Chapter 52 Trieste
December 15, 1866.
Trieste, the most important port of the Austrian Empire.
Since the end of the Prussian-Austro-Prussian War, Austria handed over Venice to Italy through France, and Trieste automatically became the single most important port of the soon-to-be-born Austro-Hungarian Empire (February 1867).
At present, the Austrian government is negotiating with the Hungarian Magyar nobles, and the two sides are arguing fiercely about their rights and obligations.
In February of the following year, the two sides reached a compromise, and the Magyar nobles in Hungary obtained the same rights as Austria, but the Magyars must ensure that Hungary remained in the empire. This is the dual system empire.
Trieste was the shipbuilding center and commercial shipping center of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
There was a two-century-long war with Venice. The locals later took the initiative to seek asylum from the Habsburgs and were incorporated into the Austrian Empire. Since then, it has been the core territory of Austria.
Trieste actually has its own dialect, but due to multiple factors such as the increase of Italians, the temporary prosperity of the Republic of Venice, and the influence of Italian culture in Europe, speaking Italian has become the mainstream.
After the First World War, Italy annexed Trieste on the grounds that Trieste spoke Italian. In this way, Austria lost Trieste, which had ruled for five hundred years. This is really a land since ancient times. It can be seen from this The overall inefficiency and incompetence of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Today, the city still retains a strong Viennese style, and there are many German-speaking people. As long as the Austrian government starts to promote German education here, Austria will not become a landlocked country after World War I.
And later Trieste also changed from the pearl of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to an ordinary city in Italy.
This shows the power of cultural influence. Originally, Trieste spoke the local dialect, but during the long-term dealings with Italian countries (especially Venice), it spoke Italian instead, and was finally annexed by Italy.
This is also the reason why Ernst wants to transform the education of immigrants in the East African colonies. As long as you successfully shape the identity of immigrants, there will only be out-and-out "Germans" in the East African colonies in the future.
The current Trieste is directly connected to Vienna, the capital of Austria, and a direct railway to Vienna was built in 1857.
Backed by the entire Austro-Hungarian Empire as the economic hinterland, Trieste became the third largest city in the Austro-Hungarian Empire after Vienna and Prague
As the largest port city in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it is responsible for the empire's coal supply and external cargo transportation, and is also the headquarters of the Austro-Hungarian Navy.
Known as the "Côte d'Azur of the Austro-Hungarian Empire". At that time, Trieste was definitely one of the largest cities in Europe and the world.
And Trieste, which is in the hands of Italy, has become the frontier of the country, and Trieste, which has lost its economic hinterland, has no sense of existence in the ports of Italy in later generations.
Even many Italians don't know the city of Trieste.
People in the future world can only know from Churchill's Iron Curtain speech, "So there was such a place in Europe."
“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has been drawn across Europe.” - Winston Churchill
…
Ernst was walking on the streets of Trieste. Now Ernst is also considered the half-son-in-law of Habsburg, so he can pull the tiger skin to make some investments in the territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Trieste is one of Ernst's goals. Ernst intends to build a center for the East African ocean-going trade fleet here.
While there is functional overlap between Venice and here, Ernst wanted to separate his eggs into two baskets.
After all, Venice and the Austro-Hungarian Empire are now two different countries. If the goods are transferred from Austria to Venice, the Italian government will charge an extra tax.
So the shipyard remains in Venice, and the fleet directly changes maps to Trieste for development.
In addition to economic reasons, Trieste was chosen mainly to import population to the East African colonies.
Those Germans who went to America for a fight, one is that America was developed early and the environment is good. Another reason is that I can't get along in Prussia anymore. Many people here are criminals and hooligans, and they are recorded by the Prussian government. Of course, some ambitious people who want to make a fortune are not excluded.
And these two kinds of people can tell at a glance that they are not needed by the East African colonies, and receiving East Africa will also threaten the stability of the East African colonies.
