v3 Chapter 220： German Confederation 1

On January 2, 1866, the 200,000-strong army of the Russian Empire in Poland approached Galicia, which ended the battle plan of Lviv's 150,000-strong army that was just about to retreat to attack the Prussian army in the rear.

Only at this point did the international community realize something was wrong.

The interaction between Tsarist Russia and the ubiquitous fighter jets?

Thinking of this, many people's faces changed greatly.

Especially the British and Austrian Empires and the Ottoman Empire, etc.

If Tsarist Russia and Prussia really allied with each other, then this war would be bad.

In fact, they are pretty much what most people guessed and saw.

Austria's repeated betrayals made the Tsarist Empire lose its trust in them, but the emergence of Prussia was an opportunity for Tsarist Russia.

Yes, Alexander II thought so anyway.

On January 4, 1866, the Russian Empire sent a high-profile representative to visit Berlin, and Prime Minister Bismarck received the special envoy.

After that, the two countries jointly listed Austria's "crimes" over the years, expressing dissatisfaction with the Austrian Empire.

On January 6, 200,000 Tsarist Russia launched an attack in the east to Lviv, the eastern city of Austria.

At the same time, the Russian Empire launched a more violent counterattack against Britain and the Ottoman Empire in Wallachia, southern Romania, in the southern Balkans.

The latter two countries are losing ground.

And Austria was under the attack of Prussia and Tsarist Russia, and finally the 150,000 casualties were numerous.

Prussia occupied Krakow in western Galicia, while Lviv in the east fell into the hands of the Russian Empire.

Since it was launched during the day, the battle lasted 2 days and 1 night from the day of January 6 to the day of January 7.

Prussia has invested 100,000 people, Austria is 150,000, and the eastern Russian Empire is overwhelmingly known as 200,000.

Prussia suffered 18,000 casualties, Austria more than 61,000 were killed and wounded, more than 60,000 were captured, and the Tsarist Empire more than 32,000.

After this war, Joseph I of the Austrian Empire was powerless and unwilling to fight.

So Joseph I sent two envoys to Nuremberg in the Kingdom of Bavaria and Paris in the French Empire to request mediation.

So the Kingdom of Bavaria naturally wanted to settle down. The Prussian army was too strong, and the West German Confederation, where the Kingdom of Bavaria was located, did not want Prussia to be too powerful.

They needed a counterweight to Prussia, as Nuremberg rushed to send an envoy to Berlin.

Napoleon III of the French Empire originally wanted to wait and see, to sit and watch the Russian Empire and the British Ottoman Empire continue to fight.

The war between neighboring Prussia and Austria is more in line with the strategy of France's close attack and distant relations.

Therefore, it is hoped that Prussia and Austria will lose both.

And some time ago, Bismarck also agreed with Olivier that as long as France does not participate in the Prussian war against Austria, Bismarck is willing to make concessions to France on the issue of the Lorraine region, and even Bismarck hinted that the French Empire has always been thinking about the Rhine Provinces, Prussia may also give up.

This made Napoleon III heartbroken.

So from the beginning, he had no intention of mediating.

As for the war situation in the Balkans, sitting and watching the loss of the British war is one of the things he finds the most enjoyable recently.

Napoleon III was not afraid of a war with Alexander II's Tsarist Empire. The Tsarist Empire and France were separated by Prussia and Austria. As long as Prussia and Austria remained neutral, a full-scale war between France and Tsarist Russia was unlikely.

If fighting in the Balkans or the Black Sea, France actually has a naval advantage, but the scale of the battlefield and the war, the scale of the French launch is also very limited. Just like the UK this time.

But Napoleon III actually did not benefit from the war with the Russian Empire because of this, so France, which did not participate in the war, was one of the final big winners.

Because Austria, Prussia, Tsarist Russia, and the United Kingdom formed the Holy Alliance, which was confirmed by the Vienna Conference in 1815, after such a battle, it indicated that the alliance had been disbanded, the French Empire was no longer threatened by the four countries, and the "Quadruple Alliance Treaty" was gone.

France still wanted to continue watching the play, but seeing the cooperation between the Russian Empire and Prussia was beyond Napoleon III's imagination.

If the two countries were to form an alliance, the threat of Prussia to France would skyrocket.

This is very dangerous for Paris.

So Napoleon III hurriedly dispatched his dignitaries to Berlin.

However, before the dignitary arrived in Berlin, Napoleon III received the latest battle situation.

OMG!

Prussia even launched an attack on the Principality of Hesse, a West German Confederation led by the Palace of the Bavarian King.

On January 8, 1866, in just one morning, the Principality of Hesse was captured by Prussia. Under the unstoppable charge of 50,000 Prussian troops, the Grand Duke of Thuringia next to the Principality of Hesse surrendered collectively. In the same way, several small states of the German Confederation in southern Germany, including the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg and the Duchy of Braunschweig of the South German Confederation and the West German Confederation, surrendered to Prussia.

