Chapter 1368 Rudolf's Population Plan
June 16, 1920.
Vienna.
This ancient European city no longer has the prosperity it once had.
The streets are desolate. The once bustling shops have become deserted and lonely. Pedestrians wear masks and hurry back and forth, but dare not communicate too much.
The number of military and police in Vienna is also significantly greater than usual, responsible for maintaining the operation of the city. In addition to epidemic prevention work, Vienna's military and police are also responsible for resisting small-scale riots that may occur in the city and monitoring outsiders.
From time to time, you can see houses sealed with white seals, indicating the potential risks here. Once someone approaches, they will be driven away by uniformed patrol officers.
Most of these houses are isolation areas for seriously infected patients, so they are the focus of attention.
For the Austro-Hungarian Empire, an ancient traditional European power, the empire has once again entered a period of disaster since 1914.
This can be seen from Vienna today. Since the beginning of the World War, Vienna has been in a state of panic. It finally survived the end of the war, but was greeted by the 1920 European influenza outbreak.
The impact of the plague on Vienna was even greater than that of the war. Even during the war, Vienna was always in the rear, and it was still full of feasting and revelry. However, the plague had no spatial limitations, and most areas of the empire were affected, especially densely populated areas like Vienna, which became a breeding ground for the plague.
Crown Prince Rudolf sat in the car seat, frowning through the window, watching the disaster that swept the entire empire.
"What is the current disaster situation in Vienna?" asked Rudolf.
Conrad, the Prime Minister of the Empire, said in the co-pilot seat: "Your Highness, at least 30% of the people in Vienna are now infected with the epidemic. Most of them have been infected with the plague, but most of them have recovered. However, from February to now, the death toll in Vienna has exceeded 170,000."
Seventeen thousand people is not a lot for Vienna, which has a population of over two million, but this figure is already very scary. It means that the European flu mortality rate in Vienna exceeds 7%, which is obviously higher than that in East Africa.
However, this is understandable. East Africa is already ahead of most countries in the world in terms of strictness in the field of health, and because it is far away from Europe, it was not affected by the plague to the same extent as the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Secondly, the war had a certain impact on the epidemic prevention work of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Although the war is over now, all areas of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were affected to varying degrees during the war.
Today, the Austro-Hungarian Empire's industrial recovery is progressing very slowly. If it were not for aid from East Africa, the Austro-Hungarian Empire might not even be able to produce sufficient epidemic prevention materials.
"I don't know when this damn plague will end, damn French!" Rudolf said gritting his teeth.
Most European countries are now well aware that the so-called European flu most likely originated in France. However, thanks to the public opinion advantage accumulated by the French over a long period of time, the whole of Europe has to take the blame for France.
France has long been the cultural and communication center of Europe and an important maker and participant of the old order, so it has a profound influence in Europe.
This kind of influence is lacking in other European countries. Even the United Kingdom may not have more say in this regard than France. Of course, if it is expanded to the global scale, it will definitely not be able to surpass the United Kingdom.
Conrad said: "It will be useless even if we point out that the plague originated in France. After all, the plague is likely caused by the war, so Germany will help France cover up the source of the plague in this regard."
After all, the most suspected source of the plague was the Western Front, where armies from various countries participated, especially Germany and France, which were the main forces.
Rudolf sighed and said, "The death toll from this plague has exceeded one million across the empire. This is even more terrible than war."
The more populous a city is, the greater the impact it suffered in this round of European flu. However, the good news is that the urbanization level of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is relatively low among the great powers, only higher than that of Japan and Spain.
This reduced the losses of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to a certain extent, but Rudolf was obviously not happy about it.
He said: "This time, economically developed and densely populated areas are more vulnerable to the impact. Therefore, in the early stage, we in Austria are under more pressure than Hungary and other regions. Thinking about this gives me a headache. The population and ethnic structure issues are one of the root causes of the internal conflicts in the empire today. This epidemic may further aggravate this conflict."
Conrad had a different view on this. He said to Rudolf, "Your Highness, don't worry too much about this. According to the current trend of the plague, it is basically certain that no one in the entire Europe will be spared."
"Moreover, the medical conditions in Hungary and other regions are more backward than those in Austria. The losses in other regions due to this epidemic will only be more serious than those in Austria."
