Chapter 687 Refugees Pressure on Border
Poland is a magical country. Some people love it so much that they want to save it even if it has been destroyed for hundreds of years.
Some people hate it to death, wishing that the noble lord would never come back and that the Polish Federation would never be reborn.
We must have heard of Chopin in "Bring My Heart Back to the Motherland" and Marie Curie who pinned her endless nostalgia on the new element polonium.
Paderewski, the Polish politician most respected by Americans, went to the White House to perform for President Wilson to celebrate his victory in World War I.
As the biggest beneficiaries of World War I, Americans naturally wanted to celebrate. But amidst the cheers, a pianist was crying while playing music.
It happened that this scene was discovered by the "kind" US President Wilson, and after questioning, he found that the other party was actually a Pole.
Then the "kind" US President Wilson was moved, and the two politicians finalized the "Fourteen Points" for the destruction of Europe.
A political show resulted in the birth of two presidents and a new hegemony, and at the same time moved countless people who came after him. It was really "emotional and touching"!
Putting this aside, there were many opponents of the Polish Commonwealth in Poland in the nineteenth century. Among them, we will not talk about Jews and Gypsies who are not welcome everywhere. Just talk about the relationship between Polish nobles and civilians. They are already incompatible.
When talking about Poland, one will think of its famous absolute democracy, which directly led to the Russian army coming over, and the king's order had not yet left Warsaw.
But in fact, this kind of democratic right does not belong to ordinary people in Poland. Polish nobles call themselves "Schlachta" (conqueror), but will contemptuously call serfs and civilians "Ham", which means beet, country bumpkin. , mud people, and also related to local mythology.
(Noah cursed his son Ham and predicted that Ham's son Canaan would become a slave to his other brothers.)
The nobles considered themselves to be descendants of the Sarmatians, conquerors of Poland.
Although nobles and commoners spoke the same language and looked almost the same, the nobles believed that they were not of the same race.
Under the guidance of this kind of thinking, the Polish nobles exploited the serfs extremely cruelly.
Taking the Galicia region of Austria as an example, Queen Maria Theresa issued a decree in 1772 prohibiting the killing of serfs and the appropriation of serf property.
But it was not until Queen Theresa sent troops to Galicia in 1775 that this decree was implemented under heavy pressure.
In 1782, serfs in Galicia gained the freedom to marry at will. Previously, in the eyes of the nobles, they only had the right to mate and were not eligible to marry.
In a sense, the entire Galicia is like a colony of Polish nobles. Both Polish serfs and Uruk (Ruseni, or Ukrainian) serfs are nothing more than talking animals.
It is precisely because of this approach that a strange phenomenon occurred after the brutal partition of Poland. Whether they were under Austrian rule, Russian rule, or Prussian rule, the Polish serfs felt that they had found the best master, and they were even very proud of it.
Even the Tsar, who was always known for his cruelty, became the "little daddy" in the hearts of the Polish serfs. In their eyes, Prussia's militarized management was simply the light of justice.
In Austria, the situation was even more outrageous. Serfs even formed a volunteer army in order to maintain the rule of the empire.
However, the pattern was broken at this time. The Tsar raised the butcher knife against the Jews, Poles and Gypsies in the country in the name of cholera for military expenses.
Although these people were used to being oppressed and even defended the Tsar's actions as "punishment on behalf of God," any creature has the instinct to survive, which drove them to flee Russia.
At this time, the Russian-Austrian border was in vain. On the one hand, the two sides were allies of each other, and on the other hand, because the defense focus of both sides was in the occupied areas, not on the border.
I have to mention here that Count Stadion, the governor of Galicia at this time, was really very politically sensitive and had a long-term vision.
At first, only sporadic border crossers were discovered by him. After a brief interrogation and the information he already knew, he immediately came to the conclusion:
“Soon there will be a wave of refugees on the Russian-Austrian border.”
Although the Austrian railway could already run directly from Vienna to Lviv (the seat of the capital of Galicia) at this time, Count Stadion was very aware of the efficiency of the imperial bureaucracy.
If we wait until something happens before reporting it, from reporting, approval, discussion, review, and confirmation to execution, by the time these processes are completed, the refugee problem will have become unmanageable.
Historically, the Governor of Galicia sent someone to report the refugee flow to the Austrian Regency Council one month before the arrival, but it was not until 1847 that he received an order to handle it on his own.
As the governor of Galicia, Count Stadion did not wait for orders from Vienna. He immediately sent troops to the border between the two countries to restrict the entry of refugees.
But even so, Count Stadion received about 50,000 refugees from Russia in the first three months of the refugee wave, and then sent troops to close the border.
But there was a difference at this time, that is, the power of the railway allowed the messenger to reach Vienna in one day.
Of course, the governor deliberately made the matter very serious in order to let the gentlemen of the Regent Council make a decision quickly.
Vienna, Hofburg Palace.
"What!? A large number of refugees on the Galician border?"
Metternich quickly calmed down. As a traditional politician, he knew the importance of land and people.
"This might be an opportunity"
"Damn Russians, throwing rubbish at us again!"
Count Korolaf was not interested in the non-German population, and was even more contemptuous of the Jews, Roma (Gypsies, called Roma in Austria), and the Uruks. In his eyes, these people, even if they were serfs, Not even qualified.
Obviously, the two could not reach a unified opinion at this time.
Count Kolarov: "What are we doing picking up rubbish that even the Russians don't want?"
Prince Metternich: “Population is the cornerstone of a country, and our country still has a large amount of uncultivated land, and overseas colonies have endless demand for population.
Did you know that our colonial minister (referring to Franz) spends tens of millions of florins every year to solve the problem of insufficient manpower in the colonies, and even spends heavily to attract immigrants from foreign countries?
And I don't think those Japanese monkeys (Japanese immigrants, short and always shrinking in Western eyes) and Indian coals (Dalits, dark looking) are any better than white immigrants.
They can open up land for us, plant crops, raise pigs and horses, work in factories, or help you take care of your children, clean, wash and cook, and they will pay taxes and become a source of soldiers."
Count Kolarov appeared dismissive: "They are so good? Then why did the Russians kick them out?"