What is the development of Austria's core industries?

Franz had no answer yet. The Austrian Empire was still very rich in resources and had almost nothing in the early stages of industrialization.

Historically, the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not initiate colonial expansion to the outside world, which was related to the richness of local resources.

Of course, this is limited to the early stage. From a development perspective, Austria has insufficient domestic resources.

Taking the steel industry as an example, in the era of the annual steel output of various countries of tens of millions of tons, 100,000 tons and million tons, Austria is not short of resources, and the era of tens of millions of tons can barely keep up. Once it enters the era of tens of millions of tons, or even hundreds of millions of tons, it will be difficult to continue.

This is a long-term problem, and for at least decades, Franz doesn't need to have a headache about this problem.

Theoretically, most industries can become the pillar industries of Austria, such as agriculture and agricultural product processing industry, metallurgy, machinery manufacturing, military industry, railways, shipbuilding, textiles...

This is the benefit of a solid foundation. Before Lombardy and Venice were lost, Austria's industrial mass was very close to that of the French.

There is nothing strange about it. Austria in this era was a combination of half of Austro-Hungary and half of Italy, while Venice in Lombardy was more than half of Italy.

Franz won’t say stupid things about various industries moving forward together. The competition in this world is so fierce. If the government cannot tilt policies on certain industries, can you guarantee to defeat your competitors?

Not to mention Austria, even the British, as the only industrial country in the world, have not developed comprehensively, focusing on the finance, shipbuilding, and textile industries.

This multiple-choice question is difficult to do. Once a choice is made, it will be a national policy that has remained unchanged for decades, and domestic economic development will change as a result.

There are many factors that determine the national pillar industries, including: resources, market, industry advantages, interest groups, national development direction, and international situation...

Free economy? Market economy?

Just say these words, don't take them seriously, or you're ready to cry.

In any successful country, the pillar industries are supported by policies, such as: tax cuts and policies that are conducive to the development of the industry...

Schonbrunn Palace

Franz was walking in the square with Felix, and he was discussing the development direction of Austria.

"Prime Minister, where do you think Austria's future strategic focus is?" Franz asked

This is an era of the strong prey on the weak, and expansion is the theme of this era. Since the Vienna system was broken, European countries have entered a new round of competition. [!￥ABC Novel Network       The novel is better, updated and faster]

Small countries have no choice but to go with the flow; big countries want to develop, they sail against the current, and if they don’t advance, they will retreat.

The Austrian Empire was actually at a crossroads. Choosing the alliance between Russia and Austria was Austria's first strategic choice, but this time they chose allies.

Why did the Austro-Hungarian Empire step on the Balkan powder keg in history? It was really a comment from experts and scholars - was it a strategic decision-making mistake?

Franz originally thought so, but after being immersive, he found out that he was wrong.

Austria has many opportunities to expand externally, but they all resisted it and finally chose to step on the Balkan thunder, which was definitely not what the rulers themselves would like to do.

Just think about the international environment at that time, Franz understood that this was a forced choice.

In the war between the world, the great powers are all expanding their powers, but Austria and Spain are standing still and not keeping up with everyone's pace.

This means that two sheep are mixed in the pack. If you don’t want to be eaten, you must at least pretend to be a wolf.

Austria occupied the Bosnia and Herzegovina region and packaged itself into a wolf, which brought peace for several years; Spain did nothing, the Americans discovered the fat sheep, and then the Spanish-American War broke out.

Prime Minister Felix replied without hesitation: "Germany!"

"Reason?" Franz asked

Prime Minister Felix thought for a while and said, "After the annexation of the Southern German region, we will directly border the French. Don't think that France and Austria are in good relations now, but the French have always had the intention of continental hegemony, so we have to consider the defense of the Western Front.

The Prussian Kingdom also had to guard against it. In order to avoid interference from various countries, while we unify the Southern German states, they would also annex the North German region, resulting in the fact that they divided Germany into two parts.

After unifying North Germany, the strength of the Prussian Kingdom will be increased by at least four levels, and the threat is greatly enhanced than it is now. The most important thing is that they have the ambition to unify the entire German region."

"What if we are in trouble?" Franz asked

Austria is so big that it looks difficult to mess with. Once it annexes the Southern German state, it will be even more difficult to mess with.

In contrast, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands are all soft persimmons, or fat, oily soft persimmons.

Belgium has developed industry, the Netherlands has developed navigation industry, and a large colony. Luxembourg, a small land, is also a country of steel.

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid the Prussians are powerless and want to expand to the west. They will not be able to get through the French and the British will not agree." Felix thought for a while and said

In the eyes of ordinary people, the Prussians did not have the courage to challenge the French.

As for the attitude of the British, in fact, as long as Prussia can defeat the French, they will be powerless without the thugs. At worst, they will be blocked from the sea for several years.

