Time flew by, and the much-anticipated Vienna peace talks began. The leading roles naturally belonged to the three parties involved—the United Kingdom, France, and Russia—while there were countless supporting players. Every European country had sent representatives.
No one knew when it had started, but whenever a major event occurred on the European Continent, whether it concerned them or not, everyone loved rushing over to join the spectacle.
They called it "concern for international politics." In Franz's eyes, they were simply making their presence known, trying to attract the attention of the great powers.
Do not assume that these small countries' attitudes were unimportant just because they had little say. The opposite was true: when the great powers reached a deadlock, the positions of these small countries determined the final outcome.
There was no superpower on the European Continent at present. The gap in strength between the major powers was not great, and no country could truly fight two enemies alone, much less cow every nation into submission.
It was not as though the stronger side could necessarily do whatever it wanted to the weaker one. If war truly broke out, the more likely result would still be mutual destruction.
The facts of the Near East War had already shown everyone that modern warfare required enormous costs, and that the final gains were often disproportionate to the sacrifices.
Faced with cruel reality, everyone's thinking had changed. Governments across the world were doing their best to avoid war with great powers.
Against such a backdrop, every side had come to the Congress of Vienna in good faith.
The British wanted to extricate themselves from the Near East War as quickly as possible and devote themselves to colonial expansion. Because of the war, the pace of their colonization had been delayed.
The French