A Most Quiet Year
Prussia’s renewed alliance with France, opened up many diplomatic opportunities for the Empire. Within months of the Franco-Prussian rapprochement, a flurry of foreign dignities arrived in Berlin to seek Prussian support.
First to visit was a South German diplomat on the behalf of the minor Prince of Ravensburg. Offering that his homeland would happily join Prussia in arms, it was clear from the outset of discussions that the diplomat had been sent to secure Prussian might against the city-state of Ulm, as it had significant claims on Ravensburger territories. Unimpressed by the offer of an alliance that could only serve to bring Prussia into a minor conflict of little value, though the Konservative government received the diplomat warmly, they set him home with nothing.
Interested in expanding its European reach, the Konservative government readily agreed to offers of alliances from a Neapolitan delegation and emissaries from Bulgaria. The former could boast only three provinces to its name but the alliance signalled Prussia’s continued opposition to the Papacy. The Konservative Partei’s official newspaper ran an editorial stressing the importance of self-government for local Italian peoples. Some in the capital wondered if the government was too quick to hold to its traditional dislike of the Pope as surely Tuscany was the greater threat to local Italian polities (though the counter argument held that it was Tuscany who had seen independence granted to the former Papal fiefs).
Though weaker militarily than Naples, Bulgaria was a sizable, land-rich state. Owing its initial independence to the Prussian government, Bulgaria was eager to gain a great power ally to protect it from the Ottomans. To its own part, the Prussian government was happy to extend its influence further into the Ottoman heartland.
The last new ally accepted was the state of Münster which agreed to become Prussia’s ally as well as to fall under the Prussian sphere of influence.
Offers from Brittany, Urbino and Albania were granted a formal audience and a cursory dismissal. Meanwhile diplomats from Gazikumukh (a tiny state in the North Caucaus) and Vinland were given immediate rebuffs.
Little Brittany is a state in exile which was forced out of Brittany proper by the French government in the late 18th century. The minor South American state still lays claim to be the rightful protector and ruler of the Breton people of France.
Meanwhile having started to feel the heat of the French invasion, the Russian government began a diplomatic exchange with the United Kingdom. The Prussian diplomatic service gave the Russian ambassador a vehement lecture against that course of action but it was unclear to what extent it fell on receptive ears.
To guard against the machinations of rival powers, as well as encourage local economic development, Prussia began to invest in infrastructure projects within its sphered nations, starting with Lorraine and Bremen. Nobles with estates in Eastern Prussia & Poland began to question why the government wasn’t interested in supporting infrastructure in their regions.
Out in the colonies, the Konservative government continued its exploitative stance. After all, the colonies had to offer something in return for continued protection from the Fatherland.
As an unforeseen consequence of efforts to pursue ideological thought that would support Prussian aims at home and abroad, polemicists began to spread tracts about individualism and the importance of true democracy. Though the pamphlets were quickly suppressed, the bottle had been uncorked.
Government agents reported an increase in agitation across the Prussian Empire. Particularly worrying was how what had been a tiny movement to outlaw slavery now stood nearly 75,000 people strong.
In August of 1843, mixed news reached the court regarding the revised status of the Great Powers. On the one hand, Prussia’s implacable enemy, Scandinavia, was now judged to be so weak that it could no longer be considered one of the world’s pre-eminent powers. The Konservative government reasoned that this could open up fertile lands for conquest as long as Scandinavia was prevented from establishing good relations with France.
However, it came at a time that Austria was on the rise and could now be counted among the truly powerful. The very same government that was most opposed to Prussia’s self-proclaimed role as protector of the German peoples.
By October, French forces had broken through the Ottoman's Baltic holdings and had started to besiege Russian cities. The Crimean War, which for the last several years had seemed like it would result in total Russian hegemony, had taken a turn.
And in fact, one month later, the Russian Empire signed a white peace with France. Over 4 years of fighting had accomplished nothing except to weaken the Russians and the Ottomans. The Konservative government thanked its lucky stars that Russia had not tried to draw it into that ultimately futile conflict.
The railroad continued to expand in Western Prussia with the Berlin line extended through Brunswick to the Prussian border in Minden.
Liberals around Europe proclaimed that 1844 was to be the start of the Age of Liberalism. This message resonated not only among the powerless and downtrodden, but also among members of the elite who were appalled at how much global suffering the Great Powers sponsored (not to mention the continuing abhorrent practice of slavery). Several prominent Konservative supporters defected to the Liberal party.
By February 1844, Prussia was at war again. Curious as to whether or not Prussia would truly be willing to support French military adventures, France declared war on the UK with the aim of conquering Bretagne.
Not eager to repeat the mistakes of his father, the Emperor pushed the Konservative government to declare war on the side of France. With the United Kingdom only having Brabant as an ally versus the combined forces of France, Prussia, Provence and the Ottoman Empire, it was expected the war would be a quick one.