Chapter 134: Donation Fraud Scandal
Between nations, interests were always the central theme. While Franz plotted against the Russians, the Tsarist Government was likewise plotting against Austria.
Such calculations had nothing to do with the alliance. Everyone was operating within the rules. So long as their interests outweighed their conflicts, their alliance remained dependable.
After the Russo-Austrian Alliance was established, the Tsarist Government eased its suppression of Prussia.
Clearly, after the Austrian Government revealed its ambitions toward South Germany, the Tsarist Government feared that Austria would unite the entire German region and threaten its continental hegemony. They were preparing to use the Prussians to check Austria.
The most obvious sign was that the diplomatic pressure Russia imposed on the Kingdom of Prussia was no longer as forceful as before.
In a sense, Franz had inadvertently lent the Prussians a hand. Of course, that help was not enough for the Russians to sit back and allow the Kingdom of Prussia to annex the two duchies of Schleswig and Holstein.
The Russians were not yet willing to abandon Denmark, their little brother. The Tsarist Government needed a stable Northern Europe, while the Kingdom of Prussia's expansion had already shattered the balance there.
The Tsarist Government found itself in a dilemma. The best option was to have the Kingdom of Prussia develop toward central Germany, buying time and delaying Austria's unification of the South German states.
Yet they could not allow the Kingdom of Prussia to unify the German region either. That did not fit Russian strategy. In the Tsarist Government's eyes, Austria was the best choice for an ally.
It possessed a certain degree of strength, yet not enough to threaten Russia. Most importantly, the House of Habsburg was already very old. For any old empire, rebirth was an extraordinarily difficult matter.