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

Chapter 720 Gauge
Saxony was once the most powerful state in North Germany. It formed an alliance with France and united Poland and Austria to fight against each other.

However, during the Thirty Years' War, Saxony joined the Protestant Alliance led by the French, and as a result was vulnerable to Wallenstein's army, and the whole territory fell.

Wallenstein's mercenaries are not good people. Coupled with the religious contradictions propagated by the church, the war in Saxony has never stopped. Over the past 20 years, the most powerful country has been directly reduced to scorched earth.

之后萨克森虽然避过了西班牙王位战争，但是此时的萨克森公爵又兼任着波兰国王结果就莫名其妙地卷入了大北方战争（1700年2月22日～1721年9月10日）。

It just so happened that their opponent, Karl XII, the greatest commander of the Kingdom of Sweden after Gu Erye, the Persian coalition forces have been defeated repeatedly, and finally had to choose to jump back.

As a result, the great commander suddenly wanted to make an expedition to Russia.
萨克森刚刚喘了口气，看到隔壁普鲁士在奥地利王位战争之中（1740年12月16日—1748年10月18日），赚得盆满钵满就想去分一杯羹，结果被女王上了BUFF的匈牙利人一顿暴打。

As for the discipline of nomads, I understand everything.
Then in the following Seven Years War (1756-1763), the Saxons became the first target of Prussia, and the commander of the latter happened to be Frederick II.

As a result, Saxony was defeated in just one month. Frederick the Great took away 86% of Saxony's annual income directly and unceremoniously, and then incorporated all the surrendered Saxon troops into the Prussian army.

Then Saxony, as a puppet army, was beaten violently by Austria, France, and Russia
Finally, during the Napoleonic Wars, Saxony saw that the two big brothers (Austria and Prussia) next door had been dealt with by the French barbarians, so if they couldn't beat them, they would naturally join.

Napoleon's expedition to Russia in 1812
Although the Kingdom of Saxony is no longer as brave as it used to be, marriage with it is still a viable option.

Although Saxony is no longer a military power, its strategic position is still important.In addition, thanks to the establishment of the German Customs Union, Saxony's economy has also been rising in recent years.

At the same time, as a transit station between North and South Germany, its discourse power and status in the German Confederation are also rising.

South Germany is basically the same standard gauge as Austria, while North Germany is basically broad-gauge railways under the influence of Prussia.

Most countries chose to choose sides, only Saxony established half broad gauge and half standard gauge.

This approach, which seemed extremely stupid at the time, actually won huge benefits for it.

As for the gauge, the standard gauge is 1435mm, and those below this value are narrow-gauge railways, and those above this value are broad-gauge railways.

In the early nineteenth century, the railways were mainly foot-gauge railways (600mm), meter-gauge railways (1000mm), and British railways (1435mm).

In fact, the freight pressure at that time was not that great, and the mines and industrial cities often needed railways the most, so it was easy to turn, and the small-footprint railway was popular.

Don't underestimate the problem of turning, especially on the mountain road where the area is limited. If the railway is too wide, it will not only be a problem of land occupation, but even a viaduct needs to be connected, and the extra cost will be astronomical.

In addition, in order to ensure the passage of wider and heavier carriages, the cost of bridges and tunnels will also rise sharply, which is more painful than the construction cost and maintenance cost.

The Austrian Empire, as a country with many mountains and rivers, is obviously not suitable for broad-gauge railways.

However, the ambitious engineers of the Austrian Empire still proposed a 1500mm gauge, because in addition to slightly increasing the transport capacity, the most important thing is to reflect the demeanor of a big country, because the widest railway at that time was the 1435mm of the British.

Franz is obviously not going to do the kind of thing that is just a fake name, but after doing a lot of research, he found that the 6.5cm does not have much impact, and it is also conducive to standardized production, as well as a slight increase in capacity and stability. sex.

Franz made this decision after careful consideration and a lot of research, which will make him feel bad in the future.

There are not many countries that adopt broad-gauge railways in later generations, and there are even fewer powerful countries.The most famous of these is the Indian Railway, but its transport capacity is not as bad as that of Spain.

Historically, Americans have also used wide-gauge railways for a period of time, but they soon discovered the problem. No matter how wide the railway is, it is not as good as increasing the power of the speed locomotive.

As for the so-called more and larger space, it is just a matter of adding an extra carriage.And the so-called safety is just like that. Whether there is an accident mainly depends on management and maintenance.

Russia, Spain, and Portugal adopted broad-gauge railways mainly out of military defense considerations.

In the book, under the instigation of Friedrich Liszt, the 1600mm railway adopted by Prussia is also out of national defense and security considerations.

After all, the Austrian Empire was stronger than Prussia at this time.

Closer to home, Saxony in this era is still very pro-Austrian, especially because the Queen of Saxony and Madame Sophie are still twins, and the king Friedrich August II is even closer because he is not in charge.

However, the object of Franz's marriage was not the children of Madame Sophie's sisters, but the daughter of the next Saxony King John I, because Friedrich August II had no heirs.

John I had many daughters, the eldest daughter was married; the second daughter, Princess Elizabeth, was not married, but there were a lot of rumors about her, which was unacceptable to the Habsburg family.

Of the remaining four princesses, three of them are in poor health, and only Princess Stephanie is still healthy (born in 1836).

The marriage between Austria and Saxony, except for Prussia among the great powers, will basically not object, and Prussia's objection is actually useless.

At this time, John I was not yet the king. If he married, he would be more than happy to make decisions for his daughter.

As a princess of the same age as his younger sister, Franz was basically familiar with it. After all, little Maria liked to chatter about her children when she was free.

Princess Stephanie's personality is not strong. She neither likes reading books nor playing around. She just likes to be alone quietly. She is a competent vase.

The biggest resistance came from Franz's mother, Mrs. Sophie, because the latter felt that John's family's physical fitness was too poor to give birth to a healthy baby.

Although Lady Sophie has four sons, she is well aware of the importance of an heir.

This was mainly due to the level of medical care at that time, and it was normal for the heir to have an accident, such as the Roman king who was "protected to the utmost".

Therefore, in the traditional concept, whether a monarchy can be strong and sustainable mainly depends on whether it can be born.

In addition to marrying Saxony to better establish a good relationship with this north-south German transit station, Saxony also has a strong desire for revenge against Prussia.

(End of this chapter)