Chapter 23: 1834

Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace, the Children's Room.

Franz was searching through mountains of documents for useful material.

At this time, Austria possessed 30 kilometers of railway, Prussia 6 kilometers, France 150 kilometers, and Britain 600 miles (approximately 965 kilometers).

Every nation had frantic plans regarding railways. The French government had already introduced a construction plan for 730 kilometers of railway, and by 1848, the total length of French railways would exceed 1,814 kilometers.

However, compared to the members of the German Customs Union, this was still too conservative; the entire Union (excluding Austria) planned to construct 6,000 kilometers of railway.

The British had also approved a railway construction plan of 6,000 miles (approximately 8,047 kilometers). By 1870, Britain would possess 15,357 miles (approximately 24,714 kilometers) of railway, establishing the densest railway network in the world.

The Russian Tsarist government had not yet realized the importance of railways, approving only a few easily constructed routes totaling about 200 kilometers; even by 1866, Russia possessed a meager 1,488 kilometers of railway.

The Americans had only a 2,000-kilometer railway construction plan at this time, but by 1850, they would possess 9,021 kilometers of railway.

Historically, Austria had only approved approximately 350 kilometers of railway construction, and it was not until 1848 that it possessed 1,200 kilometers of railway.

The Austrian government approved Solomon Rothschild's Northern Railway construction plan; the Northern Railway Company would construct 700 kilometers of railway within the next decade.

However, Solomon's dream of a Southern Railway fell through, not because Francis II disagreed.

Francis II was quite satisfied with the bribes from Solomon Rothschild, but regarding the ownership of the Southern Railway Company, the military and Count Kolowrat refused to budge an inch.

Furthermore, Francis II's special advisor, Friedrich List, also supported the views of the military and Count Kolowrat, and intelligence provided by the secret police was also highly unfavorable to Solomon Rothschild.

Ultimately, Francis II decided to follow Friedrich List's advice and subcontract the Austrian Southern Railway to three different railway companies.

Afterward, the military requested several new railway lines from Francis II on the grounds of national security. Under the maneuvering of Count Kolowrat and Friedrich List, the operating rights for these lines were eventually sold to the highest-bidding merchants.

However, what Count Kolowrat, Count Latour (the Minister of War), and Friedrich List did not expect was that two important railway lines fell into French hands.

At this time, Austria had approved a total of 1,400 kilometers of railway construction.

American cotton production accounted for 85% of the world's total, forcing the British to urgently seek new sources of raw materials; their targets were set on Egypt and India.

Regarding the number of steam looms: Austria had 1,324, Prussia 223, France 1,511, and Britain 7,000 (if water-powered looms were included, Britain had 100,000 looms). Notably, Saxony, as the textile center of the German regions, possessed 450 steam looms.

Fortunately, Austria's mechanical manufacturing industry was quite good; they could independently produce steam looms and even export them to other German states.

Saxony was Austria's largest customer, though due to various considerations, the profits Austria could obtain were negligible.

The Austrian Army numbered 450,000, France 500,000, Prussia 200,000, and Russia 600,000.

The Austrian Army possessed the largest number of artillery pieces on the European continent, approximately 1,300 guns. Next were the Russians with about 900, the French with only 800, Prussia with fewer than 600, and the British home army with only 300 guns.

This resulted in annual military expenditure accounting for more than half of Austria's fiscal expenditure; even so, Austria's investment in military technology and soldier training was gradually failing to keep pace with the trends of historical development.

In terms of the navy, Austria did not lack a significant number of vessels, but it lacked large warships. Its actual combat effectiveness was even inferior to that of the Russians, while the French naval strength far surpassed the Russians.

However, even if all the navies of Europe were combined at this time, they were still no match for the British.

To what extent was this exaggerated? The Austrian navy might not even be able to defeat a single British squadron. And Britain possessed over a dozen squadrons of such scale.

Even so, the Austrian navy could still win with an overwhelming advantage when facing non-European navies.

The total foreign trade of the Austrian Empire at this time was 300 million florins, while France was 1 billion francs, Russia 400 million rubles, and Prussia 150 million thalers. This figure was expected to double one year after the Austrian Empire joined the German Customs Union.

However, due to issues such as reduced tariffs on certain goods and increased management costs, the actual impact on fiscal revenue was only about 5%.

Of course, with the expansion of trade and the improvement of infrastructure, fiscal revenue would grow steadily.

Because Austria's own monetary system was extremely chaotic, there were even several different types of Marks.

The currency conversion formula for Austria in this book

1 Gold Florin = 3 Ducat Gold Coins = 4.2 Thaler Silver Coins = 5 Florin Silver Coins = 150 Groschen = 600 Pfennig

The common currency was 1 Florin Silver Coin = 12 Kreuzer = 30 Groschen = 120 Pfennig = 0.83 Thaler.

The large British steamships "SS Asnan" and "SS Atlantic" were under construction; they would later become pioneers of Britain's conquest of the seas.

Austria had a population of 31 million, but the quality of its citizens was concerning; the illiteracy rate was even higher than that of war-torn Spain. The only nation comparable to Austria was neighboring Russia.

However, the number of university students in Austria ranked first on the European continent, though this was likely related to the high number of universities in Austria.

Austria's pig iron production was 100,000 tons, which was one-third of France's, less than one-tenth of Britain's, slightly lower than Prussia's, and even less than Belgium's.

Russia's pig iron production was 150,000 tons.

Austria's agricultural strength, however, was unexpectedly formidable; its grain production was four times that of France and 20 times that of Prussia at this time.

Austria had adopted chemical fertilizers earlier, and France's agriculture was in a low period, compounded by natural disasters.

Austria had 2.8 million mules and horses, 11 million cattle, 5 million pigs, and 30 million sheep.

In livestock, Austria was comparable to France. Prussia was on par with France and Austria in terms of pigs, cattle, sheep, and poultry, but its number of mules and horses was severely insufficient, totaling only one-tenth of that of France and Austria.

Austria's weaponry relied mainly on private armories and foreign imports.

Austria's armories were mainly located in Bohemia and Lower Austria; a small town called Schanz produced half of the entire empire's rifles.

The Austrian military almost monopolized the ammunition trade of the Austrian Empire.

But this created a paradox: if the price of ammunition was too low, the military would not make money; if the price was set too high, the soldiers could not afford the ammunition.

The standard military pay for the Austrian army was 100 florins per soldier per year.

However, due to the fiscal problems of the Austrian Empire, during peacetime, only half the standard amount—50 florins—could be distributed.

The saved 50 florins were used to update equipment and provide supplies.

Even more extreme, a high-ranking officer in the Austrian army once complained that bullets were more expensive than the soldiers themselves, asking why these soldiers could not use sabers or spears as weapons.

This would both solve the problem of idle vagrants on the streets and solve the issue of military expenditure.

Fortunately, the high-ranking officer who made this suggestion was forced into early retirement.

This successfully saved the lives of a large number of soldiers and ammunition suppliers.

This might be written quite messily, but this is the most heartfelt chapter I have written so far. The main reason is that researching the data took a lot of time.

Thanks to readers Shenzhou Buwu Tianxia Fengdao, 20210806232711729, and S Yundong Bafang for their tips, reader lax-X for the monthly ticket, and all readers for their support.

(End of Chapter)