Holy Roman Empire

The British proposal was an earth-shattering idea that shocked the Prussian government to its core.

Annexing the German Federal Empire had always been a dream for Prussia, but reality made it impossible. To avoid being targeted by a coalition of powers, the Prussian government had long suppressed this ambition.

Unexpectedly, it was the British who proposed the idea. However, this time, it wasn’t the Prussian-Polish Federation annexing the German Federal Empire, but rather the German Federal Empire annexing the Prussian-Polish Federation.

The order was reversed, and the nature of the plan was fundamentally different. With the Russo-Prussian War ongoing, the Prussian government lacked the leverage to negotiate terms and had no choice but to relinquish control over the dominant position.

Wilhelm I found himself in a dilemma. Compromising wasn’t as simple as it sounded, especially in Europe, where legality and formalities mattered greatly.

Although the German Federal Empire was mockingly referred to by its citizens as the “Comedy Empire,” it was still universally recognized as a legitimate empire. If the Prussian-Polish Federation were to join, it would merely be incorporated as another constituent state.

Moreover, under the current circumstances, there was no telling whether the other side might exploit the situation. For instance, they could demand the dismemberment of the Prussian-Polish Federation, requiring Prussia and Poland to join as separate states.

Or, worse yet, they might go further and demand that Schleswig-Holstein be separated into two duchies, significantly weakening the Kingdom of Prussia’s power.

…

Foreign Minister Geoffrey Friedman advised, “Your Majesty, based on the current situation on the battlefield, we are at an extremely unfavorable position.

Belarus is lost, most of Lithuania has fallen, Volhynia we previously captured no longer holds, and the enemy is now less than 150 kilometers from Warsaw.

Our soldiers are brave, and our officers are excellent, but these qualities alone cannot make up for the disparity in strength.

The gap in power between Prussia and Russia is immense, and it is nearly impossible for us to win this war on our own.

The lessons of the last Russo-Prussian War taught us that defeating the Russian Empire requires enough allies to attack from multiple fronts, dispersing their forces and complicating their logistics.

Our poor performance on the battlefield has caused our former allies to hesitate. We must now bring in a strong ally to restore their confidence, and the German Federal Empire is undoubtedly the best choice.”

Minister of War Filippo retorted, “Geoffrey, are you trying to sell out our country?”

He added, “Joining the German Federal Empire, do you even understand what that means?”

Having a new overlord would undoubtedly mean losing some of the freedom they currently enjoy. While many states within the German Federal Empire disregard the authority of the central government, the reality is that the central government still wields significant power.

For example, the issuance of currency.

No matter how loosely organized a nation is, it cannot tolerate the existence of multiple currencies. Under the banner of “promoting economic development,” the central government makes it nearly impossible for its constituent states to refuse.

Of course, there are ways around this. One could follow the example of smaller states and simply use international currencies like the Guilder or the British Pound. The central government would then have little leverage.

For those small states, it’s not a big deal. Their domestic markets are limited, and they lack the ability to print their own money. The losses from using foreign currencies are minimal. Moreover, for the sake of trade convenience, using international currencies allows for direct overseas transactions without incurring currency exchange fees.

For the Prussian-Polish Federation, however, it’s a completely different story. Regardless of which foreign currency is used, a significant amount of seigniorage must be paid to the issuer, which would severely impact government revenues.

Economic losses are secondary. Politically, they still have to endure others’ meddling. The central government doesn’t interfere in state internal affairs, and Franz was the first to propose this. However, it was only effective for the first few years. After that, weren’t they interfered with anyway?

The Austrian government was just subtle about it. By enacting laws and promoting judicial independence, they found ways to extend their influence.

Technically, the central government has no authority to interfere in the administration of member states. However, judicial bodies are authorized to arrest corrupt officials within these states.

If that level of influence isn’t enough, consider the taxes paid by member states to the central government or the financial allocations distributed by the central government. Are those not forms of control? ɽἈΝÔʙЁŝ

The traps were set well in advance. At the time, no one realized that revenues from tariffs, seigniorage, colonial income, and excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol would not only cover the central government’s expenses but even leave a surplus.

This outcome is inevitable. The central government doesn’t bear the administrative expenses of local governments or invest in infrastructure for the member states. Apart from the significant military expenditure, its financial responsibilities only extend to maintaining the emperor and a few thousand central bureaucrats.

The surplus funds, aside from some being allocated to research, provide opportunities to interfere in the internal affairs of the member states.

When you have money, your voice carries weight. Initially, these revenues were limited and insufficient to cover the central government’s expenses, so the states had to contribute to the budget. Naturally, the central government avoided offending its powerful member states.

Now that the central government’s coffers are full, any member state seeking financial aid from the central budget has to consider the central government’s opinions.

Similar scenarios could very well happen in the German Federal Empire.

While their central government currently only collects seigniorage, their expenditures are also minimal. Initially, its powers were restricted, with the military funded by individual states, leaving the central government only to support its civil servants and the emperor.

Geoffrey calmly replied, “Of course, I understand what this entails, but do we have a choice? What’s the harm in taking a temporary loss?

If we win this war, with our strength, do you really think Hanover could do anything to us?

Don’t forget that the German Federal Empire follows the traditions of the Holy Roman Empire using the imperial election system. If we gain enough allies, we can even replace the central government.

No matter how many restrictions they set now, we can find ways to bypass them in the future. Treaties can be torn up, and laws can be amended.

