Holy Roman Empire - Chapter 337

Chapter 337: Chapter 24, Open Strategy

On October 11, 1862, the Kingdom of Prussia’s first ironclad ship Friedrich the Great had its trial voyage, and Wilhelm I personally presided over the ceremony, demonstrating his determination to develop the navy.

They were truly resolved, watching the neighboring Austrian nobility make a fortune in the overseas colonial movement, and spurred on by domestic capitalists manipulating public opinion, the Junker nobility also became restless.

Especially many young people, who had long been dissatisfied with the government’s conservatism. It is known that it has been less than a decade since Austria opened up overseas colonies, and they already owned territories five to six times the size of their homeland.

Many optimistically believed that by joining the colonial movement, they would quickly become wealthy, earn titles, and reach the pinnacle of their lives.

“The future of the world is in the ocean,” the origin of this phrase is untraceable, but it has now gained wide acceptance in European society.

At the dawn of the movement to establish overseas colonies, Franz also helped popularize this theory, and it has now become widespread in the Germany Region.

Ironclad ships are universally acknowledged as the highest standard of contemporary naval technology, and just a few years after their inception, naval powers such as the United Kingdom, England and France, US-West, Portugal, and the Dutch have all built their own ironclad ships.

Now that the Kingdom of Prussia finally had its own ironclad ship, many celebrated. Only the government’s top officials were aware of the gap between their ironclad and those of the naval powers.

After all, they were landlubbers. For a long time, the Prussian Navy had been an almost superfluous presence, more often acting as a coastguard, not even comparable to neighboring Denmark.

The grand publicity around the ironclad was also meant to lift spirits. The Kingdom of Prussia had not been progressing well in recent years, and the people needed some good news.

Wilhelm I, concerned, asked, “How is the navy training going, and when can we establish overseas colonies?”

Roon, the Army Minister doubling as the Minister of the Navy, changed his expression and replied with a wry smile, “Your Majesty, our naval foundation is too weak.

Before expansion, our navy had just over 1,300 officers and men, which includes all the civilian staff of the navy department.

To form a fighting force, we would need at least another two to three years. Of course, if the enemy is only the natives, then none of this would be a problem.”

The Army Minister still doubling as the Minister of the Navy was a compromise among all parties. Despite the Junker nobility’s covetousness for the benefits of establishing overseas colonies, they were still unwilling to give up their dominance over the armed forces.

There is nothing wrong with the army leading the navy since all naval officers and men were directly transferred from active duty in the army. They even saved on the Marine Corps; they are absolutely the strongest naval land fighters, without exception.

Roon, who was originally leading the army reforms, tragically discovered that he now had to spearhead the construction of the Prussian Navy as well. In other countries, it was mostly laymen leading experts, but here it was completely laymen leading other laymen.

After all, the previous Prussian Navy was nothing more than the Kingdom of Prussia’s coastguard, with their regular duties being to crack down on smuggling.

Now with the addition of several thousand soldiers from the army, they were even more amateurish, from top to bottom full of amateurs, naturally putting great pressure on Roon.

A navy is not an army; you can’t simply train for a few months and then go into battle. Even ordinary soldiers require years of training.

Clearly, this was only discovered by Roon after an in-depth analysis. The upper echelons of the Prussian Government were still thinking like the army, including Wilhelm I, who had not distinguished the differences between army and navy, otherwise, he would not have asked that question.

Wilhelm I, surprised, asked, “Does it really take that long? How then did the Austrians expand their navy, or are their officers and men essentially unqualified?”

Indeed, the Austrian Navy had expanded quite aggressively in recent years. From 1850 to the present, the Austrian Navy’s tonnage had increased by several times, leaping to become the world’s third naval power.

Roon explained, “Your Majesty, the Austrian Navy has always been active in the Mediterranean, which has kept a rather low profile, but in fact, they have a very solid naval foundation, and the Veneto region has always been a traditional naval power.

They have a complete tradition of naval technology and a talent cultivation system.

The Metternich Era did not focus on naval development, which led to a diminishing impression of the Austrian Navy in people’s minds. Now that the Vienna Government is prioritizing it, they have naturally caught up quickly.”

Actually, the rapid development of the Austrian Navy was also a matter of luck. During the Age of Sail, naval technology had reached a bottleneck, such that even the British’s technology was not significantly advanced compared to other countries.

With the advent of the Ironclad ship era, sailing warships were directly phased out, and the previous experience and technology fell behind, leading to a reshuffling of the deck.

