Trans_Later

"John Bull" is to Britain what "Uncle Sam" is to America

While negotiating with the French, the Austrian Foreign Ministry certainly did not forget the British. The British Empire was already in full swing and unrivaled on the planet. As the only nation on the planet to have completed the industrial revolution, there was a qualitative gap between Britain and other nations.

Fortunately for the other nations, the small size of the British Isles restricted its population growth; otherwise, the United States and the German Empire wouldn’t even have been able to complete their own industrial revolution, let alone surpass the industrial might of Britain.

Even though Britain wasn’t spared of the revolutions in 1848, compared to the regime-toppling revolutions in France, Austria, and other mainland European nations, the revolutions in Britain were meager as the ineffective revolutionaries were quickly arrested by the police. Ultimately, there were just a few strikes.

Thanks to the report from the Austrian intelligence agencies, Franz was aware that the war between Austria and Sardinia had been a British scheme. Long before the Sardinian declaration of war and the deployment of its army, the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Palmerston, had already begun to lobby King Charles Albert of Sardinia.

In this context, Austria’s diplomatic activities in London would naturally fail to achieve any real results. Moreover, the reputation of the British was very nasty since they were known to change positions at any time if it served their interests. Of course, Franz never expected to gain the support of the British.

The mission given to Nicolas Hubert, the Austrian ambassador to Britain, was very simple: lobby the pro-Austrian MPs and bribe the neutral MPs to prevent the Prime Minister’s Cabinet from providing any substantial support to Sardinia. This was the extent of Austrian influence within Britain.

***

Downing Street.

Prime Minister Lord Russell was thinking about the international situation. In France, the newly-established provisional government had already expressed friendship to the British Empire diplomatically, but he was still considering whether or not to accept their goodwill.

Thanks to the Vienna system, Europe had maintained a balance of power, so Britain had been able to boldly expand their territory overseas. He had always believed that Britain was quite proficient at diplomatic tactics, second only to the Habsburgs; however, since the collapse of the Vienna system, the future direction of Europe was uncertain.

“Lord Prime Minister, I believe we should continue our previous strategic plan to establish a unified Italy to weaken Austria, and block the French expansion into Italy!” Foreign Secretary Palmerston suggested.

Prime Minister Russell frowned and said, “Lord Palmerston, the situation has changed. We still need Austria to maintain a balance of power within Europe.

Currently, the Austrian Empire already has many serious internal conflicts which may lead to its disintegration. If this happens, the Habsburgs will most likely abandon their non-German lands and reunify the German region.

A spirit of nationalism has already begun to flourish within Europe and the idea of the reunification of the German region has become very prevalent. With the prestige of the Habsburgs, if they focus on the German speaking lands, it won’t be tough for them to reunify the German region.”

***

Prime Minister Russell was certainly not being an alarmist. In Europe, bloodlines were of the utmost importance. Once the Austrian Empire disintegrated, it was almost inevitable that the focus of the Habsburgs would return to the reunification of the German region and the recreation of the Holy Roman Empire.

The saying “to conquer the world from the waist down” (meaning, through bloodline) was not a joke in the eyes of the Habsburgs who had established the first “Empire upon which the sun never sets” centuries prior through the use of clever marriages. At their height, the Habsburgs controlled most of mainland Europe, except France, through the Spanish Empire and the Holy Roman Empire.

In fact, Franz had also considered whether he should give up Hungary and northern Italy to re-establish a German Empire, but, after careful analysis, he gave up on this tempting and seemingly easy plan. It might be easy to reunify the German region due to the prestige of the Habsburgs, but what about internal conflicts within this millennia-old empire?

Not to mention the fact that he had no way to subdue the Prussians, the princes within the German region had fought against each other for almost a millennia so it was not easy to unite them. In addition, the German region was divided along the lines of religion. The Catholics of South Germany and the Protestants of North Germany would never truly unite.

Historically, the Germans had been unable to solve this problem. As a result, the German Empire had been full of contradictions since its establishment. Not to mention, that was the case within Kleindeutschland (Little Germany) where Protestantism was dominant.

If Großdeutschland (Greater Germany) was established, the religious conflicts within the Empire would be much more severe since the northern Protestants and the southern Catholics would become evenly matched. Ultimately, the internal friction would cause the collapse of the empire within a few decades.

Just looking at the map made it clear that the position of the German region was truly strategic as the center of Europe, but, unfortunately, it lacked the natural barriers required to defend it. Franz would never emulate Wilhelm II and make the mistake of believing that he could take on France, Russia, and England at the same time.

There was no doubt that Franz was not the only smart leader involved. Foreign Minister von Metternich had refrained from a similar temptation and established the Vienna system, instead of unifying the German region. Otherwise, following the end of the Napoleonic Wars would’ve been the best time for Austria to unify the German region.

After all, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Rather than wasting his energy on a non-existent German Empire, Franz favored the development of the existing Austrian Empire. In fact, after complete integration, the overall national strength of the Austrian Empire would be no less than that of a German Empire without the internal contradictions.

Afterwards, he could freely decide upon his next move and wait for the right opportunity to make his move. If he moved forward, he could swiftly re-establish the Holy Roman Empire; if he moved backward, he could dominate southern Europe, the Balkans and the Mediterranean.

***

“In fact, the situation in Austria may not be that serious. The Vienna revolution has been suppressed. Although other regions are still unstable, there has been no outbreak of major rebellions.

In order to destroy the revolutionary wave before it reaches Russia, the Czarist government has given its support to Austria, and with our support, even if the Hungarian rebellion breaks out, it will soon be suppressed.

Besides, we don’t need Sardinia to completely defeat Austria. If necessary, we can mediate. As long as the French don’t send troops to help either side, the situation will remain under our control,” Foreign Secretary Palmerston said after a moment’s thought.

Prime Minister Russell replied, “I understand that it is not difficult to mediate in the Austro-Sardinian war, but how are you going to reply to Austria? If we don’t give them substantial support, they will turn to the Russians for help.

The Russians will not give up this opportunity. Once Russia and Austria reach an agreement, we will lose all sway in eastern and southeastern Europe.”

The greatest conflict in the world at the time was between Britain and Russia, the ocean and land hegemon, respectively. With its immense size and boundless population, the Russian Empire had become the greatest adversary of the British Empire since the fall of Napoleonic France. The two powers which had once been staunch allies were now bitter rivals.

Austria had always limited Russian expansion in the Near East. If Austria turned to the Russians, it was inevitable that they would give up some of their interests in the Balkans to the Russians which was not something the British wanted. Historically, the Crimean War had broken out because Britain and France had joined forces since they did not want the Russians to enter the Mediterranean.

“Lord Prime Minister, the solution is quite simple. We only need to give some ambiguous hints to the Austrians so that they will think we support them.

The Sardinians want to unify Italy, so they have to work hard on that alone. We will only provide limited support. If they succeed, it is for the best; if they fail, it will not be our business.

It is also a good choice to let France and Austria contain each other. We should maintain neutrality so that they continue to hold each other back,” Foreign Secretary Palmerston snickered superciliously.