War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

The immigration policy jointly developed by Franz and the church was indeed very attractive, and it intercepted the vast majority of Germans who were going to the other side of the ocean, the United States, but it also added many problems.

Unlike later generations, there was no so-called distinction between legal and illegal at that time. The state's control over its citizens was very poor, which resulted in uneven quality of immigrants.

Originally, Austria's literacy rate had the "honor" of being the last in Germany, so it couldn't get any worse. But in fact, most of the immigrants who come to Austria to seek a living come from the lowest level of each country, and their quality is really not very high.

What's even more frightening is that these groups like to form gangs, fight against different parties, and even bully locals.

Coupled with the spread of Greater Germanism ideas, social unrest has intensified, crime rates have soared, and large-scale vicious cases continue.

In addition, there is the issue of religion. There is not much difference between the South German immigrants and the Germans in Austria in terms of language, customs and habits, and they can almost seamlessly integrate into the local society.

But the North Germans are completely different. A considerable number of them have received primary school education, and their language habits and pronunciation are very different from those of the Austrians. In addition, most of them believe in Protestantism.

This made the North Germans form a special group, but they were not treated very well.

As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together, and these North German immigrants established countless small groups.

What's even more frightening is that as Germans, they have a natural advantage in the competition model of the Austrian Empire. Coupled with their higher quality than other nationalities, their development speed is far beyond imagination.

At this time, the ghettos of Vienna were almost occupied by North German immigrants, but they were not poor, but people who had made a name for themselves in the empire. There were even many high-quality talents that Franz came from North Germany who liked to live with these people. together.

But traditional Austrians look down upon these outsiders, so there are often some frictions between the two.

But this is nothing compared to the situation in Bohemia, which originally had a large German population.

Franz hoped to use North German immigrants to change the demographic structure, and preferably to eliminate the civil war. However, the reality is that millions of North Germans have poured into this place, directly becoming the third largest group in the area.

Now the main local conflict has become the conflict between North and South Germans. As for the Czechs who just want to farm the land and make money, the Jews are unhappy in the middle.

Moravia is also facing a similar situation, and even the entire Neletania region has more or less similar experiences.

As for the church, the role played by these servants of God is intriguing. Although they played an important role in rescuing people and bringing immigrants to the empire, they played a negative role in dealing with immigration conflicts.

For example, the religious issue, doesn’t the church think it will be solved as long as North Germans give up their Protestant beliefs? So a large number of priests were sent to "come to proselytize", which greatly angered the Protestant alliance in North Germany.

Since Austria today has very loose restrictions on religion, the Protestant Alliance can build churches in the country. However, the competition for faith between the two sides has almost triggered a religious war again.

That's why Franz put forward the principle of giving priority to Catholics when accepting Dutch refugees, because in the chaotic situation within the empire, it is simply unimaginable to bring in some Calvinists.

(In fact, North Germans and Dutch believe in different Protestant religions. It is well known that heresy is more terrifying than heresy.)

As for the Germans in St. Stephen's Crown Territory, they also had many problems. After getting through the initial difficult times, they began to demand the establishment of schools, hospitals, post offices, and waterworks.

This was nothing at all. Franz’s original purpose was to add sand to Outer Letania, so it was understandable to improve living conditions.

But soon this group was no longer satisfied with this. They demanded equal rights and even entry into the Parliament of the Kingdom of Hungary. In addition, factories must be built and railways laid.

This made Franz very angry, and he thought to himself, "Don't they have any idea at all?"

Join other people's parliaments and share their rights? If you still want to build factories and build railways, do you really think of yourself as a citizen of the Special Administrative Region?

So when hundreds of people were massacred by horse bandits on their way to protest in Prezburg (the nominal seat of the Hungarian Parliament), he just pretended it never happened.

Also confused are the Magyarists, whose extreme behavior makes it difficult for them to get along well with other ethnic groups.

And through this incident, most of the peoples in the crown territory of St. Stephen chose to stand firmly on the side of Austria. After all, following the Magyarists is a dead end.

In fact, from the perspective of future generations, the Magyarists should absorb the North German immigrants as a minority to strengthen their own power.

But that would not be a true Magyarist. Such madness would bring only pain and destruction.

At this time, Metternich had figured out Franz's plan, and he was preparing to unilaterally negotiate tariffs with the Province of Illyria.

In fact, the Hungarian side has previously agreed to the proposal to jointly negotiate tariffs. After all, Austria has given them a veto power. In theory, the Hungarians will be invincible.

As for the immigration problem in Italy, it was completely unintentional. During this period in history, Northern Italy was in a period of decline.

(It will become a period of regression after independence.)

But at this time, after a series of operations by Franz and Friedrich's uncle and nephew, Northern Italy has regained its vitality, and the Port of Venice has become the most prosperous port in the entire Mediterranean.

As a result, a large number of Italians poured into the empire. Now they have surpassed the Hungarians to become the second largest ethnic group in Austria, and if this trend continues, they will soon surpass the German population.

Francis II's wish seems to be coming true. According to the analysis of the Imperial Statistical Office, the Italians will surpass the German population in 1847 and ascend to the throne of the largest ethnic group in the empire.

Generally speaking, an increase in population is a good thing for a country, but Italians are a very special group. They are very home-loving and have a strong sense of family.

This can be seen from Franz II, who was very considerate of his family. But these people often lacked ambition, and almost every official sent to northern Italy complained about the inefficiency of local officials.

Immigrants who come to northern Italy usually come in family units and like to live in cities because they can easily find jobs there.

However, the local land carrying capacity is limited. There are more porters on the dock than goods, and there are people everywhere that the government cannot drive away.

And these guys have no desire to immigrate or work outside of Italy.

At the same time, they are proud of their culture and history, have little interest in German, and are even more dismissive of Austrian culture.

Then the Italian countries, especially the branches of the Habsburg family, complained that Austria was robbing people, so they could only lay waste and demand compensation from the Vienna court.