Part 73: Victoria: Chapter 8 - Cultural Matters: 1830 - 1840

1830 - 1840: Cultural Matters

The Reichstag, still riding on the wave of nationalism of 1820, decides against intervention in Italy, and Mathias acquiesces to their wishes.


Although the Pope issuses a condemnation of the talks, Tittoni successfully ekes out a preliminary agreement with the other three Italian minors, and the unification talks continue.


Research continues into industry, as work begins to found a national railway company with the aid of Scandinavian engineers.


New coal mining techniques also spread to Swabia, greatly increasing the output of its coal industry.


In July of 1830, Scandinavia launches an expedition against Madagascar in the hopes of securing a transit port to its new Indian colony on the Andaman Isles.


The expedition is surrounded and wiped out by tribal warriors in the mountains along Madagscar's northern coast, and the fiasco causes Scandinavia's monarch to call off the invasion altogether.


With the Swabian Railway Company founded in June of 1831, the government turns their attention to matters of culture, sponsoring research into a greater understanding of the ideological issues that lay behind the Zuhriman wars.


A new furniture company is simultaneously founded in München.


The Italian unification talks are concluded in September, and Venice, Sicily and Sardinia join the Kingdom of Italy, turning the Swabian satellite into a Great Power in its own right.



The first length of Swabian railroad is finished in Stuttgart in November.


In February of 1832, the general staff of Swabia, having meticiously studied the failures of Scandinavia on Madagascar, present Mathias with a plan for seizing the island for Swabia.


Mathias gives the go-ahead, and an expedition of Swabian and Javan cavalry is launched from Ceylon.


The expedition makes landfall on the comparatively level western coast, advancing into the central mountains.


As the island's defenders move to take back the eastern coast, the Swabian cavalry divides into two forces, seizing the roads into Boina and Imerina and trapping the enemy in the eastern lowlands. With the rest of the island under Swabian control, the Swabian troops are brought together for a final, decisive battle.


Surrounded and cut off, the Madagscar army is wiped out and the island is made into a Swabian colony, with a naval base and colonial garrison in Boina.




State-funded research continues into cultural matters such as philosophy and art in the Unifiers' quest to make Swabia the cultural center of Europe.





In November, the Netherlands, emboldened by British guarantees, declare war on France. The United Kingdom joins the war on their side and asks Swabia to join in as well, but the Reichstag vetoes the idea with the reasoning that getting dragged into frivolous wars of aggression is contrary to German national interest.



British support for the Dutch is slow to arrive, and the war quickly turns sour for the Netherlands, who are forced to cede Brussel in the ensuing peace.


The München furniture factory is completed in August of 1853.


Frankfurt's first public art museum is opened in February of 1834, featuring works from prominent romantical and classical artists.


The alliance with Dauphine expires and is renewed later the same month.


With Italy's propelling onto the world stage as a Great Power, its government have begun viewing themselves as an equal partner rather than a subject domain to Swabia, straining relations between the two countries. Thus, when Crown Prince Waldemar passes away and the inheritance of Italy passes to Mathias in March, the Italian court make a play for independence, crowning Regent Tittoni as Guiseppe I of Italy. Outraged, Mathias responds by declaring war.


Swabian troops quickly cross the border into Tuscany, winning a small but decisive victory outside the Italian capital Florence. Suddenly getting cold feet, Guiseppe I sues for peace, offering to recognize Swabia overlordship in exchange for autonomy. After some negotiation, Mathias agrees to the deal. Though peace is achieved, the peace deal is far from popular with the Italian population, sparking a wave of nationalist uprisings in Naples and Firenze and throwing Italy into social chaos.


A quiet year in Swabia follows. A canned food factory is built in Baden in December of 1835, decreasing Swabia's reliance on foreign powers for military material.


State research funding turns temporarily to commercial matters, sponsoring an effort to increase understanding of economy theory among the moneyed classes.



The cultural funding begins to yield results as the philosophy of Neokantian Idealism starts being taught at Stuttgart University in October of 1836.


In early 1837, Byzantium invades and annexes Oman, further extending their control of the Arabian peninsula.


War also breaks out in Jadakal in 1838 as Asmunakal goes to war with its neighbours Jidligrib and Alusal.


The Asmunakali army proves far superior to its neighbours', and Jidligrib is occupied and forced to cede a large number of territories in 1839.


As the year turns to 1840 and the term of the Unifiers comes to its close, a program is started to reform the neglected Swabian army in face of harsh criticism from the Militarists.



(Note because I know someone is going to jump on this: I changed the conservative inventions from Ideological Thought to only fire if you have 15+ plurality, so I did not take leave of my senses by researching it early. The reason it's 15 instead of 5 so landed CMs wont be screwed over by it.)

Coming up shortly: The 1840 Reichstag.