From the outbreak of the war to the present, it has lasted for more than a year. Although the time between the two sides is very short, the Prussian army also hangs the Danes, but the military confrontation also costs money!
The military expenditure in wartime is often several times or even more than in peacetime.
The military expenditure of the Kingdom of Prussia has always been high. Since the accession of Frederick II in 1740, the number of the Prussian army has increased from the original 70,000 to 200,000, accounting for 9.4% of the country's population. Military expenditures cost the government every year. 45 of the full budget.
At that time, Prussia was only the tenth largest in Europe in terms of area and thirteenth in population, but its army was second only to Russia, France and Austria, ranking fourth in Europe.
Moreover, this number increased to 235,000 in Frederick II's successor, William II, and the Prussian army was almost never lower than this number in the following days.
With such a large army in peacetime, the financial pressure on the Kingdom of Prussia, which has a small population and has not completed industrialization, can be imagined.
Fiscal deficits are the norm for this country. In this case, it is very difficult for the Kingdom of Prussia to seek foreign loans or issue bonds.
It is really because the government is out of money that Frederick William IV will put down his face and ask the German state for help. Even though he knew that the money was not easy to get, he still accepted it.
"It's too late to say these things, let our people collect evidence first, and in case something happens in the future, they can also be pulled into the water.
This is the last resort. The final solution is to keep the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, and then these states will send the money obediently. ' said Frederick William IV fiercely.
"Your Majesty, I'm afraid it's not that simple. Most of these states will ask for the independence of these two principalities." Joseph von Ladovi thought for a while and said
"Don't worry, as long as the two duchies are successfully recovered, the established fact will be established, they can't do anything, and we are not without supporters." Frederick William IV said confidently.
After so many years of propaganda, the idea of Little Germany has overwhelmed the theory of Greater Germany in many regions, and there are not a few people who support the unification of Germany by the Kingdom of Prussia.
If Franz hadn't disrupted the Frankfurt Conference, Little German thought would have now become the mainstream of the German region.
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The insistence of the Prussian government made the St. Petersburg government very embarrassed.
From the very beginning they were on the side of Denmark, and the Tsarist government had announced to the public that force would be used if the Prussian government did not back down.
What should we do now? If you do it, it will cheapen the Austrians in vain; if you don't do it, will you lose the face of the Russian Empire
They can't even keep their own younger brother, and the tsarist government backs out. Are they still embarrassed to play on the international stage
It can only be said that now is not the same as it was then.
The tsarist government in those days could use credibility as toilet paper and throw it away; now the Russian Empire is already vying for world hegemony. If they don't pay attention to credibility, who will obey them
The world leader who is lonely, looks majestic, but in fact is in danger. Unless the world can be unified by force, it is enough to refer to Napoleon.
St. Petersburg
Nicholas I asked with concern: "What does the Austrian government say, are they willing to mediate this Pudan war?"
"Your Majesty, the Austrian government refused to participate in this mediation. The old fox in Metternich said that due to domestic public opinion, the Austrian government would only stand on the side of Prussia in participating in the mediation." Foreign Minister Karl Wortselrod replied in embarrassment.
The Russians did not want to go to war with the Kingdom of Prussia. It was no secret that the Tsarist government was trying to avoid war. It was naturally known to the Prussian government.
Tragically, after the Prussian government obtained this information, they directly made a strategic misjudgment, believing that the Russians would not interfere with force, which increased their confidence.
"Damn, the Austrians are probably still dreaming that we will help them remove obstacles to the unification of Germany, aren't they afraid that we will leak the Russian-Austrian secret treaty?" Nicholas I said to himself
Everyone is a winking person, and dare not answer stupidly: not afraid.
Once the Russia-Austria secret agreement is leaked, the strategy behind Austria will be in trouble, and the strategy behind Russia will be directly finished.
The annexation of Austria, the southern German state, will make the British feel afraid, at most, it will raise the danger level to a level close to that of the French, but compared with the Russians who annexed the Ottoman Empire, it is not worth mentioning.
In the former, there are still ways to restrict, whether it is to support the Kingdom of Prussia, to provoke the relationship between France and Austria, or to alienate the relationship between Russia and Austria, it can play a check and balance role.
The latter is different. In the current Russian Empire, the British can only watch them in a daze. If they annex the Ottoman Empire, it will be a matter of time before the world's hegemony changes.
Even if Nicholas I really wanted La Prussia to board the ship, he did not dare to divulge the slightest information to them, and even during the discussion, the secrecy was raised to the highest level.
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