By then, these would be internal matters of the empire. As long as we present a reasonable justification, even the British won’t have grounds to object!

As long as they still want us to contain France and Austria, the British government won’t dare act against us. For now, the priority is to figure out how to bring the German Federal Empire over to our side.”

Theoretically, as long as the Polish-Prussian Federation joins the German Federal Empire, usurping Hanover’s position as the central government would not be an issue.

If the Prussian government can see this opportunity, then Hanover certainly can as well.

A snake swallowing an elephant is the stuff of legend, like the mythical Bashe. However, not every snake has the stomach for it.

Hanover has struggled to manage the small states within the German Federal Empire, let alone anything more ambitious. Even if the Prussian-Polish Federation offered itself on a silver platter, Hanover might not dare to accept it.

Filippo felt disheartened. His opposition was primarily due to concerns over who would hold the reins of power. Yet, harsh reality dictated that the Prussian-Polish Federation’s influence didn’t matter much in this scenario.

This wasn’t the first time such frustrations arose. Many years ago, politicians had proposed the idea of a “Prussian-Austrian union to jointly dominate Central Europe,” but Austria refused to share the spoils.

It was unavoidable. Franz wouldn’t agree to something where the effort and reward were disproportionate.

Even when the Prussian government lowered its demands, the result remained the same. A dual monarchy was no simple task, and Franz wasn’t willing to risk taking on such a “hellish challenge.”

Now, with the Prussian-Polish Federation considering joining the German Federal Empire, the Prussian government’s bottom line was undoubtedly even lower. As long as they could win the war, they could always backtrack later. After all, Hanover lacked the strength to force them to honor any agreements.

After a moment of silence, Wilhelm I spoke slowly, “This time, it’s the British pulling the strings. I’m sure the British government has a way to get Hanover to compromise.

Have the Foreign Ministry reach out to the British. As long as we can bring the German Federal Empire into this war, we can agree to any conditions for now. Whether we fulfill them or not can be decided after we’ve won this war.”

That’s right, only by winning the war would the Prussian government have the right to consider these issues. If they lost the war, the Prussian-Polish Federation was destined to collapse.

Even if Britain, France, and Austria intervened and managed to preserve the Kingdom of Prussia, it would be a diminished version, and it would no longer be relevant to them.

…

The Prussian government was troubled, and the British were equally perplexed. In particular, Sir Edward, the one who pushed for the plan, began to regret it as soon as implementation started.

Things weren’t as simple as imagined. Her Majesty the Queen agreed to work with the “Comedy Empire’s” royal family, but the British government had to guarantee that the royal family’s position would remain unshaken.

That was a minor issue. After all, making promises was easy, and Sir Edward dismissed it as something trivial. After this war, the Prussian-Polish Federation would need to recover and rebuild, and the Prussian government wouldn’t dare cause trouble anytime soon. As for the distant future, that would be the concern of future administrations.

The real problem lay in the unique structure of the Comedy Empire. Convincing the emperor alone wasn’t enough since the imperial parliament also wielded significant influence.

Convincing the small states was a good idea in theory but unfeasible in practice. Telling them would effectively be the same as informing Austria.

The extent of infiltration in the Comedy Empire was a mystery, even to Franz. One clear indicator, however, was that the Austrian Guilder was widely accepted as the standard currency in the empire, circulating more than the Gulden issued by the central government.

It wasn’t that the central government didn’t want to prohibit it. The problem was that the imperial parliament had legalized it, leaving the emperor powerless to intervene.

Of course, the Austrian government had paid a price for this. In return for their cooperation, Austria opened its colonial markets to the small states that voted in favor and occasionally provided economic aid.

While politically separate, the Comedy Empire and Austria were already economically intertwined.

Against this backdrop, Edward found it hard to trust the small states’ ability to maintain secrecy. If any information leaked, the “plan” would remain just a plan. After all, ruining things was always easier than accomplishing them.

Without the support of the small states, bypassing the imperial parliament wasn’t impossible, but it would mean the empire couldn’t count on their contributions during the subsequent war.

The Comedy Empire’s military forces were controlled by the individual state governments. The emperor could only command Hanover’s troops, barely scraping together a force of around 100,000–200,000 at best.

If the imperial parliament refused to cooperate and vetoed the decision to allow the Prussian-Polish Federation to join the empire, even material support would be off the table.

At most, the emperor would lead Hanover’s army alone into battle against Russia, leaving the German Federal Empire uninvolved.

This limited force might inflict some casualties on the Russians but wouldn’t be enough to alter the outcome of the war.

Admittedly, Edward realized he might have been overthinking. So far, only the Prussian government had responded to his plan, while the German Federal Empire had given no reply at all.

The costs were evident, but the returns were nebulous. The central government of the “Comedy Empire” had long faced questions of legitimacy from the public, forcing it to tread cautiously and avoid giving the imperial parliament any leverage against it.

Without sufficient benefits, convincing them to take the risk of joining a bloody Russo-Prussian War was impossible even with Britain backing the plan.

It wasn’t like they had no alternatives. If pushed too hard, they could switch sides at any moment. With plenty of buyers in the current geopolitical market, they could strike a favorable deal elsewhere just as easily.

…

Footnote: Bashe (Chinese: 巴蛇; pinyin: bā-shé; Wade–Giles: pa-she) was a python-like Chinese mythological giant snake that ate elephants.

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