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

Chapter 1939, "Appeal to the German People"

In fact, the Austrian Imperial military was not too surprised by Franz's order, and Albrecht had even set up troops on standby at the Sachs border.

The Austrian military did not see the Saxon trap as particularly daunting, since even the most ingenious schemes require the strength to back them up.

No matter how hard a Venus flytrap works, it can't catch an eagle. Besides, the Prussian army had just entered Saxony, and even if it had planned it beforehand, it was impossible to create a truly lethal trap in a short time.

Three hundred thousand was a number that the Austrian Imperial military considered absolutely unacceptable to the Kingdom of Prussia.

In fact, Albrecht believed that 300,000 men were enough to sweep across North Germany, but for safety reasons, he still had General Gablenz bring 100,000 men as reserves.

Prussia had long been thoroughly infiltrated by the Austrians, and based on the corroboration of existing intelligence, the conclusion was that Prussia only had 250,000 troops in Saxony.

Fifty thousand of them were stationed in the Ore Mountains as bait to lure the Austrian army into a full-scale attack.

The Ore Mountains were traditionally a vital route for those traveling north from Bohemia, and their terrain was easy to defend and difficult to attack.

The Austrian army would not be able to capture the city quickly. At this point, Prussia would send elite troops to cut off the Austrian army's retreat and prevent reinforcements from reaching them.

What remained was for the army to encircle them.
This tactic was not problematic in the traditional sense, but times had changed. At this point, the Austrian army could bypass the Ore Mountains to the west and advance directly into the Elbe Valley to attack the Prussian army's rear base.

The Austrian army wanted a direct confrontation.
Of course, before that, Franz published an "Appeal to the German People".

"On July 30, 1859, the Kingdom of Prussia publicly opposed the ruling of the German Confederation, refusing to grant its people any guarantee, and even more so opposing any state granting any guarantee in any form."

On August 1, 1859, Prussian troops crossed the Saxon border and occupied Dresden without a declaration of war.

This is a blatant trampling of Confederate law, a public betrayal of sacred oaths, and a public betrayal of all people living within the German Confederation.

Is this what they call freedom and civilization?
I know that some people have made very good promises. They have told you what to do and how to sacrifice, all for a better future.

I will not refute them one by one here; what I want to tell you is how to distinguish them.

Don't be swayed by their sweet words; look at what they do.

Words may not be true, but actions do not lie.

Beautiful words may temporarily cover up the filth of reality, but everything will see the light of day again through real actions, and only action can bring about real change.

I will shoulder the heavy responsibility of rebuilding order and faith. War will be brutal, but only by removing the rotten flesh can life be restored.

On August 2, 1859, the Austrian Empire formally declared war on the enemies who opposed the peace-loving German people, and on correcting the mistakes of our brothers.

Franz didn't want to be too sentimental; he just wanted to state the facts.

The cold, hard facts are equally powerful, especially in stark contrast to the earlier Prussian "Appeal to the Citizens of Germany."

William I's previous pronouncements mostly mentioned the contributions of the bourgeoisie, as well as the so-called principles of free trade and the inviolability of private property.

They used a lot of fancy words, but the basic logical framework is still the struggle for interests between nations and dynasties.

Ordinary people don't really feel it, but some smart people can also see through the truth behind the surface.

Some of the praise for businessmen and factory owners went far beyond the scope of affirmation, even bordering on sycophancy.

This caused many traditional nobles to feel physically uncomfortable, since the relationship between nobles and capitalists at this time was not as close as it would be in later generations, and some of the transformed nobles were simply unable to reverse this situation.

William I's behavior was even more disgraceful within the royal family. Although it was imitated by many royal families afterward, they were all forced to do so to some extent.

However, both Prussia and Austria were using the banner of the Confederation at this time, claiming that they were the righteous ones.

In fact, when Metternich designed the German Confederation, he added an insurance policy for Austria: declaring war on the chairing state was equivalent to declaring war on the Confederation.

Although Bismarck had long been determined to go to war with the Austrian Empire, the Prussian government never publicly declared war in order to avoid unnecessary trouble.

The Austrian Empire did not directly declare war on Prussia, but instead declared war on “the enemy who opposes the peace-loving German people and to correct the mistakes of our brothers.”

