Ireland was enough to make the British grit their teeth and clutch their stomachs, but it still wasn't quite enough to make them accept peace unconditionally.
After much deliberation, Victoria and her husband ultimately decided to wait a little longer. After all, the British Empire was vast and powerful; they could afford to hold out.
Franz naturally knew this as well, so he decided to add another log to the fire.
The Frankfurt National Assembly made a high-profile announcement:
The German Confederation would dispatch an envoy to discuss a temporary peace with France.
The reason it was called a temporary peace was that it reflected the German Confederation's attitude toward the French Second Republic.
As a traditional monarchy, it would not recognize the so-called French Second Republic unless it changed its form of government.
This was both a warning to the French Second Republic and a warning to other European countries not to follow its example too readily.
It was also an attempt to draw the House of Orleans and the French Legitimists closer, while telling them that if they wanted to restore their dynasty, the Austrian Empire was the ally they could trust most.
Franz's proposal of a temporary peace was like being force-fed shit to the French Second Republic. The worst part was that, at that moment, it had no choice but to swallow it.
In less than a month of war, France had lost over a hundred thousand troops. Although Franz had released almost all the prisoners for one reason or another,
nearly every one of them refused to answer the call-up. Their reason was a Declaration of Personal Honor.
A so-called Declaration of Personal Honor was an oath backed by one's personal honor. Before the mid-nineteenth century, such promises were commonly made by nobles and senior