Holy Roman Empire

At the critical moment of the British-Austrian negotiations, his mother, Princess Sophie, brought him a message that attracted Franz's full attention.

Uncle Ferdinand I was about to abdicate early, making him ready for the throne in advance.

Conscience of the world, Franz dared to swear in the name of God, there is no his handwriting.As the legal heir of Austria, he is not so anxious to force his uncle to abdicate.

The real decision was not made by Ferdinand I, but by the Habsburgs collectively.

Although Austria is known for being conservative, after so many years, the tolerance of the intellectually impaired emperor has reached its limit, and the Vienna Rebellion has this factor.

This is a disaster for the Habsburg family. The monarch sweeps the floor majesticly and makes jokes frequently. If this continues, the status of the royal family will be shaken.

At this time, Franz turned out to be a regent, took control of his power in a short time, and calmed down the domestic rebellion, which made many people see hope.

The power of the Austrian Empire is constantly declining, and the members of the royal family are also watching it, anxiously, but these princes are weak and have no ability to turn the tide.

The outstanding performance of Franz made them shine, it seems that the Habsburg family is about to usher in a ZTE master.

Then everyone made a total of private sums, and felt that Ferdinand I could not be embarrassed in the emperor's position. The Habsburg family has become a joke in the aristocracy in recent decades.

For the sake of long-term interests, they unanimously decided to let Ferdinand I abdicate early, replace Franz with superior ability, and reshape the glory of the Habsburgs.

After making a decision, everyone took turns to persuade Ferdinand I to abdicate.No, it should be persuading Queen Maria-Anna to agree to the emperor's abdication.

Ferdinand I was sober and sometimes confused.Maybe I just promised it in the front, and immediately forgot it later. What he remembered most was the command to the chef: I am the emperor, and I want to eat dumplings.

When he is awake, he is not much different from normal. It is just that his reaction ability is a bit slow, and his IQ is a little lower than that of ordinary people. Once he becomes ill, he knows nothing.

The most important thing is that he is ill several times a day, and no one knows when he is sober and when he is ill.It was too unreliable for him to make a decision, so everyone decided to help him.

In order to avoid making jokes, everyone must convince Queen Maria-Anna that as long as she does not object, Ferdinand I ’s own opinions can be ignored.

There is no doubt that Queen Maria-Anna has never been a powerful person, because her husband is powerless, and the Vienna court is more like a cage for her.

Especially after the outbreak of the Vienna Revolution, she was terrified and afraid to follow the footsteps of Louis XVI.

Everyone happily reached an agreement to let Ferdinand I abdicate as soon as possible, and Franz took up the mess.

That's right, the Austrian Empire is a mess for many people.Although the rebellion has been settled, domestic problems remain serious.

Many people seem to think that one of the main reasons for the outbreak of the nationwide rebellion is the damage of the monarch ’s prestige. Ferdinand I has been unable to obtain the approval of the people of all ethnic groups in Austria.

Enthroned early, Franz is not exclusive.If the name is not correct, then the words are not smooth. Many things the emperor does are much easier than the crown prince.

Perhaps it was enough to endure, everyone unanimously chose the fast knife to squander the trouble, the time of Ferdinand I ’s abdication was quickly determined, and the time of Franz ’s enthronement was also fixed, all on September 1, 1848 .

It is now the end of June, and there are more than two months left. Franz must arrange domestic affairs to ensure that no jokes are made at his enthronement ceremony.

...

Franz is generally satisfied with the results of this British-Austrian negotiation.Not only did he strike a stroke from the Kingdom of Sardinia, he also received British support on the Austrian Balkan issue, and received admission tickets for overseas colonization.

The only headache is the British position on the German issue. Like all powers, everyone opposes Austria ’s expansion into the German region.

Unlike the Kingdom of Prussia, Austria has too much influence in the German region, and the sign of the Habsburg dynasty is too loud.Once the German region is unified, the impact will be much greater.

Not to mention, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Belgium used to be the birthplace of the Habsburg dynasty, and the idea of ​​great unification prevailing in the German region also exists within these countries.

Who knows if Austria has a way to integrate them?No matter whether it works or not, no one wants to take risks.

The influence of the Habsburg dynasty was greatly disturbed by everyone. Once Austria is ready to reunify the German region, it will encounter the same situation as Napoleon.

