The Great Game in Europe

This is a spin off of my time line which started with Sweden entering the Crimean War. It had seen the growth of Austria as a Military and a Colonial power. The results of the Crimean War has resulted in changes to the face of Europe.
Italy has finally emerged as a united Kingdom but not under the House of Savoy. The Ottomans have been driven out of the Balkans, Relations between the Serbs and the Austrians are quite good, Indeed Austria's Emperor is well regarded by the Serb people. The same position is held in Greece. There the Greeks regained the city of Constantinople.
The Austrians have regained the Holy lands and have established an empire in Africa.
This has not made Napoleon III very unhappy.
More to follow,

Napoleon III was looking to see what France could do to improve its situation in the world. He was not at all happy that the Empire of Germany had come into being but he was advised that to go to war without any aid from other powers would see France at war with the new German Empre, Austria and the Kingdom of Italy.
France had been outmaneuvered by the Austrians, who had neutralized the Russians as well as the Prussians.
Still Napoleon III was determined to put the Italians in their place. The current solution in Tunisia had not been acceptable to the French.

Otto von Bismarck sailed from Prussia to France to meet with the French Government. Bismarck was attempting to re-establish Prussia as a player in Europe. It appeared that the Bavarians had out manuvered the Prussian in the leadership of Germany and had managed to push them out of the German Empire. This had happen due to his being ill. He was now teying to undo the damage. It appeared that Kaiser Franz Joseph 's government had also been showing a remarkable ability to play the Great Game. Russia had been neutralized as a threat to Austria and unless something was done Prussia would be in a box.

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Otto Von Bismarck's visit to France was designed to improve the position of Prussia. The Prussian Diplomat and future Chancellor of Prussia was attempting to get his country out of the box that it had gotten in. Talks with the French had gone well.They had not seen things exactly the same but close enough to reach a deal.
Next stop would be a visit to st Petersburg and a stop in Stockholm on the way home. Otto needed to see what the Russian position was and if he could budge them from their position.
He was unaware that Austria and Russia had signed a secret agreement that in effect removed any Russian threat to the empire.

Bismarck had reached an understanding with France that would help both nations. His next stop was a visit to London and then one in Stockholm before his final stop in St Petersburg before returning home. The Prussian Diplomat was attempting to work his magic.

Everyone was hopeful that the troubles that seemed to be cropping up in Europe would come to an end. The Balkans seemed to be settling down but some in the Austrian zone in what had at one time been known as Albania said it was a time bomb. The Serbs were determined to rid the Balkans of all Muslims and they did not like the fact that some had escaped into the Austrian Zone. The Austrians were trying to come up with a solution that did not involve the extermination of a people due to their religion. So far the Austrians had maintained order. The Austrian Garrison commander had a reinforced Brigade to maintain order but he was asking for help. The population in the zone was overwhelmingly Albanian but it was a mixture of Albanian Christians and Muslims with a tiny amount of Greeks, Italians and ethnic Germans throne in.
The 9th brigade of the Austrian Foreign Legion was being sent to help out.
Talk was of deporting trouble makers to Austrian East Africa or the Ottoman Empire.
But it was far to the west that trouble was brewing. In Spain it appeared that the country was on the verge of another Carlist uprising.
France backed the Carlist but Austria was backing the current line.
So far there had been no fighting but things were brewing.
Relations between the Ottomans and the Russians were declining and it was only a matter of time before there was another war.

Is the "Crimean" War TL finished, or do you continue both?

Right at the moment the Crimean War time line is on hold. I may go back to it and deal with some other things. The Great Game in Europe will move ahead and deal not just with Europe but also with the rest of the world. From time to time it will also mix with the line that deals with the US.

The United States establishing full diplomatic relations with the Empire of Germany was good news for the German Emperor and for Austria.
Many wondered if another Carlist Uprising took place in Spain what effect would it have on the rest of Europe and for the remnants of the Spanish Empire. No one beielved that there would be a problem in Africa or the Canary Islands but the Philippines was another case.

Napoleon III had not been having much luck on the international scene. Austria had been upstaging him. The Austrians appeared to be doing quite well in both diplomacy and in the colonization process. Their grabbing of the Holy Lands, Austrian East Africa and the Congo had all made the Austrians a major player. It also seemed that in diplomacy they had undermined both the French and the Prussians with the Russians.
Now France might have a chance to make gains in Spain. It had backed the Carlist candidate in the 1840's and now appeared to once again try to put a friend on the Spanish throne.
But Austria was supporting the current family even if that would mean a female on the throne.
Below Napoleon III

Just catching up. Things look interesting. I shall follow.

The Austrians would not complain about a female - Maria Theresia was female and is still considered somethiing like a mother for Austria.

