Chapter 159: Chapter 46: The Ambitious Navy Department

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Franz could not help but lament that European politics were simply—chaotic. In his two-year reign as Emperor, the Austrian Empire had actually signed secret treaties with all of Europe's major powers.

One could speculate that future scholars of international history, upon encountering this pile of secret treaties, would marvel at the remarkable work of Austria's Foreign Ministry, then be left pondering over a myriad of as-yet unresolved mysteries in the world of politics.

First came the France-Austrian Secret Treaty, which originally aimed for a cheerful partition of the Kingdom of Sardinia, but was aborted due to the outbreak of the French June Revolution.

Then there were the English-Austrian Balkan Issue Memorandum and the English-Austrian Italy Issue Understanding book, with the latter already completed and the former's realization dependent on the integrity of the British.