NOVPUB"Among nations, there are ’only permanent interests, no permanent enemies.’" This accurately expresses the essence of international diplomacy, and isn’t it just recently that the Anglo-Austrian two countries, who were at loggerheads over the Near East War, suddenly started coquetting with each other?
It’s not excessive; the Anglo-Austrian two countries are still allies. Even if they often have unpleasant squabbles, it doesn’t affect the pleasure of playing together.
If anyone knew that Prussia and Russia were in secret talks, it would surely cause a tremendous uproar. Right now, the Russians are sharpening their swords, preparing to seek revenge on the Kingdom of Prussia; and the Kingdom of Prussia is not much different, always preparing for war.
However, in the face of interests, nothing is impossible, even during the Prusso-Russian War, the private contacts between the two countries never ceased.
After failing to persuade the Vienna Government to intervene in the Polish monarchy election, the Tsarist Government knew that things were troublesome.
Alexander II was not a simple figure, decisively choosing to temporarily put aside hatred and use the incident to secure the greatest interests for the Russian Empire.
A richly dressed old man coldly said, "How have you considered, Your Excellency? As long as your country is willing to agree to the previous conditions, we will acknowledge your annexation of Poland."
The middle-aged man sitting opposite was unmoved and shook his head, "This is not about letting us annex Poland but about the two countries partitioning Poland. Your country’s share is too large, directly taking half of Poland.
How can we agree to this? If word gets out, wouldn’t the Polish public create an uproar? Moreover, we do not intend to annex Poland; the election is merely respecting the will of the Polish people."
If a familiar person were there, they would recognize that the two negotiating parties were none other than the former Russian Minister of Internal Affairs Mikhail and the former Prussian Minister of the Army and Navy Roon.
Two enemies, actually sitting together, calmly discussing the partition of Poland—if this were to be made known, probably no one would believe it.
Mikhail rolled his eyes disapprovingly; Prussia had no ambition to annex Poland; this line was good enough to deceive the ordinary public, but did they think they could fool the enemy who knew them best?
Inside Poland, a large group of people supported Wilhelm I becoming King, and a significant reason for that was the pressure from the Russians.
In the last war, the Kingdom of Poland was the main battlefield, directly turned into ruins, and while economic losses were one thing, the key issue was the loss of over eight hundred thousand of its young and strong population.
This directly led to a weakened state in post-war Poland. Now that Ukrainians make up almost one third of the country’s population, and with the ethnic Polish population suffering heavy losses of young and able-bodied individuals due to the war, there has even been negative growth in the number of the dominant ethnic group.
Of course, this is also related to the dire economic situation within Poland. Especially after the outbreak of the agricultural crisis, there was severe emigration. To survive, many people went to Prussia or Austria to make a living.
Among them, women were predominant, some volunteering, others deceived. During this period, Poland’s underground human trafficking was quite prosperous. A large number of young women were sent abroad by unscrupulous capitalists to work in the sex trade.
In this regard, the Polish Government tried multiple times to crack down, but the effect was minimal. Where there’s demand, there’s a market. In the face of survival, dignity is negligible.
Coincidentally, the Tsarist Government had just completed preliminary social reforms, and seeing that their neighboring enemy had regained strength, the existing beneficiaries within Poland were panicked.
If the Russians returned to the fray, everything they had would be gone. Those who were barefoot were now shod, and political stances were inevitably influenced.
When the Prussians suggested a highly stable alliance through a shared monarchy, many were tempted; they subconsciously ignored the fact that Prussia wanted to annex Poland.
This was a decision determined by interests, even if the Kingdom of Prussia annexed Poland, the Berlin Government would still have to pay a price to win them over, which is far better than the Tsarist Government that wanted to chop off their heads.
The choice of the interest groups directly impacted the entire Polish society, and everyone categorically refrained from mentioning the fact that Prussia wanted to annex Poland, focusing the propaganda strictly on the shared monarchy alliance.
The shared monarchy system was something very familiar to the Poles, something even their ancestors had experienced, so the public’s acceptance was quite high.
Now media was already generating momentum, claiming that the Kingdom of Prussia was also a part of Poland. The fact that the Kingdom of Prussia had once been subordinate to Poland was being dredged up again, greatly satisfying the vanity of the people.
In the short term, it might not be noticeable, but maybe over time, the Poles would start to see the Kingdom of Prussia as their own kind, thus the barriers to the two countries’ merger would no longer exist.
Wilhelm I dared to have designs on Poland, not just out of ambition. A large part of the Kingdom of Prussia’s territory was old Polish land; it’s just that the people there had become Teutonized.
What’s more critical is that the Germany Region is now being eyed by Austria, and the Kingdom of Prussia simply can’t win this contest. The best option is to annex the Kingdom of Poland, like putting on a new vest for an IPO.
In recent years, the Kingdom of Prussia has ceased to regard itself as part of the German Confederation, which is a change in national policy.
