The European arms race had begun, and negotiations between France and Austria were nearing their end. Napoleon III wanted to build a Greater France, while Franz wanted to build a Greater Holy Roman Empire. Both sides had their own calculations.
Without question, a strategic clash between France and Austria was almost inevitable. But the time for that conflict to erupt was certainly not now.
Before the Empire was established, France and Austria were still allies. They needed to join forces to share the international pressure. It was a partnership made with a tiger.
On June 6, 1866, Wessenberg, Foreign Minister of the New Holy Roman Empire, and Abraham, Foreign Minister of France, signed the alliance treaty, the Treaty of '66.
The treaty included the following: 1. France and the New Holy Roman Empire formally formed an alliance, valid for ten years;
2. The two countries mutually recognized each other's spheres of influence, based primarily on their current areas of actual control;
3. Austria sold to France its suzerainty over Italian states such as the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the Papal States, and Tuscany for 20 million Divine Shields (250 million francs);
4. France sold French-controlled parts of the Balkans to Austria for 200 million francs (16 million Divine Shields), and sold the colonies in the areas where the two countries' West African claims overlapped to the New Holy Roman Empire for 50 million francs;
5. Austria tacitly permitted France to annex Belgium, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the Papal States, Tuscany, and other regions. In return, France would no longer interfere with Austria's unification of the German regions; (disputed areas would be set aside for the time being)
6. The two countries divided their spheres of influence across the African Continent:
The French acquired most of North Africa