Chapter 106: Visit To The Austro-hungarian Empire
No matter what the outcome would be afterward, in Carlo’s view, a marriage alliance with the Austro-Hungarian Empire was absolutely one of the most correct options.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire was one of the traditional Five Great Powers of Europe（Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Russia）, possessing considerable strength in both the industrial aspect and economy.
Although it had been defeated by Prussia a few years ago, the powerful France had also fallen under Prussia’s cannons. In comparison, it was clear that the Austro-Hungarian Empire at this time was not as bad as imagined.
In fact, regarding the several wars between Prussia and the Austrian Empire and France, the power of Prussia’s Krupp cannons was not possessed from the very beginning.
As early as 1859, the country with the most powerful artillery technology on the European Continent was still France at that time. An Italo-French-Austrian war allowed the Austrian Empire to witness the power of French cannons, leading it to thoroughly reform and construct new, more powerful cannons.
The cannons that the Austrian Empire had equipped played a role in the Austro-Prussian War a few years later, troubling the Prussian Army with Austrian cannons.
If not for the Austrian Army’s considerable gap with the Prussian Army in rifles, the Austro-Prussian War probably would not have ended so easily.
The Prussian Army at that time had already begun equipping breech-loading rifles with faster loading speeds, while the Austrian Army was still using muzzle-loading rifles with paper cartridges.
In terms of shooting speed, for every shot fired by an Austrian musketman, the Prussian side could counter with 4 to 5 shots.
Combined with the time-honored line infantry tactics, Austria’s defeat was actually inevitable.
Because the line infantry tactics inflicted massive casualties on the Austrian Empire, the French Government did not even have time to intervene before the Austro-Hungarian Imperial Government had already requested peace talks from Prussia.
Precisely because it had suffered from cannons on the Austrian side, the Prussian Army reformed its artillery technology and massively armed itself with new steel cannons.
The result was obvious: in last year’s Franco-Prussian War, the newly manufactured Prussian Krupp steel cannons dealt a fatal blow to the French Army, instantly disintegrating the powerful Second French Empire.
From this history, it could be seen that the comprehensive strength gap among Germany, France, and Austria in this era was not that large. The military industry of Germany, France, and Austria was all at the top level of this era, providing enormous assistance to Spain.
Since it had already been decided to form a marriage alliance with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Carlo naturally had no reason to hesitate.
No matter what Archduchess Sophie was like, as long as the Austro-Hungarian Empire behind her could provide help to Spain, Carlo’s purpose would be achieved.
If Archduchess Sophie’s personality was to his liking, the outcome would naturally be joyful for all. Even if not, Carlo could keep a few lovers he liked, ensuring he did not treat himself poorly.
At the very least, Archduchess Sophie’s appearance was absolutely passable. Even without an affection foundation, this marriage was at least acceptable to Carlo.
If the other party’s appearance was not up to par, Carlo might not be willing to accept this political marriage alliance, after all, appearance could be inherited by the next generation.
On March 25, 1871, at the invitation of the Austro-Hungarian Imperial Government, Carlo announced a diplomatic visit to the Austro-Hungarian Empire to promote economic cooperation between Spain and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
In the eyes of the public, this was just a normal diplomatic visit between two countries. Although Spain was not a great power, it was at least an old colonial power and absolutely one of the top among non-great power European Countries.
Economic cooperation between two such powerful countries was mutually beneficial, and there was no unusual reaction among the publics of both countries.
But in the eyes of other countries’ royal families and government high-level officials, this was not just a simple diplomatic visit.
Because ordinary diplomatic visits would not involve dispatching a king; this was more like a meeting between the two royal families.
Why the meeting? Naturally because of some cooperation between the royal families, such as Carlo’s marriage matter, which had previously attracted the attention of the entire European Royal Family.
In truth, Carlo himself was not that important; theoretically, a king’s marriage matter could not attract the attention of all European Royal Families.
But if it was a country of Spain’s level, it was not surprising to attract the attention of some great power royal families.
