The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 917 Two Romes
Under the influence of the special liberal trend of thought at that time, Prince Albert made a bold decision to create a spectacle!
His idea was that the British economy was in a serious downturn at this time, with factories closing down and workers losing their jobs, which resulted in unsaleable agricultural products, resulting in a decline in farmers' income.
The British people needed a morale boost at this time, and a huge and majestic spectacle was just what they needed.

In fact, Prince Albert's idea is somewhat similar to a combination of the two methods of providing relief for work and stimulating domestic demand.

This is indeed what Britain needs most at this time. If it follows the same historical trajectory, the British will once again make a splash at the first World Industrial Exposition in 1851.

However, the timeline at this time has been riddled with holes by Franz, and the same choice will most likely produce different or even completely opposite results.

In order to complete his great idea, Prince Albert began to solicit design proposals from the society, and one of the unique proposals attracted him.

This is the Crystal Palace created by the famous architectural designer Joseph Paxton in history. However, even Joseph Paxton himself did not know that the materials they would use to build the Crystal Palace in the future would come from Austria.
The industrial revolution in the glass industry that was supposed to happen in Britain did not happen because Franz took the lead and made it happen in Bohemia.

The industrial revolution in the glass manufacturing industry is actually a snowballing process. Large-scale glass production cannot be stopped. Once it is stopped and restarted, it will cost a lot, which is a bit similar to blast furnace steelmaking.

The larger the scale, the lower the cost; conversely, the smaller the scale and the longer the interval, the higher the cost.

In addition, what is more important is that historically the German region was one of the main dumping grounds for the British. However, because the Austrian Empire joined the German Customs Union, Franz killed those small workshops that were unwilling to reform and unite.

As a result, the German region directly became the back garden of the Austrian Empire. Coupled with the rise of nationalism, boycotting British goods became politically correct again.

In addition, the Austrian Empire is located in Central Europe, and its radiation range is very large. Coupled with its alliance with Russia and its close relationship with the Ottomans, the products of the Austrian Empire are rampant in the British overseas market.

At the same time, the Austrian Empire was still the largest commodity smuggling country in the world at this time. Smuggled goods from the Austrian Empire could be seen in France, the United States, Brazil, Central America, India, Southeast Asia, and even the United Kingdom.

Therefore, the glass industry in the Austrian Empire could continuously expand its scale and reduce costs, while the British fell into a vicious cycle of declining profits and shrinking scale due to the shrinking market.

Now the people who have been snowballed are the British, and their performance is not much better than those small workshops in Austria in history.

Even if Robert Peel discovered the problem immediately, the government's provision of low-interest loans to the glass industry would not have much effect.

By the time of John Russell, as many glass factories closed down, he stopped this loss-making business.

Coupled with the economic crisis at this time, this kind of money-losing industry is naturally the first to be abandoned.

London, Whitehall.

John Russell was sitting in his office, holding his forehead in a daze.

"Why did such a large fleet disappear just by saying it was missing?"

He could not understand the question, the good Lord of the Admiralty told him.

"Although the Mediterranean Fleet is large in size, compared to the entire Mediterranean, it is like a drop of water in a river."

"Is it possible they're lost?"

John Russell recounted his less-than-practical thoughts.

Seeing the Prime Minister's expectant eyes, the Navy Minister had no choice but to tell a white lie. "It's possible."

John Russell breathed a sigh of relief and finally regained some energy.

But everyone knew that the Mediterranean Fleet was doomed.Such a large fleet, with captains and sailors with many years of experience.

It is better to believe that they will get lost than to believe that they have encountered a sea monster.

However, the issue of the Mediterranean has to be mentioned at this moment. If the Mediterranean fleet is still there at this time, then Britain will definitely not be as passive as it is now.

However, the naval battle in the Mediterranean failed, the whereabouts of the Mediterranean fleet were unknown, and a peace agreement had just been signed with the Austrians.

Now Britain can be as passive as it wants, but what happened to Franz?First the King of Rome?I thought he was going to start a Renaissance, but now he is the Emperor of Germany, and in a few years he may be the Emperor of the Austrian Empire.

Britain cannot accept these three crowns on one person's head.

What’s even more outrageous is that isn’t the Frankfurt Parliament a bourgeois parliament?Why do we have to bring in a foreign monarch?
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This is an unconscious dividing line——
"Prime Minister, what should we do?"

Lord Palmerston, who had always been resourceful, threw the blame directly on John Russell, which made the latter look bitter again.

Letting the Austrian Emperor become the German Emperor was something that Britain could not accept under any circumstances.

When Franz became King of Rome, the British wanted to use the hands of the French and Russians to deal with Austria.

However, the French provisional government is now in chaos, and orders are changing day and night. Although this group of people reacts fiercely, whether they can send troops is still a question.

Moreover, the German Confederation has never lost against the French in recent years. The threat of the French will hardly make the Germans change their minds.

What annoys the British most is not the French, but the Russians.

Nicholas I, the sixth child, when the British ambassador brought the news that Franz had become King of Rome to St. Petersburg, Nicholas I, instead of slamming the table and going to Austria, seemed very calm.

"I will prepare a generous gift for the Western Roman Emperor."

You must know that when the French Provisional Government was established, Nicholas I claimed to fight to the Seine River.

However, because Russia's own rebellion had not been resolved, it did not send troops to France.At this time, the civil strife in Russia was mainly divided into two parts, namely the Chechen armed forces in the Caucasus and the rebel forces in Poland.

(These contents have been discussed before. The battle situation has not changed much, so I won’t go into details here.)
At first, the British ambassador didn't quite understand what the so-called "rich gift" meant. He thought that the Tsar was just trying to induce the Austrians to look good.

However, he soon discovered that he was wrong, and how wrong he was.

The Tsar was not angry, he was actually very happy, and told his cronies that his daughter was indeed right.

The Tsar issued a statement that day, recognizing Francis as the emperor of the Western Roman Empire, and Nicholas I as the divinely appointed emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire.
(End of this chapter)