Re: Concert of Europe
I've been working day and night and here it is: the latest chapter of the phantastic multiawarded COE serial:
Chapter 12 – June 1827 to May 1828
The Conference of Munich
After the disturbances during the last period with financial and economic crisis and a riot in the French capitol, the leaders of the nations meet at Munich to talk about these dangerous problems. However, it appears as if the nations are not able to discuss these problems together. The French King remains repeating lame promises and his appearance at Bavaria seems to be more flight from the problems at home than the attempt to solve them. Metternich represents himself as the leader and moderator of the concert, but that cannot hide that the concert does not play together. So the results are poor and the papers can only report of parties and affairs.
At least in the back rooms there are some secret diplomatic meetings. These bilateral meeting are driven by England and Austria. Graf Metternich surprises the conference with the news, that the Hannover affair is solved with gain for Austria and her new ally Saxony. Once again Austria demonstrates her leadership in Germany.
The other surprise comes from Lord Canning. While the others discuss the future of Greece, England creates facts and makes a deal with the Sultan, which gives Albion the control of Greece.
The other nations cannot do anything but agree. The King of Sardinia makes a speech which shows that he is willing to support nationalistic elements as long as his reign is safe. The Pope sends a message to the conference and all Catholics, which will surely increase the differences between some monarchs and their Catholic subjects.
Furthermore, Austria and Bavaria decide to cooperate closer and start to build a railroad between Munich and Austria.
But real life happens while the conference is still discussing. At Paris, the rebels are still holding control over the capitol. When people hear that King left the country, the parliament comes together to discuss the future of the nation. One of its first steps is to depose the king. An armed crowed marches to Versailles, where the foreign mercenaries of the king do not see any reason to defend the empty castle. They decommission their arms and disappear.
As soon as the French King receives these news from home, he resigns and flees to Amsterdam.
The other event is the assassination of the Ottoman Sultan. The murderers, already angered about the shameful defeat against England and now shocked about the loss of Greece, saw no alternative to safe the country. They are supported by the church and the military. They install a new sultan who declares immediately that the Greek deal is invalid.
These two incidents change the situation of Europe fundamentally and start a chain reaction.
The situation on the finance markets is getting worse, as nobody believes that France or the Turks will pay their debts at all. Furthermore, the new French revolution has the potential to spread the rebellion all over Europe.
The Dutch King immediately orders his army to cross the border to France and to reinstall order at Paris. His troops gather at the southern provinces. Here, esp. at Brussels, there are first flyers demanding to split off the catholic south.
In the meanwhile, the French parliament negotiates with Louis-Philippe, who accepts a new constitution and is crowned at Notre Dames.
The French constitution gives so many rights to the parliament, that France seems to be a kind of royal republic. Together with Poland, there are already two European countries controlled by a people's parliament, now.
The new revolution at France sets a sign for all European countries and liberals and everywhere nationalists try to use this new ‘winds of change’ for their purposes. At Baden the people occupy the castle of the king and force him to accept a constitution like the French one. At Cologne, the catholic population rises against the Prussian King and demands democratic rights as well as the freedom of their religion. Some regiments join the rebels, while most of the troops stay neutral and wait for an order of their king.
Soon the fire catches the Netherlands. The Dutch King recognizes the new French monarch and orders the troops back. However, rumors propagate among the troops that they are supposed to march against Cologne to fight the Catholics there. Catholic regiments refuses to follow the orders of the commander of the army, crown prince Willem, and soon others join them. The citizens of Brussels raise and demand liberty from the protestant north. The crown prince does not dare a confrontation and moves northwards with his loyal troops. The rebels occupy Brussels and declare the free and catholic republic of Belgium. Luxembourg declares itself independent, too.
While liberal ideas shake the western part of Europe, it is the desire for national self-determination that makes waves in the East. As soon as the Greek learn about the agreement between London and Istanbul, they try to take over control. After the murder of the sultan, the new one calls off the deal and makes the Balkans explode. The Greek rebellion starts at Athens, where the Greek leaders meet to discuss the proposals of the new sultan. The weak and irritated Turkish garrisons are overwhelmed a slaughtered. Greek patriots kill all members of Turkish families, women as well as little children. Only 4,000 of 20,000 escape to the Turkish mainland.
At Crete, the confrontation between Greek rebels and Egyptian soldiers escalates. The Egyptians send more soldiers and manage to cut off several hundred rebels in a monastery. Although surrounded by several thousand Egyptians, the defenders refuse to give in. When the besiegers finally try to assault, the Greek patriots blow themselves up. The explosion also kills or wounds hundreds of Egyptians. After this battle, the Egyptians control again the coast and the main harbors, while the rebels still control the mountains.
