When Diplomacy Fails Podcast
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Age of Bismarck #18: The Alliance That Wasn't
🕑 Added 2025-05-29 10:00:12 +0000 UTC[PATRONS]
Why did France enter its war with Prussia without an alliance with Austria? On paper, the partnership seems obvious - team up with Vienna, defeated in 1866, and use the Habsburg desire for revenge to attack Prussia on two fronts. How had Napoleon missed the chance to achieve such a diplomatic coup? It seems particularly odd considering the existence of Franco-Austrian negotiations after 1866, specifically aiming at forging an alliance. Clearly, the two sides recognised that they had a lot in common, so what happened? In this episode, we examine this underrated diplomatic story, to show you how close Vienna and Paris came to an alliance, and to explain why, in the end, a formal alliance treaty was a bridge too far for both sides.
Although Count Beust longed for revenge against Bismarck, this longing could only go so far, and there were other issues to consider. Could Vienna be seen to stand in the way of German unification? Would the Germans ever forgive Austria for welcoming the French across the Rhine? And what about Italy? How did the young kingdom factor into French calculations, and why did these attempts also fail in the end? Please join me as we get to the bottom of this puzzle, and see for ourselves just how lucky Bismarck truly was...
