Holy Roman Empire-Chapter 963 - 226, "Proposed Measures Against France

Chapter 963: Chapter 226, “Proposed Measures Against France

After a series of haggling, on December 17, 1891, the Anti-French Alliance finally reached an agreement and signed the “Proposed Measures Against France.”

By this step, the distribution of spoils was almost complete. All that was needed was to have the French sign at the Vienna Peace Conference to confirm its legitimacy.

Although the countries of the Anti-French Alliance had reached a preliminary understanding beforehand, the fact that they were able to reach a preliminary agreement in less than two months still demonstrated efficiency.

Upon receiving the signed treaty, Franz highly suspected that everyone wanted to speed up the process so they could go home for Christmas.

The “draft” was indeed a “draft”—aside from agreements on the broader framework, the specific details were largely blank, with many clauses being ambiguous.

For example, regarding the dissection of France’s territory, there were only place names, and specific boundary lines were not reflected in the treaty.

It appeared clear-cut, but in reality, there was a huge gap. Throughout a millennium of European history, the area governed by the same place name was not unchanging. The treaty did not explicitly stipulate the specific period to use as a reference.

As a beneficiary, this ambiguity was obviously favorable to Austria. The lack of a clear agreement meant there was more room for maneuver, and slight shifts or changes to boundary lines were not problematic.

The boundary lines were not definite, and neither were the amounts of compensation fixed. Instead, the treaty laid out proportions of the distribution for each country, with the specifics left open for further discussion.

In any case, some matters had to be left for the Vienna Peace Conference to resolve, and to hear the opinions of the countries involved, or else there would be no play to perform later on.

The content of the treaty was as follows:

In terms of territory

Austria recovered the Grand Duchy of Lorraine, Alsace Province, and parts of the Kingdom of Burgundy (Franche-Comté), totaling about 47,000 square kilometers;

The County of Flanders and the County of Artois (Northern Calais Channel Region) were assigned to Belgium, covering an area of about 12,000 square kilometers;

The Duchy of Sava (Upper Savoy Province and Sava Province) was allotted to Switzerland, spanning approximately 10,300 square kilometers;

Parts of Provence were allocated to the Kingdom of Sardinia, covering roughly 30,000 square kilometers;

Corsica was granted to Tuscany, encompassing about 8,682 square kilometers;

Spain reacquired the Ruseiyong region, an area of about 24,000 square kilometers;

Andorra achieved independence (468 square kilometers), and Monaco regained its former territory (20 square kilometers).

In terms of war reparations

Austria 33.4%, Russian Empire 20%, German Federation 25.5%, Belgium 15.5%, Spain 0.3%, Switzerland 0.2%, Italian countries a total of 4.5%, Montenegro, Greece, and Armenia each 0.2%.

France was required to pay war reparations totaling 50 to 80 billion divine shields (the exact figure to be determined at the Vienna Peace Conference); a joint bank formed by the countries would provide loans to the French government to repay the indemnities, with a monthly interest rate of 0.5%, to be repaid over ninety-nine years.

…

Despite Austria’s efforts, it was unable to completely divide France. Even pushing the French out of the Mediterranean was not achieved.

It was not a matter of inability, but impropriety. Losing territory after a war was acceptable, but any territorial division had to have limits and preferably, a legal basis.

As the de facto hegemon of Europe, Austria had become the biggest beneficiary within the rules system, and naturally, it had an interest in maintaining the game rules.

Under these circumstances, Austria justified the partition of France by reclaiming lost territories, with the land obtained being ancient territories of the Shinra.

This reasoning was indeed a bit far-fetched, but it was better to have some legal basis than none. With sufficient might behind it, this was marginally legitimate.

In comparison, the distribution of land to allies was not as strict. Except for Spain, which managed to muster historical support, the rest could be counted as land relinquished following defeat.

It was not that Franz was unwilling to give more; the issue was that the allies were of limited capacity, and forcing too much on them could cause them to choke.

Furthermore, the distribution of benefits had to be fair and acceptable to all. Crossing the line risked tarnishing the hard-earned prestige of Austria.

A close examination of the benefit distribution revealed a treaty rife with compromise and transactional measures. Except for Russia’s indemnity, which was predetermined, the rest was based on each country’s contribution.

For instance, Spain, which had a minimal role on the battlefield aside from pre-agreed territorial recovery, received only a symbolic share of the war indemnities.

Belgium, which had suffered major losses in the war and made substantial contributions, received a fair amount of territory and indemnities.

The German Federation, having also made significant contributions, received the second largest share of indemnities, just behind Austria, due to not obtaining any territorial compensation.

Although the Kingdom of Sardinia seemed to have gained a lot of territory, that was on the premise that the Duchy of Sava was divided and given to Switzerland, making it a form of compensation.

Moreover, these benefits were not to be enjoyed by them alone; they still had to be divided with other Italian countries.

This was the result of Austria’s deliberate consideration; otherwise, the Italian countries, which made limited contributions in the war against France, would have been lucky to remain independent, let alone desire anything more.

This also followed in the footsteps of the British, planting seeds of future contention. It was anticipated that Sardinia’s relations with Switzerland, and probably with other countries as well, would turn sour going forward.

Having set down the treaty text, Franz asked, puzzled, “Why is there nothing about the distribution of colonies?”

It was not that Franz was making a fuss over nothing. As the third-largest colonial empire, France owned numerous colonies, among them highly valuable assets. Logically, these should have been hotly contested by all, and yet they were not mentioned in the draft.

Wessenberg explained, “Your Majesty, colonial issues have indeed been discussed. However, everyone was rather keen but lacked the strength.”

Belgium was busy with post-war reconstruction and lacked the extra energy to manage its colonies; Spain had to engage in the Philippine War and could not compete for colonies.

