The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 1652 The Vienna Declaration

As a result, he was naturally given a severe scolding by Franz. Although he opposed authoritarianism, he did not want his subordinates to waver in their commitment to the country's established policies.

However, Franz did not make an example of him; he simply pointed out the crux of the problem.

"Since you know that Britain is strong and we are weak, how dare you think like this? Is this kind of secret agreement binding on the British?"
It will only tie our own hands and make us a laughingstock.

Prince Sivarzenberg was not stupid; he was just overconfident and unintentionally let the other side lead him astray, overlooking a key element.

"Whether Russia is a friend or foe is not up to them to decide. The real decision-makers are Nicholas I and me, as for the so-called joint establishment of a new order."

Did the British and Russians establish a new order?

The British promises are worthless; once they've won, they can choose how to fulfill them, or even whether to fulfill them at all.

Franz paused for a moment before continuing.

"Don't worry, the British feel they must be in a dominant position, or they won't give up easily."

That's enough.

As a result, the first phase of negotiations between Britain and Austria naturally broke down. However, George Villiers soon returned to Vienna, this time taking complete control.

George Villiers was also dissatisfied with Prime Minister George Hamilton Gordon, who always pretended to be humble and eager to learn, but was more arrogant than anyone else.

"What a naive fellow! That guy actually thought the Austrians wouldn't be able to figure out what he was thinking."

George Villiers gave him a scathing critique, after all, it was simply intolerable that the other party dared to question his professionalism as a diplomat.

His subordinates were not optimistic about this second round of negotiations, given that the Austrian side had rejected the proposal quite decisively before.

Now George Villiers has simply replaced the secret agreement with a so-called public declaration, which they see as nothing more than a change in name only.

However, this time Franz felt that the proposal was not unacceptable. Although it would restrict the Austrian Empire's naval strategy to some extent, it did greatly increase the risk of the British defaulting, and thus could be considered to have a certain restraining effect.

Moreover, Franz had been searching for a way to reduce losses at sea, and the British proposal seemed particularly appealing at this time.

However, to enhance its binding force, Franz needs to turn this declaration into a global declaration and include punitive clauses; otherwise, it will be nothing more than a beautiful but unenforceable piece of paper.

So Austrian diplomats took action, and eventually 38 major countries, including Britain, Austria, Russia, France, Prussia, Spain, and the United States, jointly signed the declaration.

The Vienna Declaration will follow the principle of collective reciprocity; if one country violates it, then all other countries will not have to abide by the rules in relation to that country.

If a country seriously violates the declaration, then the victim country's retaliation and countermeasures will be considered legitimate.

Similarly, third-party countries can impose trade sanctions or even wage war against countries that violate the rules, citing the need for them to fulfill their commitments.

Apart from some minor complaints from the UK, most other countries were quite pleased with this, since most of them could only exist as prey.

However, the British did not insist too much, since the biggest beneficiary of this declaration was actually Britain, given that British businesses are located all over the world.

Moreover, if Britain can win, and not in a Pyrrhic victory, it is not impossible for the rules to be changed, or for other countries to forget some of its illegal acts.

The Vienna Declaration was largely modeled after the later Paris Naval Declaration (officially the Paris Declaration on Certain Principles of the Sea). It did not imitate the pre-World War I London Declaration primarily because the time difference was too great; many common-sense concepts from later periods seemed quite bizarre, even incomprehensible, at that time.

The first article of the Vienna Declaration abolished the system of privateering.

To be honest, this thing is outdated. Even the British want to get rid of it, which shows just how bad its negative effects are.

Privateers were once the secret to Britain's rise to power. However, as times changed, the British became the dominant maritime powers and the rule-makers. Naturally, those who broke the rules became thorns in their side.

Moreover, with the development of the times, naval warfare has become more professional, and the participation of armed merchant ships can no longer provide enough combat power to change the situation.

At the same time, after hundreds of years of experimentation, privateers no longer relentlessly pursue enemy warships. Their main business has become attacking enemy ships, neutral merchant ships, and even their own supply lines.

Many privateers carried flags of multiple countries, which often left the British confused about whether the enemy was too strong or their own privateers were simply too inhuman.

If even the maritime superpower Britain was like this, one can only imagine what other countries were like.

As a result, privateers disappeared from the world stage, and even piracy only existed in the Caribbean and Southeast Asia.

However, the Caribbean pirates in history were not as glamorous as depicted in the movies. In reality, the Caribbean pirates were more like Somali pirates, mostly composed of poor fishermen who used rudimentary weapons and relied on gaining the sympathy of their enemies to carry out sneak attacks.

However, with the establishment of British, French, and Austrian colonies at this time, piracy here quickly became a thing of the past.

Article 2. Ships flying the flag of a neutral country shall be protected and shall not be captured, even if they are carrying enemy cargo.

However, the cargo should not contain firearms, ammunition, or other wartime contraband.

The third provision stipulates that neutral goods on ships flying enemy flags shall not be captured, which further protects neutral property.

The same applies to prohibited items.

Articles two and three can essentially be considered as one, namely, the protection of neutral countries and goods from neutral countries.

It sounds quite selfless, but please note that the treaty specifies ships flying the flag of a neutral country, not ships of a neutral country. This is quite significant and makes the process much more feasible.

As for the so-called goods from neutral countries, that's even more interesting.

However, this is precisely why some countries strive to become neutral, since they can enjoy so many benefits on the surface and secretly use this status to make extra money.

why not?

This almost made Franz consider declaring the Austrian Empire a neutral country.

The fourth rule is that the blockade must be effective.

This sounds a bit strange. Could there be an invalid block?

In fact, there were such cases, but mainly during the anti-French war, countries liked to announce that they had blocked certain straits or areas, resulting in the entire sea being a restricted area.

On the surface, merchant ships were completely unable to navigate, but in reality, they would not encounter any intercepting warships and could sail freely, as long as they avoided those privateers.

Such a blockade that lacks real effectiveness is called an invalid blockade, also known as a "paper blockade".