Both the emperor and his ministers were staunch Austrians, or Germans. For the long-term stability of the empire, they naturally hoped that there would be more German population in the empire.
It should be mentioned here that it was Rudolf who promoted Conrad to become the new Prime Minister of the Empire. Now Emperor Franz has basically become the mascot of the Empire and no longer participates in the politics of the Empire.
In other words, since the middle of the war, Crown Prince Rudolf has become the actual controller of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Rudolf is now an old man in his sixties. After experiencing World War I, he has become more mature and stable, but of course, he has also become more cold-blooded and sinister.
When he was young, Rudolf was rebellious and sympathetic to the people of the empire, but now, Rudolf lives more and more like his father, Emperor Franz.
Crown Prince Rudolf said: "My father used to maintain the balance within the empire by relying on superb checks and balances, but as time went on, this balance became increasingly difficult to maintain, and the empire missed the best opportunity to integrate the national ideology. If we cannot solve this problem, then the Austro-Hungarian Empire may be annihilated in the long river of history at any time."
At this point, Rudolf's tone became a little heavy, and a ruthless look flashed in his eyes as he said, "We must adopt some subtle policies and measures to help the empire overcome this difficulty."
Rudolf's overall idea was naturally to increase the number of Germans in the empire, and it would be best if the Germans could truly become the main ethnic group of the empire.
However, the difficulty is also enormous, and it can even be said that the possibility of solving it is slim. A key point is that the birth rate of Germans in the empire is relatively low.
Austria's birth rate is lower than that of places like Hungary, which would obviously make it easier to further shake the foundations of the Habsburg rule.
However, Hungary was not actually a major threat to the Habsburgs. From an objective point of view, Hungary was actually a more staunch royalist than Austria. This was mainly because Hungary's economy was relatively backward, and its resistance to the monarchy was not as intense as Austria's.
This was also one of the contradictions within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was glued together by the Habsburgs, but the interests of the empire were not completely consistent with those of the Habsburgs.
However, Rudolf had no idea how to resolve this contradiction. Any action he took might backfire, so Rudolf's attitude towards Hungary was rather contradictory.
Of course, the fact that Hungary could not be disposed of at will did not mean the same for other regions. As the territory and population gained in World War I were digested, the number of Slavs in the Austro-Hungarian Empire further increased.
Rudolf also wanted to use this as a breakthrough to solve the empire's ethnic problems.
Rudolf said: "Now, we must speed up the de-Slavicization of the residents within the new territory, and at the same time make good use of our advantages to increase the number of mixed-blood German population as much as possible."
"The Kingdom of Dalmatia is a good example. Although their appearance is quite different from other people in the empire because of their Far Eastern ancestry, these outsiders are also more likely to be Germanized."
This is actually the fanaticism of converts. This phenomenon can be found in East Africa and the Dalmatian Kingdom of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. These mixed-race Germans who joined the "German" family halfway attach more importance to their current identity than pure-blooded Germans themselves.
Of course, the situation in the Kingdom of Dalmatia was more intense than that in East Africa. After all, the ethnic and cultural integration in East Africa had been completed, while the mixed-race Germans in Dalmatia seemed out of tune with the surrounding areas.
To the north are the Croats and Slovenes, to the east are the Serbs, and to the south are the Montenegrins. It can be said that except for the Adriatic Sea to the west, the mixed-race Germans of the Kingdom of Dalmatia are surrounded by Slavs.
This also made the mixed-race Germans in the Kingdom of Dalmatia more loyal and patriotic, which was reflected in World War I. From beginning to end, the mixed-race Germans in the Kingdom of Dalmatia showed a higher level of warlike bloodiness than other regions in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Moreover, this kind of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism was spontaneous. Since the Allied Powers blockaded the Suez Canal and Gibraltar, the East African power that originally supported the Dalmatian Kingdom quietly came to an end.
Today, the Kingdom of Dalmatia has completely become a new political entity within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In fact, if the pure-blooded Germans of the Austro-Hungarian Empire are willing to accept them, there is almost no difference between the two.
As for the Kingdom of Dalmatia, Prime Minister Conrad frowned and said: "The new Kingdom of Dalmatia is indeed easier to Germanize, but after all, they..."
