The upheaval at the Paris Conference was relayed to Franz. Metternich explained his views, while the senior officials holding down the fort in Vienna also offered their advice.
In short, they should quit while they were ahead. Austria's original plan had been to annex South Germany. Now Baden could not be kept, but they had gained Saxony instead.
In terms of territory, the two were roughly equivalent. Yet Saxony was clearly more important to Austria. Setting industry aside, it had at least several hundred thousand more people than the Duchy of Baden.
The Three Germanys plan was part of Austria's unification strategy. It had first been proposed by Metternich, who had begun laying the groundwork years ago.
The original ideal plan, however, had been to consolidate the small states of North Germany into a new nation, blocking Prussia from unifying North Germany.
Without question, if Austria had put forward this plan, it would have failed one hundred percent. The Prussian Government probably would not even have needed a moment's thought before rolling up its sleeves and going at it.
Thus, this great responsibility could only be handed to the British. In the early stages, the Austrian Government had to be sufficiently cowardly, making the Prussian Government believe that Austria would concede under international pressure and withdraw from Germany.
Once Austria was out of the picture, there would be no suspense left in the Kingdom of Prussia's unification of Germany. Faced with such temptation, Frederick William IV had failed to restrain himself and missed the chance for Two Germanys.
Franz had no ability to command the British. He could only make them believe that Three Germanys best served their interests—or, more precisely, make London's capitalists believe that Three Germanys could preserve their markets.
Austria lacked the ability to interfere with the