To some extent, the two sides were at war without declaring war, and the Austrian Empire's propaganda was also quite interesting.

The reason for using this vague statement is actually to imply that the Prussians were colluding with foreign enemies.

Of course, the newspapers also published even more sensational revelations, such as the claim that the French Foreign Legion was an army composed of vicious criminals.

From the Iberian Peninsula to Russia, tales of their atrocities abound. Indeed, the French Foreign Legion brought atrocities to these lands.

At this time, the Kingdom of Prussia openly invited these beasts in human skin into the German Confederation. What else could this be but inviting wolves into the house?
Franz didn't care at all whether the country had a large army or not, but some people did.

What's even more frightening is that those people actually confirmed these things when they were spreading the propaganda. Some of the rhetoric and stories that were originally intended to intimidate the Austrians have now become their own death warrant.

Of course, it's impossible to determine a winner through a war of words.

Everything still comes down to the battlefield. Apart from Prussia, which is relatively active, the other countries in the anti-Austrian alliance are all watching and waiting.

The Kingdom of Hanover, as the second strongest in the anti-Austrian alliance at the time, did not want to send its troops to the front lines.

As mentioned earlier, George V was more like a traditional monarch of the 18th century, and his reluctance to participate in the war stemmed from his willingness to hedge his bets.

George V's logic was very clear: he would help whoever won and then share the spoils of victory.

In this way, the Kingdom of Hanover will be invincible forever.

Nothing else mattered to him or the Kingdom of Hanover.

Of course, George V also had ambitions. He was waiting for an opportunity. If Prussia and Austria could both suffer heavy losses, and if he was close enough to Britain, then it was not impossible for the Kingdom of Hanover to lead the whole of Germany.

Other countries share similar sentiments; some are waiting for the situation to become clearer, while others are waiting for offers.

However, other countries appeared too weak within the German Confederation at this time, making it difficult for them to intervene in the battles between Prussia and Austria.

However, Prussia also tried to win them over; for example, the Duchy of Anhalt sent 2,000 troops to support Prussia. Luxembourg, which had always been most actively involved in German affairs, took no action, and even after the purge of the Kurdley faction, the Luxembourgers were unwilling to be enemies with the Austrian Empire.

The newly elected political parties were powerless to coerce or bribe them, and since they couldn't go to the battlefield themselves, they only provided some supplies to the Prussian side.

However, after the workers in Luxembourg learned of this, the defect rate in the Luxembourg factory increased significantly, the warehouse started to catch fire, and there were even two train derailments in one day that brought traffic to a near standstill.

As for King Frederick VII of Denmark, who had been making a lot of noise, he not only failed to send a single soldier to support Prussia.

Instead, they set up a checkpoint in the Denmark Strait to collect taxes from Prussian merchant ships, ostensibly for wartime needs.

However, in the newspapers, King Frederick VII of Denmark claimed that he had dispatched 100,000 troops and more than 100 generals to help Prussia, and even personally formulated a battle plan for Prussia.

The Prussians could barely tolerate it, since it could still intimidate the Austrians, but to say that they were formulating battle plans for Prussia was truly insulting.

However, this was not the most troublesome thing for the Kingdom of Prussia. King Frederick VII of Denmark also launched a fundraising campaign, claiming that he had raised 100 million kronor and had donated it all to the Kingdom of Prussia.

The problem was that the Prussian government hadn't received a single penny. This time, William I was really anxious because he had initially believed it and even wrote a letter of thanks.

The problem was that not a single penny of the money had arrived. William I no longer cared about a united front, since he hadn't expected Denmark to help anyway, and directly denounced Frederick VII as a fraud.

Frederick VII, not to be outdone, again threatened to withdraw from the Confederation.

"What a lousy place! I'm not staying here!"

However, there were people even more anxious than William I: the Danish people, who could hardly believe their ears.

"Why give 100 million crowns to the Prussians? We're still starving!"

In fact, the price war also greatly damaged Denmark, and the market situation was very strange. On the one hand, there was a large amount of unsold goods, and on the other hand, prices soared.

The so-called economic laws seem to have completely disappeared.

