April 1876.

Germany, which had suffered a new round of economic crisis, was obviously dissatisfied, especially the Junker aristocracy who wanted to take advantage of the fire and robbed, but as a result, they stole chickens and rice.

At the Reichstag, Prussian parliamentarians said: "The fundamental reason for this new round of economic crisis in Germany is that we Germany do not have the vast colonies and population like Britain and France to absorb our agricultural and industrial products, and likewise do not have the huge territory and rich resources of the United States to offset the crisis, so Germany, as an important political force in the world, must have its own colonies, and it is unreasonable that Germany's international status does not have colonies matching each other." ”

This quote from the Prussian parliamentarian reflects the psychology of the Prussian Junker aristocracy in this economic crisis, and it turns out that ordinary people will consider the environment first when they encounter difficulties, and then look for problems from themselves.

But the general environment was indeed very unfavorable for Germany, so the Prussian aristocracy was convinced that the crisis was caused by the lack of colonies.

Bismarck was so angry by the words of the Prussian parliamentarian that he was stabbed in the back! Originally, it was incorrect for Bismarck to force his own enterprises through administrative means, but before the Junker aristocracy promised to support Bismarck as long as the Berlin Agricultural Company went bankrupt, but now they have collapsed themselves, and they want to repay the debt?

This made Bismarck angry, but as a sensible politician, he still suppressed his anger and said humbly: "Although Germany is now reunified, our crisis has not been resolved, the French are always thinking about revenge, Britain and Tsarist Russia, and Austria need to balance their relations, if our Germany loses its international credibility because of irrational behavior, then Germany will be in extreme danger." ”

Bismarck's foreign policy and Ernst's foreign policy are similar, both of which are aimed at weakening their negative image in the international community.

The difference between Germany is that it is in the center of the European continent, a hotspot within a hot spot, so it cannot escape the international community, while East Africa is located in Africa, and many people, at least Europeans, know very little about Africa.

Therefore, Germany will certainly not be able to stay out of the matter like East Africa, and any dispute on the European continent must be carefully controlled to avoid overturning, and Bismarck's idea is to disguise Germany, a tiger, as a harmless animal, and wait until Germany is completely flesh and blood to seize the hegemony of the European continent in one fell swoop.

However, the German interest groups, especially the Prussian aristocracy who have been smooth sailing in recent years, inevitably drifted a little in their mentality.

After all, there were only two mountains in front of Germany, one was England and the other was France, and France had already been defeated by Germany once, and this confidence was established. In front of Germany, only Britain remains, and at present Germany is certainly unable to challenge Britain, and the British Royal Navy is like a mountain hanging over the heads of all countries in the world.

"Mr. Prime Minister, I agree with what you said that the international order is very unfavorable to us, but this unfavorable factor is not in essence caused by the colonies, Britain and France are not necessarily much stronger than us, and the most powerful support behind them is the colonies, through which the colonies can continuously transfuse blood to the homeland, so that they can mobilize countless populations and resources to gain an advantage in the war against us."

Bismarck asked rhetorically: "Then what do you want our government to do?" Go overseas and grab colonies with Britain and France? At present, the valuable land in the overseas world has been carved up by Britain and France, and their colonial activities have lasted for hundreds of years, such as Portugal and Spain, which have hundreds of years of overseas colonization history, so what advantages do we have over these colonial countries that have been rooted overseas all year round? ”

"Moreover, our navy is very fragile, Germany's sea areas are quite closed, whether it can go out of the Atlantic is a question, in this case, the navy is bound to not be able to effectively support the development of colonies, so even if we develop colonies overseas, I am afraid that we will make a wedding dress for others."

"Finally, we are talking about the management of colonies, as we all know, colonization is risky, and the investment is quite high, and those rich areas have been occupied by Britain and France, how much can we gain by investing in those rotten lands overseas? Do you want to get a bunch of rotten land that is losing money every year to maintain the empire's ranks? Or do you think that Germany is now the best in the world and can go to war against those traditional colonial countries without fear of the challenges of other countries? ”

Bismarck's cannons made the German parliamentarians speechless, and the representatives of the navy had the intention to refute it, but looking at their own strength, forget it! The army chose to watch the show, anyway, the advantage is in me, and the navy cannot become the climate.

However, this can not satisfy the Junker aristocracy represented behind the Prussian parliamentarians, this new economic crisis itself has suffered heavy losses, the last round of economic crisis food prices have collapsed and have lost money, this time look at the Berlin Agricultural Company (the agricultural sales and processing enterprise under the Heixingen consortium) is not bad, but the agricultural company is charged, and it is impossible to do charity to engage in grain purchases, so this money is still borne by the Junker nobles, and the Junker nobles who were overcharged are of course psychologically unbalanced, and their income is not high, You also charge a fee, so you want to bring down the Berlin Agricultural Company and do the sales yourself, but the Berlin Agricultural Company is bankrupt! But the problem of selling their own agricultural products has become more serious.

This is inevitable, the Berlin Agricultural Company went bankrupt, but the sales channels built by the Heixingen consortium are still controlled by their own people, but the business of the Berlin Agricultural Company is handed over to the Munich Agricultural Company to do, the Prussian landlords do not welcome us, we will go to Bavaria to do business, and don't think that if you leave the Prussian earth, you will not turn, the only bargaining chip of the Prussian landlords is the land, is this thing lacking in the Heixingen consortium?

Moreover, Bavaria has a very special position in Germany, as the second largest state after Prussia, and as a Catholic region, the heart of Bavaria, it can be said that everyone knows that the Prussian Junkers have nothing to do with the Munich Agricultural Company.

At the Reich Conference, the Bavarian parliamentarians gave Prussia eye medicine: "We fully support Chancellor Bismarck, peace is the most important thing for Germany, we should maintain a long-term peace, at least to ensure a long-term peace in Europe, so there should be no conflict with other countries." ”

The majority of the parliamentarians of the South German Confederation took the same attitude, except for a little awkwardness with Prussia, the main thing was that they really did not want to get involved in war, because the South German region was a victim of every war.

Although the South German region is not active, but this does not affect the overall situation, if Prussia can't even settle the parliament, then it is still called reunification?

In fact, it was Wilhelm I and Bismarck who were really able to calm down the Reichstag, and although Wilhelm I was a little cautious, he generally supported Bismarck, because the facts always proved Bismarck right.

In the battle of wits between Bismarck and Junkers, Bismarck had the upper hand, because many Junkers also supported him, and with the support of the South German region, the German radicals were suppressed, but as a compromise, Bismarck decided to let go of a small opening and allow non-governmental German civil forces to participate in overseas colonization strategies first.

In other words, Germany still embarked on the road of overseas expansion, and the non-governmental that is, the colonial companies or groups, in fact, the colonies obtained by Germany in the previous life were first completed by the colonial companies, and then the government took over.

But at the moment, Bismarck thinks that he means what he means, and he does not really want to compete overseas with Britain and France, so he will let the radicals do it themselves, and the government will not pay much anyway.

(End of chapter)