After the end of World War II, a political joke was popular in Europe: an Austrian smiled and said to the Germans: You sent us Beethoven; but the Germans accused the Austrians with great dissatisfaction and said: You sent us Hitler!

The Germans, with Prussia as the main body, said this sentence was obviously too extreme. During the rise of the Kingdom of Prussia and then developed into the German Empire, Ollidi once sent many outstanding talents to his mortal enemy. In the Napoleon era in the 19th century, the military strategist, August William Anton Knighthart von Gnezenau, was the best.

Gnezenau was born in Hildo near Thorgo in the Saxony Kingdom. He belonged to a genuine traditional military officer family of the Austrian Empire. He graduated from the University of Erfurt and joined the Austrian army in 1779. He served in the Austrian Cavalry and the Osbach Legion, and also went to North America to inspect American militia organizations.

Since 1786, Gnezenau chose to join the Prussian army out of his respect for Frederick the Great's great achievements. In 1807, he led his troops to fight against the French army and defend the Fort Kolberg. After the failure of the Fourth Anti-French Alliance, he served as commander of the fortress and engineers. From 1807 to 1813, he followed Schánhorst to carry out military reforms. He was one of the founders of the General Staff of the Prussian-Germany.

In 1808, Gnezenau was ordered to be removed from his military post by the Prussian king for his anti-French remarks, and was transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the same year.

In 1810, Gnezenau accompanied the ambassador to France, the Duke of Brunswick, a young man, to visit Paris, and was "accidentally involved in" the assassination of the Polish crown prince, and was demoted again. Later, he entered the University of Berlin to serve as a military instructor.

It was not until February 1811 that, with the strong recommendation of his mentor General Scharnhorst, Gnezenau was re-appointed by the Prussian authorities and began to secretly send missions to Austria, Russia, Britain, Sweden and the United States to negotiate and launch a new anti-French war.

...

European countries seem to have generally welcomed the ascension of the Grand Duke of Warsaw. Diplomats have always said that they hope that Grand Duke Desai can respect God, maintain the monarchy, respect the parliament, stabilize the hearts of the people, and provide peace, etc.

Even the Russian Tsar, who was extremely hostile to Catholic Poland on weekdays, expressed an optimism. In the official newspaper in St. Petersburg, he even publicly called on the two Slavic nations to achieve mutual reconciliation and not be used by the French.

As for the Prussian side, the Berlin diplomat who had been slowing down and was unwilling to attend the coronation ceremony of the Grand Duke of Warsaw, General Gnezenau received the "good news" that the ceremony had ended. He rushed to the Warsaw Wazinki Palace, ready to submit a letter of state and congratulations from the Hohenzollern Dynasty perfunctorily.

In the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia, in the newly completed imperial hall in the northeast of the Wazinki Palace, the Grand Duke of Desai, who ascended the throne less than three days after becoming the throne, personally received the Berlin envoy in accordance with diplomatic practice.

When Desai took over the letter of state submitted by General Gnezenau on behalf of the King of Prussia, he threw it aside without looking at it. He looked coldly at the Prussian general in dark blue uniform and said in a nearly commanding tone: "Sir Special Envoy, please tell your King of Prussia, Frederick William III, that my people and I need the region of Upper Silesia that I have lost. Please hand over all the territory east of the Oder River to the Principal of Warsaw before October 1811."

In 1742, Frederick the Great obtained Upper Silesia from the Austrians through the "Seven Years' War". By the beginning of the 19th century, due to the rich coal, iron ore and fine copper mines, the area had become an important industrial area of ​​the Prussian Kingdom.

After becoming the crown prince of Poland, Desai was salivating at the coal and iron resources of Upper Silesia. Therefore, when he officially took over as the Grand Duke of Warsaw, he focused his finger on Upper Silesia under the Prussian occupation.

After hearing this, Gnezenao couldn't help but change his color. He wanted to go forward to defend, but a palace guard forced him to retreat and had to stop in place and protest: "But Your Highness, Lower Silesia belongs to the sacred territory of the Kingdom of Prussia! You can't..."

Desai waved his hand impatiently and interrupted Gnezenau's quibbling, "Whether it is Upper Silesia or Lower Silesia, they are the inherent territory of Poland, and Prussia, past, present and future, can only have Brandenburg, Pomerania and old Prussia. Please pay attention to my wording, Mr. Envoy, this is neither a request nor a hope, but a certificate of foreign transportation! As an envoy, your mission is to convey the voice of the Grand Duke of Warsaw to William III accurately."

Although Gnezenau tried to keep himself deserted and not impulsive, the Prussian general, known for his hot personality and bad temper, eventually lost his mind. He shouted at the Grand Duke of Warsaw, "Your Highness, you are declaring war on the powerful Prussia!"

Desai stared at Gnezenau and then mocked: "The powerful Prussia?! Haha, if you retreated to the era of Frederick the Great 50 years ago, Prussia might be quite powerful! But now, there are only 'lower kings, lowly people, lowly army!' If you can represent William III and the Prussian Parliament, it can be understood as an ultimatum for a prelude war!"

After humiliating the Prussian envoy, Grand Duke Desai stood up and left the throne hall. The palace guards who had been waiting for a long time pushed the veteran Prussian general in his 50s out of the palace in extremely rough ways, completely ignoring any etiquette.

Lieutenant Colonel Clausewitz, who was waiting next to the carriage outside the palace, saw General Gnezenau, who was the special envoy of Prussia, being pushed out in a mess, and hurried forward, picked up the military cap lost to the ground by the commander, and then asked about the reason.

