Holy Roman Empire

The Vienna Conference was ongoing, yet the refugee issue, which should have received significant attention, was subconsciously ignored by everyone.

The Russian representatives didn’t mention it, and the Prussian representatives played dumb; with no one seeking aid, the international community naturally assumed the issue was already past.

Starting from an unknown point, the main task of the military forces on the border between Prussia and Russia had shifted from combat to suppressing refugee uprisings.

Since April, the number of refugees fleeing to Austria had drastically reduced, and by May there were virtually no border crossings.

Franz neither knew nor dared to ask what had happened during that time.

According to estimates collected by the Vienna Government, the Prusso-Russian War had resulted in at least four million deaths and more than six million displaced individuals.

Including local forces and guerrillas, the Prussian Army lost about 1.768 million in battle and had 382,000 wounded; the Russian Army suffered about 1.433 million in battle deaths and 671,000 wounded; civilian casualties amounted to about 800,000, most of which occurred in the Prusso-Polish Federation.

It was no surprise that the war losses of both Prussia and Russia were so close, with a significant portion contributed by Polish local forces and guerrilla fighters.

Mountain thieves and bandits could have been included in the tally as well—there was no way to distinguish them— and the Russians counted all resistance fighters as military achievements.

After abandoning the Warsaw region, Poland became an enemy combat zone; naturally, there was no talk of the wounded. The Russians certainly wouldn’t rescue their enemy’s casualties, so the number of Prussian wounded came exclusively from the soldiers of the Kingdom of Prussia.

Calculating for the Kingdom of Prussia alone, the death toll should be around 566,000, and along with the 382,000 wounded, it nearly reached a grim milestone of one million, which was surpassed when civilian casualties were included.

Considering the Kingdom of Prussia’s population base of over ten million, the war had wiped out an entire generation. The labor force had sharply declined due to the massive loss of young adults; the outlook for post-war development in the Kingdom of Prussia was bleak.

In contrast, the Russian Empire was faring much better. Despite similarly heavy losses, their casualties were less than three percent compared to the Russian Empire’s population base of eighty million.

Theoretically, this loss of labor could be recovered in the next five to ten years.

Of course, it wasn’t as simple as that; the massive loss of young adults would also affect future population growth, a persistent issue.

As always in wars, civilians suffered the most, and this time was no exception. The Russians’ scorched-earth policy further increased the number of refugees.

Six million displaced individuals didn’t mean they had all become refugees.

Those with better economic conditions had fled to other countries for asylum early on, and this group possibly numbered less than a hundred thousand.

An additional two hundred thousand or so people had their immigration applications accepted by Austria and settled in the colonies.

Before the fall of the Warsaw region, the Berlin Government was still providing relief to refugees; a number of fortunate individuals managed to find work again and established new homes.

This group numbered around three hundred thousand, most of whom were Rhineland immigrants previously settled by the Berlin Government and possessed useful skills, making them more resilient.

Beyond these individuals, the rest were real refugees.

The figure of 5.4 million is theoretical; in reality, there couldn’t have been that many since many weak and sick individuals met God at the outset of their flight, with at most about 4.7 to 4.8 million actually escaping.

Throughout the entire Prusso-Russian conflict, Austria had taken in a total of 1.436 million refugees—according to the current situation, it’s unlikely to exceed 1.5 million.

The Vienna Government’s protests were effective; neither Prussia nor Russia dared to drive refugees over, and Franz’s worst fear of a refugee tide didn’t materialize.

Over four months have passed since the full outbreak of the refugee crisis. Without relief for such a long time, not many individuals could have survived, in reality.

This meant that the death toll caused by the refugee crisis directly exceeded the combined casualty numbers of both Prussia and Russia.

One wouldn’t realize until it was calculated—adding all the numbers together, the direct population loss caused by the Prusso-Russian War exceeded eight million, with an indirect loss of over ten million.

In those days, there were not even fifteen countries worldwide with a population over eight million, and even fewer in the European Continent, which included only Austria, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Prussia, and the Nordic Federation—eight countries in total.

Of these, the Nordic Federation only had a population of eight million, and the German Federation Empire had just over thirteen million. Whether the post-war Kingdom of Prussia could maintain a population of eight million was uncertain.

Without question, these shocking statistics had to be released. How could people appreciate the value of peace without knowing the horrors of war?

Gazing at the highly valuable statistical report, Prime Minister Weisenberg sighed, "The Prusso-Russian War is the zenith of human warfare history; after this battle, the era of great European wars has ended!"

Looking at the solemn Prime Minister, Franz highly doubted he had been taken aback; otherwise, how could he have come to such a conclusion?

