Holy Roman Empire

Chapter 637 - 210: The French’s New Plan

Since ancient times, it has always been easy to discover problems but difficult to solve them. Everyone can see the developmental dilemmas that France faces, but finding a way out of these difficulties remains a puzzle.

Finance Minister Allen: "Your Majesty, learn from the Austrians and develop the colonies! France possesses more than ten million square kilometers of colonial territories; if these are exploited, we can solve the majority of our domestic need for industrial raw materials."

"Developing the colonies" was not a new proposal. As early as the era of Napoleon III, the French government had formulated an ambitious colonial development plan.

For this purpose, the French government also launched a large-scale immigration plan, successively relocating millions of people from the Balkan Peninsula, the Italian Area, and the mainland to fill the regions of North Africa.

The influx of immigrants did push the development of French Africa to a certain extent, but unfortunately, it ultimately ended in failure.

It wasn’t that the French government didn’t make an effort, but that effort was to no avail. Apart from developing some precious mines, other industries failed to take off.

This was completely different from Austria, whose Austro-Africa could develop because there was a group of nobility and commoners who liked farming and developed plantation economies there.

As the number of settlers increased, the colonial government’s income rose as well, and the infrastructure gradually improved. After transport was enhanced, the surrounding mineral resources were slowly exploited, forming a virtuous cycle.

French Africa was different; the French had no love for farming. Everyone was only interested in the precious metals like gold and silver mines, and no one was willing to invest in low-return industries such as farms and plantations.

If the French were unwilling to invest, not to mention other immigrants. Even if they wanted to establish their own farms or plantations, they needed money in their pockets!

With private capital refusing to enter and total reliance on government investment, it naturally wouldn’t last for many years.

Without the local economy developing, mining continued to rely on cheaper indigenous labor. Under these circumstances, the French colonial development plans quickly bankrupted.

Economic Minister Elsa: "Your Grace, restarting the colonial development plan is not so easy.

The biggest problem is that the public is unwilling to invest in colonies, and even when they do, they are only interested in mineral resources, investing in other areas is too minimal.

Relying solely on the government’s power to develop the colonies would require a cost too substantial to bear."

Finance Minister Allen: "We can increase government investment and implement policies to encourage people to go to the colonies for development. As long as we persevere, success will come sooner or later.

No matter how great the cost, it must be done. France doesn’t lack technology; our industrial development lags behind that of the United Kingdom and Austria chiefly because we lack cheap industrial raw materials.

If we cannot change the plight of being subject to others for industrial raw materials, our industry will never be able to develop!"

Economic Minister Elsa shook her head: "Your Grace, you should say this to the nationalists and idealists outside; they will probably support you.

In reality, we all know that the domestic nobility, capitalists, and even ordinary people don’t think this way.

Shouting a few slogans is one thing, but when it comes to actually investing money in the construction of colonial territories, the unavoidable issue of returns comes first.

There is also a gap between colonies, and on the surface, we are the splendid third-largest colonial empire in the world; but we must admit that our colonies lag far behind those of the United Kingdom and Austria in terms of value.

Your Grace surely does not believe that the vast deserts have value, right?

After excluding these worthless areas, the remaining territories are less than one third. A large part of this land, due to geographical conditions, is not valuable for development.

Even if it is developed, it may not meet domestic needs. At least the coal resources, where our shortfall is greatest, are not available in French Africa."

This was a realistic problem. Like Austria, the majority of French colonies were concentrated on the African Continent and mostly situated in desert areas.

The harsh natural conditions and climate created the biggest challenge for the development of French Africa. Investment and returns not being proportional, capital naturally abandoned them.

Finance Minister Allen with uncertainty: "Coal resources are only scarce because they are under-explored in French Africa; it doesn’t mean they do not exist. We have under-invested in these areas. Continue searching, and we will ultimately find them.

It’s impossible that the vast African continent lacks coal resources. With a little patience and sending out more prospecting teams, we will have harvests."

Allen lacked confidence when he spoke. France’s coal shortage has been a long-standing issue, and to solve this, during the era of Napoleon III, a large number of prospecting teams were dispatched.

It’s not that there were no findings; quite a few coal mines were discovered, but unfortunately, most had low reserves and were difficult to develop, rendering them economically non-viable.

To say that the prospecting teams didn’t put in the effort would be wronging them. If the resources weren’t there in the first place, they couldn’t just conjure up coal mines.

Minister of War Patrice MacMahon retorted: "Your Grace, that’s theoretically possible. However, in practice, the distribution of mineral resources is determined by God, and it’s not as if having a large land area guarantees rich mines.

If we wish to solve the shortage of coal, it’s better to look for solutions from our neighboring countries rather than placing our hopes in unrealistic dreams."