Fire catches also the rest of the Balkans: Serbian troops arrest the small Turkish garrison and Belgrade declares itself independent. Croatia and Romania follow. Bulgaria is freed with the help of 2,000 Russian soldiers.
Although the new sultan pays half a million to appease London, the British prime minister orders a punitive expedition. There are no Ottoman ships that try to intercept the command of the Royal Navy. The British battleships begin to bombard the batteries at the Dardanelles Strait. Although the Ottoman has increased the numbers of cannons there, they are taken by surprise. British infantry lands at the shores and assaults the Ottoman positions. The Turkish cannons, among them the biggest cannon of the world, are silenced and destroyed.
After this, the British forces begin to lay sieges on Istanbul. While the Royal Navy cuts off all connections from the sea, British infantry occupies the connections to the mainland and starts to build fortifications. In May, the British begin to bombard the Ottoman capitol from the sea as well as from the ground.
Miscellaneous:
Dutch ships and troops invade Zanzibar and take control over this base. A Dutch governor is installed.
The disposer of Levant rejects the threats of the new Ottoman sultan. During a sermon at Jerusalem, he declares, that he is the Mahdi, sent from Allah to gather all true believers to punish all apostates and to down all nonbelievers. He asks the Moslems all over the world to follow him. The Porte sends an army of 60,000 to threaten the former Ottoman commander.
At Egypt, the administration tries to accelerate the modernization of the country. A kind of mercantilism is performed, with substitution of imports and increasing influence on private enterprises.
The army and navy benefit from French and English trainers.
Social reforms introduce a new judiciary system inspired by the Code Napoleon, free education is offered to at least some of the poor people. This, of course, meets resistance of the upper class and the church.
Egypt begins to send cheap goods to the markets of Northern Africa.
A big part of the Egyptian army is supporting the colonization of Sudan, mainly the mines.
At South Africa, a regiment of the British colonial army stops the advance of the French/Egyptian expedition forces. Both parties begin to negotiate, but as no side has clear orders, none of them wants to attack or to retreat. So both sides improve the positions and waits for orders from their government.
The Dutch citizens of South Africa send a furious protest to the governor of Cape Town. They feel discriminated. They also send a letter to the Dutch king, asking for his support.
The congress of the United State passes a law to dispose the Hudson Bay Company. All the land is now owned by the government and shall be given to American settlers and traders. There will also be a poll where the Canadian provinces can decide whether they want to join the Union. British parties are forbidden and Royalists have to leave the country.
The first ships of the American “Hundred Ships” –program are launched.
Prussia renews the mining deal with the Ottoman sultan. However, due to the heavy losses in the past, the situation on the finance market and the critical development on the Balkans, the Prussian King is not able to find investors.
At Italy, the situation is still quiet, even though it seems that many former rebels return from Spain. Austria increases the strength of her Italian army to 75,000 under General Warman and has no trouble keeping order.
At Vienna, Metternich has to defend his plans to increase military expenses at a moment, when peace with Prussia is assured. Metternich has to increase his deficit and even introduces a small "Navy"-tax. Additional expenses are a half million loan for France.
At France the new King is executing several programs to reinstall order, to secure his reign and to heal the wounds of the country.
First of all there is the new constitution, which forces the King to work in close adjustment with the parliament and to respect the human rights. The King transfers the army into a conscription army and increases the budget of the military accademy.. He also starts initiatives to improve the roads and the education system.
The French minister of finance presents the new budget. Within the budget, there is a 0,5 million loan from Vienna and a 3,8 million loan from Amsterdam. However, the numbers from the Netherlands are not confirmed. France also announces to create a tax free zone with the Netherlands and tells that it is already in negotiating with England to do the same there. The finance market hesitates to support France with fresh money as there is still no statement about the old bills.
Louis-Philippe also starts a land reform to turn unused land into acres.
Russia reduces her army significantly, while Poland begins to build up a national army.
Sardinia increases her army by one third.
All over Europe and the orient, economy has a hard time. This is due to the political turbulences, that certainly disturb trade and production, but also to the never-ending budget deficit of some states. While Russia started measures to limit her debt, Prussia is continually spending more money that she has. Therefore, Prussia may be the candidate for the next breakdown.
Numbers:
Austria: income next year is 14mio, this years deficit is 5 mio, total debt is 102 mio
Prussia: income 12 mio, deficit: 2 mio, total debt 155 mio
Ottoman: income 5 mio, 0.5 mio surplus, (total debt 156 mio?)
England: income 13 mio, surplus: 2 mio, total debt 173 mio
France: (Kage, could you send me a summary of your budget? It is rather confusing!)
Netherlands: income 8 mio, surplus: 2.3 mio, total debt 14 mio
Egypt: income 4.5 mio, surplus: 0.3 mio, total debt 38 mio
Please check this!
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Originally Posted by Drone
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