When he heard that Cavour was going to Paris to seek help from Napoleon III, Victor Umberto had a look of anxiety on his face.
Today, everything Cavour has done is a naked betrayal of the French Empire.
If the French Emperor Jerome Bonaparte knew that they were colluding with the British Kingdom, would he really forgive their behavior?
Victor Umberto had no confidence in this at all.
Giuseppe Garibaldi, standing next to Victor Umberto, opened his mouth to ask Victor Umberto's doubts.
"Mr. Cavour, are you sure that the French Empire is really willing to abandon the Austrian Empire for the Kingdom of Sardinia?"
Facing Giuseppe Garibaldi's question, Cavour smiled faintly, and then responded to Giuseppe Garibaldi calmly.
"To be honest, I'm not sure whether Napoleon III would abandon the Austrian Empire!
But Napoleon III’s recent diplomatic actions indeed have the intention of deliberately alienating the Austrian Empire!”
"Can you tell me more about it?" Giuseppe Garibaldi asked Cavour in confusion.
"Monsignor Walewski has been transferred from France's plenipotentiary administrator in the Holy Land (Jerusalem) to France's ambassador to Prussia!
At the same time, after Mr. Walewski reported his work in Berlin a few days ago, he was frequently invited by Sanssouci Palace to attend various banquets!" Cavour explained to Giuseppe Garibaldi, "I also
I heard that Mr. Walewski often made some remarks about the current affairs of the Kingdom of Prussia during the banquet!"
Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was not proficient in politics, did not understand the diplomatic subtext in Valewski's series of actions. He looked confused again and asked Cavour, "This is at best a representative of Valewski."
What does Levski’s own tendencies have to do with Napoleon III?”
"Before Walewski became the French ambassador to Prussia, he never showed any preference for Prussia!
On the contrary, he had always been one of the few Polish members of the Tuileries court!" Cavour explained to Giuseppe Garibaldi again.
This time Giuseppe Garibaldi finally understood what Cavour meant.
The "love-hate relationship" between Poland and Prussia made Walewski, a Polish man, not have much favorable impression of Prussia under normal circumstances.
Let Walewski, a Polish party, go to Prussia to serve as the French ambassador to Prussia and make some remarks in favor of Prussia.
The driving force behind this could only be the emperor far away in Paris.
"What on earth does that emperor want?" Giuseppe Garibaldi murmured to himself.
Victor Umberto was also thinking about it. He didn't understand what benefits it would bring to the French Empire to alienate the Austrian Empire, which it had already established a good relationship with, and get closer to the Kingdom of Prussia, which had been suppressing it before.
"Do you still remember the theory of "natural territory" proclaimed by French Cardinal Richelieu?" Cavour asked Giuseppe Garibaldi and Victor Umberto.
Giuseppe Garibaldi and Victor Umberto were lost in thought at the same time. After a while, Victor Umberto's eyes lit up and he said to Cavour, "Your Excellency, Prime Minister, you mean that Napoleon III wanted to
We want to gain some German interests through the Kingdom of Prussia!"
"That's right!" Cavour nodded and replied to Victor Umberto, "Now Germany has generally stabilized, and Napoleon III wants to obtain some substantial benefits from it.
Something that is basically impossible to do!
Unless there is a country that can stir up the situation in Germany like the Kingdom of Sardinia did in the Italian Peninsula!
Only in this way can the French Empire take chestnuts from the fire and annex some of the interests in the German region!"
"However, doing this may cause South Germany to become alienated from the French Empire!" Victor Umberto asked Cavour, "If the situation in Germany is destroyed, the princely states in South Germany will also not
Better off!
Just to gain certain benefits and thereby harm some potential allies.
Isn’t it a bit unworthy of Napoleon III to do this?”
"Huh! Napoleon III is a short-sighted person!" Giuseppe Garibaldi snorted and said coldly, "If Napoleon III was not such a person, then how could he do it for the Savoy?
and Nice, chose to ignore the simple emotions of the Italian nation and the longing for France, and forcibly annexed these two areas!"
Victor Umberto turned his attention to Cavour. He wanted to hear his analysis of Napoleon III from Cavour.
"Mr. Garibaldi, what you just said is just one of the reasons!
