Holy Roman Empire

This world is always filled with pride and frustration.

The biggest loser in the London Peace Conference is undoubtedly the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Poland. The former lost its city and lost its livelihood, and its people's livelihood was half dead.

Regardless of the details, in terms of overall strategy, the five countries of Britain, France, Austria, Russia and Russia are all winners, each achieving their strategic goals.

The performance of the Russians is particularly prominent, benefiting from both ends, as if the original Russian empire had returned.

But Alexander II, who is considered the biggest winner, is really not happy now.The recovery of the lost ground this time greatly boosted the morale of the army, which was originally a good thing.

It's a pity that the Tsarist government can't afford it, and it's all a word-"poor".After the battle is over, the rewards for merits and deeds are always indispensable. The pension must also be given.

The destructive power of the war is huge. The lost land recovered by the tsarist government now also needs to invest funds to restore people's livelihood, and there is no return in the short term.

All these require money and seem inconspicuous. In fact, it is really not enough without hundreds of millions of rubles.

The loan Alexander II has long been disappointed, and international financial institutions are all afraid of them. Whoever lends them money is a fool.

St. Petersburg, Winter Palace

Alexander II asked uncertainly: "Can the gold standard reform really help us through the financial crisis?"

At present, only the British and Austrian countries have completed the gold standard reform. Everyone knows that the gold standard is conducive to stabilizing the currency value and increasing the international competitiveness of the currency, but everyone is still watching.

It ’s not that I do n’t want to follow suit. The question is, what if the gold reserves are insufficient?Britain and Austria monopolized more than 75% of the world's gold, leaving other countries desperate.

The Russian Empire is considered good, because the market has low purchasing power, and the Russians have little demand for foreign industrial and commercial products.After smoothing out the foreign exchange created by the export of agricultural products, it is still in a state of overrun.

However, this good day only lasted until the war between Russia and Russia. Because of the war, the tsarist government's finances deteriorated, and it owed a large amount of foreign debt.

The outflow of gold and silver led to domestic deflation, and the government's finances deteriorated further. In order to avoid the intensification of the crisis, the tsarist government was forced to declare bankruptcy.

After a few years of rest and recuperation, the Russian Empire took a breath.Through diplomatic means, most of the debt was erased, and an agreement was reached with the British to use food deductions to repay the debt, and the Russian Empire ’s economy gradually normalized.

However, the financial problem is still the biggest problem of the tsarist government. In order to change the financial difficulties, the tsarist government issued paper rubles with the help of Austria in 1871.

This is just a test of water. The number of the first wholesale bank is only 50 million rubles. The gold and silver standard is implemented. The tsarist government ’s reserves are sufficient, and they are quickly digested by the market.

As Russia-Austria relations deteriorated, the tsarist government's financial community tended to cooperate with the British, and the situation turned sharply.

Without the endorsement of Austria, the second batch of paper rubles was issued in a large amount, which was cold in the capital market.In order to keep the ratio, the tsarist government had to stop printing.

Britain and Russia have agreed that the ruble will join the pound-gold system, and then the tsarist government will have to reform the gold standard.

The Russian Empire is also a major gold and silver producer in the world. The domestic economy is not large, and the import and export trade is generally in a balanced state. In theory, the tsarist government has no problems with gold standard reform.

This is only theoretical, and with the credibility of the Tsarist government, this situation has changed.International capital does not recognize it at all. Unless it is linked to international currencies, the tsarist government alone cannot complete the gold standard reform.

This also involves the issue of currency settlement. Regardless of whether it is linked to the British pound or the Aegis, people are very welcome. The conditions are very simple and can only be settled in other currencies.

No matter who is close to it, the Russian Empire will always be sheared.Alexander II did not care about being sheared. He was more concerned about how much benefit he could bring after the currency reform and whether he could get out of the financial crisis.

Chancellor of the Exchequer: "Your Majesty, after theoretically completing the currency reform, we can obtain a coinage tax of 52 to 55 million rubles per year.

This money continues to increase as the economy grows.It will be of great help in improving our financial situation."

(Remarks: 1 new ruble = 0.774 grams of gold)

More than 50 million gold rubles, this number is not small, more than one-tenth of the tsarist government's fiscal revenue.

To maintain the continuous growth of the mint tax, in addition to economic growth, it is also necessary to ensure that there is enough gold.

Kristanwar is not worried about the issue of reserves. The Russian Empire ’s annual gold production is still enough to make reserves.Otherwise, he would not dare to reform the gold standard.

It is important to know that after the currency reform, the newly issued gold ruble will be linked to the British pound. The exchange rate fluctuates, and there is not enough reserves to stabilize the currency value.

After hesitating for a while, Alexander II made the decision: "Let's get started! But when working with the British, you must be vigilant and don't be punished by them."

Going out this step means that Russia and Austria have started to split financially, and it also marks the end of the Russian-Austrian alliance.

There is no way, it is all a scourge of interest.The tsarist government rejected the Austrian bid as too low, and Franz felt that the Russians were too greedy and invested too much to recover the costs.

The French of the original time and space were crying, the Tsarist government fell, and the huge debts owed to it all hit the water, and the French consortium was hit hard.

