Chapter 19: Economic reform(2)

The economic reform that Frederick proposed included changing the tax system, and the inclusion of the Sigmaringen Bank as an overseer of the kingdom's monetary policies and the issue of currency alongside the Romanian central bank.

In a modern tax system, the citizens pay a percentage depending on their wages and general income.

Thanks to the new judicial system, the simplified tax system, the entrepreneurship program, the construction of new roads and railroads, low tariffs for importing raw materials, government support, and the free education system. The Kingdom of Romania's economic growth is expected to quadruple in the next 5 years.

A new steel plant will be constructed in the Constanta industrial zone next year. Romania's automobile industry is slowly occupying more markets worldwide, the automobile industry has fueled new business opportunities as new proposals keep coming from Romanian businesses that want to replace foreign parts used in assembling an automobile.

The Sigmaringen Consortium's bicycle factory already subcontracted to 3 national factories in producing seats, handlebars, pedals, and chains. Construction companies are prospering thanks to the government's demand for new modern infrastructure and subsequently the demand for Concrete, bricks, glass, and ceramic factories as well as other construction materials motivated a lot of people to open new factories.

May 1st, Frederick is sitting in front of his desk in deep thought. Two thick documents with a detailed description of two women.

Princess Marie Alexandra Victoria of Edinburgh was born on 29 October 1875. Her parents were Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, Marie's early years were spent in Kent, Malta, and Coburg.

She is the favorite candidate chosen by Frederick's parents.

That was until an interesting proposal came from the Russian Empire.

Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia was born on 1 June 1882, daughter of Tsar Alexander III.

Olga was raised at the Gatchina Palace outside Saint Petersburg. Olga's relationship with her mother, Empress Marie, the daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark, was strained and distant from childhood. In contrast, she and her father were close

Before Frederick refused a proposal from Kaiser Wilhelm II to marry Duchess Jutta of Mecklenburg-Strelitz(15) with the excuse of being too young.

Duchess Olga is different, although he would have to wait a few years but in history, the Bolsheviks communist party abolished the Russian monarchy and assassinated Tsar Nicholas II and his descendants if that incident occurred then he, Frederick Von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, and his descendants with her would have a legitimate claim to the Russian territories.

He could even invade and annex the whole of Ukraine while the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks are still fighting each other!

His father wanted to refuse the marriage proposal but Frederick stopped him. He must think calmly about what is more beneficial for his plans.

"KNOCK" "KNOCK"

"Yes?"

"Sorry for disturbing you, Your Highness but the king has called you over for an emergency meeting"

Frederick was surprised since the next cabinet meeting was supposed to be next week. He hurriedly put on his coat and left, at the gate of his villa in Bucharest the special edition of a collaboration between Sigmaringen Benz-Daimler-ford luxury vehicle waiting for him.

Frederick was tired of driving each label of his consortium vehicles to show his support for the company so he ordered a special edition for him to drive that included features of the three automobile companies. The vehicle is called the Royalist edition.

The meeting is held at the Bucharest Royal Palace, after a few minutes Frederick walks into the hall toward the room where the emergency meeting is being held.

Upon entering, noisy conversations can be heard from cabinet ministers to army generals.

"Let's quiet a bit please, we are going to start the official session" Deputy prime minister announced.

Frederick looked over and his father was already seated with a solemn expression.

"We received a strong protest from the Austro-Hungarian Empire regarding two of our national policies, firstly the massive desertion of Hungarian citizens to Romania due to our policy of calling for Romanian ethnic people and secondly the construction of a line of fortresses west to northeast their frontier with us." the minister of foreign affairs said.

The long line of fortifications is a long-term project that Frederick proposed months ago. The line extended from the Serbian borders to the Russian Empire and mainly focused on the Austria-Hungary Empire frontier as huge fortresses were being constructed on the main roads linking Hungary with Romania. The line of defense is expected to be completed by 1910.

"Your Highness, we shouldn't waste money on building a line of defense on the frontier with our close ally the Austro-Hungarian empire but in Russia and Serbian frontiers." The prime minister advised.

Looking over the room, a lot of ministers and generals agreed with him. For them it was meaningless to build such an expensive large line of fortresses if the Austro-Hungarian Empire wanted to invade them it would be difficult to stop them even with a huge line of defense.

