Chapter 590 Negotiation (Part 1)
After the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, Austria-Hungary only held various rallies on the bright side to mourn the death of the crown prince. But secretly, Austria-Hungary was doing various preparations for war.
Among them, the support of the two allies was especially crucial for the Austro-Hungarian Empire. So Vienna has also spent some careful thought on this, especially for Italy.
Today’s Vienna Central Station is surrounded by soldiers and police, and no one is allowed to break in. Because a nobleman is leaving here by car. The previous experience of the crown prince made these military police dare not relax their vigilance, because if this nobleman had an accident, it would be more terrible than the assassination of the crown prince.
So who is this gentleman?
That’s right, Queen Maria of Italy, the Italian queen who was born in the Habsburg family, should have appeared at her funeral when Ferdinand died, let alone his brother’s funeral.
Yes, Queen Mary and Archduke Ferdinand have a father in common, Archduke Karl Ludwig. However, the two were born to the second and third wives of the Grand Duke respectively, and the generation gap brought about by the age gap (the difference between the two was 13 years), so this also led to the fact that the relationship between the two was not very close. .
And Maria after marrying into the Savoy family. The connection with the Habsburgs was much less, basically limited to a dozen or so letters a year to my mother. Strong Sacrifice Read Sacrifice
Even his son Vittorio has only met his grandfather and grandmother a few times since he was a child.
The reason for all this is the delicate relationship between Rome and Vienna. The relationship between the two countries is far less close than with Germany. Yes, both Italy and Austria have close relations with Germany, but the relationship between them has become difficult to handle. This is due to various reasons.
The first is historical reasons. When the Habsburgs were brilliant, they ruled half of Italy. As we all know, after the decline of the Habsburgs, Italy took the opportunity to gain independence and unity. Of course, this was in other countries. completed with the help of .
As we all know, being independent with the help of others will definitely not be so good. The fact is that there are still many disputed territories between Italy and Austria. The most important of these is the region of Tyrol that is well known. Although this is a sparsely populated mountain, it is like a prominent corner embedded in northern Italy, allowing it to directly overlook the Po River Plain, the most important food and industrial area in northern Italy. Now Zhang Si
remember the url
How can you let the Italians sleep when such an important place is in the hands of the Austrians.
This also makes it difficult to have trust between the two countries. Even if Carlo marries Maria, this can only make the relationship between the two countries more friendly.
And this time Austria-Hungary wants to seek the support of Italy, so it needs to make concessions in the Tyrol region.
Of course, Vienna also has this mental preparation, otherwise the diplomatic envoy to Italy, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Zorni, will not secretly dress up as Queen Maria’s entourage and go to Rome with her.
“Queen, please go first.”
On the platform, Count Zorny stood behind the queen and reminded her in a low voice.
“Then I’m wronged Your Excellency the Earl.”
“For the sake of the Habsburgs and the Empire, all this is as it should be.”
Then the group boarded the train back (to) Rome, and the Italian royal train was very luxurious, enough for them to be very comfortable on the train.
The speed of the special train is very fast, because it does not need to stop at any platform, and the trains along the line need to avoid it.
So early the next morning, the train arrived in Rome.
Then the long motorcade pulled the queen and the Austro-Hungarian envoy into the palace together. Of course, the queen and her entourage went home, while Count Zorny and his party went to the conference room under the leadership of the squire. Here, King Carlo, the Prime Minister, the military and others have been waiting for a long time.
After the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, Italy conducted a consultation between military and political officials. Regarding the assassination of the archduke, many people believed that this would lead to the outbreak of war between the great powers.
That’s right, unlike Austria-Hungary who believes that Russia does not dare to act rashly with the support of Germany and Italy, Italy believes that this is very likely to cause a confrontation between the two camps. The reason is simple, Russia cannot afford to lose Serbia, which would have devastating consequences for its influence in the Balkans.
Just as Russia did not dare to let go of Serbia, France also did not dare to let go of Russia. Because it would lead to a reversal of its strategy, from two countries allowing Germany to become a two-sided war, to allowing France to face Germany alone.
For Italy, the outbreak of war in Europe is also in line with Italy’s needs. Because Italy’s combat readiness has almost been carried out, although there are still some combat readiness plans that have not fully achieved the planned goals.
But another sentence is good, UU reading www.uukanshu.com is afraid of comparison in everything. Compared with Germany, Italy, and Austria, which are not yet fully prepared, Britain, France, and Russia should be preparing. At present, among the three countries in the Entente, France is the most well-prepared. It was only this year that France changed the two-year military service system to three years, and the service-age personnel also changed from one year old to one year old.
According to French military plans, France would be ready for war in 1915. France this is not bad, Russia needs to complete the preparations for war, need to wait until 1916.
From this, it can be seen that which of the two sides is more fully prepared.
Based on this understanding, senior Italian military and political officials believe that it cannot be dragged on. It is necessary to preemptively strike before the three countries of the Entente are ready. Even the place has been discussed, and that is Crete, where civil war broke out.
Italy forcibly braved the island’s civil war and then incorporated the island into the Kingdom of Italy. Britain and Greece will never watch Italy annex Crete, which is just the way to set off a war in Europe.
However, the plan could not keep up with the changes. Austria-Hungary took the lead to trigger a conflict with Serbia, and also caught the life of its own crown prince.
That being the case, it’s Italy’s turn to talk about the demands. After all, who doesn’t know about Austria-Hungary’s ambition to annex Serbia.
Besides, Italy has territory in the Balkans, and it just happens to be separated from Austria-Hungary to the north and south of Serbia. In every way, Austria-Hungary needs the support of Italy. Otherwise, it would not be able to swallow Serbia at all.
“Count Zorny, welcome your presence.”
Carlo brought a group of military and political officials to welcome the arrival of the special envoy. control the big lord
Looking at the Italian king and his high-ranking military and political officials who welcomed him in front of him, Count Zorni felt a lot of pressure.
If you like my Idaily, please collect it: () My Idaily updates the fastest.