Mystika wrote:Tracian Empire wrote:That could be an interesting way to avoid a pointless war.
Austria was already planning to propose the strengthening of the German Confederation's army and naval forces as a response to outside threats against the German nations.
We will have to work it out in detail, but I think tying our economies together, having free and open borders, encouraging interstate trade, military cooperation, and so forth is definitely agreeable. Possibly we could form something like a council of the various German heads of state where influential states such as Austria and Brandenburg work with the smaller states(just to make them feel like they have any choice in the matter)
EDIT: the only problem is that most of Europe would probably be unhappy with a unified/confederated german state. But I think all of us together would be a force to be reckoned with.
Well, we already have the Zollverein/German Customs Union. The treaties in real life were signed in 1833, and since the reasons for why Austria was excluded do not exist in this world, in the previous iteration I made it so that the Zollverein exists and all German states are a part of it, including Austria (and potentially Bohemia, although I don't remember). The Zollverein could certainly be strengthened though, and encouraging military cooperation and common defense are both things that Austria has been supporting from its position as the head of the presiding power of the Confederation.
And yeah, a lot other nations wouldn't like a stronger Germany, and that's why Austria has been encouraging German cooperation - as a reaction to those who would be hostile to the Germans.