Holy Roman Empire - Chapter 117

Chapter 117: Chapter 4: Disarmament

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Translator: 549690339

Under the cooperation of Pope Pius IX, the Austrian Government successfully persuaded the bishops, and from there, the pressure naturally cascaded down.

No liability for Crowd Action?

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Such a thing didn’t exist; there were plenty of clergymen who aspired to become bishops.

Even after losing a major part of their church property, the Church remained a wealthy entity with a substantial amount of public funds available for their consumption without any supervisors.

Franz always advocated convincing people with reason, and the transaction with the Church this time was a fair deal, personally confirmed by Pope Pius IX.

For the clergy who did not understand, they had to be persuaded with kind words, continue mental work if necessary, criticize and educate the stubborn ones, and finally help them correct their bad habits.

After the removal of a Chief Archbishop, eighteen local bishops, auxiliary bishops, and over a hundred priests who lacked devout faith, everyone cooperated very actively with the government in the handover process.

Under normal circumstances, clergy identified as lacking devout faith would certainly meet tragic ends.

However, this time was an exception, Franz interceded for them. All they needed to do was to prove themselves as devout believers in the upcoming battles to recover the Papal State.

Being able to solve the Church’s problem without bloodshed made the Austrian Government realize the importance of the Papal State—an ally pope would help the Austrian Government manage the clergy better.

Simply put, if there was a bishop they disliked, they could just send him to serve God in the Papal State, for instance, guarding the Holy Land, which was a job with great prospects.

Having taken advantage, it was now time for the Austrian Government to pay up, since Pope Pius IX had done everything expected of him.

Franz detested unpaid wages, naturally, he would not become the person he disliked the most.

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“How are things with Marshal Radetzky; do we need to redeploy troops from within the country?” Franz asked

“Your Majesty, the withdrawal of troops from the Kingdom of Sardinia is about to be completed, the morale is high on the front lines, and they can certainly continue to participate in this operation.

However, Marshal Radetzky suggests that these soldiers return home, and we redeploy a portion of fresh troops to intervene in the Papal State,” replied Prince Windischgrätz, the Army Minister.

Clearly, he was somewhat dissatisfied with Marshal Radetzky’s suggestion. Transferring troops back and forth might sound simple, but it was troublesome to implement.

It was natural for morale to be high; the Sardinian Army was only a soft target. They had hardly fought any tough battles, easily sweeping through.

The troop casualties were minimal, yet the spoils of war were extremely abundant. Even with large discounts on sales, each soldier could receive several hundred shieds, which was equivalent to the income of an ordinary person for several years.

(1 Shield was about 11.69 grams of silver)

Besides this unexpected fortune, the land promised by Franz was also about to be delivered, and naturally, the soldiers were willing to fight such a favorably-winding war.

After considering Marshal Radetzky’s suggestion, Franz thought it was very necessary to have new troops from home experience the battlefield, as there was no real danger—it could be treated as a training exercise.

Especially since Vienna’s City Defense Army, equipped with the best weapons, could potentially be the weakest in fighting strength due to lack of combat experience among the Austrian Army ranks.

Franz found an excuse to say, “The soldiers at the front have been continuously in battle for nearly half a year. It’s time to let them rest.

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Let’s follow Marshal Radetzky’s advice, redeploy a portion of new troops from the rear to replace them, and send out the Vienna City Defense Army for some real combat training.”

Purely from a military standpoint, any force continuously in combat for half a year, no matter how elite, would feel the strain.

Although the Ausa war was nominally fought over four or five months, the actual time of engagement between both sides was less than a month, and the Austrian army had pushed from Venice back to Turin.

“Yes, Your Majesty!” Prince Windischgrätz replied

These were minor issues, and naturally, no one would reject Franz’s face.

Intervention in the Papal State was more about deterrence by force; the chance of a full-scale war breaking out was very small.

Even though the Revolutionary Party’s government had taken control, there was still a part of the army within the country supporting the Pope, and the indecisive bourgeois government was afraid of igniting civil strife, not having yet carried out a major purge of the military.

Prime Minister Felix spoke up, “Your Majesty, the situation within the country has stabilized, and the international environment is also in our favor.

Continuing to maintain such a large army puts a lot of financial pressure on the government. The Cabinet suggests demobilizing a portion of the officers and soldiers, and the savings should be invested into restoring production and construction.”

Expanding the army during times of war and cutting back afterwards was quite normal.

Although Europe’s situation was still not very peaceful—it was the revolutions that were stirring up trouble—the conflicts among the nations had not yet erupted, so under these circumstances, the likelihood of war breaking out between the major powers was almost non-existent.

