Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

On November 27, 1864, Denmark, Prussia, and Austria held negotiations in Gothenburg, a city in southwestern Sweden. Witnessed by Sweden, Tsarist Russia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France and other countries, the Gothenburg Peace Treaty was signed.

In this contract, Denmark declared that the Jutland Peninsula in the Principality of Schleswig would be from west to east, starting from the southern part bounded by Husum and the northern part of Schleswig, including these two cities. The territory, the Duchy of Holstein and Lauenburg were permanently ceded to Prussia and Austria.

In the western sea, South Island Beach, Pelvom Island, etc. were also insisted on by Prussia and Austria, and Denmark gave them to the two countries.

Fortunately, North Island Beach was defended by Denmark with the support of various countries.

However, what is surprising is that the day after Denmark signed the contract with Austria and Prussia, Denmark signed an island lease contract with the United Kingdom, Tsarist Russia, the Netherlands, and Sweden respectively.

In the contract, Denmark leased North Beach Island to the French Empire for 100,000 pounds for 50 years.

France used 300,000 pounds to rent the Fore Island for the same 50-year lease.

The British leased Amrum Island for 50 years for 300,000 pounds.

As for the Netherlands, they spent 300,000 pounds to acquire a 50-year lease on the northern part of Sylt.

As for the south, it was rented by Sweden for 50 years for the same price of 300,000 pounds.

As each country signed the peace treaty and the lease contract, they were recognized by all countries and came into effect immediately.

Although it seems that it is Denmark that ultimately loses. But think about it. In the past, Schleswig was just a principality governed by itself.

But now the area north of Schleswig and Husum will be recognized by various countries as officially joining Denmark's territory. Just as the Danish negotiator said during the Gothenburg negotiations in the neutral country of Sweden, Denmark will establish a new district there - Schleswig.

This was an important step for Denmark. From then on, they completely clarified the dispute between Schleswig and Holstein between the German Confederation and freed Denmark from their conflicts. The conflict continues.

This is the biggest gain.

As for the 50-year lease of the island by Britain, Russia, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and France, it all belonged to Schleswig before. Now, with the support of these four countries, it all belongs to Denmark, although it will take 50 years for Denmark to Accept it, but the sovereignty is there, and OP and others can no longer deny it.

As they were exposed internationally, countries in Europe and even the Americas were in awe.

Although Denmark is not very satisfied with this result, after experiencing Denmark's fierce battles with Prussia and Austria, they all understand that it is difficult to achieve more by launching a war. Now this effect is no longer easy.

In the end, he also acquiesced in Christian IX's method of handling the war, and thus secured his position as King of Denmark.

Prussia and Austria were equally dissatisfied with the results of this war. After all, Denmark occupied almost one-third of Schleswig.

As for the several large islands off the Atlantic coast of Schleswig, Opp only captured two small islands in the south.

Although they were dissatisfied that the islands they had originally favored were forced to sign and recognized as belonging to Denmark, when they saw the lease contracts that Denmark leased to various countries, they already knew that they were powerless to object.

After all, that is meat and potatoes for all countries. Op has already taken the biggest benefit, why not let all countries drink some soup?

And people still use money to rent.

With the signing of these two documents, Europe's international status has been reshuffled again. This was the most important post-war negotiation on European soil after the Vienna Peace Conference in 1815.

It was also following the coalition forces composed of the Tsarist Russia and the Ottoman Empire, the British Empire, the French Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia (after Emmanuel II changed to the Kingdom of Italy in 1860) from 1853 to 1856, in the Crimean Peninsula and the Caucasus region. 10 years after the Crimean War started in the Balkans, the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea, the White Sea, and the Near East, it was the largest multinational war in Europe.

Although in the Crimean War, the Russian Empire lost 522,000 people.

Compared to the 96,000 Ottoman Empire, 95,000 French, 102,000 British Empire, 18,000 Sardinian Kingdom, and 1,000 Greek legions on the Alliance side, the total losses seemed incomparable.

But this time both sides, including Denmark and the German Confederation, exceeded 100,000, although it was only one-third of the Crimean War.

But you must know that Crimea is a remote place in Eastern Europe, while the war between Denmark and the German Confederation is in Western Europe, almost in the heart of Europe, so European countries feel the proximity of the war even more.

After the Crimean War, Tsarist Russia was isolated by European countries just like France after Napoleon's defeat in the war. After ten years, Tsarist Russia slowly restored its relations with other countries. However, this time the Dande War was caused by There were many countries on the side of the German Confederation that participated in the war, so naturally they would not be isolated by the boycott.

And since Denmark has just formed a marriage alliance with the Netherlands, Britain, Russia, and Switzerland, it will naturally not be an object of encouragement. Therefore, everyone was shocked to find that as these two documents were confirmed by various countries, it seemed as if there had never been a war. , and returned to his previous life.

But only William IV knew that this was only on the surface. Privately, it was just the calm before the storm.

