A Greater Austrian Empire

But this is a massive European dogpile on Prussia and a bunch of German States! The balance of power is going to be shot to shit after this. Unless the British are busy facing down Russia.
The UK didn't join in either of the Prussian wars in the 19th century,don't think they will especially if the Prussians were basically asking for it,as long as they don't go annihilate Prussian as a country(just make sure they don't go too far and Austria doesn't suddenly become the ruler of the rest of Germany).On the other hand,I would look east to Russia.Bismark was building relations with Russia at this point IIRC,and that the Russians were ready to intervene in the Franco-Prussian Wars if Austria intervened in favor of the French.The fact that Austria defeated Russia in the Crimean War wouldn't help a bit.
 
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But if Russia intervenes on Prussia's side, won't Britain have to intervene on Austria's then? The Russians will clearly be out for revenge; Prussia will be the aggressor, and together they might crush the rest of Europe.
 
But if Russia intervenes on Prussia's side, won't Britain have to intervene on Austria's then? The Russians will clearly be out for revenge; Prussia will be the aggressor, and together they might crush the rest of Europe.
Britain's in the midst of Splendid Isolation,Europe can spill all the blood she wants,as long as no great power is in control of Flanders nor is there a super great power on the continent.It's the whole deal with WWI.As long as no power crosses the line,I doubt they will intervene.
 
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They fought a full blown war in Mexico against the existing republican government to preserve the rule of Maximillian,which collapsed after the French left due to American pressure.So I guess the difference here would be a full-blown Austrian intervention.In OTL,Austrian support to Maximilian were sparse,with only a few volunteer Austrian units sent to help him.

A Mexican invasion of the US is not realistic for the reasons I've mentioned.For the CSA to succeed,you will at least need the British and the French to jump in,which would be difficult according to a number of threads I've read.I'm out of my league regarding the ACW,but from what I've read here,even with Anglo-French intervention,the war will still probably be a close thing.As for Britain annexing what remains of the USA eventually,I don't think that's plausible at all.

Quite. For Mexico to succeed, you would have to have POD going back much farther. As to an the British and the French declaring, do note the difficulty in Britain declaring war on its largest trading partner in a position at which it is at a distinct disadvantage, being an entire continent away. If the French decide to jump in as well, while at the same time intervening in Mexico, they'll soon find their forces spread too thin to make any headway. And, while their troops are stuck in a New World Quagmire, the other powers of Europe are much freer to act as they please.

This especially applies if the British and French intervene in the late war. They'd have to declare war at the very beginning of the Civil War to have the greatest chance of effecting results on an underprepared US (ignoring the politics of Great Britain and France leaping to defend the Confederacy immediately after Fort Sumter). It would be a long slog, but I think it'd be more likely at the end that you'd find a US leaving its isolation far earlier than OTL and having taken quite a big chunk out of British North America. You'll not see them get into any entangling foreign alliances yet, but their interests would align with the strongest liberalizing quasi-federalist state that could oppose Britain and France. Which, in this timeline, appears to be a certain Österreich.
 
OUTSKIRTS OF TURIN, PALAZZINA DI STUPINGI, APRIL 1848

The chandelier twinkled. Brilliant lighting adorned the entirety of the cavernous space; and below, satin danced over the plain white floor, accompanied by the smart click-click-click of men’s shoes. Charles Albert, King of Sardinia, gazed out over the nobles twirling gently below and exhaled slowly. A piece of music composed by a Mr. Strauss was playing below; a waltz, if he remembered correctly. One of the many entertainments the Austrians had brought with them. Wonderful, light music. If only the politics aligned with such beauty.

Because France was in convulsions. Louis Philippe had been toppled from his own city, like another Louis had been toppled less than a century ago. There was revolution in the Two Sicilies, and rumour had it that Rome was going to rise against the Pope. It was the perfect time to unite Italy; but France was paralysed. Why else had he agreed to meet the Austrian Emperor? Charles Albert tucked his chin against his chest and made to descend the stairs, but there was a smell. An odd smell. Hungarian tobacco, if he remembered correctly. Used by officers in the Austrian Army; expensive, too. High quality.

“Charles Albert of Sardinia, I presume?”

He turned. Joseph Ferdinand had joined him at the banister, a pipe poking out from his mouth. The elder royal turned to face him slightly. Charles Albert bristled. His personal feelings towards the Austrian Emperor were ambivalent at best, and antagonistic at worst. It was hard, he felt, to reconcile the man who had abolished serfdom once and for all in Austria with the unpleasant monarch who had occupied a substantial part of Italy. It was hard to reconcile the man who had reversed the repression of Italian men and women with the man who Metternich reported to, Metternich who had remarked that Italy was nothing more than a geographic expression.