In some ways, this is the era where it is easiest for other nations to catch up with the British. After all, the technology for ironclad ships is just beginning to develop, and the gap has not yet become insurmountable.

Upon hearing this explanation, Wilhelm I sighed, having thought that the Century’s Navy was just British boasting, not realizing it was indeed true.

If lacking a solid foundation, starting from scratch to build a powerful navy would take decades, even if not a hundred years.

“Not long ago, the Austrians proposed to us a joint development of the Southeast Asia region. This is a rare opportunity.

If cooperation goes well, we can directly use the overseas colonial outposts of the Austrians for resupply and obtain our first colony in the Southeast Asia region.”

Logistics supply is also an obstacle set by colonial empires for latecomers. Everyone only welcomes merchant ships from various countries for resupply, but warships need to communicate in advance if they want to obtain supplies.

If it’s just a foreign visit, then it’s easy, and everyone is happy to do this business. If you want to open up overseas colonies, then more in-depth communication is needed.

Simply put, without paying a sufficient price, don’t expect to get everyone’s help.

This is quite discordant for latecomers, as it’s impossible to ship everything from home for the establishment of overseas colonies. Local procurement is the best method to reduce costs.

In order to obtain logistics supplies, Austria had to sign agreements with the three countries of West Portugal, the Netherlands, and Belgium, promising not to seek their colonies by any means before gaining everyone’s understanding.

Franz had already fulfilled these agreements. In overseas colonial activities, Austria did not seize any country’s colony. What they took was unclaimed land.

The Kingdom of Prussia is facing the same issue now. If the logistics supply problem cannot be solved, the cost of colonization could make anyone despair.

Signing an agreement like the others? Don’t even dream about it. The political influence of the Kingdom of Prussia is declining, why would anyone give us face?

In this world where fists speak louder than words, with the strength of the Prussian Navy, other countries simply don’t take us seriously. Even the Portuguese could annihilate the Prussian Navy two or three times.

Especially since the army turned directly into the navy, it has become a laughing stock in Europe. Everyone basically does not think that the Kingdom of Prussia is developing a navy, and many newspapers directly ridicule the Prussian Navy as the Army’s fleet.”

Roon asked with concern, “Your Majesty, what do we need to pay?”

Pie won’t fall from the sky, and if it does, it could kill someone. Roon didn’t think Austria would help Prussia for free; this great advantage certainly wouldn’t be easy to take.

Wilhelm I said with a cold laugh, “They still consider themselves the boss of the Germany Region, preparing to pull us, their little brother, over to act as their enforcer.

The Southeast Asia region is crowded with powers from various countries, and the Austrians have spread out too wide in recent years. Their strength that can be invested in the Southeast Asia region is limited.”

“In order to ensure their interests in the Southeast Asia region, the Vienna Government has now invited us and the German Federation Empire to join.

Of course, they also mean to win over our domestic nobility. Franz keeps talking about the unification of Germany every day as if afraid that others won’t know.”

This is an overt scheme, but even knowing that the bait may be poisonous, Wilhelm I has to swallow it.

You can’t just abandon the idea of establishing overseas colonies because of potential hidden dangers, can you?

Austria has been attracting people’s hearts in Prussia, not just once or twice. Over the years, the number of Prussian migrants entering Austrian colonies has exceeded 150,000.

Many Prussian colonial teams are now affiliated with the Austrians, and without their support for Austria, the Vienna Government would have to be insane to protect them.

Wilhelm I has a sense of crisis and is very concerned that if things continue as they are, he doesn’t know when he will be betrayed by his subordinates, much like what happened with the Kingdom of Bavaria.

After joining Austria, the Kingdom of Bavaria has developed well. This traditional textile center of the Germany Region has revived for a second spring.

To solve the supply of industrial raw materials, the Vienna Government even opened the cotton plantations in the West Africa region.

By contrast, Baden, which remained in the German Federation Empire, has become tragic. Also a cotton spinning center in the Germany Region, it is now gradually declining due to insufficient raw material supply.

With the power of example, Wilhelm I has no confidence in his subordinates. Even with the Junker aristocracy, he dares not trust.

After all, a change of overlord means nobility remains nobility, capitalists remain capitalists; their core interests won’t be damaged, and they might even gain more.

To avoid the worst, Wilhelm I had to find a new way out, otherwise, sooner or later, the Kingdom of Prussia would be swallowed up by Austria.

Wilhelm I didn’t want to play political games with the Habsburg dynasty. It was not his strength.