Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

The territory of the Ottoman Empire was getting smaller and smaller, and it was almost trapped by the British, Tsarist Russian Empire, and Austrian Empire. The rise of Italy and the restoration of the Greek Kingdom made its revival even more hopeless.

If you want to say which country has the most recognition of the rising status of this London Conference, then it is definitely the Netherlands.”

Andersen said: "Yes, after many games with Britain from 1862 to 1863, Viscount Palmerston, a veteran European political strongman, made concessions to William IV, which shocked Europe at the time.

A series of actions with Tsarist Russia and alliances with other countries forced Britain to finally recognize the strength of the Netherlands, which in itself was a sign of recognition of its rise.

In particular, the use of the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State to engage in an arm-wrestling proxy war with Britain in South Africa frightened hundreds of thousands of British Army troops, causing Britain to stumble and become a An international laughing stock.

In the direct war with Portugal in 1864, Portugal was defeated step by step. As you can see, at that time, Louis I of Portugal thought that Italy, Austria and Brazil were wooed, and he showed strategic contempt for the Netherlands.

Unexpectedly, it suffered a bitter fruit in the end. The Netherlands actually received support from Denmark, Sweden, Tsarist Russia, the Commonwealth of America, Greece, and the Kingdom of Prussia. Even the Ottomans also sided with the Netherlands.

This team made both Britain and France fearful, not to mention Portugal.

With the right time, right place, and right people, the Netherlands became the protagonist of the London Conference, even surpassing the United Kingdom.

Even in the media of various countries, the word Netherlands appears much more often than the British, especially in 1864 and 1863. "

Princess Dagmar was very curious about the Netherlands where her sister had married. Listening to her teacher and father's words of appreciation, she couldn't help but think that in the future she would marry the king of a big country like Alexandra.

What she didn't know was that she did later marry the king of a great country, and she was also the queen of an empire that was even currently much more powerful than the Netherlands.

She couldn't help but ask: "Where does the Netherlands rank now?"

Crown Prince Frederic said funnyly: "Dagmar, haven't you read the news? The latest "European Times" conducted a comprehensive strength ranking based on population, military, economy, technology, etc.

The British Empire ranks first in terms of comprehensive strength relying on its military, economy and technology, the French Empire ranks second in terms of military, economy and technology, the Tsarist Empire ranks third in terms of population and military, and the Austrian Empire ranks fourth in terms of population and military. The Kingdom of Prussia ranks fifth based on its military, economy, and technology, and the Ottoman Empire ranks sixth based on its military and population. The Netherlands you just asked about relies on its economy, military, and technology, and its economic, technological, and population advantages. The Confederate States of America tied for seventh place. "

"Seventh?"

Princess Dagmar heard this and said enviously: "So, now my sister is the queen of the seventh largest country in the world. That's great."

When Christian IX heard this, he looked at his fourth child, the second daughter with great beauty, in a funny way, and said dotingly: "Really speaking, if the Netherlands is ranked in terms of overall strength, then the Netherlands is now second only to the United Kingdom. France, Tsarist Russia, Austria, Prussia, Ottoman.

As for America, the economy is strong, but militarily, it is a dwarf. "

Crown Prince Frederick said at this time: "If we really want to fight the Netherlands, it is very likely that we can only rely on population and economic strength to maintain an undefeated situation. Prussia, which is far worse than him economically, is much worse. "

When he heard about his eldest son Prussia, Christian IX's eyes showed fear and deep worry.

He said: "It is a pity that Denmark does not have a strong ally. Now it has to face Prussia, which is rising with huge ambitions. Even Austria is so powerful that it is difficult to contain Prussia. Although Denmark has a good navy, it is connected by land. Denmark was unable to use its naval superiority in the face of Prussia. However, it put Denmark at a serious disadvantage."

As Christian IX spoke of Prussia's threat to Denmark, everyone fell silent.

With the recent support of Prussia to Schleswig-Holstein, a principality nominally governed by Denmark, but in fact only Schleswig is under the control of Denmark, Prussia is increasingly provoking Denmark in Holstein. of domination.

Prussia relied on Germans to quickly infiltrate Holstein. Especially after Bismarck was elected as prime minister and came to power in 1861, it accelerated the Prussian influence in Holstein.

If this were the case alone, his predecessor, Frederick VII, and he could only be vigilant at most. After all, Germans also accounted for the majority in Holstein. However, what dissatisfied them was that Bismarck's cabinet had no Scrupulous, infiltrated into Schleswig where the Danes held the majority.

And it was carried out openly, and even provided financial and political support to others, and even formed many teams to propose the idea of ​​breaking away from Danish jurisdiction to the Danish government, which was difficult for Christian IX to accept.

In particular, it will be extended to the fact that these two places were only loyal to the Oldenburg dynasty of Frederick's bloodline, not to Christian IX, who had no direct bloodline with this dynasty.

This provocation of Prussia hit the nail on the head of Christian IX, and it also caused Christian IX's biggest worry.

Therefore, with Holstein's people already in a state of unrest, Christian IX already wanted to throw away this hot potato and directly take Schleswig under his control and take direct control of it.

So he proposed this plan to Prussia.

However, the original agreement required that the two principalities must be bound together and advance and retreat together. Prussia did not agree with this idea proposed by Denmark.

It made it difficult for Christian IX to make a choice and start. He even suspected that this was Bismarck's intention. What he wanted was to disclose the contents of the negotiations between the two countries as a threat, so that Prussia would seize his pigtails and make him If it were announced, Holstein would lose his popularity.

Therefore, after suffering this loss, he no longer had any thoughts of properly handling Schleswig and Prussia.

During the mentioned period, he stepped up his deployment in the two places to prevent those damn Germans from jumping over the wall and causing trouble if they were provoked by Prussia.

But, can it really be stopped?

Christian IX had no confidence at all.

On June 5, 1864, Holstein, under the jurisdiction of Denmark, passed away due to the death of Frederick VII and Christian IX came to power.

The majority of the population in the Holstein region, who are loyal to Germany, have refused to accept the jurisdiction of Christian IX since December last year. This has aroused anger among those who support Danish jurisdiction. On this day, the two parties clashed. After several months of planning, a violent conflict finally broke out.

The next moves in Denmark and Prussia turned Europe's attention from London and Africa back to Jutland.

Thanks to two book friends Xia Mohaige 1 and Wang Daeyebag for their support.