“Good evening, your Imperial Highness.” Joseph Ferdinand smiled. It was not a smile by any means, actually; simply a twist of the lips, a sardonic sneer. The pipe was removed from his wrinkled mouth, slightly sticky with saliva, and Charles Albert tore his gaze away from the man.

“Let’s not resort to formalities. Charles?”

“Joseph.” The two men took the measure of one another. “Why all this pomp? Why all this ceremony?”

“You know very well why. I’ve discarded Metternich for this undertaking, and do not mistake it for anything but an undertaking. Charles,” and here the Emperor leaned forward, medals clinking on his chest, “how would you like Lombardy-Venetia?”

Charles laughed. He laughed incredulously, and venom collected at the back of his throat. But the Emperor continued: “I do not jest here. All I want, all I want is a simply treaty. A treaty of friendship, if not closer co-operation. And in exchange, I will give you Lombardy-Venetia. Every rein of government, entrusted to the Kingdom of Sardinia.”

Charles coughed into his sleeve. “There is yet a catch, is there not? Like the British say it. A catch. Friendship entails co-ordinating diplomatic policies. You know very well that France is our principal ally. Why should we trust a nation that has done nothing but occupy rightful Italian land?”

A vein throbbed at Joseph Ferdinand’s temple. “Because this nation is going to give you Lombardy-Venetia. Without war, without bayonets, without death. But as you said, there is a catch; I freely admit it; but a small catch, nonetheless. The region will remain under personal union with Austria, and the Austrian Navy will use the ports. Jointly with the Italian Navy, in the case that you see fit to proclaim a Kingdom of Italy.”

Joseph Ferdinand leaned forward again. “The Austrian Empire truly wishes for friendship with Italy, Charles Albert,” he said, breath warm and close and regular, “and let us put aside our personal grievances to do what we know is best for all. We don’t ask you to abandon your alliance with France; we ask you to form an alliance with us. To reconcile. Is that not right and good?”

Charles twitched. Strauss’ music below suddenly seemed to be menacing, a German war march. Ah- it was, was it not? The Radetzky March, he recalled it was called. After the Minister of War. War- a frightening prospect. It terrified him, but he would face it bravely if circumstances called for it. Was this treaty dishonourable? No. But yet more was obtainable.

“Austrian ships in Italian waters? I think not, your Imperial Highness. Give us a quarter of your shares in the Suez Canal. Sardinia, too, has an interest in your Egyptian project. And give us Lucca, Modena, Tuscany and Parma. I know that you hold influence in these states. The Kingdom of Sardinia will not presume to host foreign units without concessions.”

Joseph Ferdinand paused. “The smaller states I can give you. You want to take a shot at Pius IX, don’t you? Forge a union with Sicily. I’d urge you to hurry; there’s not much time left until the continent calms itself down. A month back there was an uprising in the Crownland of Hungary-Slovakia. Radetzky is leading troops in the other German states, putting down revolution.” He made as if to carry on, but Charles Albert was intrigued.

“An uprising, you say?”

The Emperor looked pleased. “Yes. It was crushed, of course; it was the magnates agitating for more rights. They were pained, to have their precious Diet subordinated to the will of Vienna. If I could, all of them would be exiled to an island like Elba, but instead I shall simply confiscate their property and redistribute it. The Slovaks sided with Austria; I shall give them their own state. No more shall Pressburg groan under the weight of the Magyars. My pipe, in fact, until recently, belonged to a minor noble by the name of Kossuth.”

Charles Albert leaned against the banister. A man like this, who could crush a whole race with such nonchalance, was not a man whom he wanted to be an enemy of. In fact he was doubly lucky that such a man was offering to grant him a chance to more than double the territory of the Kingdom of Sardinia. His Kingdom. Thoughts of a flag, red, white and green, darted through his mind.

“And what will you want in return for these concessions? The Kingdom of Sardinia will do its utmost to carry it out, provided it is not beyond its means.”

“Closer military and economic co-operation, then. That and the basing of fleets and diplomatic reconciliation. A treaty of eternal friendship. Italy deserves colonies, I think, as much as any other European country.”

Charles Albert smiled mirthlessly. “By all means, your Imperial Highness. By all means.”
 
