France, Paris.
Severe divisions had appeared within the French Republicans. In truth, those divisions had always existed; it was only that their earlier victories had covered over these contradictions.
Now bad news came one piece after another. It would have been strange if they could still sit still.
Although none of this bad news could be called a major defeat, the so-called French Republicans were not a single party, but a faction, a mixture of many parties and individuals with different political views.
For such a loose organization, one without a powerful leader, it would have been strange if they didn't fall into infighting. The doves led by Lamartine wanted to abandon the alliance with Spain and stop the war with the Austrian Empire.
Although the Republicans had talked up the benefits of this war until flowers rained from the sky, in reality, the only ones who had gained any benefit were the Republicans themselves.
France's national strength had not yet recovered from the shadows of the economic crisis and the defeat in the war of 1848. To compete with the Austrian Empire in national strength now was simply to seek one's own death.
As for the British, they were utterly unreliable. The Earl of Derby kept saying that he wanted to maintain the peace of Europe together with France, but the British fleet could not even enter the Mediterranean Sea.
"The British lent us money because they want us to go die! Clever Frenchmen should not be deceived by those crafty The British!"
The French Republicans had no unified stronghold, so they often had to rely on public debates to decide what should be done next. It often gave people the illusion that they had stepped into ancient Rome, or even ancient Greece.
"Mr. Lamartine! You slander our allies