Glancing over the crowd, Franz helplessly found that, apart from himself, the Emperor, everyone else was immersed in the major data point of "eight million deaths."

Observing their expressions, Franz seriously doubted that the release of this data would spark an anti-war wave across Europe.

Especially for the numerous smaller nations, with total populations below eight million, what could they contribute to the bottomless pit of warfare?

Franz interrupted, "Enough, gentlemen. Regardless of how great the losses are from the Prusso-Russian war, they are not ours to worry about.

Whether or not there will be a great war on the European Continent is something we can leave to time to verify; right now, we need to think about the forthcoming international shifts.

The war’s brutality exceeded our anticipations, and its impact also went beyond our expectations; we must now re-plan."

It can’t be helped, international politics is so fickle that sticking to the plan is impossible. If we don’t keep up with changes in the international situation immediately, we are destined to be left behind.

After a short pause, Foreign Minister Wessenberg said, "Your Majesty, the Prusso-Russian war has shown everyone the cruelty of war and will make everyone more cautious when making decisions in the future.

Under normal circumstances, people will deliberately avoid launching wars on the European Continent, and future international competition will gradually shift from the European Continent to overseas.

The world has been divided up almost completely, and the fight over the remaining overseas colonies and markets is likely to become more intense than ever."

This is an inevitable result. The cost of waging war on the European Continent is too high, and it’s easy to incite public anger, with the spoils of war possibly not even covering the expense of the conflict.

Just look at this Prusso-Russian war—the Tsarist Government barely won, yet the spoils were insufficient to cover even half of the war’s losses.

In this context, unless absolutely necessary, everyone will certainly seek to avoid the outbreak of war.

In a sense, the Prusso-Russian war also enhanced Austria’s international influence. The Russians piled up bodies with their overwhelming numbers against the Prusso Federation, shattering everyone’s preconceptions.

Before this war, European wars only ever required consideration of whether you had the funds, but now it’s not so simple—consideration of available manpower is also crucial.

As the scale of wars has increased, the traditional concept of ’money equals troops’ has been eliminated by the age.

In terms of numbers, Russia and Austria are undoubtedly in the top tier, and with its overseas territories, Austria’s potential for war is even greater than that of the Russian Empire.

Next in line is Great France, with nearly sixty million in total population, putting other countries far behind.

The Russians proved their strength with numbers, securing their position as the fourth strongest nation on the European Continent. The political framework of the three major powers of Europe shows a trend towards that of four.

At sea, the solidified supremacy of the Royal Navy is very stable, with Britannia’s position as the master of the seas unshakeable, with the chasers, France and Austria, only able to look on from behind.

On land, France and Austria stand parallel, with the Russians close behind.

Before the Prusso-Russian war, everyone unanimously thought the French Army was more formidable, but now that view has shifted due to the impact of new ideas.

The French Army may have a more illustrious record, but Austria can summon greater numbers and has stronger national power, giving the impression of being evenly matched.

At sea, nobody can beat the British, and on land, the powers are so closely matched that fighting would only lead to mutual destruction.

Under such conditions, hoping for a clash between England, France, and Austria is unrealistic. With the three giants unable to fight among themselves for the biggest shares, they can only go overseas to overwhelm the weaker ones.

Franz nodded, "That’s right. The majority of the international conflicts that follow will happen overseas. Once the unclaimed territories are divided, it’s the small countries’ turn to suffer.

If things go as expected, the naval feast is about to start again. But as long as no one challenges the British’s naval supremacy, this naval feast will not last too long.

Stay connected with empire

The foreign ministry can secretly contact the French-Russian side to try and see if we can sign a treaty to limit the size of armies to prevent a great war in Europe from breaking out."

Frankly speaking, Franz also wanted to challenge the British naval supremacy, but lacking the power, he had no choice but to painfully let go.

This isn’t just about shipbuilding; while in the shipbuilding industry Austria does have a chance to compete with the British, in other aspects, it just doesn’t measure up.

The Austrian Navy has not really faced any significant opponents, naturally lacking the opportunity to accumulate war experience—the best war experience has been against pirates.

If this shortcoming could be compensated for by the number of warships, then the lack of funds is the real problem.

Austria’s financial revenue is not low at all, but maintaining a large Continental Army while vying for naval supremacy is too much to handle.

The army is different from the navy; even with limited army sizes, it is quite quick to mobilize in wartime.

Messing with arms limitation treaties is more about comforting oneself than exerting real restriction.

Of course, it is better to have it than not. Before war breaks out, it can indeed save a considerable amount of financial expenditure. By saving military expenses on the army, everyone will have more funds to invest in the navy.

Even if it does not shake the British’s position as the master of the seas, reducing the gap with the Royal Navy would still be a great victory. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

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