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An excerpt from SARDINIA 1848: THE BIRTH OF ITALY, by Giovanni Naxos

The Treaty of Turin, signed on 14 April 1848, established the following terms:

• Austria would cede Lombardy-Venetia to Sardinia, although Lombardy-Venetia would remain under personal union with Austria and an appointed Viceroy would have some measure of weight in how the region was governed

• Referenda would be conducted in the smaller Italian states of Lucca, Parma, Modena and Tuscany as to whether they wished to join Sardinia; if the result was a “yes” vote, the existing monarchs of these small states would maintain their rights and privileges as members of the nobility until their death, after which their heir could choose to remain in the Sardinian court or return to Austria

• Ports in Lombardy-Venetia would be usable by the Austrian Navy, and seagoing vessels could be manufactured by companies based in the region as well

[…]

• Austria would give Sardinia 25% of its shares in the Suez Canal Company

• A Treaty of Friendship would be signed between Sardinia and Austria, entailing alignment of diplomatic, economic and military policy

[…]

The results of the referenda were a foregone conclusion by the time they were released on 28 April. The Kingdom of Sardinia, its size already doubled by the inclusion of Lombardy-Venetia, thus annexed the remaining weak states on the Italian peninsula and manoeuvred to face the Papal States and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. […] the Sardinian Navy set foot on Sicily proper on 16 May; […] despite the regime’s refusal to recognize the agreement, enough confirmed rumours spread to trigger a massive uprising on the mainland […] Bourbons overthrown […]

[…]

[…] The Pope was forced to flee on 7 June, when the attendance of protests in Rome surged to a rough numerical estimate of 100,000 people, and the city itself ground to a halt […] the short-lived Roman Republic happily surrendered to Sardinian forces and Austrian auxiliaries […] Pius IX surrendered the entirety of Romagna, resigned […] details of the Austrian involvement in the liberation of the Papacy would only be revealed after the declassification of military archives in 1990 […]

[…] The temporal power of the Pope was finally broken […] although Church buildings in Rome would continue to be used by the Papacy […] completely removed from political affairs, especially in Italy, and his successors would henceforth involve themselves only in spiritual matters […]

[…]

[…] The Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed on 12 September 1848 in […] Charles Albert I of Italy […]

The Austrian role in the Italian peninsula was loudly and widely trumpeted, as well as the Treaty of Turin, widely lauded as one of the major contributors to Italian unification before the second half of the 19th century. […] The French government, after it had recovered from the revolutionary spasms of 1848, was […] deeply unhappy that it […] “had not participated in such a historic and momentous liberation.” However, due to the ongoing construction of the Suez Canal and the concerted efforts of Italy’s and Austria’s capable diplomats, the three powers remained cordial, […] the beginning of the European Collective […] short term, Suez Canal was completed in 1852 […]


Everything after this post is going to be leaping a few decades into the future. I banged out a few "updates" in a burst of inspiration. Is this plausible?
 
THE PEACE TREATIES AND AFTERMATH OF THE CONTINENTAL WAR, 1869-1889

Both the Alliance and Russia were exhausted at the end of the war; Swedish ambivalence and Ottoman opportunism managed to force Russia to its knees, until it was almost prostrate before them. The Treaty of Minsk, signed 28th August 1869, accomplished the following:

• Prussia would be divested of its western provinces of Saxony, Thuringia, Hohenzollern, and the Rhine Province. France annexed land up to the Rhine as well as Luxembourg, whose membership was rescinded with its loss of sovereignty. 40% of the remainder of its lands were split up among the various small states, with 60% to the larger, dominant German states.

• Prussia was also forced to join the Union of German States, and subsequently the German Confederation was dissolved. The new Union of German States was a tighter organization, with the eventual stated goal of uniting the German peoples in one unitary state; this would be accomplished, unlike with the German Confederation. The primary powers in the new German Union, as it was known colloquially, otherwise “Germany”, were: the Bavarian-led Southern Confederation, the Kingdom of Prussia, the Kingdom of Hanover, and the newest addition of Saxony-Thuringia, a merger of the Kingdom of Saxony and the Thuringian Federation.

• Russia was divested of a huge amount of core territories; nearly emasculated. The entirety of Finland would be placed under personal union with the Kingdom of Denmark. Congress Poland and the United Baltic Kingdom would be controlled by the German Union. Austria would command the new states of Belarus and Ukraine. The Ottoman Empire would annex Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan.

• With regards to Italy, which had largely gained no political influence on the eastern territories, nearly half a billion roubles in total would be paid.

The German Empire was declared on the 7th of October 1870 in Frankfurt, which would subsequently be the capital. Unification efforts were, for the first time, peaceful and not preceded immediately by war; the formation of the German Empire is commonly thought of as the beginning of a more peaceful era in Europe: the Age of Empires. The Italian Empire was declared not long after the German Empire. The total population of Italian Libya, Tunisia and Greater Ethiopia by now numbered over fifty million altogether, and the Italian star had only continued to rise with the rest of Europe. Sweden-Norway would be forced into the Scandinavian Collective by Denmark-Finland; the two political forces would spar constantly in the Scandinavian Parliament. But the Scandinavian Collective would eventually, united, vote to join the European Collective.