But the Austro-Hungarian Empire was different. From the moment it was established, it has been going downhill. The country has fallen, and the degree of industrialization is not high, and the ethnic conflicts are serious. This gave Ernst the opportunity to poach the wall.
The population of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is second only to Tsarist Russia and Germany (it has been excluded from Germany), and the education level of the people is far lower than that of Germany, which is better than that of Tsarist Russia. There are quite a lot of illiterate peasants .
Uneducated farmers mean that their cultural identity can be transformed through education, which is exactly the high-quality immigrants that East African colonies need.
Uneducated farmers have the strongest ability to reproduce offspring in any era, and the land of the Austro-Hungarian Empire cannot be increased for nothing, plus the exploitation of the nobles in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
These farmers either went to the city to work, but obviously the industry of the Austro-Hungarian Empire could not absorb so many people, and the unscrupulous factories in the city were not necessarily easier than farming.
Either choose an uprising against the exploitation of local nobles. In the conservative and powerful Austro-Hungarian Empire, the success rate is basically zero.
The last thing is to go overseas to find employment opportunities in other regions.
Different from those German people who have gone to school, if you tell a German to go to work and live in East Africa, he will definitely think of you as a liar, and only mercenaries and people who specialize in colonial activities will go.
As for the people at the bottom of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, if you told him to go to East Africa, he might first ask where East Africa is?
At this time, you just need to increase your deception, portray East Africa as a paradise, and finally ask a few trustees to persuade you. Anyway, you have no land in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and you can’t find a job. It’s better to go overseas to fight.
These peasants of the Austro-Hungarian Empire are still no better than Chinese immigrants. After all, the Chinese are desperate, and the peasants of the Austro-Hungarian Empire can barely survive.
If you go further, when it is still a serf system, you don’t have to think about it. After all, serfs are the private property of the nobles. If you want to go from local to immigrant, you have to deal with the local nobles.
Now is just right, serfdom is abolished soon, these peasants do not need the nobles to be responsible, and they are all responsible for their own food, clothing, housing and transportation.
Peasants who don’t have land in their hands can only choose to continue farming for nobles. The problem is that the population is constantly growing, and the efficiency of production tools is also improving, so it doesn’t take that many people to farm.
At this time, farmers who have no land to plant can only go to the city to work in unscrupulous factories to support their families.
A large number of farmers went to the city to find job opportunities, and the industrialization level of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was not too high, so it could not afford so much labor.
Ernst used the name of recruiting workers in various cities of the Austro-Hungarian Empire for the people who organized the company, and deceived unemployed farmers to develop in East Africa.
Not only salary, but also food and housing included. In the future, if you earn money, you can return to Europe.
Agricultural workers are also workers, and Ernst is not lying. It is true that food and housing are included, but the place to live must be built by himself, and the food he eats is also grown from his own land.
As for salary, it’s basically better than nothing, but you can save some money, what? If you say that you are not enough to support your family, then you have really caught up with the good time.
Encourage the whole family to work in the East African colony, so that your family can basically have enough food and drink, and the colony also provides free education for children.
As for returning to Europe in the future, it is indeed possible, and there is still hope in four or five years. After all, the merchant ships in the East African colonies can only pull people in but not in, and there are only a few.
If you want to return to Europe by merchant ships from other countries, the price of a ticket is not cheap, and you can’t save it without working in the East African colonies for four or five years.
Currently developing in East Africa, then you can only support your family, and forget about making a fortune. The East African colonies did not have as many messy industries as the Americas, and there was no such thing as entrepreneurship.
The only valuable land is in the hands of the colonial government. It is impossible to build farms like the Americans did in the West.
However, the East African colonies take the initiative to bear the boat tickets for immigrants to go to East Africa, which is better than going to the Americas. After all, the US government will not take the initiative to pay you a boat fee to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
There is another advantage to going to East Africa, that is, you are still working in the field of farming. If you go to the Americas without a craftsman, aren’t you also working as a general worker? And farming is something you can do by yourself, and no one can fool you, and no matter how bad the life is, it will not be worse than the days when you were a serf.
(end of this chapter)