The French are not easy to mess with, but compared with the enhanced Austrian and Russia combination, it is easier to deal with.

"Then we need the ambitions of the Prussians and the French's interest in the Rhineland region. As long as we satisfy one of them, this war can be detonated." Franz said confidently.

There is no way, other countries have troops, while Prussia has troops. Nationalism has awakened again, and it will burn if it is stimulated at that time.

If they don’t have the courage to provoke a war, wouldn’t there be Austria? At worst, Prussians join forces to fight France, and they don’t believe that the Prussians can resist temptation.

After eating the pie, they would have to fight to the end with the French in the future. By the way of joining forces with the British and Pu was also cut off. The political system that dominated the European continent of the Three Emperors was established again.

Should I do this? Franz is very confused. It seems that this pattern is most beneficial to the Russians.

Austria only gained a stable rear, grabbing at most a few French colonies, and the Russians' road to the ocean was unobstructed.

Felix smiled and said, "Your Majesty, I believe the Prussians are very interested in this proposal, but do they have the strength to swallow this bait in one bite?

Although Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg are also German nation-states, they do not admit that it is necessary to resist to the death.

Even if Prussia defeated the French with our help, wouldn’t there be any British support behind it?

If you can't eat it in one bite, you won't have a second chance. As long as the Prussians and Britain and France turn their faces, we will no longer support them."

A word woke up the dreamer. The Kingdom of Prussia was not the German Empire in later generations. The size difference between the two sides was huge. How could the same strength burst out?

The population of the Netherlands is about 3.06 million, the population of Belgium is about 4.4 million, and the population of Luxembourg is about 200,000. Among these people, Catholics are the main ones, and the population of the Kingdom of Prussia is about 13 million. Can they digest it?

The total economic output of the three countries is almost the same as that of the Prussian Kingdom.

Of course, this is just the current comparison of strength between the two sides, and there will definitely be changes in the future. However, no matter what changes occur, it is not easy to annex a country with rising nationalism.

Franz even believed that Prussia annexed these three countries was more like a fool's dream than Austria annexed the Balkans.

Well, it's actually all about thinking about it.

Without external force, slowly eroding is possible. If you swallow it in one bite, you will either kill a river of blood or choke to death.

In that case, Franz knew what to do. Austria could not compete with the British. At least in their three core industries, Austria could not be their opponent.

It doesn't matter, Austria cannot learn the path of development. It can only learn from the Prussians, give priority to the development of military industry, railways, manufacturing, and Austria's advantageous industry - agricultural product processing industry.

Building railways requires government investment and encouragement of private investment, and commercial competition is also an internal problem; military industry also relies on government funding, and the international market in this era can only be considered a small supplement, and the Mao Wang next door is a good customer.

The manufacturing industry can only compete in the international market, but Franz is not worried that there is a big market for the Holy Roman League and a good ally of Mao Bear, which is much better than Prussia in history.

Needless to say, there are almost no competitors in the agricultural product processing industry. Austria's largest competitor in the European grain market, Russia and the Ottoman Empire, both directly exported food.

Historically, Russians exported wheat and imported flour from outside. This was not a joke on the Internet, but it really existed in this era.

There was nothing strange about it. The ship transported the food out. When it came back, it was empty and had to use stones to press the bottom of the warehouse. The smart businessman found that the flour on the Russian market was good, and found it profitable, so he sold it back to the Russians.

This means that Austria's competitor in this field is food processing companies in food importers, and both sides have distanced themselves from the beginning of cost.

This industry that has advantages and does not require much investment will naturally focus on development. During the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Hungary was the largest flour supplier in Europe.

As for the steel industry that has been valued by countless time travelers and is even considered to be the embodiment of national strength, why is it not the core of development?

Just look at how small the demand for steel in the market is in this era.

The Austrian Empire only had 20,000 tonnes of raw steel every year, and the Russians had 3,000 tonnes of raw steel. The British could not get much better, and the annual output was less than 100,000 tonnes of raw steel.

There is no way, the market demand is so large. Even if pig iron is added, the demand is not much higher. Anyway, no one has exceeded the million tons mark.

If the steel industry is regarded as the core industry, believe it or not, a large number of steel will be unsold in the Austrian market in a few months?

In order to solve these unsold steel, the government had to invest a lot of money in other industries. Finally, it was surprising to find that the steel industry had not developed, and the industrial crisis came first.

Instead of this, it is better to develop railways. Military industry drives the consumption of steel. If there is market demand, there will be production. This is the market law.

The focus on developing the steel industry is ahead of the curve, let alone high-tech industries. In addition to military industry, a country's economic model is the prospect of the market determining the development of the industry.

This era is a desert of high-tech. Many epoch-making products cannot be promoted even if they are created in the laboratory.

This kind of advanced field is not good as a country's core industry. As a sub-key development target, it is still possible to make technical reserves in advance.
Chapter completed!