There is a lesson to be learned, Franz naturally chose to be cautious.Austria is more risky to invest in the Russians than the French. In the Russian style, no one can guarantee that the debt will rise to a certain extent. Will the Russians provoke war between the two countries in order to rely on their accounts?

Of course, it is also an important factor that the Austrian financial community does not have the British financial tyrants.After all, Austria's own demand for funds is also very large, and it has no ability to fill the pit with the Russians.

If the Tsarist government cannot get out of the financial crisis as soon as possible, once the currency reform is completed, the ruble is tied to the pound, and it is also unknown that the British will refuse to borrow money.

The debt between Russia and Austria is already a dangerous number. Franz dare not take hundreds of millions of Aegis to accompany the Russians to take risks. Once they lose the Austrian economy, they will be hit hard.

...

It is not only the Russians who want to reform the gold standard, but the French who are even more anxious than them.

In recent years, silver production has been increasing, and the ratio of gold and silver exchange has also been changing. This is a big problem for the complex currency.

Affected by the exchange rate of gold and silver, the currency value of the Franc also changes from time to time.

The unstable value of the franc has undoubtedly weakened the overseas competitiveness of French goods.With the vigorous development of international trade, this change has become more and more serious.

Before 1854, France's total export trade was more than 1.5 times that of Austria. By 1870, the total export trade volume of the two countries was almost the same, and now it has been directly attacked by Austria.

Of course, there are natural resource advantages, such as: the development of the Austrian agricultural products processing industry has developed, increasing the added value of products and driving the growth of exports.And the first to bring about the benefits of the second industrial revolution.

The instability of the franc's currency value is also an important factor. In order to avoid the uncertainty risk caused by the currency value change, under the same conditions, many capitalists prefer to choose British and Austrian products.

In the past five years, the average annual growth rate of export trade between Britain and Austria has not been less than 3%, while France has a pitiful 0.8%. This number is still declining.

Are French industrial and commercial products of poor quality?the answer is negative.Except for individual industries, there is no time gap between the industrial technologies of the three countries.

Now that the market competition has not reached the stage of fierce heat, everyone maintains a relatively high profit, otherwise it will not grow together.

However, it is also an indisputable fact that France is gradually lagging behind. French commodities occupy a smaller and smaller market share in the international market.

Of course, compared with the original time and space, the situation in France is still much better, and the domestic economy has not been hit hard.

In order to increase the competitiveness of export commodities, the reform of the currency value of the franc has gradually been put on the agenda. It is Napoleon IV who led the reform of the gold standard of the franc.

This is also regarded as the political legacy left to him by Napoleon III. As long as the reform of the French franc gold standard has been completed and the international competitiveness of French commodities has been increased, the support of the capitalists can be obtained.

As early as 1870, the French government began to prepare for the gold standard reform, constantly buying gold from the international market.There is no way, who will make France's gold production insufficient?

God did not care for France this time. In addition to the shortage of coal in the French colonies, gold production was also very low.

If you do n’t have one, you can buy it. Compared with the hard-working tsarist government, the French government is completely wealthy.

After several years of preparation, the French had gathered 800 tons of gold, and Napoleon IV was still not enough.

For most countries, this number is already a lot, but it is far worse than that of Britain and Austria.

Moreover, with the current size of the economy of the Great French Empire, there are really few reserves with 800 tons of gold as reserves.The bottom line in Napoleon IV's mind was 1,000 tons. If the reserves were low, someone would speculate on the franc exchange rate and it would be in trouble.

Paris, Palace of Versailles

Napoleon IV unbelievably asked: "What, the market can't receive gold?"

This is definitely a big news, at least the price of gold will soar.

Finance Minister Allen explained bitterly: "Your Majesty, there have been many countries that have reformed the gold standard in recent years, and everyone is snapping up gold in the market.

At present, the main gold producing areas in the world are in the hands of Britain and Austria. They intentionally controlled the outflow of gold, and the amount of gold in circulation on the market is seriously insufficient.

In recent years, due to the lack of gold circulation, the price of gold has continued to rise, and the gold-silver exchange ratio has increased from 1: 18.6 last year to 1: 23.5 now.

Even at this price, it is difficult for us to buy enough gold.At present, there are only two or three hundred tons of gold flowing out of the international market every year, which is not enough for everyone."

There is no way, there are really many countries that have recently implemented gold standard reforms.

In 1873, the Nordic Federation began the reform of the gold standard. Immediately after the German Federal Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia announced the reform of the gold standard, a Russian Empire has now been added.

Regardless of the Russian Empire, the domestic gold circulation can basically meet the needs of currency reform, and the remaining few countries are not the main producers of gold.

Gold production may not be enough, but the reserve for issuing currency must be enough, and it can only be bought on the international market.

At the critical moment of the gold standard reform in various European countries, it happened that the British and Austrian capitals jointly speculated to raise gold and profited from it.

It should not be said to be just right, this is an inevitable result.Capital is profit-seeking, and the bamboo sticks delivered to the door are not knocked on white.

In this context, not only the French lack gold, but other countries that are undergoing gold standard reform are also facing the problem of insufficient gold.