The European Collective was formed on the 1st of January, 1872, in Bern, Switzerland. Switzerland, as a profoundly neutral state, was seen by the four empires as the perfect place to meet. On Austrian initiative, an invitation was sent to Britain, the Scandinavian Collective and the Ottoman Empire to join with the Collective. The Collective was essentially a joint diplomatic, economic and military compact, designed to unite the powers of Europe in a strong framework to regulate excesses and shortages in European lands around the globe. Britain declined, but the Scandinavian Collective and the Ottoman Empire accepted. Over the next decade, Greece, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain and Portugal would join the European Collective.
 
DIPLOMATIC ARRANGEMENTS, 1869-1889

The Russian Empire was immensely vengeful and revanchist following the First Continental War. Divested of nearly a quarter of its population, as well as much of its prestige, the absolutist system of government had to deal with a near-civil-war after its immediate defeat. Only by affirming an even larger military than in 1868 and repeatedly engaging in immensely nationalist rhetoric could it preserve its political system. The formation of the European Collective further threatened it, as well as the “betrayal” of France. Despite having been informed in no uncertain terms that the European powers would accept Russia into the Continental Bloc, many Russians strongly resisted such an eventuality.

The loss of its European territories also led it to lend more prominence than was strictly necessary to the east, especially to its American colony of Alaska. Great care was lavished on the budding colony, and guarded jealously from the British and Americans. Ties were mended with China, Korea, and Japan; what little independence the Central Asian states had was rescinded with extreme prejudice.

Nor was this hard; by 1872, the Russian Empire was more “an army with a state” than Prussia itself, which was by then merely a province of the German Empire, and definitely not on speaking terms with Russia any longer. The entirety of Russian society was militarized, with even the nobility on speaking terms with the working class; so great was the humiliation that every Russian was standing together. A side effect of this was a severely anti-immigration effort by the Imperial government, with the sole exception being Asian immigrants, who had not fought against the country.

The defeat of Russia awakened the British to the juggernaut stirring just across the English Channel. Despite British diplomacy and attempts to turn the powers against one another, all attempts were politely but firmly turned down. Angered by this refusal, Britain restructured its former “Splendid Isolation”, but this isolation was not so much tempered by pride as by fear. In fact it could be said that Russia’s resulting development was driven by hatred to a great extent and fear to a small extent, while Britain’s development was completely driven by fear. However, it is also necessary to note that despite Britain’s fear, trade with Europe still continued and in fact increased with the economic boom.

Insecure in future influence in Europe, Britain tightened its hold on overseas colonies, struggling to force a British identity on the populace. The already massive British fleet expanded still further, though within reason; the government felt that it was not necessary to bankrupt the country, since the “core territories” of Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand would definitely remain loyal. However, in 1872, when the government finally realized that it was impossible to precisely bring in British culture into the region due to different climates, different worldviews and different cultures, the British tried to impose a common seafaring outlook and culture among their colonies. After all, the administration reasoned, they had conquered on boats, and it was boats that had brought Europe and Napoleon to its knees once before; why could boats not serve as a symbol of strength?

This new culture was termed “Oceanian”.

((A Conservative government took power in 1880, at the height of the “Oceanic” craze. Its leader, a Mr George Brooks, an aristocrat who had risen to power on sheer grit and ruthlessness, the latter of which was not widely known, reached across the aisle to the Labour opposition, proposing a unified system where both sides could input. It would be named “English Socialism”, or “IngSoc” for short.

When Europe plunged once more into war, with the resources of two continents at its back, against the Asiatic Powers of Russia, China, Korea and Japan, in the Eurasian War, a misguided attempt by a spy of unknown loyalty to assassinate the fiercely isolationist Brooks in order to bring Britain into the war had the complete opposite effect. Brooks, whose policies, due to input from both sides of the political spectrum, had greatly enriched and benefited the population, and thus enjoyed mammoth popularity, suddenly grew withdrawn and paranoid over the space of two months. It is hypothesised that his self-medicating tendencies and the shock of a near-assassination resulted in the eventual eruption of unbridled paranoia.

A populace blindly loyal agreed to Brooks’ sudden curbing of civil rights “for protection”; the MPs who had not noticed Brooks’ descent into mental instability, which is to say all, likewise voted for the motion. They trusted Brooks to do the right thing; but what is to be done when there is a sick captain at the helm?))


The bits within the double parentheses are probably not the most plausible.
 
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