On March 1, 1848, by the initiative of the Baden and Württemberg bourgeois liberals, a conference of liberals in the states was held in Heidelberg.
A total of 51 people attended the meeting, most of them were representatives of the southern German state, including 4 Prussians and only 1 Austrian.
The meeting passed the "Declaration to the German People" and decided to set up a seven-member committee responsible for the preparation of the German Preparatory Congress. (Predecessor of the Frankfurt Conference)
Undoubtedly, this conference was for Austria to be represented.
No matter what others think, Franz will not recognize the legitimacy of this meeting anyway. He was busy dealing with domestic issues before and could not take care of these issues. Now that the internal crisis is under control, it is time to intervene in the affairs of the German region.
Unlike in history, the bourgeoisie in Austria was hit hard, and the rest of the people were trembling and shivering, for fear of being killed by the government. Who dares to come out and make trouble at this time
The Frankfurt Conference is approaching, but the Austrian representative has not been elected. Instead, a group of wanted criminals are preparing to attend the conference.
Franz didn't know what the capitalists thought, and it was doomed from the start. Without government recognition, how can it be legitimized
"Prime Minister, what do you think of this tossing of the capitalists?" Franz asked
"His Royal Highness, I think you can ignore it. This meeting is illegal in the first place. We just don't admit it!" Prime Minister Felix said calmly.
Austria in this era, as well as great capital, now has the strongest national strength among the many German states.
Franz frowned, obviously he was not satisfied with the answer. Historically, the Austrian government has done the same, and the consequences are quite serious. The parliament passed the proposal of the Little Germany, excluding Austria.
In Franz's view, this meeting also had the Kingdom of Prussia behind the scenes, otherwise Austria would not have been excluded from the beginning.
"Your Excellency Prime Minister, do you really think so? If we don't intervene, I guess the result of the conference must be the establishment of a small German Empire that excludes Austria.
Regardless of whether this meeting is legal or not, the influence it has had on the people is unquestionable, and perhaps it has not been clearly felt in Austria.
But in other areas, the resulting influence has already begun to spread, and once the popular acceptance of this theory, the foundation for the future unification of these areas in Prussia has been laid. ' said Foreign Minister Metternich frowning.
"European coachman" is not for nothing. Although he does not believe that the German region can be unified, Metternich, who is pursuing European balance, also opposes anyone to unify Germany.
Now that the strength of the Kingdom of Prussia is already very strong, if they continue to create opportunities for them, it will no longer be a problem for them to annex the North German region.
This is a very big threat to Austria. Historically, Metternich had left politics during this period, lost his voice, and was powerless to prevent this from happening.
Now he is still serving as Austria's foreign minister. Of course, he has to make a difference at this time. Disrupting the Frankfurt Conference is the first step.
This is also the purpose of Franz putting him in the cabinet. There are few people in the world who can compare with him diplomatically, even though the "Vienna System" he created has collapsed.
"Mr. Metternich, please don't alarmist here, what are these capitalists, can they represent the public opinion
Governments of various countries will not recognize their legitimacy, and the so-called German parliament has no rights out of Frankfurt! "Felix said tit for tat.
"Don't forget, the capitalists' influence in the private sector, they can influence public opinion in a region through the newspapers in their hands, and as far as I know, the Prussian government will soon make decisions against them.
Once the conditions of the two sides are reached, the capitalists will support the Prussian kingdom to unify the small German region, then we will have a war with the Prussian kingdom! "Metternich almost growled.
…
Seeing the two arguing with red faces, and about to fight, Franz hurriedly reprimanded: "Shut up for me, today is for you to discuss matters, not to listen to your quarrel!"
On the surface, Franz was angry, but in fact he was happy. No monarch wants his people to be monolithic, let alone Franz is not the emperor now.
As the crown prince of the regent, once the cabinet is united, Franz is about to be overthrown. For the sake of balance of power, he can't let the members of the cabinet group together.
One is the former prime minister who has been in charge of Austria for more than 20 years, and the other is the powerful current prime minister. When two powerful people have political disagreements, conflicts will inevitably arise.
"Well, to be on the safe side, whether it's a Prussian conspiracy or not, we must sabotage this meeting, or at least minimize its influence.
If you have any idea, please bring it up. Our time is precious and every minute wasted is a crime! "
Franz was still biased towards Metternich, the later Little German Empire was established, and the status of the Frankfurt Conference was artificially enlarged.
How much effect it has, it is estimated that only those who have experienced it personally know. Franz didn't want to try, so he just destroyed it.
Anyway, because of the customs union, Austria has limited influence among the capitalists in the German region, far less than that of the Kingdom of Prussia. It is undoubtedly impossible to rely on this meeting to reach an agreement that is beneficial to its own side.
"Or we will send someone to propose the formation of the North and South German Empire. If we promise to the South German states not to interfere in their internal affairs, the success is still very high!" Chancellor of the Exchequer Karl said tentatively.
"It's useless, we may have a chance to persuade the southern German states, but at the meeting of the representatives of the bourgeoisie, it is absolutely impossible to pass!
Moreover, to convince them, the price we paid was too high, and in the end it was still only a nominal unity. ' Metternich shook his head.
Franz was tempted. If the South German Federal Empire was formed, there would be no Prussians. Because of religious beliefs, there was actually an obvious flood ditch between North and South Germany.
Even if it is only a nominal unity, in fact everyone still goes their separate ways and can still use economic means to infiltrate and slowly influence their politics.
Unfortunately, now is not the time, at least until Austria has dealt with internal contradictions, otherwise there is no confidence to speak.