[Img] http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b9/Flag_of_Prussia_1892-1918.svg/1024px-Flag_of_Prussia_1892-1918.svg.png [/Img]

The following is a continuation of Von Bismarck's address to the Federal Diet

"I remind you, German Brothers, that Austria has signed the Treaty of Constantinople, which France, unlike Great Britain, has not withdrawn from. Austria has already proven itself willing to violate Articles 9 and 10 of our constitution. It was willing to place the interests of a hollow, broken state above Germany's. 

Now, Austria is in a desperate position. With only one very weak ally, it faces significant threats from the north, west, east, and sea. It must defend three fronts and quell any Slavic uprisings. Gentlemen, [I]this it cannot do[/I].

You may be asking 'Why, then? Why would Austria commit to such a foolish war it can only lose?' I hereby submit that Austria is counting on a guarantor to balance out the war and come to its rescue.

Recall France, whom Austria would refuse to denounce as an enemy. When I demanded of the Austrians if they would defend any German State attacked by the French, they would not give me a straight answer. France is obligated under Constantinople, which it has not renounced, to aid Austria.

But what could France [I]truly[/I] want that could get it to enter a war where it must defend nearly it's entire border? To answer that, we must look at the situation from Austria's perspective.

Austria sees a Germany slowly slipping away from it. With each year more of us German states join the Zollverein, which Austria refused to join. It sees an Italian peninsula it has no real prospects of holding. It recognizes that without an ally, the storied Habsburg monarchy, under tremendous pressure, internally and externally, will collapse. 

Its first pact with Mephistopheles saw it guarantee the single biggest oppressor of Christians in the world, all in the name of ensuring a broader front on the Russians.

It quickly discovered that while the Russian problem had been somewhat ameliorated, Prussia and Italy remained. Therefore it established a pact with Beelzebub, the French.

Here is where I must speculate, albeit I consider it obvious. France has always wanted the left bank of the Rhine. Bonaparte took it, Thiers threatened war over it. How fortunate for Austria! It can pay for France's services with that which it does not own! The Bavarian Palatinate, Prussia's Rhine province, Cologne, all these Germans to be put under French rule so the Habsburgs can keep their silly empire.

I ask you, to stand with Germany against the French! Join with Prussia, or if you find my conclusions unbelievable, remain neutral with your armies raised in as far a western location as is within your political jurisdiction, so that when the French come, you will be ready."