Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

With the statement of Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia, Vienna, Austria, issued the strongest diplomatic note in history to Berlin.

Emperor Franz Joseph I of the Austrian Empire directly shouted to William I of the Kingdom of Prussia, asking him to explain his nephew's words, and immediately convened a meeting of all members of the German Confederation in Vienna to launch Austria's attack on Prussia on this matter.

At the meeting, parliamentarians from Austria, its ally Bavaria and other southern German Confederation members criticized the Kingdom of Prussia's actions, which violated the interests of the internal members of the German Confederation, and demanded that Prussia stop such measures that undermined the internal stability of the German Confederation.

Many members of the German Confederation in the north defended Prussia. In the end, Prussia and Austria did not reach a compromise agreement.

This disappointed other European countries and also planted the seeds of conflict for the future development of relations between the two countries.

And because Prussia received support from other members of the German Confederation that was comparable to Austria, Prussia once again proved that it had reached the point of being on an equal footing with Austria in the German Confederation.

This further made the Austrian Empire, the central hegemonic power, feel that its status had declined.

On August 15, 1863, it was affected by the support of Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia and the feedback from Europe.

Tewodros II felt that he had the confidence to resist the Austrian Empire.

So the Ethiopian king, who had been holding back his anger, began to anger the consul of the Austrian Empire.

He planned to kidnap a small team of Austrian foreign teachers to attract the attention of Franz Joseph I.

In the process, he also felt something that made him very angry.

Franz St., an Austrian missionary, lived in Ethiopia for a long time.

Without anyone paying attention, he published a book describing the local customs and customs of Ethiopia.

This not only exposed the tragic childhood of Tewodros II, but also evaluated him as an out-and-out tyrant in the book.

When Tewodros II discovered this, he felt doubly insulted.

Because according to Ethiopian tradition, princesses are all derived from the noble bloodline of the ancient King Solomon, and it is impossible for them to experience abject poverty.

Franz Stern's writings are telling the Western world that not only did he come from a humble background, but he also managed the country by covering up Nie.

So he ordered the missionary couple to be imprisoned together with Austria, and ordered their servant to be beaten to death.

Word of the matter quickly reached Austria, which prompted Austria to issue a diplomatic note.

However, Tewodros II wanted to bargain with him, but found that the other party demanded his unconditional release.

But Tewodros II naturally refused.

So the furious Austrian Franz Joseph I issued an order and directly asked Prince Olsperg to speed up the invasion of Ethiopia.

Due to the rugged and winding mountains in Ethiopia, Vienna quickly ordered the formation of engineer regiments gradually following the British example.

An expeditionary force was also formed in Vienna and committed to the Ethiopian mountains without hesitation.

After Prince Olsperg received the support of the Engineer Corps.

So the previous troops took on the task of fighting.

In order to deal with the Ethiopian fortress, the experienced Prince Olsperg also started with the navy, and ordered the Austrian naval fleet stationed in Djibouti to also send artillery units and land teams to participate in the war with heavy artillery disassembled from the warships.

When Prince Olsperg was formulating his battle plan, he found that the biggest difficulty was dealing with Ethiopia's poor transportation.

Long-term war and remoteness have made the country's Djibouti port smaller and there are no qualified roads inland.

Coupled with the strong rule of Tewodros II and the previous rule by local warlords, many unexpected factors were added for no reason.

Therefore, Austria is preparing to use the Austrian Engineer Corps to open roads and build ports, camps and roads locally. Not enough manpower and animal power have been collected for logistical supplies.

After the Engineer Corps landed on October 20, 1863, it took them only one month to expand the port of Djibouti more than five times. It was built into a medium-sized temporary port in Europe.

By the end of November 1863, Austrian engineers had completed the railways in the three places occupied by Austria, including Ali Sabih and Dikile, and built eight large iron bridges for these places. They also built a special railway around the tower. Jura Bay road.

In addition, a highway from Dikile to the northern city of Mekele is about to be completed.

As these roads were improved step by step, Austria's dominance was confirmed.

These measures taken by Austria made everyone extremely solemn.

Unlike Italy's previous battles, Austria is obviously building an extremely stable rear area and is not in a hurry for a quick outcome of the war.

Instead, the Prince of Auersperg likes a little nibbling.

