Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

Beginning on June 4, 1865, the Kingdom of Prussia invaded the Kingdom of Hanover. It took only two weeks to completely occupy it, and the world was in a state of shock.

At the same time, the Austrian Empire also occupied the Kingdom of Saxony on June 20 after four weeks.

This seems to have caused the European continent to enter the law of the jungle where big fish eat small fish and small fish eat shrimps.

As the so-called "shrimps", the small countries of the German Confederation were naturally unwilling to be swallowed up by the two big powers.

On June 28, 1865, King Ludwig II of Bavaria, a member of the German Confederation and the third largest country, announced:

In order to oppose the two major hegemonic policies within the German Confederation, the 19-year-old King of Bavaria, who just ascended the throne last year, announced that the Kingdom of Bavaria will cooperate with the Principality of Nertrilingen, the Principality of Bohemia, the Principality of Westphalia and The Duchy of Baden and the Northern and Southern Duchys of Hesse formed the new West German Federal State.

The establishment of this federal state marked Germany's entry into the era of the three powers. However, because Ludwig II's mother was Princess Maria of Prussia, and her grandmother came from the Austrian royal family, this made the Kingdom of Bavaria now neutrality policy has been questioned.

But it’s better to have something than nothing, right?

On July 1, just as the Kingdom of Prussia and the Austrian Empire revealed that they would oppose the establishment of the federation and were preparing to send large armies to attack the two newly formed West German federal states, Napoleon III broke his silence. Paris received Ludwig II and declared that the French Empire recognized the West German Confederation and asked Austria and Prussia to stop causing chaos and war within the German Confederation. Countries should sit down for negotiations to resolve various concerns.

Obviously, Napoleon III’s words resonated with many people.

Württemberg, Baden and other countries have expressed their willingness to accept Napoleon III's mediation, affirming France's role as a mediator.

For a time, Napoleon III became the stabilizer of the European continent, and Britain belatedly came later, expressing its willingness to cooperate with the French Empire and not to act rashly to test pressure on Prussia and Austria.

Perhaps it was France's intervention and Britain's pressure that was too great. In short, both Prussia and Austria chose to stop their march.

In just over a month, the German Confederation fell apart. The biggest beneficiaries were naturally the Kingdom of Prussia and the Austrian Empire. They seized large tracts of land and increased the country's area.

Among them, Prussia finally opened a direct outlet to the Atlantic Ocean. From then on, Prussian warships finally no longer had to pass through the Oresund Strait controlled by Denmark and Sweden in the north and south, and could carry out large-scale operations at the mouths of the Weser and Elbe rivers. Naval construction.

It will have inestimable benefits for Prussia's future naval construction and self-protection.

Austria's annexation of Saxony naturally increased its own power, but because Austria originally had many ethnic groups in the country, now with the addition of Saxony, Austria originally only accounted for less than 40% of the country's population. The ratio is going to drop.

This may not necessarily have a positive effect on the rule of Joseph I. You must know that before, Joseph I was unhappy because of the struggle for power between the Austrian and Hungarian peoples. Now the Saxons have been added. Many people doubt whether Joseph I broke the pot and put himself to death to survive.

Or do you want to use Saxony to balance Hungary?

But what His Majesty Joseph I didn't know was that he had fallen into some traps that had been designed for him.

Austria was originally the most popular big country in the German Confederation. This was not something that Prussia could match in a short time. However, as it followed Prussia this time, it caused the cohesion to dissipate even more.

This makes Austria almost alone except for the special country of Silesia.

However, this time the war between Austria and Prussia caused Prussia to lose more than 8,000 people, and Hanoverian soldiers and civilians suffered more than 50,000 casualties. On the Saxon side, Ian, Austria also paid a price of 26,000 to defeat Saxony. The latter's casualties were also due to the war. The tragedy continued, killing more than 100,000 people.

This caused the Austrian Empire to suffer a loss of 150,000 troops in the more than a year since the start of the Schleswig War in Denmark, which can be said to have significantly weakened Austria's defense strength.

Many people even predict that Austria is already at the tail end of the six major countries and is worse than the Ottoman Empire.

This means that Austria's own military strength and diplomacy have weakened the external environment due to the invasion of Saxony, which has made Austria's overall strength even worse.

In the latest Austro-Prussian power struggle within the German Confederation, many people are not optimistic about Austria.

On July 5, 1865, just when the German Confederation seemed to have returned to peace due to the intervention of Britain and France, a small incident occurred in the Bessarabia region of eastern Austria, but it ushered in the world's war. focus on.

It turned out that the Tsarist Russian Empire was dissatisfied with the Ottoman Empire's discriminatory policy towards the Russian ethnic groups there. After many communications were ineffective, Tsarist Russian Alexander II had already sent troops to northern Bessarabia. However, due to the pressure from the United Kingdom and other countries, the Tsarist Russian army only guarded the border, but did not cross even half a step.

But on July 4, 1865, a joint letter signed by more than 100,000 members of the Tsarist Russian ethnic group there was made public in the Tsarist Russian Parliament in St. Petersburg. In the joint letter, Oti After the Man Empire seized the rule of Bessarabia from the Tsarist Empire in 1856, it massively immigrated the Ottomans to Bessarabia, crowded out the living space of the Tsarist Russians, and brainwashed the Tsarist Russians here. The Tsarist Russian ethnic group was asked to carry out their aspirations against Tsarist Russia.

That’s okay!

All members of the Russian parliament in St. Petersburg shouted in rage.

So the parliament passed the call in this joint letter, that is, the Tsarist Empire must take back the rule of Bessarabia in order to continue to provide these Tsarist Russian compatriots with a peaceful environment.

So after passing the parliamentary proposal and obtaining the signature of Alexander II, the Tsarist Imperial Army in the northern Bessarabia region set off.

In just one day, they captured the northern part of Bessarabia. Before other countries could respond, on the third day, these 30,000 Tsarist Russian troops captured nearly half of the territory of Bessarabia.

The Ottoman Empire, which had its own territory occupied, was outraged. The Austrian Empire was shocked because the Bessarabia region to the west was to the east, and Britain condemned it.

France seemed to be confirmed as a mediator and Napoleon III was addicted to it and once again issued a call for reconciliation.

The Prussian and Dutch sides were silent.

Even Italy was eager to try. No one in the country knew what Emmanuel II was thinking when deploying troops.

For a time, the internal struggle of the German Confederation that had just ended had not made the countries feel relieved. The Tsarist Empire staged the beginning of another war in Bessarabia, which was dizzying.

Many people from various countries have to sigh: Europe has really not been peaceful in recent years!