The German unification plan of Bismarck and William I of the Kingdom of Prussia was the first practical step through this war. However, in the subsequent distribution of "spoils", Austro-Prussian will face doubts from the German Confederation countries. The uneven distribution of time and quarrels will be a big drama in the future.

Although the long-standing struggle for dominance of the German Confederation was covered up in this war, the result of this war was that Austria's losses far exceeded those of Prussia, which made Prussia more respected by all countries in terms of public opinion within the German Confederation. .

This will in turn add more new frictions to the overt and covert struggle for dominance. Even other countries in Schleswig and Holstein are dissatisfied with the allocation of the Oprus, which will further fuel the burning of this flame. The two countries will As a result, friction intensifies.

Bringing these ethnic allies who fought side by side in the German-Danish War to a crossroads that diverged, and ultimately reunited them on the battlefield of consent.

William IV said to himself: "Historically, within 7 years after the Prussian-Danish War, Prussia successively launched wars with Austria and France, and finally kicked Austria out of the German Confederation, allowing Prussia to unify Germany. , and then in 1871, after defeating France, the German Empire was announced in Paris."

It truly broke the original pattern of great power politics in Europe, and Europe once again had a new empire rising strongly.

Since then, the German Empire has embarked on a nearly 70-year journey of rising, being defeated, and then rising again as a great power. It can be called a distinct counterattack journey of a small country in history.

It's a pity that war after war has left this country covered in scars and scars, and it's like giving back, causing the surrounding countries to be like them, full of wars and devastated lives.

But this is the reality in Europe now and for the next few decades or hundreds of years. Without the protection of force, everything is the target of slaughter. Only Britain in Europe is isolated overseas, so its homeland is rarely attacked by war.

The Netherlands needs a land that is not affected by war and can develop rapidly in order to remain strong and prosperous for a long time. The location of the mainland makes it impossible to achieve this goal. Looking around the world, it seems that only the Far East, led by Australia, is the best for the Netherlands. A place to live. "

William IV stood up with twinkling eyes and walked to the large map hanging next to him.

"The northern part of the Indian Ocean was almost completely occupied by the British, including the Indian subcontinent, the Bay of Bengal, and Lower Burma and the western coast of Myanmar. The Malayan Peninsula was under the absolute control of the British. The northwest of the Indian Ocean was occupied by the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia, which occupied Somalia. Further south was the Netherlands, which occupied Kenya, Tanzania, northern Mozambique and Madagascar bounded by the North Mozambezi River. Further south was the United Kingdom, which occupied South Africa and the Mauritius Islands.

To the east was the British overseas territory of New Zealand, and to the north was what is now the Netherlands, Dutch Australia and the East Indies.

That is to say, the Indian Ocean is now almost surrounded by the Netherlands in the south and the British in the north. "

William IV looked towards the eastern part of the Indian Ocean, where the signs indicating the Dutch occupation were very eye-catching. Looking at the densely packed familiar Dutch territorial signs, William IV was satisfied but also felt a crisis.

He thought: If the Netherlands occupies as many overseas territories, it is impossible for European countries to have objections.

With the carving up of African colonies and the subsequent wars, European countries have begun to shift their ambitions from their home countries to overseas countries.

Although the Netherlands' strength is good, it is still lacking compared to the top powers. This makes the Netherlands passive when facing the greed of other countries.

Many islands in the Pacific were fine before, at least not of much economic value.

But the advantage is that there are many and they are widely distributed.

If I remember correctly, in the previous life, European countries paid great attention to the Pacific Islands after carving up Africa. The newly-emerged Prussia and the United States, like wild dogs looking for food everywhere, led the old powers such as Britain and France to drive a wave of occupation of small islands in the Pacific. .

And in the 1890s, in just a few years, the Pacific Ocean, including the Hawaiian Islands, was divided up.

Now that the Netherlands has taken the lead, but without strength, how can it protect them? Without seeing that there were no colonies to fight for, the United States deliberately caused the Maine incident next to Cuba in the Caribbean. Using this as an excuse, in 1900 At the beginning of the year, they quickly drove out the once empire and now fallen Kingdom of Spain and seized the Philippine Islands.

"The homeland can even be temporarily lost, but the Far East is the root of the Netherlands becoming a great country, and it cannot be lost," William IV said to himself so resolutely.

At this moment, Queen Sandra walked in, followed by Prime Minister Tolbeck and Foreign Minister Hesbert von.

Is there a situation?

The two people looked excited, and he couldn't tell whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.

Tolbeck said: "Your Majesty, there are new changes in the American war. President Lincoln in the north has just announced a draft."

Under the watchful eyes of William IV, the former made an astonishing statement: "In order to deal with the South, his government will announce the liberation of the Black Nuclear Power, and the Confederate States of America will promulgate the "Emancipation Proclamation." The Confederate States of America in the South will strongly respond to this. , the south launched a more intense attack on the north, almost fully blooming."

The Emancipation Proclamation?

Lincoln finally made a big move, and life in the South was going to be difficult.