“Why don’t we also convene a conference within the German Confederation? We can invite the governments of the various states to attend and discuss the issue of reunification,” proposed the Interior Minister, Archduke Louis before he contemptuously continued, “I’m sure that the influence of an assembly on the governmental level will certainly be beyond that of a “parliament” held by the bourgeoisie!”

Minister-President von Schwarzenberg countered, “But such a high-level assembly wouldn’t be able to produce any conclusive results. Every German state has its own interest, so expecting them to reach an agreement on the issue of reunification is virtually impossible!”

In fact, there was an alternative solution which no one had mentioned: exerting diplomatic pressure and forcing the dissolution of the Frankfurt Parliament.

No one had mentioned it, however, because the chances of it succeeding were very low since revolutions had broken out in almost all the states in the German Confederation. Moreover, the Free City of Frankfurt had always been the financial hub of the German region which meant that it was practically under the control of the bourgeoisie in the absence of military intervention.

After deliberating for a moment, Foreign Minister von Metternich suggested, “Why don’t we contact the other states in the German Confederation? We can jointly declare the Frankfurt Parliament as illegal and refuse to ratify any of its bills!”

Historically, Austria had done this, but only in response to the Frankfurt Constitution passed by the Frankfurt Parliament in 1849 which named Frederick Wilhelm IV of Prussia the “Emperor of the Germans.” Although Austria, Bavaria and, even, Prussia jointly denied the Frankfurt Parliament’s legitimacy, there were 29 more German states, who, forced by public opinion, had to begrudgingly accept this constitution. In the end, this became the legal basis which allowed Prussia to unify Germany two decades later.

“Then, how about this: we send some capitalists of our own to cause trouble and bring up complicated issues to buy us as much time as possible. Once we settle the turmoil within the Empire, we can deal with Frankfurt Parliament without worry!”

In the end, Franz had to come up with this clever ploy. From the start, the Frankfurt Parliament had a slew of internal conflicts which led to the delegates from the various states constantly quarreling amongst themselves.

If Austria sent its own delegates to deliberately waste time, it would make it much more difficult for the parliament to reach an agreement. Historically, the Frankfurt Constitution was not drafted until March of 1849. A few extra months would be long enough for Austria to deal with the internal turmoil. At present, the Vienna government possessed much more power and authority than its historical counterpart.

“Your Imperial Highness, we can also spark a war of public opinion against them. The bourgeoisie may have convened the Frankfurt Parliament, but they can’t represent the German people,” added Foreign Minister von Metternich. “Currently, they are using their wealth to rally support, but even the so-called delegates were not actually democratically elected by the people. We can expose this and publicly declare it to be a conspiracy by the bourgeoisie to get involved in politics and enslave the people.”

Franz smiled and thought, ‘No wonder he is the man who dominated European politics for over 30 years. Letting him continue to remain the Minister of Foreign Affairs was correct, after all!”

Since these capitalists had many skeletons in their closet, it made things all too easy. Exposing the dirty laundry of the delegates of the Frankfurt Parliament would certainly destroy their reputations. Once their credibility was tarnished, the Austrian delegates could attack any proposal passed by them at the Frankfurt Parliament and kill those proposals before they can even be discussed.

If anyone dared to exclude Austria from Germany, they would be seen as traitors who were attempting to divide a unified Germany. No matter what others thought, the advocates of Greater Germany (or Großdeutschland) would certainly agree. Once an ideological clash occurred between advocates of Greater Germany and Little Germany, there would also be infighting amongst the capitalists.

On the off-chance that there were no scandals to be found, one could always be created, such as proposing a capitalist-favoring bill. It would certainly not pass, but it would make a joke out of the Frankfurt Parliament. In the first place, the Frankfurt Parliament was allowed due to many small states’ powerlessness to suppress the revolution. They had allowed it simply as a way to divert the attention of the revolutionaries.

And now, while revolutions were in full swing, many capitalists had arrived as delegates to the Frankfurt Parliament which made the link between the two sides obvious. Even the capitalist delegates claimed to be democratically elected, in reality, it was just nonsense. Running a nation-wide election at this time would be a hugely complicated undertaking.

Any sensible government would know that most election activities would not have even been possible. Therefore, right from the beginning, the delegates of the Frankfurt Parliament had nothing to do with the general public. They only represented the interests of the bourgeoisie.

***

Just as everyone was discussing ways to disrupt the Frankfurt Parliament, a flustered voice sounded from outside the room, “Your Imperial Highness, urgent military intelligence!”

Franz frowned and replied, “Come in!”

Receiving the report, Franz’s face turned grim. Milan was lost, and nearly all of Lombardy had also fallen into the hands of Sardinia. Now, the war had fallen into Venice.

After reading it, Franz handed the report to the Minister-President before it was circulated amongst the other Cabinet ministers.

The contents of the report were very vague, and many things were not explained clearly. Apart from descriptions of the Sardinian pincer attack, losses of cities and territory by the Austrian army, and heavy damages, the specific number of losses and the reasons for failure had not been not detailed.

Franz was aware that this was unlike Marshal Radetzky. Even if he lost a battle, he would not shirk on his duty to write a clear battle report. Also, under normal circumstances, the general would ask for reinforcements upon losing a battle.

Although Marshal Radetzky had indeed requested reinforcements, he did not ask for them to be sent immediately, which meant that he wanted the Vienna government to deal with it as they saw fit. This could only mean one thing: he was planning something and for the sake of secrecy, he had omitted many key details.

Foreign Minister von Metternich frowned upon reading the report and complained, “Your Imperial Highness, this is not the time for us to be suffering defeats!”

Indeed, it was untimely. Were they not just preparing to disrupt the Frankfurt Parliament? A defeat in battle was not good for Austria’s reputation. As a result, during future diplomatic talks with other countries, Austria would be at a disadvantage.

Glancing at the map of Lombardy-Venetia and employing his historical knowledge, Franz more or less understood Marshal Radetzky’s plan. Given the current situation both at home and abroad, Austria could not afford to lose this war with Sardinia. Instead, Marshal Radetzky was using defeat to lure the enemy. Strategically speaking, his plan was quite feasible, but whether this was enough to make for the diplomatic drawback was hard to say.