Chapter 417 Brothers in Suffering
At this time, Austria's influence in Central Europe was continuing to expand. Although its rise did not involve much use of force, it was not even appropriate to call it a rise. It should be called a recovery.
But at this time, Britain and France still regarded it as a thorn in their side. In fact, no country that wanted to dominate would allow a force across Central Europe to emerge.
However, Britain and France did not seem to have much energy to deal with Austria at this time.
Robert Peel was troubled by the chaos caused by the Chartists in England, but there was something even more troublesome for him at this time.
According to the intelligence, someone is trying to harm Her Majesty Queen Victoria, and it's not just one party. No one knows exactly how many assassins have infiltrated the UK.
The Secret Bureau has deployed all its manpower, but the situation still has not improved.
At this time, there was also unrest on the European continent. France's successive foreign campaigns and its huge investment in developing colonies had made its citizens miserable.
The French court at this time was known for its conservatism, dullness, simplicity, and middle-class values. This was mainly because King Louis Philippe had never emerged from the shadow of the French Revolution and Napoleon.
He was afraid of enjoyment and waste. In order to create an image of people-friendly simplicity, Louis Philippe did not even allow servants to hold an umbrella for him.
The queen and her children are not allowed to dress in jewelry, and must show themselves in ordinary clothes and simple clothing.
As King Louis-Philippe, he would bow at a 90° angle just like the Japanese bow masters before every speech.
But in fact this approach did not win him a good reputation or have any positive effect on the rule of the July Dynasty.
Politicians regarded him as a puppet, businessmen regarded him as a plaything, and civilians thought Louis-Philippe was a weak idiot. Extremely satirical works such as The Pear King emerged one after another.
Nine years after the massacre in Lyon, French workers took to the streets again. In fact, in terms of misery alone, French workers are much more miserable than British workers. The latter only have low pay and low status, while the former barely have enough to eat.
On average, French workers need to work more than fourteen hours a day just to barely have enough to eat.
However, because France's agriculture was extremely backward at that time, food prices were unstable. However, as the number of overseas colonies increased, food that was not enough to eat had to be transported to the colonies.
This made it even more unbearable for French workers, and at the same time, French farmers were equally miserable.
Due to the high proportion of land rent, farmers have no incentive to improve agricultural production.
Similarly, landowners and capitalists are not interested in engaging in such high-investment and low-return projects. They prefer Texas cattle raising and estate planting industries, which are truly low-investment and high-return projects.
Except for the return rate of industry, which is also very impressive (mainly because the cycle is too long), investment in finance and overseas colonial undertakings seems so good and correct in comparison.
As a result, French agriculture has not made significant progress compared to the period of the French Revolution. Take wheat as an example. At this time, the yield per mu in Austria, the German states, and Italy was about 130 kilograms.
In most areas of France, the yield per mu is only 70-80 kilograms, which is nearly double the difference. The high-quality wheat used in the Austrian royal estate can even reach 150 kilograms. As long as a few more key points are exceeded in the future, the yield per mu will soon exceed the 200 kilograms mark.
(Agricultural technology at that time was still very backward, and the output of modern agriculture seemed completely astronomical at the time.)
The two most common problems faced by French farmers at this time were no work and not enough to eat.
Historically, due to Guizot's tolerant policies, the conflicts between workers, farmers and the French government were less intense. But at this time Louis Philippe had actually dismissed Guizot, and most of the policies he formulated were not implemented.
So these contradictions came to the surface again
France, Tuileries Palace.
"Your Majesty the King, order a suppression! Let those mud-legged and coal-black people figure out what they are!" To the surprise of many people, it was the leader of the Bonapartist faction who strongly advocated suppression.
(Nijiezi refers to those who farm, and Meiheizi refers to those who work in factories.)
In fact, at this time the Bonapartists had already united with the emerging industrial and commercial bourgeoisie, and the butt determined the head. At this time, the workers' strike affects their interests, and the Bonapartists will naturally take the lead.
In fact, whether it is the Bonapartists, the Orthodox, or the Orleans faction, those mud-legged and soot-skinned people must be suppressed.
However, all three parties have ulterior motives and want to take the opportunity to expand their political influence and at the same time attack the other party's power.
Of course, the Bonapartists wanted to protect their own interests, while the Orthodox wanted to use this to attack Louis Philippe and find ways to restore legitimacy to France.
The Orleans faction behind Louis Philippe cannot be called a political party in the strict sense. They are more like a loose club of the elite.
These people didn't care about politics or even about King Louis Philippe. All they wanted was money.
Therefore, in order to coordinate the interests of the three parties, the Bonapartists finally only received "permission to dispatch local police forces to suppress."
In fact, the scale of this time was no smaller than the Lyon workers' strike in 1834, but there were no casualties yet.
The reason for the orthodox faction is that "unnecessary casualties should not be caused."
This reason is very attractive to the Orleansites, because this group of self-proclaimed social elites like this kind of high-sounding reason, because it is worthy of their status.
The orthodox faction who opposed directly sending troops naturally did not pity the civilians nor did they suddenly become kind-hearted. What they needed was to embarrass the July Dynasty and then turn the tide to gain support at home and abroad.
In fact, the orthodox faction is not monolithic. Some people support Angouleme, the son of Charles X (known as Louis XIX in history), but more people are willing to support the Count of Chambord, the grandson of Charles X.
In particular, the Count of Chambord's mother sneaked back to France many times to create rebellions, including the Duchess of Bailey who was also planning a famous rebellion at this time.
Therefore, the orthodox faction naturally hopes that France will be as chaotic as possible. Of course, the reason why France is so chaotic at this time is also due to its good neighbors.
Franz has always been the biggest patron of the French labor movement. Of course, apart from Austria, the British have also been giving them blood transfusions.
At this time, in order to undermine the relationship between Britain and France, Franz increased his investment and prepared to disclose this information to Britain and France at a suitable time.
He did not believe that Britain and France would be able to join forces by then, and even if they repaired their relationship, it would be nothing but compromise.
Assassinations were actually very common in this era, but even so. Franz didn't think the success rate of the assassination could be high, and the cost once discovered was too high.
In contrast, it would be safer to plunge both Britain and France into civil strife and then make them suspicious of each other.
As for supporting the labor movement, the cost is negligible. In addition, businessmen in this era dared to do anything, buying guns from France to give to the Chartists, and buying guns from Britain to give to the French Workers' Party.
This operation is not difficult and the risk is not high, but the benefits are extraordinary. Even if you are discovered, you can use the name of charity to excuse it. It can be said to be low risk and high reward.