Persian Empire 1845

Chapter 277 Vienna Conference

This conversation with his mother sent a chill down Franz's spine, meaning that a considerable portion of Vienna still did not approve of his policies.

It seems the forces hindering his reforms are not outside the court, but within it. In every noble household in Vienna, there's no way they can control their family!
The Prague Parliament was the first to hold elections, with 53 of the 61 seats held by pro-Habsburg members. The Bohemian Parliament followed a similar pattern; although the results are not yet available, it is certain to be a landslide victory for the pro-Habsburgs.

With the political turmoil in Bohemia over and Franz gaining support from Prague, his next challenge should be dealing with the Hungarians.

As an empire, the Austrian Empire encompassed a vast territory including Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, Slovenia, Croatia, northern Italy, and Galicia, formerly part of Poland. However, the Italian unification wars resulted in the Austrian Empire losing its northern Italian territories.

Given the grim domestic and international situation, after the collapse of Bach's government, the Austrian Empire adopted a series of conciliatory policies toward Hungary, hoping to keep Hungary relatively quietly within the empire. However, Hungary was clearly not satisfied; they demanded even greater concessions from Austria.

"The Hungarians have always been like this; even Queen Theresa had to rely on them to defend against the Prussian invasion. In gratitude, the Queen was very lenient towards them when drafting laws."

Franz now unconditionally trusts Nasserdin, whose advice has proven remarkably practical. However, Nasserdin's latest suggestion for subduing Hungary is to dismantle it—a huge risk indeed.

Yes, split it up. The Kingdom of Hungary is half the size of Austria; that gives them confidence. Just split it up.

Furthermore, Hungarians are not the majority in Hungary; Romanians, Croats, and other ethnic groups also make up significant numbers. Perhaps it would be better to break it down piecemeal and then build a balanced nation.

Naserdin proposed splitting Hungary into the Principality of Transylvania (dominated by Romanians), the Principality of Croatia (dominated by Croats), and the northern province with Budapest as its capital, leaving Hungary with its more populous areas so they would not cause trouble.

This audacious plan startled Franz; such a violent dismantling might trigger a second Hungarian revolution. But if they didn't dismantle it, they would have to endure endless trouble from the Hungarians; dismantling it, though causing immediate difficulties, would be good for the future.

However, for now, it's best to settle things in Austria first before discussing the Hungarian issue. Franz and Nasserdin, meanwhile, secretly signed numerous agreements, including documents regarding the Tehran-Vienna railway construction.

The railway was to be built by the soon-to-be-established Austrian Railway Company and the Iranian Railway Company, which would jointly form the Eastern Railway Company to be responsible for the construction within the Ottoman territory.

However, Iran was not in a position to engage in discussions with the Ottomans, so Austria was tasked with competing for the railway construction.

To increase fiscal revenue, Franz also initiated the process of nationalizing railways. Currently, Austria owns 55% of its railways, but due to financial difficulties, it has had to sell off a number of railways. Now they are preparing to rebuild, and naturally, a state-owned railway company will be established.

Franz was determined to develop Austria's economy. Like Queen Theresa's fiscal reforms, Franz aimed to implement his own economic reforms. Nationalizing the railways was only the first step; other measures he enacted included monetary reform and promoting exports. Without money, nothing could proceed.

Of course, Iranian and French capital also played a role in this. The Austrian Development Bank, established in Vienna, was a joint venture between Iranian royalty and French bankers, and their first investment project was a glass factory in the Czech Republic.

They also learned of Austria's plan to establish state-owned enterprises and naturally prepared to invest. The government, for the sake of the economy, welcomed their investment.

At this time, a conference concerning the situation in the Balkans was being held in Vienna, the capital of Austria. Envoys from Britain, France, Austria, Russia, and Prussia, as well as the Ottoman Empire and Iran, and Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, and Romania, all came to Vienna to argue for their countries' independence and expansion.

The Ottomans were unwilling to cede all of the Balkans, but the other side was simply too powerful, so they had to deal with it one by one.

He first approached the Romanian envoy, promising them independence and the Dobroga region; then he approached Serbia, who offered to allow them to expand into Niš.

This resolved two issues: Greece was not an option for compromise. As for Bulgaria, the Ottomans were willing to grant them autonomy, but only on the condition that the current borders be maintained. This was their greatest show of sincerity.

As for the major European powers, Britain wanted to maintain the integrity of the Ottoman Empire, Austria was only interested in Bosnia, and the only country they needed to guard against was Russia. After being defeated by Iran, wouldn't Russia want revenge?

After a month of negotiations, the final result was: the Bulgarian region was divided into three parts: Bulgaria, Eastern Rumelia, and Macedonia; Tsarist Russia retained Bessarabia. The independence of Serbia and Romania was recognized; Bosnia and Herzegovina's sovereignty nominally remained with the Ottoman Empire, but administrative control was transferred to Austria-Hungary.

Currently, these are conditions acceptable to all parties. The next step is the signing of treaties between the various countries. However, these are only the official treaties; there are also a series of secret agreements between the Ottoman Empire and Iran.

Knowing the close ties between Iran and Austria, the Ottomans secretly signed an agreement with Iran to gain its favor with Austria. This agreement granted Iran the rights to build railways in Syria and Jerusalem, while also giving Iran diplomatic priority in Cyprus, Crete, and Rhodes.

If it weren't for the need for Iran, the Ottomans probably wouldn't have so easily ceded so many benefits. The Ottomans had very weak control over these three islands, so giving them up wouldn't have been a problem. But little did they know, Iran also wanted these islands. Each of them held a crucial position at sea; if they fell into the hands of Britain or Greece, Iran would have no chance of expanding into the Eastern Mediterranean.

Moreover, after the war, Iranian goods rapidly gained market share in the Ottoman Empire. Due to their lower costs, Iranian products became even more popular than French ones. Coupled with the Ottoman Empire's financial difficulties, it was forced to transfer domestic rights to foreign entities in exchange for revenue. Railways and mineral exploration were the two most important rights.

(End of this chapter)