"Damn Poles, they are ready to declare war on the great Prussia!" Gnezenau, who was furious, took over the military cap ravaged by his feet and put it on his head again, told Clausewitz about what had just happened in the throne hall.

Soon, Clausewitz also realized the seriousness of the problem. Like Gnezenau, he really couldn't figure out why the Grand Duke of Desai had to put on an aggressive attitude towards the Kingdom of Prussia. Whether it was Up Silesia or Lower Silesia, they officially left the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth more than a hundred years ago and were incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire, and the current Austrian Empire.

"General, we must find political allies!" After pondering for a while, Clausewitz whispered to Gnezenau, saying, "You can consider going to the Austrian Embassy in order to seek help from South Germany. I believe Vienna will not stand by."

From the map, we can clearly see that the Upper Silesia region to which Prussia belongs is the Principality of Warsaw to the east and the Kingdom of Saxony to the west. It borders Austria to the south and is surrounded by the above-mentioned three countries.

During this period, the Kingdom of Saxony not only belonged to the Duchy of Warsaw, but also had considerable hostility to Prussia. If a war broke out between Prussia and the Duchy of Warsaw really broke out, Dresden would definitely send troops to support the Grand Duke of Desay.

Therefore, the Austrian Empire, who was also part of the German nation, became an ally that the Berlin envoy needed to make again, although the Ollidians hatred for the Prussians was three more strong than the Saxons.

As for the leader of the European countries, the French Empire, the two Prussian officers chose to forget it. They were stubborn and stubborn, and they would rather seek help from the Russians with bad intentions than please Emperor Napoleon.

However, twenty minutes later, Clausewitz and Gneizenau encountered another major setback outside the Austrian Embassy. The Ollidian Minister seemed to realize that the Prussians would come to seek diplomatic assistance, so he simply informed a secretary to wait outside the embassy. The latter directly informed the two visitors, saying: "Prince Metternich, on behalf of the Vienna Cabinet and the Ollidian Emperor, supported the Grand Duke of Warsaw's territorial demands for the Upper Silesia region. This is indisputable and unquestionable!"

...

Joining Austria to weaken Prussia's strength is Desay's established diplomatic strategy. In October last year, he reached a consensus on the division between Talleyrand and Metternich. The Principal of Warsaw gained Upper Silesia, while Austria gained control of the middle and lower reaches of the Oder River. For Vienna, it can not only curb Prussia's development path toward the south and consolidate its hegemony in the "formerly German federations", but also use the Oder River as a natural barrier to block the space for Poland to expand to the west (Central and European Union).

However, when passing through Danze, Desai witnessed the decline of North Germany with his own eyes. He once changed his original intention in his heart, hoping to focus on East Prussia and completely eliminate the threat from the northeast.

In later generations, the "Loyalty of the Prussian Legion and the Honor of the Junker nobles" that was exaggerated by many German fans did not exist before 1813. In the French-Prussian War in 1806, there was a banner of surrender wherever the French army was heading, and the troops were in absolute advantage. The Prussian army, which was "fighting at home", and countless urban people took the initiative to surrender to the French army.

The so-called sense of loyalty and honor of Prussian soldiers were completely wiped out, so it was known as "the humble king, the humble people, the humble army" in Napoleon's quotation. This fully demonstrates the correctness of what scholar Goethe calls Prussia "a pile of loose sand", and also proves that the people of Prussia lack modern "national" consciousness.

The essence of Prussian, which absorbs German culture and dissolves itself in its own spiritual temperament, exerts the charm of combining devils and angels, combines reason with fanaticism, accompanying honor with destruction, and mixes purely with reality, will be finally formed and developed after 1870, under the guidance of Bismarck, the "iron-blooded prime minister".

However, Desai was also clearly aware that the declining Prussian Kingdom still maintained its strength, especially the political reforms jointly promoted by Baron Carl Stein and the Marquis of Hardenburg, as well as the military reforms implemented by General Schánhorst, are secretly accumulating strength. In time, Poland (the Principal of Warsaw) and France will face the threat of Prussia again.

Although Napoleon used cede land and compensation to weaken Prussia's national strength in 1807, Desai insisted that this was a serious mistake. It was not that it should not be weakened, but that it was far from being weakened. Prussia should be completely disintegrated into several small states and then formed a political entity similar to the Rhine Alliance. This not only can balance Austria, but also buffer Russia. Due to the weak power of the small states, it will inevitably enhance its dependence on France. Even if it has a different intention, it will be difficult to form a climate in the short term.

Wherever it was, Desai decided to use the influence of the French Empire and Emperor Napoleon, as well as the help of Austria and Saxony, to further suppress Prussia, which secretly licked its wounds, before Prussia recovered, and to reduce the possibility of it cooperating with Russia and annexing Poland in 1813.

In 1810, soldiers were sent to occupy the Danze Corridor; in 1811, it was Silesia or East Prussia's turn.

Spelansky also agreed with this point very much. As a clear-minded politician, Spelansky also knew that Poland had a conflict with Prussia, second only to Russia. However, he did not agree with the fact that the primary goal of conquering Prussia was to East Prussia, and it was recommended that other areas be kept away from Russia.

Spelansky explained: "The reason is very simple. Almost every male tsar in St. Petersburg has an inherent favorable impression of Prussia, while the Russian powerful and the people have no interest in Berlin. If East Prussia is openly annexed on the Russian border, it will inevitably trigger a strong backlash from Tsar Alexander. But if the conflict is farther apart, this risk will be offset by narrow-minded nobles! In the St. Petersburg cabinet, no one cares about the final ownership of Upper Silesia, let alone where it is."

...
Chapter completed!