Chapter 8, Suez Canal

Plans can never keep up with changes, and the Vienna Government's main objective was to create conflict, to use military threat to coerce the Egyptian Government into signing a treaty.

After all, the Sinai Peninsula was not of significant importance; its sole purpose was to act as a buffer between the Vienna Government and the Ottoman Empire, with the local native tribes simultaneously acknowledging the leadership of both governments.

As a result, conflict was indeed created, but the approach was overly aggressive, and the locals ended up being occupied. The Egyptians did not take any extreme actions but simply protested.

If he could have it his way, Franz would have preferred the Egyptians to carelessly attack, because that would have made the subsequent steps much easier, since fighting Egypt alone put no pressure on him.