Italy, headed by Emmanuel II, was waiting to make a joke, but suddenly felt the seriousness of the situation.

Because according to the current Austrian model, even if they fail on the front battlefield, with the construction of these transportation network facilities, Austria has a huge troop mobilization capability. With the completion of these transportation network facilities, Austria will be able to quickly deploy troops. Ability.

This was something that Italy did not have before.

The emergence of this result makes it difficult for Austria to withdraw from Ethiopia after its defeat in the future. If that is the case, how will Italy have the opportunity to invade Ethiopia again?

European countries are also closely watching Austria's military operations there, trying to assess Austria's combat power. In particular, the military experts in Berlin quickly analyzed all Austria's actions. The analysis results were presented to the top desks in Berlin and provided to William I, Bismarck, Moltke and others.

William IV of the Netherlands, who has been married for three months, has also established his own Ministry of Defense think tank to analyze war reports from various countries.

In this think tank, William IV was divided into various groups for this purpose, such as the British group, the Tsarist Russian group, the Austrian group, the Italian group, the American group, etc. Almost all countries above medium powers have formed analysis groups. It’s just that the number of people varies.

This was made by William IV under the influence of think tanks from later countries.

Not only the Ministry of National Defense, but also the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance have also formed their own teams corresponding to each country to analyze the policies of each country. These teams have one or two people for small countries, and 10 people are not too many for big countries such as Britain and France.

The purpose of these think tank groups is to analyze the military, diplomatic, and economic policies of various countries, obtain the latest information for the Netherlands, and gain benefits for the Netherlands to quickly make corresponding policies in new policies.

"Austria has done well in building its engineering corps. The Netherlands should also have its own engineering corps so that it can develop the Far East faster and dominate Africa."

William IV said to Chief of General Staff Mark Rudd: "This engineering regiment is very important. In the future, the Netherlands will need it for both internal construction and external military deployment. Its rapid completion is very critical for the Netherlands. Alaska cannot stay close to the capitalists, and it needs Only when the military opens and expands road facilities can they be attracted to invest, and people will live there permanently."

Mark Rudd nodded.

After William IV had just finished the Privy Council meeting, there were only two people left. One was the military chief of staff Mark Rudd, and the other was naturally the Prime Minister of the Cabinet Government Tolbeck.

William IV asked Tolbeck: "How is the control in Africa?"

Tolbeck paused, and then sighed: "The ethnic groups there are very complex, and we implement a high-pressure policy, so these ethnic groups are carrying out silent resistance."

William IV frowned. This matter involving ethnicity was the most complicated. The identity of the Dutch white people made these future African nations naturally disgusted.

"Is there any way to change their perception of the Dutch white people and not have so much resistance?"

Tolbeck shook his head, "They all think that we are foreign invaders, so their positions are very similar."

"Oh? You mean the positions are convergent?" William IV thought of something and asked again to confirm.

Although Tolbeck didn't understand why William IV wanted to confirm again, he still nodded and said: "Yes."

Mark Rudd also said: "It is indeed the case. Our troops also encountered a lot of hostility there. Congo is okay. At least we used the influence of the King of Congo to change our image, so that our troops did not receive much hostility. There is resistance, but things are a bit worse in Kenya and Tanzania.”

William IV: "How many East Indians have we emigrated to Tanzania and Kenya now?"

Although he didn’t understand why William IV suddenly turned to this topic, Tolbeck still told the truth: “Currently, there are 300,000 immigrants from Kenya and 500,000 from Tanzania.”

William IV asked again about the local population structure.

“The total population is about 800,000, with the Gikuyu accounting for 17%, the Luhya 14%, the Kalenjin 11%, the Luo 10% and the Kamba 10%, as well as other ethnic groups.

As for Tanzania, it is more complicated. The total population is about 5 million. The Ugandan area at the northern end of Lake Victoria in Bugugou has 700,000 people, mainly Hutu accounting for 70% and Tutsi 30%.

The difference is even greater in Burundi, with 80% Hutu and less than 20% Tutsi.

However, on the Congo side of Lake Victoria, the Tutsi occupy a lot of status. He has always cooperated closely with the King of Congo, so his status in Congo is very high. "

When William IV heard this, his frown suddenly relaxed after hearing this, to the surprise of Tolbeck and Mark Rudd.

Has Your Majesty thought of a solution?