Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

Britain joins the war in North America?

This is the headline news in newspapers across Europe recently.

Since Britain lost more than 100,000 people in the South African War in 1863, it has rarely used troops abroad. Even if there was a mutiny among the indigenous people in the colonial colony, Britain would often use local indigenous troops to suppress it. Prevent damage to your own army.

Therefore, the British military has been very quiet in the past two years.

But now the Lincoln administration's punishment of Britain has touched upon Britain's gunboat diplomacy and commercial state-building and governance structures.

Even because of Lincoln's policy of banning the sale of British industrial products, hundreds of thousands of people in the UK lost their jobs and millions of people's lives were affected. With the British hegemony, naturally they would not remain indifferent.

The British sent troops to fight in order to make the Lincoln government retract this decision and become Britain's dumping market again. This was the purpose of the British government.

Although many people believe that the Tories were behind the British street protests, Disraeli, the new leader of the Tory Party, used this to attack the Whigs' ability to govern the country in the British Parliament. And the foreign policy has been too weak recently, causing even the small federal country to dare to touch the British Empire's tiger's beard.

Anyway, Disraeli expressed domestic dissatisfaction to Viscount Palmerston in Parliament.

As the Tories participate in the foreign policy of opposing the Whig cabinet government in various places, the Tories' popularity in the UK has risen rapidly recently.

Many people predict that if the cabinet government of Viscount Palmerston does not make changes and win back public opinion. If the British general election is held in September this year, it is very likely that the Tories will win.

Then everyone saw the Whig Party, which had a sense of crisis, and finally sent troops to fight against the Northern Confederacy.

However, the Tories will naturally not give up and wait for the Whigs to return there to "quell the chaos".

Therefore, four months before the general election, the Tories began to bombard the policies of Viscount Palmerston's cabinet government in an attempt to maintain public opinion that is now favorable to the Tories.

However, what the British, including Viscount Palmerston and Disraeli, did not know was that they were falling into a conspiracy carefully prepared for them. When this conspiracy succeeded, all walks of life in Britain became the European The object of ridicule.

On May 15, 1865, when the domestic situation in Britain was in chaos and troops were sent to North America in an attempt to divert public dissatisfaction, King William IV of the Netherlands set foot on the territory of the Russian Empire for the first time for a brief visit to St. Petersburg.

"In terms of the size, population and area of ​​the big states, the Austrian Empire has an advantage. But in terms of military strength, Prussia is obviously stronger than the other side."

The person in front of Alexander II was King William IV of the Netherlands.

The two shielded the left and right, leaving two alone. Alexander II followed his ancestors and was familiar with Dutch, so the conversation between the two was very natural, without the participation of a third party.

William IV showed respect for the Russian emperor who was born in 1818 and succeeded to the throne in 1856.

He said: "Today, the total strength of Prussia has reached 630,000, while Austria's strength and heavy artillery can only be more than 580,000.

However, if Prussia attacks Austria, then Austria will do so from an internal position, and its cavalry and artillery have numerical advantages over Prussia, making it easier to maneuver."

William IV looked up at Alexander II and said: "Therefore, in my opinion, the Austrian military authorities can only passively defend and wait for the opponent's attack. Even Joseph I and others will think of using their strengths to make up for their weaknesses. This can Delay the progress of the war, use this to expand your domestic troops, accumulate strength, and then choose the right time to counterattack, and then defeat the invading Prussia with superior force in one fell swoop."

Alexander II watched the two men deduce the war between Prussia and Austria on the map, and his eyes kept lingering on it.

Finally, he set his sights on Bessarabia in the eastern part of the Austrian Empire, and Romania over there, and his eyes were filled with heat.

William IV saw this scene in his eyes. In fact, he is still very envious. In fact, according to his thinking, the Netherlands can actually get some territory in Eastern Europe or even the eastern Mediterranean.

However, the population of the Netherlands is too small, and managing the current territory has already become a population shortage. What's more, when people are placed in the most complex areas such as Eastern Europe, when he thinks of the chaotic situation in the Balkans even 150 years later, he Just give up this heart and let go of whoever loves you.

In fact, the Netherlands now seems to have a small population, while other big countries have large populations, but when thinking about the subsequent major wars, the French Empire, Prussia (later the German Empire), the Austrian Empire, and the Russian Empire were affected in the wars one after another. , the huge loss of population made William IV feel less pressure, which is why he moved the Dutch citizens to the Far East, away from the mainland. This was the best way to protect population growth.

While countries suffered rapid losses measured in millions during the war, the Netherlands, like the United States, which was calm after the Civil War, was far away from the European continent and its population continued to grow.

He believes that it will take at most two generations to reach a scale comparable to the most populous countries such as Britain, France and Germany.

One goes down and the other goes up. This was also the strategy he formulated with the Dutch Privy Council.

European countries can fight if they like. If they don't like fighting, the Dutch government will force you to join in the fight.

That's right, William IV wanted to turn the Netherlands into the role of the troublemaker in world politics that Britain had been in the previous life. Instead, he wanted to let the British fishermen take advantage of their own affairs, befall the Netherlands, and let the British Eat ashes.

William IV's thoughts only lasted a moment. He followed Alexander II's gaze and smiled: "Actually, the Netherlands has always felt that the Russian Empire was too conservative in its territory.

Your Majesty should be more proactive. I think the Russian Empire should have a free access to the Mediterranean and even the Indian Ocean, rather than being limited to the northern section of the Black Sea after the Crimean War. Your Majesty, do you think my statement is correct? "

right?

Alexander II suddenly found William IV in front of him very interesting.

This man knows what he thinks.

"The Tsarist Empire really feels that it should be more convenient for Tsarist Russia to have a port in the south, but you know, the British will not agree with it."

"How could Britain interfere in the affairs of the Russian Empire when it has too much time to take care of itself?" William IV said.

Alexander II: "How?"

William IV: "Because according to the intelligence we have received, as deduced just now, Prussia is about to launch an attack."

Alexander II was shocked and looked at William IV in disbelief. The latter nodded heavily.

Under pressure, Shanda II's mind became active, "In this case, we should think about it carefully."

Afterwards, the two held a secret negotiation, which was not enough for outsiders.

On May 20, 1865, the Great Battle of Richmond took place. Britain entered the war for the first time. The North was retreating steadily and was forced to let the South retake their capital.

Just as the British were breathing a sigh of relief. When they were about to show off their glorious moment, the situation from the European continent shocked them.

It turned out that Prussia attacked the third party in Austria, and its first target was the Kingdom of Hanover.

In just three days, Hanover was attacked by Prussia from the east and south, occupying more than half of its territory.

Europe was in an uproar.