The Kingdom of Dalmatia was originally a subordinate kingdom of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but the main ethnic groups in the Kingdom of Dalmatia were Romanians and Serbs.
Taking advantage of the First World War, the mixed-race Germans, or the illegal immigrants who were stuffed into the region from East Africa, not only naturally became the new majority residents of the Kingdom of Dalmatia, but also successfully grasped the local discourse power. This is why the Kingdom of Dalmatia was called the "New Dalmatian Kingdom" by Conrad.
It’s no wonder that Conrad was prejudiced against the new Kingdom of Dalmatia. After all, Conrad was a pure German.
Rudolf was aware of Conrad's concerns, so he explained: "Although these mixed-blood Germans may seem out of place, for the sake of the empire's national conditions, we must accept them as part of Germany."
"Otherwise, given the birth rate in Austria alone, if there is no fresh blood supply, the concept of Germany might naturally die out within the empire in the future."
"Back then, the Empire lost the opportunity to assimilate Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia and other regions because of this kind of prejudice and arrogance. We cannot let the Kingdom of Dalmatia become a new political force like Hungary and other nations in the future."
Due to economic development, the fertility rate of Germans in the Austro-Hungarian Empire was relatively low, while the mixed-race Germans in Dalmatia had a very high fertility rate. In addition to being influenced by the traditional thinking of the Far Eastern Empire, the main reason was that the economic level of Dalmatia was not high.
After all, the basic conditions of the Kingdom of Dalmatia are very poor. If it were not for the initial investment from East Africa, it would not even have the pitiful amount of industry it has today.
Rudolf went on to say: "Although East Africa's initial actions were despicable, I have to say that the high birth rate of mixed-blood Germans is something I am very envious of."
"If the traditional German groups in the empire could also have such a high birth rate, then I wouldn't have to worry so much about the problems of the main ethnic group."
It is almost a miracle that the mixed-race Germans in the Kingdom of Dalmatia, as outsiders, were able to grow to a population of nearly one million in just a few decades and become the main ethnic group in the Dalmatian region.
If the Germans in the Austro-Hungarian Empire had this awareness, the number of Germans in the empire would have increased several times. Even if it doubled, the German population in the Austro-Hungarian Empire would have reached more than 20 million. However, the total population of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is only more than 50 million.
However, the native Germans, who have a higher quality of life, have a lower fertility rate than Hungarians and Slavs.
Conrad said: "There is always a limit to population growth. After all, the Kingdom of Dalmatia is so small."
Conrad's words not only failed to convince Rudolf, but instead gave Rudolf an eye opener and a new idea.
He said: "Since the Dalmatian mixed-blood Germans are so fertile, we should encourage this situation even more. At the same time, we should support these mixed-blood Germans to live in Venice, Croatia and Bosnia through various policies."
The reason why Rudolf put Venice first is that Venice is the region with the greatest potential for Germanization and has considerable strategic and economic value.
Venice is the channel connecting Austria and the Adriatic Sea. Just for the issue of access to the sea, Rudolf hoped that Venice could become a part of Austria.
Moreover, another benefit of integrating Venice is that Venice's population fertility rate is not good, and this is at a time when the local population has been hit hard.
During the Italo-Austrian War, a large number of Italians in Venice immigrated overseas to escape the war, which caused a significant reduction in the population of Venice itself.
Due to its geographical advantages, Venice's economic level has always been very good in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but this also made it difficult to boost Venice's fertility rate, although the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not want the Italians in Venice to have more children.
Rudolf said: "We can turn Dalmatia into a breeding ground for Germans, and then continue to encourage and support local people to settle in Venice, so that the German-speaking population in Venice will increase further."
"Gradually replacing the Italians and becoming the new main ethnic group in Venice can not only promote population integration, but also consolidate our rule over Venice and prevent this most important seaport from being taken away by the Italians again."
Having learned the painful lesson of losing Venice in the last century, Rudolf naturally did not want history to repeat itself, and the Austrian government has been prohibiting residents of the Italian peninsula from smuggling and immigrating to Venice.
Upon hearing Crown Prince Rudolf's bold plan, Conrad did not object, but instead seriously considered its feasibility. After all, Rudolf's plan was generally feasible.
(End of this chapter)
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