Chapter 56: Chapter 56 – Empty Promise

The news that the Kingdom of Sardinia had occupied Milan spread to France, causing a shock within the provisional government. The French had supported Sardinia against Austria with only the intention to expel Austria from Italy and allow Lombardy and Venice to regain their independence. They had no plans to help the Kingdom of Sardinia unify Italy and become a threat to them.

Since he had received the news that the Sardinian army had obtained Milan without shedding a drop of blood, , the Foreign Minister of the provisional government, had been in a foul mood. Although his title was that of the Foreign Minister, he was in fact the de facto President of the provisional government since the old President had delegated most of his duties and powers to him.

“Damn cowardly Austrians! They call themselves one of the four great powers of Europe, yet they abandoned Lombardy to the puny Sardinians?!” he growled in anger.

This Austro-Sardinian war had played out very differently from his expectations. He had thought that both Austria and Sardinia would be the losers. According to him, the perfect ending would be that Austria would be unable to suppress the internal rebellions and begrudgingly give up its Italian land. Meanwhile, Sardinia would also suffer heavy losses in the war and become too weak to annex Lombardy.

While he was frowning over this problem, his attendant reminded him, “Your Excellency, the Austrian ambassador, Mr. Mackeben, is here.”

Foreign Minister de Lamartine nodded and replied, “Please show him in.”

After the two men gave each other the routine diplomatic greetings, Ambassador Mackeben stopped beating around the bush and asked, “Your Excellency, what are your thoughts on what’s going on in the Italian region?”

Foreign Minister de Lamartine smiled slightly. This was a good opportunity to increase the influence of France since Austria had even taken the initiative to send its ambassador to visit him.

“Your Excellency, every nation has the right to pursue national independence. I believe it is a good thing for Lombardy to regain its independence.”

Upon hearing these words, Ambassador Mackeben inwardly cursed, ‘Of course you think it’s a good thing. After all, Lombardy isn’t a French territory!’

Ambassador Mackeben was deeply aware that Lombardy and Venetia were important fiscal and taxation regions, especially Venetia which included the port cities of Vienna and Trieste, two of the largest ports in the Mediterranean. Austria could not possibly give up these two important regions!

“Your Excellency, I believe you’re aware that Lombardy is an integral part of the Austrian Empire. We will never make any concessions on this issue.

Why don’t we discuss other places on the Italian peninsula? What about the Kingdom of Sardinia? I believe we should have common opinions on this topic!”

The French had long been interested in carving up Italy. Even if the provisional government was busy with domestic struggle, they couldn’t ignore this issue. A unified Italy was against Austria’s interest, and it was also against France’s interest. The Mediterranean was too small to accommodate three powerful nations.

It was clear that Austria was unwilling to give up Lombardy, so the Austro-Sardinian would certainly continue. Since the Austrian ambassador had come to him, Austria obviously planned to acquiesce to future French expansion in Italy in exchange for the provisional government giving its support for the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Foreign Minister de Lamartine didn’t have any other choice. It was already clear that no fighting had taken place between Austria and Sardinia which meant that the Austrian army had not suffered any losses. Without foreign support, he did not think that Sardinia could beat Austria. The gap between the two sides was like an insurmountable mountain.

Anyways, it was impossible for the provisional government to provide too much support to Sardinia; moreover, what benefits could they obtain from supporting Sardinia over Austria? Moreover, it was indeed true that most Frenchmen were keen to conquer Italy like their fathers and grandfathers had done under Napoleon.

Nevertheless, Alphonse de Lamartine personally did not have such an ambition. Although the Vienna system had collapsed, he had not forgotten the warning by Nikolai Kiselyov, the former Russian ambassador to France. Not to mention, the British were also watching them closely. If France rushed into Italy without any allies, she would, once again, have to fight alone against the whole of Europe.

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After thinking this, Foreign Minister de Lamartine asked, “Your Excellency, why don’t you tell me your government’s thoughts?”

If the Austrians wanted to bribe France, he would need to look at their offer first; only if the price was high enough, would he consider withdrawing his support for the Sardinians. Anyway, France and Sardinia had not entered into a formal alliance. The two sides had only had a verbal agreement, so it couldn’t even be considered a betrayal.

“Austria will take the land east of Turin and Genoa while France will obtain the larger western half. In addition, our two countries will enter into a formal alliance to combat the international pressure!”

Having said that, Ambassador Mackeben picked up a pen and drew a line on the map of Piedmont, dividing it into two parts with the French portion being larger in size.

Foreign Minister de Lamartine’s expression changed since he hadn’t expected the Austrians would have plans to divide up the entire Kingdom of Sardinia. On the surface, it seemed that the French had much more to gain since Austria had taken the responsibility of defeating Sardinia while France only had to wait until the war’s end and send troops to occupy the promised land.

In reality, however, this was not the case. The core regions of the Kingdom of Sardinia were located in Turin and Genoa, which held more than 80% of the nation's wealth and industries. Once these two regions fell into Austria’s hands, it would be difficult for France to ever obtain them.

Even though the Austrians were known for their diplomacy rather than their martial might, they still had one of the top five militaries in the world. Not to mention, the French military was still stuck in the age of the Napoleonic Wars due to the numerous sanctions which prevented them from researching arms or training their soldiers.

He quickly said, “Your Excellency, I’m afraid this plan is simply not feasible. The essence of the Kingdom of Sardinia is…”

 

***

 

In fact, this negotiation was bound to never bear fruit. The instructions given to Ambassador Mackeben stated that he merely had to hold back the French and distract their attention away so that they no longer provide support to the Sardinians. As for the division of the Kingdom of Sardinia, it was just some nonsense. Austria had enough internal problems, so Franz would not expand outwards until those problems were dealt with completely.

Moreover, if history maintained its course, when the proletariat uprising known as the breaks out in Paris in June, the provisional government would be too busy quelling the rebellion to support the Sardinians. Afterwards, the provisional government would be removed, and a new political struggle would ensue until the election of . Therefore, the so-called division of Sardinia was just an empty promise.

Alphonse de Lamartine already had a feeling that there might be some trickery behind the division of the Kingdom of Sardinia as proposed by Austria, but the provisional government urgently needed something to appease the people. Signing a treaty which was beneficial to France would be seen as an achievement of the provisional government and would serve to divert the people’s attention.

The widely-criticized July Dynasty was actually not bad in terms of diplomacy, but even they couldn’t repair the damage caused by Napoleon. Since the French Revolutionary Wars and the following Napoleonic Wars, the French had been considered as the public enemy of Europe, inheriting the mantle previously held by the Russians and the Ottomans Turks for centuries.

As a result, in exchange for ceasing support for Sardinia, Alphonse de Lamartine required Austria to admit the legitimacy of the provisional government and abolish the shackles imposed on France by the Vienna system. The French had been diplomatically isolated, so the provisional government was in urgent need of international recognition.

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