Holy Roman Empire

Chapter 226: The Birth of a Comical Empire

At the end of the Paris Conference, Franz bid farewell to Nicholas I and left. It was always easy to get lost in the decadent life of revelry; Franz did not want to test his willpower.

Seeing a leaf tells of autumn; looking at the lives of the top officials of the Russian government, Franz knew that the Russian Empire was already sick.

Many people were addicted to past glories and could not free themselves. Even the disastrous situation of the Near East War could not awaken them.

The affliction of the skin is not worthy of concern.

Since the Russian government felt this way, Franz had no obligation to remind them. An ally addicted to past glories was a good ally.

On the way back, Franz had turned into a literary youth and embarked on the path of literary creation. The influential works “The Emperor’s Poems” and “The Emperor’s Prose Collection” began to take shape at this time.

In this respect, Franz still had integrity, at least not to get someone else to ghostwrite for him. Therefore, the output was naturally not high. From St. Petersburg to Vienna, only two doggerel poems were produced. It was really embarrassing to show them to others.

......

A national misfortune becomes a poet’s fortune.

Influenced by the forced division of Germany at the Paris Conference, German literature flourished during this period.

A large number of literati and writers emerged during this period, such as Arthur Schopenhauer, Emanuel Geibel, Paul Heyse, Ferdinand Freiligrath, Georg Herwegh, Georg Weerth, Theodor Fontane, Franz Grillparzer, Adalbert Stifter…

In the few months of the second half of 1853 alone, the literary works produced in Germany exceeded the total of the previous five years.

Criticism became the mainstream of literary creation at this time. The new German Federal Empire was sprayed with criticism. Of course, the Prussian government was not spared, nor was the Austrian government.

The facts proved that some showmanship was indeed effective. Compared to the first two nations, the Austrian government received much less criticism. After all, it was the land of hope for German unification; people were more lenient in their portrayals.

The new German Federal Empire was tragic in contrast. No one recognized it as an empire. The main reason it was called an empire was that the states below it were kingdoms.

The central government could not be on an equal footing with the local governments which was why the Paris Conference artificially elevated it to an empire. This idea of the “necessity of an empire” proved unpopular.

……

Bremen

A middle-aged man said angrily, “Korbes, look at the newspaper. The world’s greatest farce of an empire is about to be born, and we are about to become part of it.

God, when did we agree to join this empire? How come I don’t know about this? This is just terrible!

I can’t imagine the consequences of telling someone in the future that I am a citizen of this empire. It’s too terrible!”

The birth of the German Federal Empire was originally a farce. After being satirized by Weerth as the “Comical Empire,” it was called that by everyone.

A ‘great empire’ with a population of less than ten million and a territorial area of no more than a hundred thousand square kilometers — how can it not be a farce?

Although it was called a comical empire, in reality, its overall national strength was not weak, ranking just below the major European powers, with economic strength comparable to the Kingdom of Prussia.

But this was not enough to make it a real empire. If it had become the German Federal Kingdom instead, there would probably be no objections.

The middle-aged man with a beard took the newspaper, scanned it, and then calmly said, “Feitler, is this little fuss worth getting worked up about?

The decisions made at the Paris Conference were unanimous among European countries. Do you expect the government to dare refuse?

What’s there to laugh about? Even with Germany divided into three, we still have two empires and one kingdom — something that no country in the world can compare to!”

It was clear from his expression that Korbes was not as relaxed as his words suggested. He was deliberately suppressing his anger, not letting it erupt.

In terms of overall national strength, a unified Germany would have been the number one power in the world, unmatched even by Great Britain.

This was impossible. The European countries were no fools; who could tolerate the emergence of a Central European behemoth?

After the outcome of the Paris Conference, the German nationalists fell silent.

The blow that reality dealt them was unimaginable. Although everyone knew that the European countries would oppose the unification of Germany, the fact that so many countries joined together to put pressure on them was still beyond their expectations.

Nothing gives greater cause for sorrow than despair. Many people despaired and became indifferent to politics. Korbes was one of them.

But this indifference was only superficial. When he learned that the German Federal Empire had been established, he could not help but scoff a few times.

Feitler glared at Korbes, then said coldly with a sneer: “Enough, you coward, shut up. As long as there are still Germans alive, Germany will one day be united.”

Both were past their passionate youth. After Germany was forcibly divided, they, unlike the young students, did not take to the streets to protest.

As the newspapers said, even if all the German people went out together to protest, the enemy would not see it. They could only make trouble from their caves.

Oh, that was probably said by capitalists, after all, it affected their business.

Ever since the foreign powers intervened in the German unification process, there has been endless groaning from the businessmen. Southern Germany was still fine, the Austrian market was big enough, and there were also the Italian and Russian markets.

The northern capitalists felt the malice deeply. After losing the South German market, they would have to face competition from British goods in the future. This simply forced them into a dead end.

Prussian businessmen felt the same way. Since Austria had accelerated industrialization, they had already lost a great deal of market share. Everybody’s days had gotten harder since then.

It was even worse now. The northern market would suffer the impact of British goods, while trade barriers existed in the southern market.

Affected by the market conditions, Prussia’s economy had shown no significant improvement since the reforms of 1848. On the contrary, there were signs of further deterioration.

It wasn’t due to a lack of effort on the part of the capitalists but was forced by reality. Historically, Prussia, while reforming, also cut military spending, keeping military spending below 25%, and invested the funds in national development.

