Holy Roman Empire - Chapter 216:

Chapter 216: Chapter One Hundred and Three: Interference

Translator: 549690339

On July 1, 1853, Prime Minister Felix paid another visit to the Grand Duchy of Baden and held a historic meeting with the regent, Prince Friedrich.

Prime Minister Felix continued to persuade, “Your Highness, German unification is the common aspiration of all German people. The Bavarian Government, which acts against this cause, has already been abandoned by the people.

History has entrusted us with a mission, to achieve national unity at this time. As nobility of the German Region, it is our responsibility to fulfill this duty.”

Confronted by the grand persuader Prime Minister Felix, Prince Friedrich was utterly vexed. The notion of “unification” was now politically correct in the Baden Duchy, and with the precedent of the Bavarian Government, he dared not make a mistake on this issue.

While persuading, Felix also accompanied his words with a military threat from Austria.

With the Kingdom of Bavaria dealt with, the Austrian army couldn’t help but shift towards the borders of the Grand Duchy of Baden—not too many, just about a hundred thousand soldiers.

This number already caused Prince Friedrich sleepless nights. In his view, not even ten thousand Austrian soldiers were needed for a severe threat; even a mere thousand was serious.

Fortunately, the Austrians knew to proceed with civility before force, leaving room for maneuvering. Even if it were to come to annexation, it had to be at a good price, right?

Prince Friedrich voiced his concerns, “Your Excellency, as a noble of the German Region, I am also willing to contribute to the unification of the German Region. The current issue is that other European countries do not wish to see Germany unified.

The United Kingdom, France, and Russia have all made their stance clear; if the German Region unifies, they will intervene militarily, and the Prussians are already colluding with them.

If we cannot handle this issue properly and rashly initiate the unification process, it could well escalate into a large-scale war.”

Nobility is not just a matter of privileges but also represents responsibility, and this is why European nobility is respected.

Prince Friedrich could not directly reject German unification, so he cleverly put the difficult question of unification before them, also taking the opportunity to criticize the Prussians.

If Austria cannot solve this problem, then there’s no point in talking about unification. In the worst case, letting Austria consume Bavaria would mark the end of it.

“One might as well perish than drag others down with them,” Prince Friedrich had no intention to feel sorry for the Bavarian Government. The Austrians were now mindful of appearances, openly promising territorial exchanges between the two royal families.

Although the specific locations were not disclosed, for the Bavarian Royal Family, this was already the best option. As a royal family abandoned by the people, continuing to stay in Bavaria would not allow them to maintain their throne; it would be better to move elsewhere to preserve their foundation.

Prime Minister Felix confidently said, “Your Highness can rest assured on this matter. If we cannot resolve the diplomatic issues, we would not dare to propose unification at this time.

Your Highness is surely aware of the current world situation. The United Kingdom, France, and Russia are engaged in fierce battles in the Near East, and even if they wish to interfere now, they are simply too stretched to do so.

As long as we all agree, unifying the German Region will not be an issue. The trouble now is the Kingdom of Prussia—they have always been ambitious, wanting to annex the entire German Region.

We will try our best to negotiate. If the Prussian Government opposes and colludes with the great powers, then this time we may just unify the South German Region first.

This is Austria’s bottom line, and anyone who dares obstruct us will meet us on the battlefield!”

Prince Friedrich realized that all the previous talk was routine, and the last sentence was Austria’s true intention.

After pondering, he saw that Austria’s plan seemed to have a very high chance of success. With the Kingdom of Bavaria out of the way, there was no longer any power in the South German Region to resist them.

If it were about unifying the entire German Region, the United Kingdom, France, and Russia definitely could not tolerate it. However, if it were a division between North and South Germany, the outcome would be different.

Austria might be overreaching, but just enough not to step over the line and pose a threat to everyone’s survival.

For the British, there was no need to worry about disruption to the balance of power in Europe; a strengthened Austria would only be on par with France, at most slightly stronger, still not as powerful as Russia.

In any case, Austria was surrounded by the United Kingdom, France, and Russia; by this point, they could no longer expand, and any increase in strength would still be within tolerable limits.

The Russians were even less of a concern, as the Russian-Austrian Alliance was a well-known fact. As long as the entire German Region wasn’t unified to pose a threat to Russia, they could accept the rest.

Prince Friedrich surmised that the Russian-Austrian Alliance must have already reached an agreement, otherwise the Austrians would not dare take action at this time.

A solitary France seemed unable to frighten Austria. If war were to break out, who would be scared? Unless Napoleon were to be reincarnated, Austria, set on unifying South Germany, would be undaunted.

Prince Friedrich could not help but subconsciously agree with the public support for unification. With this belief in mind, when calculating Austria’s military might, he also counted the forces of several sub-states from the South German Region.

This calculation was not wrong; when the French attacked, they would have no choice but to fight. When facing foreign invasion, who would dare cry neutrality?

Prince Friedrich thought and said, “Your Excellency, in principle, I agree with the unification of the German Region. The Grand Duchy of Baden will not hinder national unity, but we still need to discuss the specifics.”

There was no room for compromise in the struggle for interests. Now, Prince Friedrich naturally had to fight for the interests of the Grand Duchy of Baden, or rather, his own interests.

Felix showed a look of pleasure, having received an affirmative response. He knew that once the Grand Duchy of Baden was secured, what was there to fear about negotiating specific terms?

Keep in mind that there’s a legal document in the world called the “Constitution.” The Central Government can completely restrict the rights of local governments through laws.

In the new government, Austria would have the absolute leading role. What leverage would these small sub-states have?

