The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 1219: On Stage (Part )

The first to be hit was the economic crisis. Due to a series of events such as the failure in the war, political turmoil, national division (Alsace-Lorraine), and the loss of colonies, the situation in France not only did not ease but became more serious.

Trade volume decreased, enterprises reduced production, and workers lost their jobs. Due to land issues, agricultural production decreased, currency depreciated, and farmers' income was lower than expected. Farmers tore up orders in large numbers, resulting in food shortages in the market.

The more this happens, the more banks will avoid risks, and capital will flow out in large quantities.

Prices rose, people's living standards declined, and market credit collapsed, which in turn interacted with the economic crisis. The result was constant small-scale uprisings in the country and growing calls from the people for political reform and improvement of their lives.

Napoleon III had to consider everything carefully, otherwise it would not be impossible for another revolution to overthrow the Second French Republic.

If Louis Napoleon could win a foreign war like his uncle at this time, the situation would immediately change.

However, Louis Napoleon was not his uncle, and the several uprisings he had launched were not very successful.

At this time, Louis Napoleon had a relatively clear understanding of his own level, and he believed that France had other ways out besides war.

The cost of war was huge. If the Second French Republic failed again or did not achieve a victory that satisfied the French, both France and Louis Napoleon would be consumed by the anger of the people.

Moreover, Louis Napoleon knew very well that Russia was not the Ottoman Empire, and the British goal was not to liberate the country but to assert hegemony.

Why would France risk its national destiny for the sake of British hegemony?

The border between Russia, Prussia and Austria was very delicate. When a rebellion broke out in Russia's Polish region, Russia did not return to defend the country. Instead, it stepped up patrols to prevent Poles from fleeing to Prussia and Austria.

At the same time, it was also to prevent Austria and Prussia from coveting Poland. Not to mention the Holy Alliance, the Russians themselves did not believe in it at all.

So when a fire breaks out in Russia's backyard, the first reaction is to prevent neighbors from taking advantage of the fire.

In fact, the Russians thought too much, but their actions obviously irritated the sensitive nerves of the Austrian and Prussian border troops.

As a result, all three parties began to send additional troops to the border to guard against each other, but soon the Russians could not hold on because the Poles directly cut off their logistics.

However, the Russians were in a dilemma. They dared neither retreat to defend nor continue to fight.

You know, if the army runs out of food, it will be a big problem. So in order to ensure a continuous supply of food, the Russian army sent food collection teams to the surrounding villages and cities to collect food on the spot.

As a result, rebels naturally appeared in nearby cities and villages, and the Russians could only hide in a few fortresses and military camps and tremble in fear.

On the other hand, Poles in the Austrian Empire and Prussia began to organize fundraising and secretly recruit volunteers.

The two governments turned a blind eye to the actions of the Poles. If the Poles made too much noise or might threaten the security of their own country, they would be strangled. If those Poles just wanted to cause trouble for the Russians, they would be let off the hook.

However, compared with the Poles' secretive and covert actions, the churches of the two countries acted very crazily.

The Vatican issued a statement expressing its strong protest as soon as the Tsar demanded that the Poles convert to Christianity. Pope Pius IX made a speech in the Vatican calling on Catholic countries to stop the Tsar's crazy actions. Every bishop of the diocese received a holy order from the Vatican, including Archbishop Rauscher.

As the Archbishop of Vienna, the head of the Austrian Imperial Church, and the emperor's nominal teacher, he found Franz first.

"Your Majesty, what do you mean?"

Archbishop Rauscher was not a very ambitious man, and he believed that Franz was no ordinary man. In fact, from a believer's perspective, the emperor was even more saintly than a saint.

Saint Moses merely parted the ocean, but Franz pulled people out of hell, defeated diseases, defeated pagans, drove away darkness, and spread the "gospel" to all parts of the world.

Franz's answer is also very interesting.

"Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's."

Franz's words naturally had ulterior motives. Archbishop Rauscher, who had known Franz for many years, could guess what the Emperor meant.

So the church of the Austrian Empire also began to take action, but unlike the churches in other countries at that time, the church of the Austrian Empire not only had money but also an army.

Although those troops were nominally mercenaries, each of them knew exactly who they were serving.

In addition to Poles, the church also sent a considerable number of Albanians to support the cause this time.

In fact, although the church regarded the Albanians' conversion to Islam as a major religious victory, it did not really trust them. After all, these people had a history of converting to Islam and apostasy.

This collective conversion was largely due to the fact that Albanians were unwilling to give up their land and property and did not have enough confidence in the Ottoman Empire.

As border residents, they knew very well what they would encounter as the weaker party: humiliation from powerful countries, suspicion and suppression from their own country, or even being used as pawns just like in previous wars.

(Although Albania is now often referred to as the only Islamic country in Europe, Albanians have converted to Islam many times in history.

They originally believed in Catholicism, and then with the split of Eastern and Western Rome, when the Byzantines came they believed in Eastern Orthodoxy, when the Venetians came they believed in Catholicism, when the Ottomans came they believed in Islam, and when the Soviets came they became atheists.

Albania was once the country with the highest proportion of atheists in the world, even much higher than a certain Eastern power in later generations, and its purity is comparable to 99K gold.)
The decision within the church was to let the Albanians prove their loyalty with their blood, and if they died on the battlefield it would undoubtedly be for their faith and a worthy death.

If they are only pretending to surrender, the Russians will teach them another lesson.

In fact, Prussia was even more lively than Austria. In 1848, the Rhine region almost split from Prussia, and a large part of the credit for this was due to the Archbishop of Cologne.

But all this has to start with the internal structure of Prussia. The Rhine region was the spoils of war that Prussia obtained at the Vienna Peace Conference, not the original land of Brandenburg.

In the past, the Rhine region was not considered a rich land, so Metternich waved his hand and gave this barren territory close to France to Prussia, while Austria took the fertile land in northern Italy.

The Rhine region should not have had the capital to confront the central government. However, with the advent of the industrial age and post-war peace, this land burst into unprecedented vitality, and the originally barren land became the richest region in Prussia.