Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

On May 20, 1865, the Kingdom of Hanover was attacked by the Kingdom of Prussia, which was also part of the German Confederation, and the east and south fell quickly.

William IV was also visiting Tsarist Russia, and on this day he was invited to St. Petersburg University to give a lecture on the situation in Europe.

The various news coming out of Prussia's attack made him speak about the internal struggle in the German state, which attracted much attention.

Forced to fight on two fronts, the Hanoverian army divided its forces into two armies and established two armies, of which 30,000 people were organized into the Southern Army to deal with the Prussian army in the Rhine Province.

30,000 people from the east formed the Eastern Army, which was used to deal with Prussia's westward route.

At the same time, due to the Prussian invasion, Hanover began to expand its army to 30,000 new soldiers.

This team of new soldiers was reinforced in the eastern theater by King Georg V of Hanover, unified under the command of General Bede, and quickly resisted Prussia's westward invasion on the eastern front of Hanover.

On the Prussian side, the actual commander of the war was General Moltke, Chief of the General Staff.

According to the combat plan formulated by his leadership, he used advanced railway transportation to implement strategic transportation, and used advanced telegraph means to conduct unified command, thus overcoming the difficulties caused by long-distance maneuvers and outward operations.

In a very short period of time, more than 100,000 troops and 200 artillery were concentrated on the western border area of ​​Mecklenburg, an ally of the German Confederation, and even extended their troops to the free city of Hamburg in the north, which has always been Pro-Prussian presence.

With the entire east occupied, the Kingdom of Hanover then turned to its allies for help.

The Kingdom of Saxony condemned Prussia's barbaric invasion of federal members at the Vienna Parliament, but other members chose to remain silent after Austria did not respond.

At this moment, they realized that a big country really cannot be insulted.

On June 4, 1865, when Prussia captured the Kingdom of Hanover at lightning speed in just half a month, it immediately caused a sensation all over the world.

In just one week, Prussia's military power was completely paralyzed and occupied the overall military capabilities of a moderately powerful country like the Kingdom of Hanover. Although it was only a middle-level power, it was really scary.

The second week was to quickly complete the sweep of the Hanoverian army one by one, leaving only sporadic combat power in the Hanoverian Kingdom remaining in various places.

The war situation has been decided, General Moltke's mission has been completed!

"In less than two weeks, Prussia destroyed and occupied a medium-sized country with a standing army of 100,000 and an industrial system.

Therefore, Prussia’s current simulation speed and military form of war are believed to have become a simulation case for military departments and military academies in various countries. It has inspired generals, kings and heads of state in various countries to think about war, comparable to the Crimean War and the Napoleonic War. , it has major implications for more similar strategic wars and anti-invasion wars in the future.

If the Prussian-Danish War was a small test, the Prussian-Hanover War made Prussia reveal its prowess, and it staged a real two-week "war teaching" to the world. "

At the military committee held in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Chief of Staff Mark Rudd used this war as a teaching material in accordance with the request of William IV and asked all military leaders to learn from the Prussian war in order to prepare the Netherlands to face this kind of war in the future. When facing opponents, they were not at risk of repeating Hanover's fortnight of national subjugation in the Netherlands.

On May 25, 1865, when Prussia invaded Hanover, Austria seemed to be competing and showed its ambitions towards the Kingdom of Saxony. They launched an attack.

However, compared to Prussia, Austria was blocked from the beginning.

Compared to Prussia, Austria's unsuccessful invasion resulted in fierce public attacks from members of the German Confederation.

It can be said to be notorious.

All European countries watched with wide eyes the development of the strange situation within the German Confederation.

Although the British Foreign Office has repeatedly called on Prussia and Austria to calm down and not destroy the imbalance within Germany, the two countries will not listen now.

On June 10, Austria saw that Prussia only used 100,000 soldiers and paid less than 10,000 soldiers to capture Hanover in half a month.

Therefore, due to the unwillingness of the Austrian Emperor Joseph I to admit defeat, Austria used the human wave tactic to dispatch more than 200,000 troops to Saxony, and finally captured the Kingdom of Saxony on June 20.

It took more than four weeks, and the number of troops doubled to 200,000, more than the 100,000 when Prussia invaded Hanover.

In fact, Saxony lags behind the Kingdom of Hanover in terms of military strength and comprehensive national strength. Therefore, Austria's combat effectiveness is quite inferior to Prussia's gem.

After Prussia and Austria completed their respective wars, the two countries signed the Treaty of Berlin-Vienna on June 25. The treaty stipulated that Prussia annexed the Kingdom of Hanover and officially annexed the Kingdom of Hanover on July 1.

So far. From the time Hanover was promoted to a kingdom in 1814 until it was annexed by Prussia in 1865, the Kingdom of Hanover had a total of 5 kings and a total of 51 years of destruction.

In this treaty, Prussia, the Kingdom of Saxony, was also recognized by Prussia as Austria's annexed territory, but Prussia proposed that Austria's annexation date start on August 1.

Although Austria was surprised that Prussia's request was inexplicable, it still agreed to this date (book friends can guess Prussia's intention)

After the Kingdom of Hanover was annexed, Georg V never gave up the throne, nor did he recognize any of Prussia's actions.

Before Prussia was fully occupied, he had already fled at sea, and his destination was London.

When Prussia signed a treaty with Austria, he called on other European powers in London to intervene in the occupation of the Kingdom of Hanover by Prussia.

But this was in vain, because even Britain, Hanover's closest ally, chose to just make a verbal appeal. They had no intention of getting involved, or even sending troops to participate.

This made Georg V suddenly feel a chill coming over him, and he realized the cruelty of reality.

And the same goes for the royal family of Saxony.

However, the Saxon royal family did not flee to London, but to Paris across the English Channel.

With the flight of two former members of the royal family, two medium-sized countries perished.

This allowed all countries to finally realize that the reason why big countries are called great powers, and the reason why the six major European powers are called great powers, is not just because of the decent status given to them after the Vienna Conference, but because of the display of comprehensive and comprehensive national strength.

Just like the five permanent members of the Security Council in later generations, not only do they have the right to veto, but their history and actual capabilities are the best in the world. This is where the confidence of each country lies.

With the fall of these two countries, turmoil arose within the German Confederation.

The most surprising thing is that some small member countries within the German Confederation began to enter a period of panic.

The problem is that with the war, everyone in the big and small countries felt that the game of big fish eating small fish seemed to have begun. Faced with the ambitions revealed by Prussia and Austria, what should the many small countries in Germany do? You can't just sit there and wait for death, right?