Chapter 52 Trieste

December 15, 1866.

Trieste, the most important port of the Austrian Empire.

Since the end of the Austro-Prussian War, Austria handed over Venice to Italy through France, Trieste automatically became the single most important port of the upcoming Austro-Hungarian Empire (February 1867).

The Austrian government is currently negotiating with the Hungarian Magyar nobles, and the two sides are fiercely arguing over their rights and obligations.

In February of the following year, the two sides reached a compromise. The Magyar nobles in Hungary received the same rights as Austria, but the Magyars had to ensure that Hungary remained within the empire. This was the dualist empire.

Trieste was the shipbuilding center and commercial shipping center of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Having fought a war with Venice for two centuries, the locals later took the initiative to seek asylum from the Habsburgs and were incorporated into the Austrian Empire. It has been Austria's core territory ever since.

Trieste actually has its own dialect, but due to multiple factors such as the increase in Italians, the temporary prosperity of the Republic of Venice, and the influence of Italian culture in Europe, speaking Italian has become the mainstream.

After World War I, Italy annexed Trieste on the grounds that Trieste spoke Italian. In this way, Austria lost Trieste, which it had ruled for five hundred years. This is really a land that has existed since ancient times. It can be seen from this that The overall inefficiency and incompetence of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Today, this 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.

Later, Trieste also changed from the pearl of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to an unremarkable city in Italy.

This shows the power of cultural influence. Trieste originally spoke the local dialect, but in the process of long-term dealings with Italian countries (especially Venice), it instead spoke Italian, and was eventually annexed by Italy.

This is 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.

Trieste is now directly connected to Vienna, the capital of Austria, and a direct railway to Vienna was built in 1857.

With the entire Austro-Hungarian Empire as its economic hinterland, Trieste became the third largest city in the Austro-Hungarian Empire after Vienna and Prague.

As the largest seaport city in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was responsible for the empire’s coal supply and external cargo transportation. It was 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.

In the hands of Italy, Trieste became the frontier of the national border. Trieste, which lost its economic hinterland, had no sense of existence in the Italian ports of 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, "It turns out there was such a place in Europe."

“From Szczecin on the Baltic Sea to Trieste on the Adriatic Sea, an Iron Curtain has been drawn across Europe.” ——Churchill

…

Ernst was walking on the streets of Trieste. Now Ernst was considered half Habsburg's son-in-law, so he could pimp him out and make some investments in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Trieste was one of Ernst's targets, and Ernst planned to build a center for the East African ocean-going trade fleet here.

Although Venice and here have functional overlap, Ernst still wanted to put his eggs in 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.

Therefore, the shipyard remained in Venice, and the fleet directly changed maps to develop in Trieste.

In addition to economic reasons, the most important reason for choosing Trieste was to import population into the East African colonies.

The issue of white immigration has always troubled Ernst. It is difficult for Germans in Prussia to be fooled into going to East Africa. High academic qualifications (compared to other parts of Europe) are second. Now that Prussia is prosperous and has many opportunities, it is better to choose to develop overseas. All less.

For those Germans who went to America to give it a try, one reason was that America was developed early and has a good environment. Another reason is that it is impossible to survive in Prussia. Many people here are criminals and hooligans, and have been recorded by the Prussian government. Of course, some ambitious people who want to make a fortune are not excluded.

It can be seen at a glance that these two types of people are not needed by the East African colonies, and receiving them from East Africa will also threaten the stability of the East African colonies.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire was different. From the moment it was founded, it had been on a decline. The country was in decline, and its degree of industrialization was not high. National conflicts were serious, which gave Ernst the opportunity to poach people.

The population of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is second only to Tsarist Russia and Germany (which has been excluded from Germany), and the education level of the people is far lower than that of Germany, and is only slightly better than Tsarist Russia. There are quite a lot of illiterate peasants. .

Peasants without knowledge meant that their cultural identity could be transformed through education, which was exactly the kind of high-quality immigrants the East African colonies needed.

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, coupled with the exploitation of the nobles in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

These farmers either went to the cities to work, but it was obvious that the industry of the Austro-Hungarian Empire could not absorb such a large population, and the black-hearted factories in the cities were not necessarily easier than farming.

Either choose to revolt against the exploitation of local nobles. In the Austro-Hungarian Empire, where conservative forces are strong, the success rate is basically zero.

The last step is to go overseas and look for employment opportunities in other areas.

Unlike those educated people in Germany, if you tell a German to go to East Africa to work and live, 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 ask them to go to East Africa, they may first ask where East Africa is?

At this time, all you need to do is increase your efforts to deceive, portray East Africa as a paradise, and finally find a few people to persuade you. Anyway, you have no land and can't find a job in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so you might as well go overseas and try your best.

These farmers in the Austro-Hungarian Empire were no easier to fool than the Chinese immigrants. After all, the Chinese were desperate, while the farmers in the Austro-Hungarian Empire could barely survive.

If we go back further, when it was still the serfdom system, there would be no need to think about it. After all, serfs are the private property of the nobles. If you want to trick people into immigrating from the local area, you must deal with the local nobles.

It just so happens that serfdom has been abolished not long ago. These farmers no longer need the responsibility of the nobles, and they have to bear all their own food, clothing, housing and transportation.

Peasants who do not have land in their hands can only choose to continue farming for the nobles. The problem is that the population is constantly growing, and the efficiency of production tools is also improving, and farming does not require so many people.

At this time, farmers who had no land to farm could only go to the city to work in black-hearted factories to support their families.

A large number of farmers moved to the cities in search of job opportunities, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire was not very industrialized, so it could not afford so much labor.

Ernst organized people from the company to recruit workers in various cities in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and deceived unemployed farmers to go to East Africa for development.

Not only is there a salary, but food and accommodation are also included. If you make enough money in the future, you can return to Europe.

Agricultural workers are also workers, and Ernst is not lying. It is true that food and accommodation are provided, but he still has to build his own place to live and eat food grown in his own land.

As for salary, it’s basically better than nothing, but you can indeed save some money, what? If you say it's not enough to support your family, then you've really caught up with the time.

Encourage the whole family to work in the East African colonies, so that your family will basically have enough to eat and drink, and the colonies will also provide free education for the children.

As for returning to Europe in the future, it is indeed possible. There is still hope in four or five years. After all, the current merchant ships in the East African colonies can only bring people in and out, and there are only a few of them.

If you want to return to Europe via merchant ships from other countries, the price of a ticket is not cheap. You can't save it without working in the East African colonies for four or five years.

Currently, if you develop in East Africa, you can only support your family and don't even think about getting rich. 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 had property rights in the hands of the colonial government. It was impossible to enclose the land and build farms like Americans did in the West.

However, the East African colonies took the initiative to bear the ship fare for immigrants to East Africa, which was better than going to the Americas. After all, the U.S. government would not take the initiative to pay for the ship fare for you to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

Another advantage of going to East Africa is that you are still working in the same field as farming. If you go to America and don't have a technical qualification, wouldn't you just go to work as a general worker? Farming is something you know how to do, and no one can fool you, and no matter how bad your life is, it's still not as bad as the days when you were a serf.