The Austrian Empire's declaration of war was so sudden that such an important decision would not have been possible in a matter of days under normal circumstances.

First of all, the royal family passed this crazy resolution, and Archduke Louis and Archduke Franz Karl were not opinionated people, and they easily accepted the proposal to declare war on the Papal States under the strong pressure of Madame Sophie.

Secondly, during this period of time, the Austrian imperial government was also tossed a lot, and the Count of Raikkonen and Baron Kiel were already marginal figures, and they did not understand the core mechanisms of the top.

The two were formerly the Minister of Transport and the other the Minister of Education, both of whom were typical technocrats, and they had long been accustomed to the "yes, yes, yes" and "yes" chat mode.

And they are more focused on the country than abroad, so they are not particularly aware of the consequences of declaring war on the Papal States.

In fact, there was a huge risk of declaring war with the Papal States, as it was highly likely that those countries that had previously claimed to support Pius IX would intervene in the war.

If France, Great Britain, Prussia, Spain, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the Ottoman Empire were to go to war with Austria, it would undoubtedly be a great war that would affect the whole of Europe.

If this trend really continues, then it is possible that the Austrian Empire will be partitioned.

But the reality was that France had just collapsed, Spain was mired in civil war, the Prussian government was beaten by nationalists, and the Kingdom of Sardinia was beginning to fear the power of the Papal States.

As for the British, they were a bit out of reach, and the Ottoman Empire was already in decline.

Franz felt that the French Provisional Government would immediately announce that it would not participate in any war, and that the threat of war from the Orleans dynasty would be nullified.

For the French Provisional Government at this time, stabilizing the domestic situation was the first priority, rather than participating in the European hegemony.

Although the royal party was expelled from the provisional government, and the Duchess of Orleans and the Duchess of Berry quietly left Paris, the power of the orthodox faction in the south was still strong, and the remnants of the Orleanists were still active.

A rash French invasion of Austria would cause great turmoil, and Austria was backed by the German Confederation and the Holy Alliance.

And then, at the root, the Papal States were in fact the aggressors, and Austria was merely forced to declare war, which fully applied to the terms of the common defense of the two alliances.

Judging from the previous record, the German Confederation had an advantage over France, and the French Provisional Government at this time could be described as a mess.

Not to mention launching a large-scale war, now they can't handle the rations of the citizens of Paris, and they originally wanted to learn from the Orleans dynasty to suck blood from the colonies.

As a result, the news of the collapse of the dynasty reached the colonies, not to mention the full support of the homeland, and basically all the governors began to stand on their own.

The British and American jackals came over with the smell of blood, but the two beasts still wanted some face, and they were willing to pay for it from the French Provisional Government.

The U.S. government was ready to bid $3.5 million for Texas, and the Americans were kind enough to leave the French with two states.

The problem is that Arizona and New Mexico are both landlocked and not connected to the ocean, and if they lose Texas, they will be given away in vain.

Moreover, at this time, there were hundreds of thousands of French people in Texas, and tens of millions of francs were paid in taxes every year, and the French needed to be calculated in hundreds of millions of dollars in local investment.

The British, on the other hand, intended to take over all the French colonies directly, as they had done during the Napoleonic Wars, and offered much more than the Americans.

100 million pounds, which is a very sincere figure, but the British, of course, were not so kind, and they demanded that it be paid in thirty years.

This is a bit outrageous, because the French Provisional Government at this time did not know if they would be able to exist for thirty years.

Although the Orleans dynasty was overthrown, the internal and external crises did not disappear, but tended to worsen, after all, when Louis Philippe was still alive, at least the external crises were not so serious.

Therefore, Franz felt that the French Provisional Government should declare neutrality in the war between Austria and the Papal States at the first opportunity.

However, the reality is that the Provisional Government of France is a dead duck with a stubborn mouth, and it opens and closes its mouth to demand that Austria return the lands of the Papal States, but does not declare war or send troops.

If the French Provisional Government did attack Austria, then Franz would not mind reversing the wheel for France.

After all, there was discord within the French Provisional Government, and there were a lot of potential enemies, and Franz had at least three trump cards.

There is really no need to be too polite to this kind of enemy who likes to die on the other side, and Franz has no time to play Tai Chi at this time.

France did not retreat, and the Spaniards naturally did not retreat, although Spain was in chaos at this time, but the regent Queen Christiana and her daughter Isabella II were holding a kind of luck.

That is, they can use this opportunity to divert domestic contradictions, and they feel that Spain and Austria do not border each other anyway.

As for the so-called war, Spain did not ask for money or soldiers, but if the Papal States won the war, they had to have a share of the credit.

In fact, there is another reason, that is, the church in Spain is very influential, especially Isabella II is extremely superstitious religion.

Sister Petherini and Father Clarit were Isabella II's most valued mentors and advisors, and they were also members of the Society of Jesus, nominally under the papal authority.

Nun Petthesiney and Father Clarit naturally received orders from the Vatican, and although they hated the new pope, war with Austria did not seem to affect their interests.

As Wilhelm IV of Prussia had already mentioned, he was unable to protect himself at this time, and did not want to get involved in the dispute between Austria and the Papal States.

In the Rhine region, thanks to the interaction of the Archbishop of Cologne and the German nationalists, Wilhelm IV had lost control of the region.

Prussia's high literacy rate also became a problem for them, because anyone who wrote a few words on the city walls at night could trigger a riot the next day.

Newspapers, books, and pamphlets had a much greater influence in Prussia than in Austria, and the Prussian government was completely helpless for all kinds of ideas and isms to dye people in all kinds of colors.

In the same way, industrialization created a group of people – the working class, whose organisation and discipline were incomparable to those of the peasantry.

The high price of grain in the German Confederation over the years led to an even more serious land annexation in Prussia.

A large number of landless peasants entered the factories, but now the economy and the workers were unemployed, so they became the most formidable enemies of the Prussian government.

The prevailing thinking at the time was that the poor were the result of laziness, stupidity, and bad habits, and that their poverty was God's punishment for them, and it was God's providence.

And as the embodiment of Providence, the king of divine authority naturally cannot help these poor people, so under the guidance of this kind of thinking, they are inherently opposites.

At this time, two more people wrote some pamphlets and circulated them in Berlin, and Wilhelm IV was naturally unable to go to a decisive battle with Austria at all costs.