Felix grandly assured, “No problem, considering that each sub-state in the German Region has its own system, we principally advocate for the autonomy of the sub-states.”

“Aside from adhering to the common ‘Constitution’, the central government usually does not interfere with the local governments’ administration,”

This was all based on one premise, though—that it was temporary.

Prince Friedrich was satisfied, as he had no choice but to be. Prime Minister Felix’s attitude was too firm, constantly threatening military force, leaving him unable to utter a word of refusal.

As for leaking the Austrians’ plans, Prince Friedrich was not that foolish—it was an ungrateful task.

Even if England and France found out, in the end, they could not change the result of the Baden Duchy being unified. The best option now was to sell the Baden Duchy at a good price.

If matters turned sour, one could take a look at the treatment of the Bavarian Royal Family. Exchanging territories sounded nice, but in reality, they suffered a huge loss as generations of achievement were gone, and they had to start over.

What if the Austrian Government shamelessly created trouble in ten or so years, finding an excuse to depose their throne?

In their new territories, they had no profound mass base; if the royal family was dethroned, that was the end of it—they couldn’t even muster a ripple of trouble.

After a week-long negotiation, on July 9, 1853, Prime Minister Felix, representing Austria, and Prince Friedrich, representing the Grand Duchy of Baden, jointly signed the ‘Declaration of German Unity.’

Simply put, from that moment on, the Grand Duchy of Baden and Austria were considered the same country, even though this nascent parallel import Holy Roman Empire had not yet been formally established.

Prior to this, the Kingdom of Saxon had already signed the treaty. The Austrian Government had thrown a combination of threats and inducements, and with the populace blindly making a fuss, it was hard for them not to capitulate!

Nationalism in the Germany Region had been detonated; the Bavarian Government impeding national unity was eliminated by Austria, and the Duchy of Saxony and the Baden Duchy had reached an agreement with Austria.

It seemed the day of unification for the Germany Region was not far off. When Prime Minister Felix arrived in Württemberg, the welcoming crowds had swelled to the point of spilling onto the streets, forcing negotiations to be held in a manor outside the city.

When Austria issued the declaration of war, everyone thought war was inevitable. However, the actions of the Bavarians successfully turned war into an armed parade, and once again, the prospect of peaceful unification appeared.

The negotiations had yet to begin, and the Württemberg Government was already under immense pressure. Before this, many had publicly expressed that if a war of unification broke out, they would not support the government in combat.

To avoid the repeat of the Bavarian Government’s old affairs, the Kingdom of Württemberg naturally succumbed. As long as Austria could deal with international pressure, they would all be part of the same family.

By July 11, 1853, the yet-to-be-established parallel import Holy Roman Empire already comprised five sub-states: Austria, Kingdom of Bavaria, Baden, Saxon, and Württemberg.

In the South German Region, unification was essentially achieved. As Felix traveled toward Hesse-Darmstadt, the Free City of Frankfurt had already announced its intention to join the Shinra Empire.

At this time, countries like England, France, and Russia prepared to intervene had already reached an agreement. On July 6, England, France, and Russia jointly issued a statement announcing a one-month cessation of hostilities in the Near East.

The following day, including England, France, and Russia, a joint communiqué was issued by twelve European countries, demanding Austria to stop its actions toward German unification.

Without any threatening language, this sole communiqué forced Austria to halt its steps towards unification. Fortunately, by then, Franz’s goal had been achieved.

The Germany Region, which had just begun to see the dawn of unification, immediately plunged into wails, as many helplessly found that unification was still a distant dream.

The Kingdom of Prussia also appeared among the intervening countries this time, and Franz felt there was nothing surprising about that. What was some infamy for the sake of interest?

Since their reputation was already tarnished, Frederick William IV didn’t mind being cursed a few more times as part of the fallout.

If the Kingdom of Prussia didn’t participate in this action, it could be certain that they would have no part in this division of the Germany Region.

Supporting Prussia to counter Austria? That kind of good fortune was only to be dreamt about.

The United Kingdom stated that Hanover was their protege and could not be given up—where else would the big brother’s dignity go? Weren’t the French and the Russians enough to contain Austria?

The French stated that they were not so foolish to have Austria as a competitor, let alone adding another one?

The Russians stated that they could offer moral support, but one must fight for practical interests on their own; Russia was not foolish.

There was only so much interest to be had in Europe, and if the Prussians got a larger share, it meant others would get less.

What idiot would want to hand over their own interests to foster a competitor?

Geographical position had already determined that once the Kingdom of Prussia rose, it would be everyone’s competitor. The problem was that there was no longer enough “meat” left for the Kingdom of Prussia; they could only rob and plunder.

Contain Austria? After the Germany Region was split up, the expansion of Austria was blocked.

On the west were the French, the east the Russians, the north the Prussians, and the south the Balkan Peninsula. Sardinia in the southwest was a protege of the British, and the other sub-states in the Italian Area were already Austria’s proteges; they really couldn’t compete.

What could Austria choose? Oh, there was also Switzerland, which didn’t have much to its name; only if the Vienna Government collectively lost their minds would they take an interest in the backbone of Europe.

Following the plan proposed by the Russians, Austria could either stay put or go out and snatch colonies!

Indeed, England and France wouldn’t budge on this; Austria really couldn’t compete with them overseas. Geographical position ensured Austria was naturally at a disadvantage in overseas colonization.

As long as Austria focused on developing colonies overseas, England and France would have them by the throat. Without fostering good relations with the major players, there would be no harvest to speak of.