At this time, the most panicked within the entire German Confederation were the Duchy of Belgium and the Duchy of Alsace-Lorraine, because the internal turmoil within the German Confederation meant they would face a direct threat from France.

This is also a major reason why Napoleon III was so proactive, because with the outbreak of the German Civil War, France would likely be able to reclaim these territories.

It's simply a matter of using leverage or taking advantage of someone's misfortune.

Louis Philippe even fell ill due to excessive worry. After arriving in Strasbourg, he experienced a second spring in his life, making people forget that he was already an 86-year-old man.

The entire Duchy of Alsace-Lorraine, and even the entire House of Orléans, were plunged into chaos.

Fortunately, Guizot and Thiers were still around. They immediately declared martial law throughout the region and began a large-scale mobilization.

However, they did not intend to participate in the struggle between Austria and Prussia, but rather to defend the lands of the House of Orléans.

In reality, the Duchy of Arthas-Lorraine is indeed in a difficult position to take sides. After all, taking sides would offend the other side, and neither side would benefit them. So, they simply choose not to take sides.

As for the high-ranking officials of the July Dynasty, they didn't really have any special feelings towards those capitalists, after all, they had indeed been abandoned by capitalists.

The Duchy of Alsace-Lorraine has developed rapidly in recent years, and Franz's intervention has led to a high degree of Germanization of the Duchy.

The Orléans family also vigorously promoted the crimes of the Second French Empire, so this group became even less attached to France.

Louis-Philippe had a poor image among his own people, but Napoleon III's image was even worse, because there were always people from his countrymen who had fled back to France saying that home was the best place.

Coupled with border smuggling, the people of Alsace-Lorraine have unknowingly developed a sense of pride in their German identity.

However, their feelings were more towards the German nation and the German Confederation, so they were not particularly fond of either Austria or Prussia.

Franz may be a hero in their eyes, but he offended another heroine in their hearts, so the people of Alsace-Lorraine have very mixed feelings about him.

Fanny Cotter is seen by the Alsace-Lorraine people more as a failed but surviving Joan of Arc.

After all, Joan of Arc also set out from Lorraine, but Fanny Cotter only managed to hold Alsace-Lorraine and was unable to liberate France.

She later had a child out of wedlock and could only hide in her castle all day. Some of the rumors were unbelievable, but the facts were undeniable.

From Franz's perspective, it was impossible for France to produce another saint, not even during the most corrupt Orleans dynasty.

Franz was reluctant to kill innocent people indiscriminately, so he could only personally smear her name.

Of course, Franz also helped her avoid the worst possible outcome in a way, since a saint is more useful to a ruler than a living one.

However, at this moment, Fanny Curt once again donned a military uniform.
Wilhelm I and Bismarck wanted to start this war for another reason: the dual structure of Prussia at that time was too disgusting.

If this drags on, even Bismarck wouldn't be able to change the situation; at most, he could only make some minor repairs.

Fortunately, the Prussian government had this opportunity to win over capitalists in the Rhine region, and the original iron triangle was suddenly missing a piece, so the structure was naturally less stable.

However, it was difficult for those capitalists alone to change the status quo in the Rhine region, so they decided to repeat their old tricks.

The Archbishop of Cologne was shot dead in the church, and several bribed worker leaders and capitalists joined forces to quickly purge the upper echelons of the opposition forces in the Rhine region.

Because it was premeditated, it gave the impression that the complete overhaul was accomplished almost overnight.

However, before they could even celebrate, they discovered a new problem: even though the leadership of the opposition had disappeared, the people of the Rhine region were unwilling to fight.

Many young people even ran to the mountains to avoid military service, and even among the soldiers who had already joined the army, their war-weariness was very obvious.

The locals joined the army to fight the French and protect their homes, not to fight among themselves. Prussian soldiers had to go door-to-door to arrest people, which greatly reduced the efficiency of recruitment.

However, unorganized resistance is ultimately short-lived; no matter how unwilling they are, they cannot withstand the threat of bayonets.

As in history, a large number of reluctant soldiers were loaded into train cars and transported to the battlefield. Fortunately, the Prussian military high command did not have high expectations for them.

On August 4, 1859, Austrian troops entered the Elbe Valley without firing a shot.