I was also a little confused about Napoleon III's annexation of Savoy and Nice. No matter from any perspective, an ally that obeys his words is worth much more than two pieces of land that no one wants.
Until something happened in France some time ago, I had new guesses about Napoleon III's motives.
The reason why Napoleon III chose to annex Savoy was related to Nice or French public opinion. You should all know that the establishment of the French Empire relied on a nationwide referendum!
In other words, the French Empire itself is a simple Roman Republic." Cavour said to Giuseppe Garibaldi and Victor Umberto.
When he heard Cavour compare the French Empire to the "Roman Republic", Giuseppe Garibaldi's face showed a bit of disgust.
Cavour had no chance of the change in Giuseppe Garibaldi's expression, but continued on his own, "In other words, if Napoleon III wants to stabilize the empire, he must always maintain his support rate at home!
There is no action that can win more support from the general public than a war!
As long as this war doesn't hit France's doorstep like it did!
Therefore, Napoleon III launched the Crimean War to gain the support of the French Empire by dismembering the Russian Empire and hosting the Paris Conference!
However, you also know that public support is not static!
After the prestige brought by the Crimean War had passed, Napoleon III had to find new ways to gain the support of France.
It just so happened that the world's economy had been on the rise in those years. The rising economy made France's conflicts less prominent, and the French Empire spent several years smoothly.
After the economic crisis detonated in the United States, the French Empire once again became turbulent.
Therefore, Napoleon III had to find a new "war" so that he could continue to gain public support.
Unfortunately, we happened to be at the crossroads of Napoleon III's eagerness to find a "scapegoat."
In order to maintain his rule at home, Napoleon III seized Savoy and Nice from our hands.
This prestige enables him to defy the legislative group and continue to implement his policies.
Even so, there were still parades in Paris under the economic crisis, and Napoleon III urgently suppressed the entire parade and imposed martial law throughout the city!
Just imagine, if Napoleon III had not annexed Savoy and Nice, he would still have the authority to suppress the legislative group and order the troops in Paris to drive away the parade!"
Cavour paused for a moment, looked at the two people who were meditating, and then said to himself: "I think Napoleon III's actions after the Third will not be easy!"
"You mean that Napoleon III's behavior towards Germany was also to make his throne more stable!" Victor Umberto asked Cavour.
"Napoleon III tied the long-standing interests of France to the interests of the Bonaparte family!
Create an illusion that only the Bonaparte family can realize the interests of France, so that he and his throne can survive for a long time!
Therefore, Napoleon III’s behavior towards Germany cannot simply be evaluated as being for his own throne. France itself is also full of ambitions towards Germany!”
Cavour broke the seemingly complex problem into pieces and put it in front of Victor Umberto. He hoped that Victor Umberto could absorb some wisdom from it so that he could use it in his future rule.
Giuseppe Garibaldi on the side glanced at Victor Umberto subconsciously. From Cavour's words, Giuseppe Garibaldi wanted Victor Emmanuel II.
The king of the Kingdom of Sardinia combined his own interests with the unification of the Italian peninsula, forcing him to choose to submit to the Kingdom of Sardinia for the sake of Italian unification.
"I see!" Victor Umberto muttered in a low voice, and then continued to ask Cavour, "So Napoleon III will also take action against Germany just like he did against Sardinia!"
"I'm not sure about this!" Cavour replied to Victor Umberto, "Germany is different from Italy, their population is about the same as France!
I think the French Empire would not choose to attack the German region directly, but would choose to support the Kingdom of Prussia against the Austrian Empire!
This is exactly our opportunity. We only need to prevent the French Empire from taking action when we are confronting the Austrian Empire, and then we will be invincible!
I will contact a group of parliamentarians in Paris who are leaning toward Italy and use them to submit a petition to Napoleon III!
However, I guess this is far from enough to waver Napoleon III!
We must guide public opinion in the Paris area, so that we can truly prevent Napoleon III from taking action rashly!
Only by letting the people of Paris see the unyielding resistance of the Italian people can the Paris people's sympathy for the Italians be aroused!"
Then, Cavour turned his attention to Giuseppe Garibaldi. He said to Giuseppe Garibaldi earnestly, "General Garibaldi, can you make the French Empire not interfere with Sardinia this time?"
We still need to rely on you for government affairs!"
