In fact, Britain, France, and other Entente countries were reluctant to talk about the desire for Austro-Hungarian peace talks. Because all the countries participating in the war are currently suffering heavy losses (except for the United States and a certain wall), it is urgent to find a place to replenish the losses. Austria-Hungary, the main culprit of the war, and its internal contradictions, became the best target of the Entente.

Moreover, after experiencing the lessons of this war, many people have found that there are too many big European powers, and if the friction and disputes between the major powers are magnified, they may trigger a war. Therefore, for the sake of a stable and peaceful atmosphere in Europe, let's first dismantle a big country. Therefore, the Austro-Hungarian peace talks were a complete failure, and Britain, France, the United States, and other countries completely ignored their requests.

And in the country, Queen Zeta's charity activities to improve the image of the noblewomen are also tepid. It is not denied that their actions have benefited many people, and the influence on the Habsburgs has changed somewhat. But in the midst of overwhelming opposition, these people are completely unable to make waves. Moreover, Queen Zita does not have the approachable image of Princess Sissi, nor does she have her flexible and changeable means. And her deliberate imitation of posture made many people dissatisfied.

One of the Prague newspapers commented: Queen Zeta's deliberate imitation of Princess Sissi in front of the public makes people feel very uncomfortable, and in the face of various unexpected situations, the queen will only obey the arrangements of others like a puppet, and has no demeanor of a queen of a country at all.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire's diplomatic and domestic responses did not work as well as they should, emboldening nationalists and careerists everywhere.

On 12 July, members of the Prague parliament were in a crucial meeting to discuss the independence of the region.

"Independence."

This is a word that haunts the Czechs, and there are already many traces of martyrs' blood stuck in this word.

In the 5th ~ 6th centuries, the Slavs moved westward to the Czech Republic and Slovakia. and slowly formed the Czech-Slovak nation of today.

At the end of the 9th century ~ the first half of the 10th century, after the dissolution of the Great Moravian Empire, the Przemes family established the Czech Duchy with Prague as the center. And the name Czech Republic also appeared in front of the world.

In 1086, the German king, Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV, conferred on the Czech prince Vladislav II the title of king of Bohemia (Bohemia is the Latin and Germanic term for the Czech Republic), after which the Czech principality was subject to the Holy Roman Empire.

In 1620, the combined forces of Bohemia (Czech) and the Palatinate were defeated at the Battle of the White Mountains, and the Czechs entered Habsburg territory, where they remain to this day.

At the time of Habsburg rule, the Czech national awakening was not too slow. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Czech national culture gradually developed, and many intellectuals devoted themselves to the study of Czech history and language, which contributed to the national awakening. In 1845, the petty-bourgeois radical revolutionary political group "Lebiri" began to operate, and its leader was called Fritsch.

In 1848, the February Revolution in France inspired the whole of Europe, and a bourgeois revolution was proclaimed in all countries, and the revolution broke out among the people in the Czech Republic. However, for various reasons, the revolution kept the Czech Republic under the rule of the Habsburgs, and Fritsch's remarks about Czech independence were ignored.

Today, these Czech parliamentarians will vote for regional independence.

On the podium of the parliament, the leader of the Czech Progressive Party, who had secretly returned from abroad, and who would serve three future Czech presidents until he could not do anything, was standing here, giving an impassionate speech to the parliamentarians and the crowd that poured in.

"My compatriots, today is a holy day, the day when we Czechs decide their own destiny. From today onwards, we do not have to grovel to anyone, nor do we need to obey the emperor's will when doing anything. Today we would like to cheer for our independence: Long live the Czech Republic, long live the people. ”

"Long live the Czech Republic, long live the people."

Masaryk's words succeeded in stirring up the voice of the people. The crowd shouted their own voices, and the voice was so real and full of their hope.

Masaryk was very pleased with the situation, after the shouting subsided. He loudly declared: "It is now up to the parliamentarians to vote on whether our Czech region should become independent or not." ”

After Masaryk's words fell, someone in the crowd chanted. "Independence."

This sentence ignited the enthusiasm of the crowd, and then the louder and more neat voices rang out.

"Independence."

"Independence."

"Independence."

Faced with this situation, the parliamentarians present know what choice to make. Many of them signaled to the crowd with ballots that said they agreed to independence before dropping them into the ballot boxes. And the actions of these parliamentarians have made the voice of 'independence' even louder.

Masaryk stepped aside to watch the MPs' votes with his deputy, Shstefanik, and Jatiya Party leader Benes.

"I've spoken to leaders in other parts of the country that they will also hold independence votes in the last few days."

Benes, who was on Masaryk's side, told him what he had done.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. This is all to ensure the independent cause of the Czech people, and I did not expect that your decision was the right one. ”

Faced with Benes's words, Masaryk replied: "I can't say that my decision was the right one. And this is the choice of the people, I just let the people speak their inner voices. ”

"Yes, it's the people's choice."

Benes thought of the days they had fought for Czech independence, and now that they had finally seen Czech independence happening right before their eyes, he felt that it was all worth it.

And Masaryk was in the same mood as him. And he knew that now was the first step towards Czech independence, and that there was a lot of work to be done. However, there is a very important matter at the moment, which can be regarded as a top priority.

I saw Masaryk turn his head to Shstefanik on the other side and ask, "We must hurry up the conscription." ”

"I'm pretty much done. Two hundred thousand places, we are ready. It was only to wait for the completion of the independent vote and then to issue it by order of the Provisional Government. ”

Shstefanik's words temporarily calmed the hearts of Benes and Masaryk. All three knew that the current vote was just a legal situation, and no one could stop the Czech independence from doing so.

But after independence, it was imperative to defend the gains. The result of their deliberations was the conscription of the Czechs to form their own armed forces. As for the Czech soldiers and officers in the Austro-Hungarian army, they were mainly inspired by patriotic enthusiasm. In this way, after mobilization, the Czech Republic will have at least a certain amount of self-protection ability. This would allow Austria-Hungary and Germany to have more concerns when considering intervening in Czech independence.

The result was not unexpected, and all the MPs present voted in favor of independence. Then the newly released Czech government was announced in parliament. And a photograph of Masaryk, Benes, and Šstepanik, hugging each other and cheering for Czech independence, appeared in the newspaper the next day. At the same time, it has a bold heading, 'Czech Independence Triumvirate'.

Shortly after the independence of the Czech Republic, Croatia and Slovenia also declared their independence, and each also formed its own government. The successive successions of independence finally caused strong dissatisfaction in Hungary (both Croatia and Slovenia were territories of the Kingdom of Hungary). For this reason, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Hungary, Tiza, sent a telegram to Karl I, asking the Reich to do something about it.

And Karl was now completely self-sufficient, because something big had happened in Austria.