Britain, London.
The British were both surprised and unsurprised by the arrival of the Austrian delegation.
What surprised them was how quickly the Austrians had come. After all, the Austrian Empire had won battle after battle and successfully broken through the British naval blockade.
More importantly, sending a delegation to negotiate in enemy territory was usually seen as a sign of weakness. The side hosting the peace conference was generally considered the victor and the one in control, just as Austria had been at the Congress of Vienna.
But the British were not surprised by the Austrians' humble posture. After all, they were merely a land power, and their resources were limited.
The British Empire, by contrast, was a sea power. It could command almost unlimited resources and use the City of London to raise funds, injecting an endless stream of energy into the war effort.
Even France, in its day, had crumbled beneath the British Empire's onslaught. The British had always believed they would be the last ones standing, and this time was no different.
However, the British Government was also in a very difficult position. The defeat in the war had magnified the crises at home and abroad beyond measure: the Irish, the Scots, the Chartists, the Jacobites, and those wretched ghosts.
The Tories had stooped to shameful lengths in their struggle for power. Under the banner of upholding justice, they had even revealed the truth to the public and the royal family.
On top of that, with so many factors piling up, the economic crisis had not improved. It had only worsened.
The situation grew especially dire after the defeat in the Mediterranean Sea battle, when the Austrian Navy began copying the British Navy's tactics and intercepting British merchant ships.
The cargo aboard those ships was not