Chapter 259: Suez Canal (Bonus Chapter)
With circumstances constantly changing, plans can never keep up. Originally, the main goal of the Austrian government was to create conflict, use military threats against the Egyptian government, and force them to sign a treaty.
Anyway, the Sinai Peninsula was not valued; its only purpose was to serve as a buffer against the Ottoman Empire, with the local indigenous tribes simultaneously accepting the leadership of both governments.
The conflict was created as planned, but the operation was too aggressive and the area was occupied. The Egyptians did not take extreme measures either, they just came to protest.
If possible, Franz would prefer that the Egyptians attack recklessly, making the ensuing situation easier to handle, as he wouldn’t feel any pressure facing Egypt alone.
Obviously, the Egyptian government was not stupid and did not rush into conflict. Instead, they have sent representatives to discuss the matter. Now that it has come to this point, military threats are no longer appropriate.
Franz has always been mindful of appearances. Stirring up trouble by creating a pretext and inviting conflict would already push the limits of his ethical standards. He feels a great deal of discomfort with such tactics.
Now that they’ve occupied a place that could loosely be called a city, it would be excessive to go and cause them more trouble.
The Egyptian government ignored the cause and effect of the situation. Regardless of whose fault it was, since the parties involved are all dead, the debt has been settled through death. Now the Austrians are only withdrawing, without demanding any compensation.
Franz, who has a headache, asked, “What do you think should be done about this problem?”
He acknowledges that he is not cunning enough to pull off such domineering actions. If possible, he would prefer to resolve the issue through peaceful means.
Unfortunately, Austria’s influence in Egypt is not substantial enough to compete with Britain and France. Pushed into a corner, they have no choice but to resort to this kind of strategy to seek a breakthrough in the Sinai Peninsula.
Metternich calmly replied, “Your Majesty, the Sinai Peninsula itself offers little value. Our main concern here is to seize the initiative so that we can participate in the digging of the Suez Canal.
Since the Egyptian government wants to negotiate, let’s negotiate with them. At worst, we can spend money to buy these lands. After all, it’s just sand and not worth much anyway.
The British and French currently do not know our intentions. Even if they interfere, it would only be because they are afraid that we will continue to expand our influence in Egypt and affect their interests.
At most, we assure them that we won’t seek further expansion into the Egyptian region. On the issue of the Sinai Peninsula, even we, a great power, also need to save face!”
Although the methods were a bit excessive, this was indeed very much like a great power. Overseas colonization tended to be very overbearing, regardless of whether it was right or wrong.
If the Austrian government was willing to spend a symbolic amount of money, it would give the Egyptian government a way to back down. If the Egyptian government did not agree, they could just occupy the place and see what could be done about it.
Would Egypt fight a war with Austria in the Sinai Peninsula over a piece of barren desert? The Egyptian government probably did not have the guts. If they lost, it would cost them everything, and even end up being partitioned!
Despite the appearance that Egypt is preparing for modernization and showing signs of a strong and prosperous nation, in reality, they have realized their limitations since the last war in which they lost to the Ottoman Empire.
Prime Minister Felix recalled: “Your Majesty, the French have been given the right to dig the Suez Canal. Would that be an obstacle?”
Metternich declared, “Do not be concerned. Our attention to the Sinai Peninsula doesn’t require us to occupy the entire peninsula. It is enough to establish a foothold.
Construction of the Suez Canal has not even begun. Whether it will be navigable in the future is still unknown. We’re just preparing ahead of time.
As far as I know, the British are strongly opposed to digging the Suez Canal. With their superior geographical position, they can enter the Indian Ocean via the Cape of Good Hope and do not need this canal.”
In this era, the British attitude towards the Suez Canal is indeed indifferent. Many British people believed that the navigability of the Suez Canal would weaken their maritime trade advantage.
After all, from a distance perspective, the navigable Suez Canal would benefit Mediterranean countries more, making the journey to the Indian Ocean much shorter for countries like France, Austria, and Spain.
They who were originally the closest to the route suddenly became further than their competitors. This would undoubtedly make British sea freight costs higher than competitors, reducing market competitiveness.
