1834

Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace, nursery.

Franz was searching through mountains of documents for useful information.

Austria currently had 30 kilometers of railway, Prussia 6 kilometers, France 150 kilometers, and Britain 600 miles (about 965 kilometers).

Every country had ambitious plans for railways. The French government had approved a 730-kilometer railway construction plan, and by 1848 France's total railway network would reach 1,814 kilometers.

But even that was too cautious compared with the states of the Zollverein. The alliance as a whole, excluding Austria, planned to build 6,000 kilometers of railway.

The British had also approved plans to build 6,000 miles (about 8,047 kilometers) of railway. By 1870, Britain would have 15,357 miles (about 24,714 kilometers) of railway and the densest rail network in the world.

The Russian tsarist government had yet to realize the importance of railways. It had approved only a few easy-to-build routes, totaling about 200 kilometers. Even by 1866, Russia would have a pitiful 1,488 kilometers of railway.

At this time, the Americans had only one railway construction plan, for 2,000 kilometers, but by 1850 they would have 9,021 kilometers of railway.

Historically, Austria had approved plans to build only about 350 kilometers of railway. It would not have 1,200 kilometers until 1848.

The Austrian government had approved Salomon Rothschild's Northern Railway construction plan. The Northern Railway Company would build 700 kilometers of railway over the next ten years.

But Solomon's dream of a Southern Railway had fallen through—not because Francis II disagreed.

Francis II was very satisfied with Salomon Rothschild's bribes, but the military and Count Kolowrat refused to budge over ownership of the Southern Railway Company.

Moreover, Francis II's special adviser, Friedrich List, supported the military and Count Kolowrat's position, and the intelligence provided by the secret police was also highly unfavorable to Salomon Rothschild.

In the end, Francis II decided to follow Friedrich List's advice and award the construction of Austria's Southern Railway to three different railway companies.

Afterward, the military invoked national security to request several new railway lines from Francis II. Through the machinations of Count Kolowrat and Friedrich List, the rights to operate those lines were ultimately sold to the highest-bidding merchants.

However, Count Kolowrat, Latour (the Minister of War), and Friedrich List had not expected that two important railway lines would end up in French hands.

Austria had now approved the construction of a total of 1,400 kilometers of railway.

American cotton accounted for 85% of the world's output, driving the British to urgently seek new sources of raw materials. They had set their sights on Egypt and India.

The number of steam-powered looms: Austria had 1,324, Prussia 223, France 1,511, and Britain 7,000. (Including water-powered looms, Britain had 100,000.) Notably, Saxony, the textile center of the German lands, had 450 steam-powered looms.

Encouragingly, Austria's machinery industry was fairly strong. It could produce steam-powered looms independently and even export them to other German states.

Saxony was Austria's biggest customer, but for various reasons, Austria's profits were negligible.

Austria's army numbered 450,000, France's 500,000, Prussia's 200,000, and Russia's 600,000.

Austria's army had the most artillery in all of Europe, with about 1,300 guns. The Russians came second, with about 900; the French had only 800, the Prussians fewer than 600, and the British army at home just 300.

As a result, annual military expenditure consumed more than half of Austria's fiscal spending. Yet even so, Austria's investment in military technology and soldier training was gradually failing to keep pace with the times.

As for the navy, Austria had a fair number of warships, but lacked large vessels. Its actual combat strength was inferior even to Russia's, while the French navy was far stronger than the Russian one.

Even so, the combined navies of every European country still fell far short of the British navy.

Just how lopsided was it? The Austrian navy might not be able to defeat a single British squadron. Britain had more than a dozen squadrons of that size.

Even so, the Austrian navy could still win by an overwhelming margin against the navies of non-European countries.

At this time, the Austrian Empire's total foreign trade amounted to 300 million florins, compared with 1 billion francs for France, 400 million rubles for Russia, and 150 million thalers for Prussia. This figure was expected to double one year after the Austrian Empire joined the Zollverein.

However, because tariffs on some goods had been reduced and administrative costs had risen, the actual impact on fiscal revenue was only about 5%.

Of course, as trade expanded and infrastructure improved, fiscal revenue would grow steadily.

Austria's currency system was extremely chaotic. Even the Mark came in several varieties.

The Austrian currency exchange rates used in this book

1 gold Florin = 3 gold Ducats = 4.2 silver Thalers = 5 silver Florins = 150 Groschen = 600 Pfennigs

Commonly used currency: 1 silver Florin = 12 Kreuzer = 30 Groschen = 120 Pfennigs = 0.83 Thalers

The British large steamships Asnan and Atlantic were under construction. They would go on to become pioneers in Britain's conquest of the seas.

Austria had a population of 31 million, but the people's educational standards were worrying. It had more illiterates than Spain, though Spain was torn by war. The only country that could rival Austria in this regard was neighboring Russia.

However, Austria had the most university students on the European mainland, possibly because it had so many universities.

Austria's pig iron output was 100,000 tons, a third of France's and less than a tenth of Britain's. It was slightly lower than Prussia's and even fell short of Belgium's.

Russia's pig iron output was 150,000 tons.

Austria's agricultural strength was unexpectedly formidable. Its grain output was four times France's at the time and twenty times Prussia's.

Austria had adopted chemical fertilizers relatively early, while French agriculture was in a slump and had also been hit by natural disasters.

Austria had 2.8 million mules and horses, 11 million cattle, 5 million pigs, and 30 million sheep.

In livestock farming, Austria was on a par with France. Prussia had roughly as many pigs, cattle, sheep, and poultry as France and Austria, but it was desperately short of mules and horses, with only a tenth as many as France or Austria.

Austria's armaments depended mainly on private arms factories and foreign imports.

Austria's arms factories were concentrated in Bohemia and Lower Austria. One small town, Chamanz i, produced half of the entire empire's rifles.

The Austrian military had almost monopolized the Austrian Empire's ammunition trade.

But that created a paradox: if ammunition prices were too low, the military would make no money; if they were set too high, the soldiers could not afford to use it.

The standard pay for an Austrian soldier was 100 florins a year.

But because of the Austrian Empire's fiscal troubles, in peacetime they could only be paid half the standard amount: 50 florins.

The other 50 florins were saved for equipment upgrades and provisions.

What was worse, senior officers in the Austrian army had once complained that bullets cost more than soldiers. Why couldn't those soldiers use sabers and spears instead?

That would solve the problem of all the idle vagrants on the streets while also cutting military expenses.

Fortunately, the high-ranking officer who made the suggestion was ordered into early retirement.

That saved the lives of countless soldiers and ammunition suppliers.

This may be a little messy, but this is the chapter I've put the most effort into so far. Most of my time went into researching the material.

Thanks to readers Shenzhou Buwu Tianxia Fengdao, 20210806232711729, and Yundong Bafang for their tips, reader lax-X for the monthly ticket, and all the readers for their support.