This path wasn’t chosen by Wilhelm I; the decision was made by the Junker aristocracy. Who would want to be a follower when they can be the master of their own house?
Shinra Empire is indeed good, but they wouldn’t have the chance to wield power; Austria’s scale is too large, even if the Kingdom of Prussia joined, its shares would quickly be diluted, slowly absorbed away.
Since that’s the case, why not choose another option, carve out a new world, and it just so happens that Poland has emerged under these circumstances.
Turning through the pages of history books, they quickly found the connection between Prussia and Poland, and thus rationality of the Kingdom of Prussia unifying the Kingdom of Poland also emerged.
Of course, this relationship was already quite distant. The so-called rationality was just their own claim to legitimacy, which would definitely not be recognized by the outside world.
It was then that the struggle for the Polish throne began, according to the Prussian plan, to first promote a shared monarchy between the two nations, then to establish a Federal Empire, and finally to proceed with annexation and integration.
The plan was very clear, Wilhelm I was just a puppet put forward by the Junker aristocracy, seemingly of high position and power, but he also could not go against class interests.
Mikhail: "Your Excellency, that joke is not funny. If you don’t want to annex Poland, then there’s no need for us to continue this conversation.
Perhaps another partition of Poland by the three powers would be a good choice. I’m curious, once Austria joins in, I wonder what your country would think?"
Roon’s face changed dramatically. Inviting Austria to join in the partition of the Kingdom of Poland would mean that even if Prussia were able to annex Poland, it would be a diminished version, and whether it could gain the maximal benefit was uncertain.
We live in a world where might makes right. If the Russians were indeed conspiring with Austria, right now, nobody would be able to stop them.
Seemingly sensing the insincerity in Mikhail’s words, Roon quickly caught on that the Russians would not easily invite Austria to enter the fray.
Keep in mind that the territory of the Kingdom of Poland was formerly the territory of the Russian Empire. If it fell into the hands of either the Kingdom of Poland or the Kingdom of Prussia, there was still a chance for the Russians to take it back.
If Austria were to gain control, given the current state of affairs, it would mean a permanent loss. This is determined by the relative strength of the parties, not subject to individual will.
"Mikhail Excellency, if your country is truly willing to invite Austria to partition the Kingdom of Poland, you wouldn’t have lost the last war.
The price you were unwilling to pay at that time, are you sure St. Petersburg can agree to it now?
Moreover, today’s Austria is not the Austria of old days. Do you believe that if the Austrians get involved, the Vienna Government wouldn’t swallow most of the Kingdom of Poland?
At that point, we won’t have to worry about future wars between our two countries anymore; we’ll all shiver together under the shadow of the Austrians!
Don’t forget, the Kingdom of Prussia was once one of the sub-states of the Holy Roman Empire. If we were willing to rejoin, the Vienna Government would definitely welcome us.
Your country would be in a difficult position then. Don’t be mistaken by the current alliance between Russia and Austria; once the Germany Region unifies, Austria will become the new master of Europe, and your country, as the former master, is destined to be suppressed."
This is an overt plot; how could the Russians not think of Austria’s rise? If relations between Russia and Austria were so solid, the Tsarist Government would have directly promoted Austria to the top after the collapse of their dominant status.
Clearly that’s impossible, the Russians did not want to see Austria grow stronger, even in a weakened state, they would subtly undermine Austria.
These subtle maneuvers could not be hidden from the Vienna Government, but Franz didn’t have a large interest in European hegemony, so it turned into a sharing amongst the nations, or to be precise, a partition between France and Austria, with England, Prussia, and Russia each controlling a part of the discourse.
Just thinking about the sleazy affairs between Russia and Austria over the years brings Mikhail to the brink of tears. If history could be repeated, he would certainly prevent the Tsarist Government from those petty actions in the past.
Aside from worsening relations between the two countries, it served no substantial purpose, but they did it anyway. One’s first day practices lead to the other’s fifteenth; once the mutual undermining began, it spiraled out of control.
Under these circumstances, if Austria were to grow larger, it would almost inevitably suppress the Russian Empire. From the Tsarist Government’s perspective, France becoming the European master would be better than Austria.
The Tsarist Government didn’t have time to drag Austria down and suppress its development, how could they possibly let it continue to grow stronger?
Even Roon did not anticipate that his simple act of instigation would lead Mikhail to think so much.
Joining the Shinra, isn’t as simple as saying it. Unless they were driven into a corner, such an eventuality could never happen.
Austria would not be so forgiving either. If the Kingdom of Prussia delivered itself to their doorstep, not being severely exploited would be strange. It might even be abolished as a kingdom and become a directly administered province.
Don’t think the Austrians couldn’t do it, what’s decorum to them when faced with interests? To maintain dominance over the Shinra Empire, it’s only natural to dismantle the Kingdom of Prussia.