Patrick MacMahon, a member of the hawk faction in the French government, advocated for the seizure of territories west of the Rhine River, clashing with Finance Minister Allen, who led the dove faction. (Belgium, Rhineland, and parts of Baden)

Now that the subject had turned to coal resources, Patrick MacMahon immediately made the most of the opportunity to advocate for a strategy of expansion into the Central European Region.

Finance Minister Allen bluntly accused, "Your Grace, if you can ensure the neutrality of the United Kingdom and Austria, I also wouldn’t mind expanding into Central Europe.

If you can’t achieve that, it’s best to abandon such an impractical fantasy unless you want to experience another Europe-wide Anti-French war."

Minister of War Patrick McMahon sneered coldly and disdainfully said, "Coward!"

"The international situation is very clear now. Prussia and Russia have deep-seated hatred for each other, and the second Prusso-Russian war could break out at any time, leaving them powerless to interfere with our actions.

Without the involvement of Prussia and Russia, with the Spanish Government under our influence, the Italian Area annexed by us, Switzerland declaring eternal neutrality, and the Nordic Federation isolated too far north to reach us, where would any Anti-French Alliance come from?

As long as we move fast enough and create a fait accompli, minor countries like the Netherlands and Portugal dare not send troops.

The British Army’s strength is limited, the only real threat is Austria and what is there to fear in a one-on-one?"

The French, having not experienced the defeat of the Prusso-French war, were still brimming with pride. After the decline of the Russian Empire, the French government proclaimed itself as having the world’s number one army, politically speaking.

Over time, flattered by their own press, the French military grew arrogant. Patrick McMahon was inevitably influenced and gradually scorned other countries.

Foreign Minister Montero warned, "Your Grace, a one-on-one scenario does not exist. The United Kingdom and Austria will undoubtedly join forces. Perhaps the army can disregard their threats, but the navy cannot.

If we cannot win the war promptly, we will face a prolonged blockade, and not to mention other issues, food alone is a major problem."

The French people were very confident about their own strength, boasting in the newspapers every day, and the Paris Government also had unprecedented confidence in its own power.

Of course, the high-ranking officials in the government had not completely lost touch with reality; they were, at most, confident in their army. As for the navy, it was best to forget about it; the Royal Navy’s prestige was too imposing for the French to challenge.

Finance Minister Allen waved his hand and said, "We’re getting off-topic. Today’s meeting is an economic one to discuss how to solve the problem of Austria entering the free trade system, not a military one."

It seemed casual, but it was actually a warning to Patrick McMahon that he was overstepping. The economic meeting was the government’s job, not one for the military to interfere with.

Although the Minister of War was a member of the government, his authority in practice had been confined to the realm of the military, and government economic policies were none of his business.

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Napoleon IV rubbed his forehead, not knowing when it had become a habit for the French government to argue.

A dispute in the cabinet was still harmonious, but if it were an expanded meeting, it might even lead to fisticuffs.

Disharmony among subordinates was naturally advantageous for the Emperor as an arbitrator, but it was greatly damaging to government efficiency.

By the time everyone had argued to a conclusion, it would be too late. To improve government efficiency, Napoleon IV often had no choice but to personally intervene in negotiations.

This approach was very harmful to imperial authority. But there was no choice; his subordinates wouldn’t take orders from anyone else, so Napoleon IV had to step in himself.

For instance, the plan proposed by the Finance Minister to restart colonial development was clearly not popular.

If Napoleon IV wanted to restart the colonial development plan, he would have to personally endorse it.

Seeing that the arguing wasn’t leading to a resolution, Napoleon IV interjected, "Let’s not discuss whether the plan works for now, but list out all the plans to see what options we have.

If we have no choice, even the worst plan is better than no plan at all. We cannot sit idly by; that would be a slow suicide!"

Clearly, their options were limited. Joining the free trade system meant they had to solve the problem of raw materials.

As for relying on capital forces to drive industrial technological innovation, to reduce production costs, to maintain market competitiveness, so as to keep their market share,

Sorry, that’s idealism. France wasn’t lacking capital, but that didn’t mean the French industrial sector wasn’t lacking.

Everyone was already reluctant to invest in the physical industry due to low returns. If they joined the free trade system, increasing competition and further diminishing profits, could they still count on capitalists to invest?

Restarting the colonial development plan might not be the best choice, but it was the only viable one at the moment.

Moreover, the plan wouldn’t see returns in the short term; it would take ten or twenty years to see actual profits.

Not to say that it could completely solve France’s domestic shortage of raw materials, but achieving self-sufficiency for most industrial raw materials was still doable.

The prerequisite was that the French’s plans succeeded in truly developing the colonies; otherwise, things would remain as they were.

Driven by reality, with the support of Napoleon IV, the French government passed the "Restart Colonial Development Plan" proposed by the Finance Minister by a narrow margin.

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