Whether it was crying wolf or not, such crisis awareness was never wrong. It was this sense of crisis that brought the British Empire to where it is today.
It was not only the British who doubted that the Suez Canal could be made navigable. Many in the Austrian government also expressed doubts.
The length of this great canal, 190 kilometers in total, exceeds what many on the European continent can comprehend.
Franz couldn’t convince everyone that the Suez Canal would ever be navigable. Even if it were to become navigable, its freight capacity would still be put to the test.
If only small boats could pass through, it would still be a failure. For strategic reasons, Austria needed the Suez Canal to be navigable for vessels of at least 40,000 tons in weight.
Otherwise, the canal would be useless in the age of dreadnoughts. At that time, if Austria wanted to continue to expand the canal, the British would undoubtedly obstruct its construction, forcing Austrian warships to pass through the Strait of Gibraltar, thereby gaining a strategic advantage.
Franz confidently said, “Don’t worry about navigability. Historical records show that in the 6th century AD, an empire from the East, the Sui Dynasty, dug a north-south grand canal over 2,700 kilometers long.
Even after geographical changes and subsequent alterations, the new grand canal, which connects Beijing to Hangzhou, is still 1,797 kilometers long and can easily accommodate ships weighing up to 500 tons.
Given the technological capabilities of the ancient people who dug such a long canal using only human labor without any machinery, can’t our current level of technology dig a canal less than 200 kilometers long?
From a geographical point of view, the difficulty of constructing the Suez Canal is nowhere near that of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. So what is there to worry about?”
Prime Minister Felix exclaimed, “Your Majesty, are you sure there is such a long canal in the East?”
Franz affirmed: “Of course, do you think I would lie? The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is still functioning normally in the decadent Qing Empire. Check the information for yourself and you’ll know.”
Prime Minister Felix quickly explained: “No, I did not mean to doubt you. It is just too unbelievable that over 1300 years ago someone dug a grand canal over 2700 km long.
If true, this would be the greatest engineering feat in the history of mankind. This great empire must have been very powerful to accomplish such a massive project.”
Franz smiled and remained silent. He couldn’t explain that because of the excavation of the Grand Canal, the excessive depletion of labor caused the downfall of that empire, could he? Then everyone might…
Oh, there was absolutely no need to worry. There was no need to divert labor from Austria to dig the Suez Canal. All that was needed was money.
Even payment in grain was acceptable. Apart from the salaries of the technical staff and the management, the ordinary workers only had to be fed.
The most significant expense, labor, is thus saved. Historically, the Suez Canal cost a total of 18.6 million British pounds, twice the budgeted cost.
This was mainly because the British instigated slave labor riots and manufactured public condemnation, forcing the French to later pay wages to hire workers, resulting in a huge increase in construction costs.
As the price for making the canal navigable, 120,000 workers were buried there.
This issue was not in the scope of the Austrian government’s considerations. Franz also decisively chose to turn a blind eye. All major projects in this era were built on human lives.
Austria’s extensive railway network is a case in point. In just five or six years, Austria’s domestic railways jumped to the forefront of Europe, but behind it lay tens of thousands of fallen workers.
It could be said that in this era, the faster the rate of construction, the greater the loss of life. Efficiency was achieved by piling up lives.
London
The first reaction of the British Cabinet to the news that Austria was moving into the Sinai Peninsula was that the Austrians wanted to invade Egypt. This cannot be allowed.
Prime Minister Grenville asked skeptically, “Can anyone tell me what the Austrians are up to? Has the government in Vienna lost its mind and decided to eat sand in the Sinai Peninsula?”
On the surface, the Sinai Peninsula had no colonial value whatsoever. The richest parts of Egypt were all along the Nile Valley, still hundreds of miles from Sinai, with deserts separating them. It doesn’t even qualify as a springboard.
Foreign Secretary John Russell chuckled, “They say this is the work of an Austrian civilian colonial force. They originally wanted to stir up trouble in the Egyptian region, but found their own strength lacking. To recoup their colonial costs, they ran to the Sinai Peninsula, pillaged a tribe, and occupied an abandoned city.”