The female problem on the throne was more of an internal Spanish problem. You are correct Austria had no trouble with the ruler of Spain being a female.
Still once again France and Austria were on opposite sides. Napoleon III was sure that after his talk with Bismarck that he could count on Prussia applying pressure to the Empire of Germany to stay out of this. This meant the only possible front that France would have to worry about would be the Italian one. The Emperor was assured that the French Imperial Army could keep the Italians bottled up.
Should Italy enter the war it was the Emperor's intention that France's colonial army would seize Tunisia.

Prime Minister Gladstone attended a diner at the Austrian Embassy> One of the Archdukes was visiting Great Britain and he was the other honored guest. The Archduke brought a gift from the Emperor to celebrate the continued special relationship between Austria and Great Britain.
Among the topics was the ongoing crisis that was approaching in Spain.
The Archduke requested a private meeting with the Prime Minister to discuss the changes in Europe.

Austria had been Great Britain's loyalist ally since the Crimean War. The Austrians wanted to know where Britain stood on several key questions. First among those was the growing question of Spain. The Austrians did not want to be on the opposite side from their ally but they also wanted to make the case against supporting the Carlist candidate. The Archduke also brought up the question of the Empire of Germany and the Kingdom of Prussia. The Archduke pointed to the fact that Prussia seemed unable to accept the idea that all of the other German states had moved on. Also Bismarck seemed to be working against maintaining the peace by forging a relationship with France.
Gladstone answered that Britain did not see any reason to change their recognition of the current Royal Line in Spain. Having a female on the throne was acceptable to the British government. Britain would use its influence to discourage another European war.
The British Prime Minister was glad to learn that the Austrians had been working with the Ottoman Empire on a peaceful border settlement.
A rail connection through Austrian East Africa to the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan was approved.

Austria had been successful in preventing the formation of an alliance aimed at Austria. The agreements with Russia had thwarted French and Prussia plans. The end result is it had prevented the outbreak of another European conflict. Austria had bought its German ally time to grow and get ready for a possible conflict in the future.
Indeed the Austrian, French and Prussian intelligence services were fighting a deadly war to prevent their opponent from gaining an upper hand.
Spying was not just aimed at the plans of ones enemies army but at also the diplomatic talks and even industrial.

The Kingdom of Finland had been watching what was happening in the rest of Europe. While there was some interest the only nations that concern the Kingdom were the Giant to the east and the Swedish Kingdom to the west. Finland had come a long way from its independence from Russia. The greatest thing was the increasing amount of road and rail road lines through the country. The Finnish military had grown and there was a lot of interaction with the Swedish military.
Prussia had attempted to forge closer ties with both Finland and Sweden but it had seen on limited success.

Nuremberg,Empire of Germany: The German Emperor was becoming very concern with the moves that the new Prussian Chancellor was making. It appeared to him that King Wilhelm of Prussia was preparing for a war against the new Empire of Germany. Well two could play that game. The Imperial German Chancellor was told to get something done to counter the Prussians and possibly the French. German's Ambassador to the Kingdom of Poland began to discuss an alliance with the Polish state. Should war break out the Poles were promised territorial gains if Germany and Poland should win. The Austrian had already assured the German Emperor that if Germany was attacked Austria would stand by them.
The Kingdom of Italy was also asked to support the Germans if France should attack them.
Austria had just signed a 10 year Reassurance Treaty with Russia that would prevent a war with the Russian state and at the same time protect the Kingdom of Poland.
What was proposed would be a total redrawing of the Borders and the sending of the Hohenzollern to East Prussia/
See Map below

Alas the world shown above had not happen and if Otto Bismarck had his way it never would. While the German Emperor's diplomats were hard at world so was Prussia's chancellor. The French agreed to strengthen their border forces to apply pressure on Germany.While the treaty between Russia and Austria prevented a war between the two Bismarck got the Russian to express concern. He also dispatched a top aide to London to work on getting the British to discourage a war.
Still events in Spain were heading toward a possible Civil War and already France and Austria were on opposite sides.

In Spain the unpopular Queen was forced from the throne, This lead to the Carlist seizing power. The French had backed the Carlist nearly 30 years earlier and seeing a chance to gain influence they did so again. The Unpopular Queen had sought refuge in France but upon seeing that Napoleon III was backing the forces that had forced her into exile she quickly left for the more friendly Belgium.
Austria did not like this and proposed to aid the liberal forces. For now Austria would not openly commit forces to the conflict but was prepared to use its intelligence service to do what could be done.
There was resistance to the Carlist Rule. Attempts to replace the monarch with a noble from Sicily were unsuccessful . After 2 years of attempting to rule the Duke resigned as king and returned to Sicily.
Austria now openly supplied arms .