It was no exaggeration to say that the royal families of the United Kingdom, Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Russia were all paying attention to Carlo’s marriage matter. If Vittorio Emanuele II, Carlo’s father, was added, then it meant all European great powers were paying attention to this matter.
The reason was of course not Carlo, but the Kingdom of Spain behind him.
The strength of the Kingdom of Spain was not weak, and its geographical position was extremely important. The British naturally did not want Germany and Russia to form a marriage alliance with Spain, as this could very well sabotage their strategic layout in the Mediterranean Sea.
The French were also paying attention to this point; after all, who would want to be caught between two fronts? If the royal families of Germany and Spain came together, France, sandwiched between Germany and Spain, would be in a bad situation.
Although Russia did not have such a strong intention to form a marriage alliance with Spain, if it could trip up the British, the Russians were willing to do it.
The remaining Austro-Hungarian Empire was naturally also willing to form a marriage alliance with Spain. The Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy were in the same situation, with all their coastlines along the Mediterranean Sea.
This also meant that for this powerful great power, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, to develop its navy, it would certainly be constrained by the United Kingdom.
For the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s navy to exit the Mediterranean Sea, it had to look at the attitude of the British, which the Austro-Hungarian Empire, also a great power, could not tolerate.
If it befriended Spain, then in the future, if a major event occurred, the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s navy would have hope of passing through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Atlantic Ocean.
Countries’ attitudes toward Carlo’s diplomatic visit were also markedly different. However, considering the conflict between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy, this marriage alliance was actually acceptable.
For the British Empire, a marriage alliance between Spain and the Austro-Hungarian Empire was much better than with Germany or Russia.
And for France, avoiding the situation of being caught between two fronts could also be considered good news.
After traveling by sea and land routes with several transfers, Carlo and his group finally arrived at the power center of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the capital of Austria, Vienna.
It was worth mentioning that although the previous trip to the Kingdom of Italy was just Carlo’s normal travel and sightseeing, it was more like a formal diplomatic visit.
A large number of officials had accompanied Carlo to Italy, and Spain and Italy had also reached certain cooperation agreements.
This time, the nominal diplomatic visit did not bring so many officials; accompanying Carlo were several hundred Guard for protection and safety, plus some servants and a few diplomatic officials.
As soon as Carlo arrived at the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s border, he received a warm welcome from the Austro-Hungarian Imperial Government. An Austro-Hungarian Empire army accompanied Carlo’s group to provide protection, ensuring no problems would arise during Carlo’s visit within the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
After all, this era still had some rather radical individuals, and various assassination incidents occurred from time to time, mainly targeting government high-levels and royal members.
Carlo was after all the King of Spain; if something happened to him on Austro-Hungarian Empire territory, it would have a huge impact on both the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Spain.
Therefore, Carlo’s safety was absolutely one of the topics the Austro-Hungarian Imperial Government valued most, and also the reason for directly deploying part of the army for protection.
The train arrived all the way at the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s capital, Vienna, where Carlo also met the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s government high-levels and royal members.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire, as a rather special dual monarchy on the European Continent, also had a rather special imperial government.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire could be seen entirely as two parts: one composed of the original Austrian Empire, and the other composed of the Kingdom of Hungary with high autonomy.
As the Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Franz Joseph I was the Emperor of the Austrian Empire and also the King of the Kingdom of Hungary.
Although it appeared to be a unified country, the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s government was divided into two parts: the Austrian Empire government and the Kingdom of Hungary government.
One country with two governments—this also represented the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s biggest problem at present, namely the conflict between the Austrians as the empire’s dominant ethnic group and the Hungarians desiring higher autonomy.
The Austrians, as the empire’s dominant ethnic group, coupled with the Austrian Empire’s stronger industry and economy, naturally looked down somewhat on the Hungarians.
Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Hungary had powerful agriculture, a considerable portion of which was transported to the Austrian Empire to supply the Austrians.
This also led to the Hungarians not being so balanced: the grain grown on their side was transported to Austria, and the farm owners did not even get much compensation—was this not too bullying?