Colonial Secretary William scoffed: “This rookie colonial team must be led by people with no brains. Perhaps their war spoils were not even enough to pay for the pension of their personnel losses.
We sent people to scout the Sinai Peninsula a long time ago. The nomadic tribes of the island have nothing but camels and sheep.
These camels and sheep are virtually worthless unless they can be transported back to their home country for sale. Locally, they can only fetch a price for their hides.
The locals are so poor they can barely survive, and even the Egyptian government is too lazy to collect taxes there. Nevertheless, some have still gone to rob them.”
Everyone laughed heartily. Such things were not uncommon during the colonial movement, and many fledgling civilian colonial militias often made such mistakes.
Sheep and camels are valuable commodities in certain places, but unfortunately, they are worthless in the Sinai Peninsula because there are no buyers.
At best, they could slaughter the animals, take the hides, and sell them to fur traders. Trying to transport these animals for sale might not even cover the transportation costs.
After the laughter subsided, Grenville said, “Then let the Foreign Office continue to keep an eye on the Austrian government, observe their next moves, and then we’ll decide what countermeasures to take.
Anyway, the French have the biggest interests in the Egyptian region. With the addition of a competitor, let them deal with the headache first!”
From the beginning to the end, Grenville didn’t take the matter seriously. Overseas colonization is a game, a game of plundering wealth, completely different from the situation on the European continent.
As long as it doesn’t pose a threat to India, the British government won’t react excessively. Otherwise, the news of the colonial conflict alone would make them furious every day.
This is no joke. In the 19th century, the British government faced an average of more than a hundred colonial conflicts a year.
Most of these minor conflicts were handled by colonial officials, and only when these conflicts escalated did their direct involvement become necessary.
If they don’t exercise restraint and resort to the use of force at the drop of a hat, it won’t take three months before they find themselves in conflict with every colonial empire in Europe.
The reason they paid attention to the Sinai Peninsula issue was mainly the fear of an Austrian invasion of Egypt. After confirming that it was the work of civilian militias, their interest naturally waned.
For reference, consider the British civilian colonial teams, with more prominent entities such as the East India Company, which conquered several overseas countries without the British government necessarily knowing all the details.
For weaker individual militias, they might raid one region today and another tomorrow, then provoke a powerful enemy the day after and get wiped out…
Such incidents are common. As long as there is profit to be made, the British government is willing to support them. If there’s no immediate profit, even if they face total destruction, the British government would be indifferent and would not handle the situation.
……
Paris
Napoleon III confidently remarked, “The Austrians have extended their tentacles deep into Egypt. Shouldn’t we cut them off at once?”
France’s influence in the Egyptian region is not insignificant. All it might take is a little encouragement for the Egyptian government to expel the Austrian invaders.
However, it’s doubtful that the Egyptian government would be willing to listen at this point. After all, the Egyptian government was thoroughly deceived by the French in the previous war against the Ottoman Empire.
Promised aid from Paris quickly dissipated under pressure from various European countries. Without French arms and equipment, the Egyptian government was quickly defeated by the Ottoman Empire.
Foreign Minister Auvergne advised, “Your Majesty, let’s consider negotiations first! We can mediate this conflict, and if no agreement is reached, then we can consider more extreme measures.”
He did not have Napoleon III’s confidence that simply inciting the Egyptian government to attack would solve the problem.
If the situation spirals out of control and the Austrian government refuses to back down and chooses to deal with the Egyptian government, would the French get involved or stay out of it?
The French government, having just fought the Russians and suffered heavy losses, did not want another war against Austria. Nobody wanted to make a loss.
Napoleon III spoke only casually and did not really want to take any risks. As a ruler who has already achieved a prominent position, he is not as adventurous as he was in his younger, struggling days.
The reality of the Near East War told him that the France of today was no longer the France of the past that conquered Europe.
Napoleon III nodded and said: “Then let the Foreign Ministry come forward to mediate this conflict, as long as our interests are not compromised!”
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