So under the stunned eyes of Napoleon III, the Southern German Confederation was disintegrating, and the fragmentation appeared in front of us. In the end, in the entire Southern German Confederation, only the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Duchy of Nassau were still standing in front of the Prussian army.

On January 10, 1866, William IV of the Kingdom of the Netherlands issued an appeal asking Prussia not to launch an attack on the Duchy of Nassau.

King William I of Prussia agreed to the request of the King of the Netherlands at a first-level press conference.

This surprised countries.

But when I think about the close relationship between the Netherlands and Prussia over the years, it is understandable.

The concern of William IV is understandable.

Because the current royal family of the Kingdom of the Netherlands comes from the Duchy of Nassau, it can be said that the Duchy of Nassau is the ancestral land of the Dutch royal family. If the ancestral land is occupied by Prussia, so many William IV will not cause a major blow, at least the image will be damaged.

Therefore, William IV hurriedly stood up to express his concern, on the one hand, to block the argument that the Duchy of Nassau was desperate, on the other hand, to show that he had done his best.

William I was very generous, and William IV got what he wanted, so the Duchy of Nassau was preserved. As for dealing with the relationship between the Principality of Nassau and the Netherlands in the future, it will be a matter of the future. At least, their dependence on the Netherlands will only increase.

The big deal is just like Italy, there are two countries within a country.

The principalities of the North German Confederation saw that the principalities in the south had surrendered, so they also expressed their willingness to join the rule of the Kingdom of Prussia. Naturally, William I would not object, so he retained many rights of the duchies, but the military power must be held. in hand.

So the whole of the central part to the north became Prussian territory. Today, only the Principality of Nassau in the middle, the Kingdom of Bavaria in the southeast and the Austrian Empire, which has been broken up, remain.

With the expansion of the Prussian camp, not only the United Kingdom, but also Napoleon III was very disturbed.

But surprisingly, Emmanuel II of Italy took advantage of it.

Why did Italy choose to join the Prussian attacking Austrian camp at this time?

Emmanuel II was also engaged in a war of unification at this time. Seeing that Austria was beaten down by Prussia, he was naturally moved. Taking the opportunity to drive away the Austrians who had occupied Venice for a long time, Emmanuel II, with the Kingdom of Sardinia as the core, decided to form an alliance with Prussia to attack Austria.

This covenant was announced jointly by the Italian ambassador in Berlin and Bismarck.

This time, Britain, who was engrossed in fighting in the Balkans, and Napoleon III, who aimed to reap the benefits of fishermen, could no longer sit still.

Because, this time, Italy will no longer play tickets, and it's really coming, not empty bombs?

On January 14, 1866, Italy launched an attack on Austria, and the two countries fought the Battle of Lissa in the Gulf of Adriatic, which made future generations shine.

The Kingdom of Italy did not disappoint, their navy was finally defeated.

On the battlefield on land, the game between Italy and Austria took place in Cousteau. Austria won this battle, and Emmanuel II roared in Rome and Milan with a black face.

Said that he would not give up the idea of ​​taking back Venice.

So Italy and Austria went on to have a second war in Bečka. This time, the Italians finally won, which saved face for Emmanuel II, and the cold sweat finally disappeared.

The southward expansion of Prussia made Britain and France uneasy. If Prussia occupied the entire German Confederation, then Prussia would become a giant monster enough to compete with France.

Napoleon III is now a little regretful. He didn't participate in the reconciliation earlier. Even if it is reconciled at this moment, Prussia's territory has become bigger.

He was worried, because there was no time when he was so worried about the power of Prussia.

A neighbor who is too powerful is a possible weakness to them.

It was unacceptable for a high profile and proud Napoleon III.

But in order for Prussia to fulfill Bismarck's verbal promise, Napoleon III sent a humanitarian to Berlin, asking Prussia to fulfill its original promise as soon as possible and to assign the Lorraine region and the Rhine province to the French Empire.

As for the future, as long as they get these two places, what France will do, it is not something that Prussia can dictate.

However, he thought too much.

Because Berlin did not respond immediately, but pushed the army to the southeastern kingdom of Bavaria and the small country next to it.

January 20, 1866 The Duchy of Württemberg and the Duchy of Baden all surrendered to Prussia. At this point, Prussia finally won them.

However, there is also regret, because Napoleon III saw that Berlin did not respond, so he sent a large army to the border of the Swiss Principality to assemble. Under the coercion of more than 50,000 troops, Prussia did not march to Switzerland. In the end, the Swiss Principality was retained.

Francophone confrontation in the South.

But the eastern kingdom of Bavaria is not as lucky as Switzerland.

Because the Kingdom of Bavaria has no major powers except Prussia and Austria, in the face of the pressure of the Prussian army, the King of Bavaria was unexpectedly unable to protect himself in the face of Austria. King Ludwig II expressed his gratitude to William I. Called ministers.

And based on the idea of ​​conquering the entire German Confederation as soon as possible, Wilhelm I accepted this letter of surrender, which was not a surrender.

At this point, the big plan to unify the German Confederation launched by the Bismarck government has finally been completed.

As for how Prussia will face Austria and France next, the Bismarck government has its own calculations.