The Russians originally wanted to acquire French Indochina, but unfortunately, the British were eyeing it eagerly. We couldn’t compete with the British in the Far Eastern region, and even less so could the Russians.

The remaining countries were all similar, limited by their national strength. Even if they secured colonial interests during the conference, they lacked the capability to maintain them, so they simply set aside this portion of the content.”

The German Federation was not mentioned because the merger with Austrian was already in progress. The Federation was only participating independently in the post-war distribution of interests to bolster Austria’s image.

Otherwise, Austria would have gained too much, easily leading to a sense of imbalance among everyone else.

In fact, there were already people feeling imbalanced. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be the issue of “setting aside” the distribution of colonial territories.

The most coveted “French Africa” was swallowed whole by Austria; the rest of the French colonies scattered around the world each had their uniqueness and were not something everyone could covet.

Since they couldn’t acquire them, it was out of sight, out of mind. Allies not participating in the colonial distribution meant that Austria could not force everyone to endorse it.

Franz nodded, “Since they are unwilling to participate, then we’ll resolve the colonial issue ourselves.

In addition to the French Africa we have already taken, we also want to secure as many French overseas colonial islands as possible, as well as some parts of French America.

As for the French Indochina Peninsula, we can’t afford to focus on it for the moment; if the British want it, let them have it, because we cannot stop them anyway.

These are minor issues; the real troublesome matter is the debt issue of France.

With the final war indemnities, whether it’s 50 billion or 80 billion, the French can’t pay. Inevitable defaults on the debt will occur.

We must consider these issues; once the French default on their debt, what measures should we take, what measures we can take, it would be best to specify them in the treaty.”

If it were a few billion Francs, perhaps the French government could scrape it together despite the hardship, but alas, the Allied Powers wanted Divine Shields.

Even at the bare minimum of 50 Billion Divine Shields, that equated to 183,000 tons of gold, which might be impossible to accumulate even by selling all of France.

Not only was the principal impossible to repay, but even the interest was unaffordable. Calculated at a monthly interest of 0.5%, that would be 2.5 billion Divine Shields every month.

Not to speak of the French, even Austria, which printed the Divine Shields, could not bear such debt.

It’s not a problem if they can’t pay; Franz never intended to let the French pay it off. Having this debt hanging over them provided Austria with a sufficient reason to prohibit the French from developing armaments.

In fact, the plan of the French in the original timeline to limit Germany was not wrong; the issue was that their implementation went awry and ended up backfiring catastrophically.

Prime Minister Carl reminded, “Your Majesty, this amount of debt is too enormous, the French will simply never be able to pay it off.

Even if the Paris Government is willing to agree, the French public will oppose it. If every French citizen resists, we might not only fail to get the indemnity, but also continue to invest in military expenses.

For the Empire’s benefit, it is best to set an indemnity amount within their capacity to pay. This can both limit the development of France and avoid public opinion pressures.”

If they can’t pay, they won’t; defaulting is nothing new. If pushed too far, France might enter a prolonged state of anarchy, with guerrillas everywhere.

This is the European Continent, where many extreme measures can’t be used. If the worst scenario happens, Austria would actually be powerless to intervene.

The so-called military control over France is actually more of a threat than anything of concrete significance. The Anti-French Alliance might be strong, but if there’s no return on investment, no one would be willing to join Austria in madness.

Franz nodded again, “The Prime Minister is right; the French truly cannot afford this indemnity. Pushing them too hard would be unwise.

However, this indemnity amount was approved by the Anti-French Alliance conference, which means most of our allies recognize this figure, we can’t easily change it.

In two months, the Vienna Peace Conference will start. At that point, we’ll throw it on the table for discussion and let the French try to convince the other countries to reduce the indemnity amount.

As long as the French Government is willing to disband the army and ensure they do not develop armaments, we won’t make things difficult for them over the indemnity.”

Frankly speaking, Franz had never expected such a huge indemnity amount to pass during the internal meeting of the Anti-French Alliance.

According to the plan beforehand, so long as France could sustain an indemnity of 3 billion Divine Shields, Franz would have been satisfied.

It wasn’t that they couldn’t demand more; it simply had no meaning. France, having lost its overseas colonies and with its homeland ravaged by war, was no longer the financially mighty French Empire.

An indemnity of 3 billion Divine Shields would result in monthly interest alone of 15 million. To make the monthly payments, the new French government would not only have to disband its army but also tighten its belt.

Proposing a massive indemnity was meant to provoke opposition from the allies—specifically, to entice Russia to oppose it, placing Russia against countries like Switzerland, Belgium, and Sardinia.

But plans never keep up with changes. Whether the Russians uncovered the ruse or were enticed by the huge amount, the Russian representatives did not step forward to oppose it.

With no opposition, Austria couldn’t possibly oppose it on its own. Taking the losses added up by all sides, a staggering amount of indemnity was thus produced.

Fortunately, this was just a draft, with room for amendment. If it became a formal treaty, it would be forcing the French government to feign death.

There was a similar case in the original timeline. After World War I, the French demanded indemnities of 600 to 800 billion Marks from Germany, which were then cut down to 132 billion Marks.

Ultimately, the defeated Germans still couldn’t afford to pay the indemnities. To enable the Germans to make payments, the Allied Powers came up with the foolish method of accepting industrial products as debt payment.

Not only did they save the enemy’s industry, but they also allowed German-made goods to enter the British and French colonies unimpeded through indemnities. Capital magnates made a fortune in the process, which left the domestic economy depressed, and nobody invested in manufacturing anymore.

With such a precedent, Franz was naturally extremely cautious, reminding himself constantly that indemnities were merely a means to suppress an enemy, not the ultimate goal.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.