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

Chapter 924 France’s Dilemma
Almost at the same time as the Brussels uprising, many cities in the Principality of Belgium launched large-scale uprisings.

This was mainly due to Charles Rogier, the shrewd and capable former Prime Minister of Belgium and the French misfit.

Charles Rogier is known as the most versatile prime minister in Belgian history. He participated in the revolution against the Dutch, served as a guerrilla, and also trained the regular army.

He has served as Prime Minister and concurrently as Minister of the Interior, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Education, Minister of Transport, Minister of Public Affairs, and even supervised the construction of water conservancy projects and railways.

It may be a bit condescending to let such a versatile person do the work of the underground party, but it is this kind of talent that is best suited to lead the resistance.

The resistance against the French in rural areas was even greater, because France's agricultural taxes themselves were ridiculously high, and because the urban bourgeoisie was in power at this time, it was naturally impossible for them to raise taxes on themselves.

As a result, French agricultural taxes at this time were raised to an incredible height, and in Belgium, a French colony on the European continent, it was even more severe.

However, in comparison, the uprisings in rural areas of Belgium were more scattered, and they actually caused very limited damage to the French.

The insurgents in the countryside quickly surrendered under French force.

The rebels in the city are much more determined. Most of them are composed of citizens and the army of the principality, and their combat effectiveness is much higher than that of the farmers.

However, this was still not enough in the eyes of the French. Although those French officials only brought a very small number of troops, these French troops alone and the leading party recruited from Belgium stabilized the situation.

The news quickly spread to Paris, and the French provisional government was particularly unanimous in its views on attacking the Belgians.

If they were still a little hesitant to start a war against Austria, then they really had no hesitation at all to start a war against the Belgians.

In fact, the reason why the French Provisional Government imposed excessive taxes in Belgium is because France is too poor now.

Want to collect taxes from those businessmen and factory owners?No matter who is in power at this time.

Therefore, the economic crisis and food crisis worsened during the rule of the French Provisional Government, but they did not dare to continue to collect taxes from the French mob.

So the first thing the French Provisional Government thought of was to suck blood from the colonies. This idea was not wrong.

But the British's first step against the French was to block their sea lanes, directly cutting off the possibility of this plan.

In fact, in addition to the British interference and interference, the authority of the French provisional government was also a big problem.

Officials in France's overseas colonies did not recognize this so-called provisional government. This was not due to their nostalgia for the past Orleans dynasty, nor out of personal loyalty to Louis Philippe.

But the conditions of the French Provisional Government were too harsh. They required the feudal officials to hand over all their powers unconditionally and obey the arrangements of the Provisional Government.

Historically, the French Provisional Government's reception work was very rough. However, France's largest colony at that time was Algeria, and it also needed supplies from France, so there was no rebellion.

However, it was completely different at this time. France was the largest colonial power after Britain.

In particular, the Texas colony had long been dissatisfied with French rule, and Guizot himself was also dissatisfied with this so-called provisional government.

The most ridiculous thing is that the French Provisional Government actually sent a team of 200 people to take over the Texas colony, while Guizot himself and his staff had to go to Paris to report on their work.As a result, this mission mysteriously disappeared in the Texas colony.
Most of the governors of other colonies also dismissed this so-called provisional government, and the governor of Algeria directly raised the flag of rebellion.

This rebellion does not exist in history, because in Algeria's situation, it could not survive for half a year without local assistance.

Historically, the Duke of Omar (the fourth son of Louis Philippe) was the governor of Algeria. He had an army of less than 10 men.

But the last hope of the Orleans dynasty left his troops to the French Yuan Shikai - Eugène Cavaignac without firing a shot.

However, history quietly changed at this time. Although Louis Philippe changed from the King of France to the Duke of Alsace-Lorraine, the French Provisional Government was unpopular. The rebellion of Duke Aumer was supported by a large number of military officers and nobles.

Especially those military officers, politicians, and nobles who were ostracized and relegated to Algeria, they unanimously demanded to be returned to France.

The British also took the opportunity to extend an olive branch to these "traitors of France". However, with the annihilation of the British Mediterranean fleet, the plan to counterattack France became far away.

Although they failed to counterattack the French mainland, the benefits given by the British this time were real.That is food and supplies, which are what Algeria lacks most at this time.

Although these supplies are not much, they are enough to stabilize the morale of the rebels.

Eugène Cavaignac was actually relatively junior in the army at the time, and often beat and scolded soldiers. Naturally, he was unable to regain Algeria and become a republican leader like in history.
(A very big disagreement actually occurred here, which will be mentioned later.)
Therefore, the situation faced by the French Provisional Government at this time is much worse than in history. However, for some reason, the French Provisional Government has embarked on the old path of increasing agricultural taxes. However, this is simply a drop in the bucket for the French economy that is on the verge of collapse. .

If agricultural taxes are increased during an agricultural crisis, the result will undoubtedly continue to aggravate the crisis.

The desperate French pinned their hopes on plundering Belgium, the French colony on the European continent.

Belgium was indeed rich in the past, but after the Luxembourg crisis, the country that once had the fastest economic growth in Europe has declined.

Even if there was no Luxembourg crisis, Belgium’s size would not be able to solve France’s current crisis.

But the French provisional government did it anyway, not because they were stupid, but because they could only do this.

Only in this way can the interest groups behind them be satisfied and they can have the votes to continue to be in power.

However, the result was that in the eyes of outsiders, it was a series of foolish moves, but the decision-makers were indeed the top talents in France at the time.

On the issue of declaring war, the French may still be hesitant when facing the powerful Austrian Empire, but they appear confident when facing the Belgians.

The French Provisional Government almost unanimously approved the proposal to declare war on Belgium and annex it.

However, before the French could make a decision, the Frankfurt Assembly of the German Confederation received news of the Brussels uprising.

Although the entire German Confederation was in a state of national fanaticism, the Frankfurt Assembly, especially the Constituent Assembly, did not want to get too involved in European affairs at this time.

Moreover, the French-speaking residents of Belgium do not look like Germans at all.

(End of this chapter)