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Make France Great Again-Chapter 148: Shocking Change in Germany
Chapter 148: Chapter 148: Shocking Change in Germany
In the following days, Jerome Bonaparte, accompanied by De Reina, toured the "history" of Tours. At De Reina’s insistence, Jerome Bonaparte attended several dinners hosted by the notable bourgeoisie of Tours.
During the dinner on September 7th, De Reina and the bourgeois led Jerome Bonaparte to a guest room, where De Reina presented him with an unexpected "gift"—the deed to Chateau de Cloux.
"Mr. President, this is a token of our heartfelt appreciation from all the people of Tours!" De Reina said to Jerome Bonaparte with sincere expression.
Jerome Bonaparte displayed a hint of surprise; he immediately responded "nobly," saying, "No way! As President, how can I accept bribes from others?"
Mayor De Reina insisted, saying, "Mr. President, this is not a bribe, but a gift from the patriotic hearts of the people of Tours!"
"Even so, I can’t accept it!" Jerome Bonaparte continued to refuse De Reina, saying, "Please tell the people of Tours I am very grateful for their support, but I really cannot accept such a valuable gift!"
"If you don’t accept it, then the sincere hearts of the people of Tours will surely be disheartened," Mayor De Reina persisted in urging Jerome Bonaparte to accept the gift.
Seeing that Jerome Bonaparte and De Reina were at an impasse, the guest room door was suddenly knocked upon, drawing the simultaneous gaze of Jerome Bonaparte, De Reina, and the others towards it.
A bourgeois quickly opened the door and found that the visitor was Colonel Conrobel, who was in charge of Jerome Bonaparte’s safety.
Looking at the anxious Colonel Conrobel, Jerome Bonaparte sensed that something significant had happened; otherwise, Conrobel wouldn’t suddenly intrude at this time.
"Conrobel, what’s happened?" Jerome Bonaparte asked Conrobel.
"Mr. President!" Conrobel quickly approached Jerome Bonaparte, leaned close to him, and whispered, "Count Percy received two letters, one from Wurttemberg and one from Paris. The Count said there are urgent matters in them, so he sent me to inform you!"
Letters from Wurttemberg?
Jerome Bonaparte was stunned for a moment before realizing that the current King of Wurttemberg (William Frederick Karl, also known as Charles I) was his uncle by marriage.
However, since his "mother" passed away, his uncle by marriage has always been estranged from their family.
As a result, Old Jerome Bonaparte could only take Jerome Bonaparte and his sister Mathilde to live long-term in the Apennine region.
Speaking of which, their family hasn’t had contact with the uncle by marriage for a long time.
Now, for the uncle by marriage to voluntarily write to him, Jerome Bonaparte was certain it wasn’t merely a casual letter.
"Understood!" Jerome Bonaparte nodded to Conrobel, then displayed an apologetic expression as he bid farewell to De Reina and others, "Important news from Paris awaits my attention; please excuse my absence!"
With that, Jerome Bonaparte and Conrobel turned and left, leaving only De Reina and the others in the guest room.
Holding the deed to Chateau de Cloux in his hand, De Reina sighed deeply.
"Mr. Mayor, this deed!" a bourgeois beside De Reina murmured softly.
"Give it!" De Reina responded briefly.
"But Mr. President refuses our gift!" another bourgeois said to De Reina.
"That’s because we approached it the wrong way!" Mayor De Reina thought of a method that could both preserve the President’s image of integrity and allow him to accept their sentiment: "We could let the President ’buy’ it!"
"Buy?" A few of the bourgeois immediately understood Mayor De Reina’s meaning and clapped their hands in agreement, "Yes! We can let the President ’buy’ it!"
On the other side, Jerome Bonaparte and Conrobel, riding in a carriage, quickly arrived at the inn.
As Jerome Bonaparte entered the inn, he was immediately invited into the bedroom by an approaching Percy.
"Percy, what on earth is happening in Paris?" Jerome Bonaparte asked Percy.
Percy hurriedly reported, "Your Majesty, the message from Paris says that the Prussian and Austrian ambassadors both wish to meet with you!"
"Hmm?" Jerome Bonaparte’s expression turned even more peculiar; he never expected to be simultaneously welcomed by envoys from Prussia and Austria.
There must be issues in the German region!
"At this moment, Jerome Bonaparte, who couldn’t recall what was happening between Prussia and Austria during this period, asked again, "Did Paris mention anything about what’s happening in Germany?"
"This is the letter from Paris!" Percy handed the letter from Paris to Jerome Bonaparte.
After reading the letter, Jerome Bonaparte finally realized what was happening in Germany.