The various conflicts between the Kingdom of Hungary government and the Austrian Empire government also led to the Austro-Hungarian Empire directly disintegrating after defeat in the future, being split into multiple small countries including Austria and Hungary, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, one of the Five Great Powers of Europe, thus becoming history.
In fact, the Austrian Empire’s weakness could be seen from the Austro-Prussian War. The Austrian Empire’s legitimacy came from the Holy Roman Empire, whose territory once commanded the entire German region and most of the Italian region.
The Habsburg Family had long held the throne of the Holy Roman Empire, and the then Archduchy of Austria was one of the most powerful states in the Holy Roman Empire.
But with the rise of the Kingdom of Prussia, Austria’s rule over the Holy Roman Empire also faced increasingly severe challenges.
Under the threat from the powerful enemy France, the Holy Roman Empire Emperor at that time had to abandon the Holy Roman Empire throne and change to being the Emperor of the Austrians, which was also the origin of the Austrian Empire’s establishment.
The subsequent history was more familiar: the Austrian Empire thoroughly failed in competition with Prussia and was completely excluded from Germany, watching as its competitor Prussia became the master of Germany.
Although it formed the Austro-Hungarian Empire together with Hungary and maintained great power strength, the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s dominant ethnic group Teutons were not numerous, with large numbers of Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, and others.
This problem had always plagued the Austro-Hungarian Empire; if not resolved, it was like a timed bomb buried within the empire, liable to explode at any time and cause the entire empire’s disintegration.
The current Austro-Hungarian Empire Prime Minister was Gyula Andrássy, whose previous position was Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Hungary, and who was said to be Sisi’s lover.
Of course, setting aside such rumors of unknown origin for now, the fact that a Hungarian Prime Minister served as Austro-Hungarian Empire Prime Minister already indicated that the Austrian Empire had to value Hungarian opinions and could no longer form the previous overwhelming rule over the Hungarians.
After a simple meeting with Austro-Hungarian Imperial Government officials, Carlo was led by Austro-Hungarian Imperial Family members to one of Europe’s largest palaces, the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna.
The history of the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna could be traced back to 1743, when Queen Maria Theresa ordered the construction of a palace in the southwestern region of Vienna.
Because there was a spring near the palace, and drinking the spring water refreshed the mind, the palace was named Schönbrunn Palace, serving as the Habsburg Family of the Austrian Empire’s summer royal palace and also one of the royal family’s long-standing residences.
The entire Schönbrunn Palace was enormous, worthy of being one of Europe’s largest palaces. The entire palace had about 1400 rooms, and due to its long history, it featured various architectural styles, even including Eastern classical architecture, emphasizing luxury and grandeur.
Inside the Schönbrunn Palace, Austro-Hungarian Empire Emperor Franz Joseph I held a grand welcome ceremony for Carlo.
No matter what the purpose of Carlo’s trip was, as the King of Spain, he was qualified to enjoy the grand welcome banquet hosted by the Austro-Hungarian Imperial Government and royal family.
Although Spain had weakened, that was compared to the period of the Spanish Empire on which the sun never sets. The current Kingdom of Spain was still one of Europe’s more powerful countries, clearly more worthy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s respect than small and medium countries like Belgium and the Netherlands.
It was no exaggeration to say that among all European countries, aside from the six countries Britain, France, Germany, Russia, Austria, and Italy, Spain should rank seventh in Europe, at least in the eyes of all European countries.
Of course, one reason Carlo received such a warm welcome was his half-bloodline from Austrian nobles.
Although Carlo’s mother, Archduchess Adelaide, was no longer alive, that bloodline from Austrian nobles could not be faked.
European nobles were originally one family connected by blood; whether Spanish King, House of Savoy members, or Austrian noble bloodline, it was enough to attract the Habsburg Family’s attention.
Franz Joseph also appeared at the welcome banquet for Carlo, but only had a brief conversation with him before leaving on the pretext of busy political affairs.
Carlo was also happy to relax, enjoying a dinner under the accompaniment of the Habsburg royal family, then retiring to the already arranged room to rest.
Four thousand words first update, seeking support!