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“How many troops is the government planning to demobilize?” Franz inquired with concern

Felix spoke confidently, “Considering that we are about to intervene in the Papal State, the government suggests first cutting 100,000 troops within the year, and another 130,000 the next year. Our final total military strength will be maintained at around 350,000.”

This downsizing mainly targeted the regular army, the troops temporarily conscripted from local areas were gradually sent back after the war ended.

Many places are still working on career resettlement, which was Franz’s innovation. Before this, Austria had no such thing as career resettlement for soldiers.

The government currently possesses a large number of industries, and under the planned economic system, naturally has enough positions to resettle these people.

It’s worth noting that most soldiers who received larger amounts of land as rewards chose to go back home to farm.

In the eyes of people of this era, factories are not considered good places to work. If they have a choice, most would not want to become a worker.

The same is true for state-owned factories, although they are slightly more popular than private ones, as there is no worry here about the boss defaulting on wages.

After all, from the start, these state-owned factories were piecework systems. The harder you worked, the more you earned; there was no room for idling, so it was naturally just as tiring.

At this time, Franz could not help but be grateful that he was clear-headed and had not blindly annexed the Kingdom of Sardinia, otherwise he would be struggling with military downsizing and might even need to expand the army.

A few hundred thousand Austrian troops could defeat the Kingdom of Sardinia, but ruling it would likely require two or three hundred thousand troops, which might not even be enough.

This was a consequence of the awakening of nationalism; without a thorough purge, it would be very difficult to govern the territories. The best method would be to pack up the locals and send them away, and then the region would become stable.

If it were the twenty-first century, relocating five or six million people at once wouldn’t be a big deal, as long as one was willing to spend the money to make it happen.

But now it’s the mid-nineteenth century, and even if the Austrian Government did nothing else but organize the transportation of people every day, it would take five or six years to complete this task.

Once the people are sent away, all that remains is a white land devoid of resources and industry. What could Franz do with that?

If he had that kind of effort, he might as well go and open up colonies. Even investing only one percent of the resources could yield land many times the size of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Prince Windischgrätz objected, “Prime Minister, we are negotiating with the Russians, and we will soon reach an agreement.

We will inevitably send troops to the Balkans, and the time will not be long. Is there enough time for downsizing the military now and then expanding again? If we cannot achieve a quick victory and get tied up with the Ottoman Empire, our interests will be hard to protect once England and France intervene.”

For Austria, expanding into the Balkan region now is indeed an opportunity.

Not long ago, the Austrian Government made concessions to the British on the issue of the Kingdom of Sardinia, thereby gaining British support for Austria’s expansion in the Balkans.

To provoke conflicts between Russia and Austria, the British were unusually generous this time, recognizing all of Austria’s demands in the Balkan region, and the two countries even reached a memorandum.

Palmerston could not have dreamed that the Austrian Government would make a deal with the Russians; after all, once the Russians occupied the Black Sea Strait, Austria’s interests in the Mediterranean would also be hit.

If the Russians were to expand their influence in the Mediterranean, Austria would be trapped in the Adriatic Sea, losing the strategic initiative.

These concerns were shared by the higher echelons of the Austrian Government, but in the end, they were all persuaded by Franz.

The reason is very simple: at sea, the Russians cannot defeat the British, whose Mediterranean fleet could blockade the Russians inside the Black Sea.

Prime Minister Felix shook his head and said, “Who said we are going to join hands with the Russians to provoke war right now?

Austria has just been through a civil strife; what’s most important now is to recover production. Dividing the Balkan Peninsula with Russia is just a strategic need—defining interests in advance is only to avoid conflict.

Turning the content of the treaty into reality is a matter for the future. In the short term, the Austrian Government has no intention of provoking war.

We have made it clear to the Russians that Austria needs to recuperate and won’t be expanding in the European Region for at least the next ten years.

If they cannot restrain themselves and want to start early, Austria can support them with supplies but will not participate in the war personally.

This was our stipulated condition for signing the alliance, so you can rest assured about downsizing the military; war is not going to break out in the short term.”

This explanation wounded Prince Windischgrätz deeply. As the leader of the Near East faction, he had already begun preparing for war only to be suddenly told that the war was called off.

There was no choice; military needs must serve political ends.

Due to Franz’s butterfly effect, the power of the Austrian military had not swelled, and though it had significant say in domestic and foreign policy, it had no decision-making power.

On this matter, Franz supported the government. What was most important for Austria now was to recuperate and to develop its national strength. Expansion should be put on hold for the time being; there would be no harm in waiting until the country became stronger.