Even before reunifying the German region, the army of interventions of various countries has already started.This conclusion hurts everyone, especially the Great Germanists.

There is no way. An Austria with only 8 million core ethnic groups is everyone's best ally. An Austria with a core population of more than 40-50 million is a European nightmare.

After the reunification of the German region, Austria surpassed Russia in population and surpassed France in industry. It was a Central European giant.

The British see it very clearly, so they encourage Austria to expand to the Balkans. As long as the main ethnic group does not occupy an absolute advantage, internal friction is inevitable.

An Austria with serious internal friction cannot threaten the British hegemony, and everyone can be a good friend.

Franz reassured: "The British's position was originally what we expected, and the headache is not ours. The Prussian kingdom also wants to unify the German region, and they have less choice.

Unable to expand into the German region, we can go to the Balkans and open colonies. Austrian advancement will not stop."

This is also self-consolation. Prussia is just an excuse. The Kingdom of Prussia in this era has not yet unified the strength of the German region.

Austria has its own strength to unify the German region, but the international environment does not allow it.

The British who are most likely to stay out of the business strongly oppose German reunification, not to mention Russia next door, let alone sleep on the couch?

Without the German region, Austria can only solve the national contradictions in the country, and then slowly accumulate strength through honest farming.

The so-called expansion is just picking up some leftovers. In the Balkans, we have to make concessions to the Russians. To open up overseas colonies, we have to compromise with Britain and France.

Felix proposed: "Since the British are opposed to the unification of the German region, we will take the second place, how to divide the German region from the Kingdom of Prussia?

If we can annex Süddeutschland, even if we pay some price, it is okay to give up the Italian region in exchange for the support of Britain and France, and cede Austrian Poland to the Russians for their understanding."

Metternich sighed and said, "It's not that simple. Many states in Southern Germany are our allies. How can we expand?

If we start dealing with our allies, do we need a reputation?In the future diplomacy, who dares to form an alliance with us?"

If he knew that the international situation would become like this, when the Vienna system was built, he sent the Wittersbach family to Italy, and Austria directly annexed the Kingdom of Bavaria.

Unfortunately, history doesn't matter. In order to guard against the French, Austria supported the ally of the Kingdom of Bavaria as a buffer, but now this ally is blocking Austria's expansion.

Before the rise of nationalism, everyone did not feel the importance of the subject nation. After the Great Revolution, everyone understood the weaknesses of the multi-ethnic country.

Hungarians want independence, Italians want independence, Poles want independence, and Czechs want autonomy ...

Fortunately, nationalism did not penetrate the entire society. It was only the capitalists and some nobles who became independent, and Austria suppressed them.

The greatest wealth in the South German region is not the other, but the 15 million people.

If a Southern German state with the same religious beliefs, languages ​​and cultures is annexed, Austria ’s main ethnic group can instantly exceed half, and the crisis of separatism will be reduced to a minimum.

Franz thought for a while and said: "None of us should just think about expansion. To solve the national problem, we can also think of a way internally.

There are more than 20 million illiterate illiterates in the entire Austrian Empire. How many of these people know which ethnic group they belong to?

The Ministry of Education compiled a textbook for me to connect the ethnic groups in various regions to find out the roots of the Germanic people.

It really has nothing to do with it, so let me talk about ethnic integration. I do n’t believe that the eighteen generations of their ancestors have nothing to do with the Germanic people?

As long as you do n’t know which ethnic group you are, tell them that they are Germanic.

Minorities with cultural heritage will propagate the Austrian system to them.It is emphasized that everyone in the blood lineage is of mixed race and has multi-ethnic lineage. Naturally, it also includes Germanic lineage. If you do n’t believe it, let them go home to find family history.

After so many years of national integration, I do n’t believe how many pure-blood nations there are?

First clarify ethnic relations, and then promote German to the whole country, not to promote Austrian language, and gradually replace local dialects."

Franz is ready to play helpless, if the main ethnicity is not enough, then he will make it himself.

Whether it's true Germans or not, try it for a while, as long as they think they are.

Fools counted one by one, as long as the bureaucrats worked hard, it would not take long for the Germanic people to expand rapidly.

In the history of the Prussian kingdom, there was also a Germanization. Their own Germanic people also did not dominate. They simply relied on language assimilation to dominate.