Now, under the influence of the international situation, Prussia’s military spending had increased instead of decreasing to protect itself from Russia and Austria. In this context, not to mention domestic investment, one would be lucky if arbitrary taxation and extortion did not occur.

Faced with an increasingly difficult economic situation, Frederick William IV had a constant headache. Unfortunately, he was not good at developing the economy. If it were military development, he might have more say.

With a Cabinet full of soldiers, economic development would be difficult. The word “reform” once again came to Frederick William IV’s mind.

……

Vienna

Franz, who had just returned to the country, was faced with three difficult problems.

The first was the settlement of the royal family of Bavaria;

The second was the name of the country;

The third was the governance of the newly added territories.

Since his return to the Vienna Palace, his mother, Archduchess Sophie, had often walked in front of him, and from time to time she had brought up the subject of marriage.

Although she didn’t directly mention the affairs of the Bavarian royal family, her intentions were already very clear. In any case, an explanation must be given!

Now, by keeping them under house arrest like this, what kind of message does it send? Where does it leave the Archduchess’ face?

Even the two lolis often came over to bother him, with the attitude: “If you don’t give us an explanation, we’ll cry in front of you.”

Well, what Franz had done to them has been unjust. He had promised to give them another throne, but he had dragged the matter out to this day without settling it.

……

To escape the days of harassment, Franz reluctantly said at the national affairs meeting, “Gentlemen, we can put aside other matters for now. Let’s first find a good place for the Bavarian royal family, shall we?”

Prime Minister Felix thought for a while and said, “Your Majesty, the Kingdom of Bavaria also has a province called Palatinate, which was also lost to the German Federal Empire. We might as well restore the status of the Grand Duchy of Palatinate and let the Bavarian royal family go there to inherit the title of Grand Duke.”

Metternich objected: “It is improper. We have promised to guarantee the throne of the Bavarian royal house. Now we must reassure the hearts of the people. To go back on our word could easily lead to problems.”

Prime Minister Felix shook his head and said, “I don’t want to go back on my word either. The problem is their refusal to be heirs to the Serbian throne, even though we gave them the opportunity.

Maximilian II is currently fearless and wants to continue being a king in a prosperous country. How is this possible?”

Metternich replied: “Serbia is a barren country, not even comparable to the Kingdom of Greece. Considering the Bavarian royal family’s investment over the years for the Greek throne without any return, how could they possibly accept the Serbian throne?”

Today’s Serbia was not a nice place at all. Due to the effects of war, the local population had dropped to less than 700,000, mostly old, weak, sick, and disabled. The Ottomans had already taken away all the able-bodied men between 16 and 40 years old.

The economy was entirely based on agricultural production. It could be said that this nominal kingdom was not as good as a Bavarian province.

If he becomes the King of Serbia, it is estimated that their financial income will remain negative there for a very long time.

Maximilian II’s ambitions have already been completely extinguished, and he doesn’t want to endure hardship any longer.

……

Looking at the arguing crowd, Franz suggested: “What if we split the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia and restore the Kingdom of Lombardy so that Maximilian II can inherit the throne there?”

Finance Minister Karl objected: “Your Majesty, the region of Lombardy has a developed economy and accounts for nearly one-tenth of our tax revenues. If it becomes independent, our losses will be enormous.”

Franz shook his head and said, “It is not a question of allowing this place to become independent. First, we’ll trick Maximilian II into inheriting the throne there, to give the Bavarian people an explanation.

Then the central government will use constitutional means to gain power over the appointment of personnel and finances there so that he can just sit back and collect his pension.”

Founding an independent nation? Keep dreaming! As an outsider without Austrian support, on what basis can Maximilian II rule this place?

Franz doesn’t believe that Maximilian II has enough personal charm to win the support of the Italians, given his current miserable state.

After thinking about it, Finance Minister Karl said, “If Lombardy does not become independent and we just provide upkeep for Maximilian II, then it will not be a problem.”

The matter of 1.8 million guilders was indeed not worth mentioning. For the long-term stability of Bavaria, it was necessary to spend this money.

Metternich worriedly said, “Your Majesty, if Maximilian II becomes the King of Lombardy, countries like Britain and France may incite independence in the future.”

Independence? Frankly, Franz never cared if the Italian regions became independent. In terms of development potential, these places can’t become the core of Austria.

There were currently over six million Italians in the Austrian Empire. The proportion of this population was already very high. Italian nationalism had already been awakened. Trying to govern these people in the long term was also becoming an enormous challenge.

The reason why the Austrian government does not give up Lombardy-Venetia now is mainly because of interests. That’s why the government has spent a lot of money on assimilation there.

If the costs of governance exceeded the returns, Franz would have let them become independent long ago. After all, these regions lacked resources and their industrial products were gradually becoming uncompetitive.

Before the westward strategy was launched, the Austrian government had prepared for the worst-case scenario of giving up the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia in exchange for everyone recognizing Austria’s annexation of Southern Germany.

Unexpectedly, Britain and France launched the Crimean campaign, leaving them powerless to interfere with Austria’s actions, which allowed these regions to be held for the time being.

Franz shook his head and said, “Even without a king, our enemies have not forgotten to plot independence there.

According to our plan to replace wheat with mulberry, it won’t be long before local grain will be completely dependent on Austria.

As time goes by and the local textile industry grows in the future, where else can they turn to for markets other than Austria?”

If long-term stability was to be achieved in the Italian region, the Austrian government did some research, and the answer was food control and economic dependence.

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