"Everyone, this huge construction project is for the security of our kingdom as well as for social and economic reasons" Frederick paused for a moment and continued:

"Firstly it's unrealistic to trust the Austria-Hungary empire after the incident last year where we found several spies and collaborators financed by them, now their focus is on the Balkans countries and our country is also interested in a way out to the Mediterranean sea!

Secondly, as you know a lot of Romanian people still live off the agricultural sector so because of our policies of modernizing agriculture in the kingdom, hundreds of thousands of peasants would lose their livelihood since they will be replaced by tractors and modern machinery. The construction of these fortresses and railways to link them to supply points would employ a lot of manpower that could alleviate the lack of jobs in those regions while giving chance to other industries to grow and to an extent create more jobs, directly and indirectly, thanks to the subsequent need for construction materials, logistics, and robust military industry to equip the troops that'll be deployed there

Thirdly, as you might know, disemployment leads to discontent, and discontented and hungry peasants riot or stir revolutions.

Fourthly, this is also a way to...

After Frederick stated 9 reasons, he concluded with a patriotic speech about making the kingdom of Romania; The Great Kingdom of Romania, a regional power!

Everyone suddenly realized the importance of the second point, third, and sixth points, it's a very far-sighted plan that not only improves national security but also prevents future social contradictions.

"As for the Romanian immigrants that's just the Hungary government's discontent since their low-cost labor force is migrating here. Don't pay attention to that, the emperor wouldn't mind the migration of other ethnic groups apart from Germans." Frederick explained with confidence.

After a long discussion, the minister of foreign affairs finally asked:

"Now what should we respond to the Austrian diplomatic delegation? They strongly protested and even accused us of siding with the Russian empire"

Everyone kept silent at the question. After a few minutes...

"We should just reveal the third point that His Highness expressed that the construction of fortresses is meant to give employment to our peasants and reassure them if the conflict escalates we can get Germany to mediate" Prime Minister Nicolae proposed.

After a brief discussion, the cabinet agreed to the prime minister and decided to withstand the diplomatic pressure of the Austro-Hungarian empire.

After everyone left, Carol and I invited his son for a walk.

"With this incident, you need to reconsider Grand Duchess Olga as your potential bride. Son, although I respect your decision on your marriage I can't allow this to further deteriorate our kingdom's relations with Austria-Hungary Empire."

Frederick sighed and nodded at his father's resolution. He too can't allow this incident to grow further than this nor he can't abandon the construction of the line of fortresses.

The line of defense is meant to withstand German and Austro-Hungarian offensives when we decide to support the Triple Entente(Russia, UK, France).

Romania's objective in the war is not to confront head-on with the strong and well-trained soldiers of the alliance, the main objective is in the Balkans. Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire are the perfect targets since Frederick was planning to conquer Constantinople and take over the Dardanelles Strait.

A week later, Romania's first of three, expedition forces against Persia embarked, a total of 5840 well-trained and greatly equipped soldiers on board.

For this expedition, the Romanian military council took a long time to prepare. Translators, local collaborators, and supply points were established with the Ottoman government's help. In particular, negotiating with the Ottoman Empire was the most tedious task since they hardly believed that Romania was only interested in Persia which is made up of arid and lifeless deserts, and not other regions.

With the help of the German Empire diplomatically, Romania just needs to withstand the British and Russian Empire protests as "if they would even protest"... For them, Persia is just a deserted land that serves as a separation zone of their spheres of influence.

In September 1895, London and Saint Petersburg signed the Pamir Boundary Commission protocols, when the border between Afghanistan and the Russian Empire was defined using diplomatic methods. The objective of the British was to stop Russian expansion to India or owning a port in the Persian Gulf, the Russians' main concern was to stop the British growing influence in central Asia.

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Author note: (1) Mensheviks were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903. The Mensheviks were led by Julius Martov and Pavel Axelrod.

(2)The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range between Central Asia and Pakistan.

(3) the line of fortresses is only on the main roads to cities. During the war, the Allies are unlikely to open another front of trenches. Frederick thought about it after remembering details of how the war unfolded in the parallel world but everything it's possible, I might change how the battle unfolded as a butterfly effect.