Jerome Bonaparte looked up at Percy and said, "It seems that the envoys of both Prussia and Austria are seeking our support! The Hessian issue is likely to become their flashpoint!"
Subsequently, Jerome Bonaparte showed a schadenfreude expression and said, "Perhaps, by this time next year, the two countries will be at war over the Hessian issue!"
After seeing the letter from Paris, Jerome Bonaparte realized that the war between Prussia and Austria over the Duchy of Hesse-Kassel had already begun.
As for why Prussia and Austria were embroiled in a large-scale conflict over the Duchy of Hesse-Kassel, it had to be traced back to the period before the First Great Revolution.
The Great Revolution fervently ignited the civil rights awareness of the German people, and brought the "Napoleonic Code" and the "Declaration of Human Rights," which distressed the German Princes, to the hands of the Germans.
This led to the astonishment of the German Princes, who found that their originally docile subjects became rebellious after receiving the "Declaration of Human Rights" and the "Napoleonic Code." They learned to resist, and also learned the ways France overthrew their monarch.
Among them, the resistance of the citizens of the Duchy of Hesse-Kassel was the most intense.
The citizens of the Duchy of Hesse-Kassel recalled their old and new grievances with the Count of Hesse-Kassel.
[During the American Revolutionary War, the Count of Hesse-Kassel, Ludwig II, in order to help his nephew George III suppress the American independence movement, and also to earn British Pounds, decisively leased 30,000 of his subjects as mercenaries to Britain. This resulted in 12.5% of the British army being composed of Hessian mercenaries. During the suppression of the Thirteen States of North America, Hesse-Kassel also suffered heavy casualties, with many mercenaries dying in foreign lands. Most importantly, Ludwig II also withheld the pensions that should have belonged to the soldiers who died in war.]
In 1830, upon seeing France overthrow the reactionary Bourbon Dynasty, the Hesse-Kassel electorate was greatly inspired and erupted in an even more intense revolution, forcing William II to convene a parliament.
On January 5, 1831, a new constitution, suitable for the particularly radical era, was born. The pioneer of the parliamentary system was nominated by the Elector as a cabinet minister. He misjudged his standing among the public, allowing his mistress, the Countess of Resinbach-Lessonitz, to return to Kassel, leading to another riot in Kassel on January 11. William II was forced to flee Kassel, settling in Philipsruhe and William Bad in Hanau.
After William II completed an effective abdication, the Elector’s powers were limited.
This revolution gave the citizens of the Duchy of Hesse-Kassel confidence.
By 1848, after enduring Frederick William I for 18 years, the citizens of the Duchy of Hesse-Kassel once again took action. They used the power of the Great Revolution to force Frederick William I to enact a more liberal constitution than that of 1831. Given that the Austrian Empire was still struggling to protect itself, and the parliament of the Duchy of Hesse-Kassel actively courted the Kingdom of Prussia, the liberal governors of the Kingdom of Prussia, led by Radovitz, chose to support the Duchy of Hesse-Kassel.
Unable to gain support from Austria, Frederick William I had no choice but to capitulate to the parliament and the threat of Prussia behind it, enacting a more liberal constitution.
[PS: Amusingly, Frederick William I only formally ascended to the throne in 1847.]
The situation lasted for about a year until this August when the Austrian Empire, with the help of the Russian Empire’s bayonets, completely crushed Hungary on one hand, and plotted to return to the German Region on the other. freēwēbηovel.c૦m
The old German Confederation had been dissolved, and the newly formed "Three Kings Alliance" did not have a place for Austria, which naturally, the Austrian Empire also disdainfully refused to act within the Prussian framework.
Frederick William IV, King of Prussia, was on the verge of realizing a German alliance plan excluding Austria.
If the Austrian Empire did not take action, they would be expelled from Germany.
Coincidentally, the Elector of Hesse-Kassel sought help, giving Felix Schwarzenberg an excuse. He aimed to use Hesse as a breakthrough point to undermine the "Three Kings Alliance" and to show some members of the alliance what it meant to return as a king.
Hesse would become the main battleground for Austria and Prussia in the coming two years.
"By the way, where’s that letter from Württemberg?" Jerome Bonaparte asked Percy again.
"Your Majesty, here it is!" Percy handed the unopened letter to Jerome Bonaparte.
Jerome Bonaparte opened the envelope, the letter was filled with dense German writing.
If it weren’t for the predecessor’s proficiency in German, Jerome Bonaparte would have been in serious trouble.
The contents of the letter were just as Jerome Bonaparte expected.
Aside from a long list of reminiscing words at the beginning, the core content was a hope that Jerome Bonaparte could leverage the advantages of the French Republic to mediate peace between Prussia and Austria.
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