Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

"Is Paraguay and Brazil going to war?"

"A battle between 8,000 people and 150,000 people?"

This title is enough to attract everyone in Europe.

In major newspapers in Europe, the strength of the conflicting parties in South America has been put on the table.

At this time, Paraguay had a total population of only 520,000 and a regular army of 8,000.

Brazil, on the other hand, has a population of more than 11 million and an army of 150,000.

Argentina has a population of 2.4 million and an army of 100,000.

Uruguay has a total population of 100,000 and an army of 4,000.

April 1, 1866, April Fool's Day.

President Lopez ordered the dispatch of troops to the area of ​​​​Mato Grosso, a city in western Brazil close to the northern border of Paraguay, on this day.

When the news reached Rio de Janeiro, everyone in the Brazilian capital thought it was a joke.

Because today is April Fool's Day.

But when the news was confirmed, everyone in Brazil could no longer laugh.

Co-author, Paraguay, a country with only about 500,000 people and 8,000 troops, thinks Brazil is made of mud?

Paraguay dared to take action first?

No matter how you look at it, it looks like a 7-year-old child is provoking a 25-year-old young man, and he dares to make a sneak attack, which is so funny that the audience laughs.

Pedro II was so angry that he almost exploded.

How could this Brazilian Emperor, who was born in Brazil and still married to a Portuguese prince, be so humiliating? It would be really embarrassing if this spread back to Louis I (cousin) of Portugal.

As a result, Pedro II began to mobilize his generals to gather at the border of Brazil and Paraguay, and the war was about to break out.

Napoleon III looked at the letter requesting support in his hand. It was a French letter written to him personally by Paraguay President Lopez, in which he "affectionately" expressed his respect for him and expressed his respect for Paraguay as an ally of France in South America. glory.

In the letter, he introduced Paraguay's dissatisfaction with Brazil and Argentina's intervention in Uruguay. In the letter, the Paraguayan president also hinted that as long as France helps Paraguay win Uruguay and repel Argentina and Brazil, Paraguay is willing to invade Uruguay's territory. , ceding a piece of territory to the French Empire, and even pointed at the Atlantic ports of Maldonado and Rocha, which France cherished.

This made Napoleon III very excited.

In recent years, he has invested a lot of resources, technology and manpower in Paraguay and spent a lot of money in Paraguay. If Argentina were not proud and Brazil had Portugal, he would not have chosen the landlocked Paraguay.

Even this time Paraguay showed its ambition towards Uruguay, it was under his previous guidance that the current situation emerged.

He is more aware of developments there than other European leaders.

"In Uruguay, General Caudillo of the Red Party overthrew the White Party's Beiro. During the Argentine Civil War in 1859, the Red Party of Uruguay had supported President Miter of the Liberal Party who had just been elected in Argentina at that time. Therefore, Argentina Support the rebel Red Party; at the same time, because the White Party government of Uruguay has adopted restrictive policies on Brazilian immigration in Uruguay, Brazil also supports the Red Party rebels to come to power."

French Prime Minister Olivier said: "The overthrown White Party government supported by President Pelos severely criticized Argentina and Brazil's policies towards Uruguay, warned them not to undermine the regional strategic balance, and warned the Brazilian Imperial Government An ultimatum was issued, but at that time Brazil not only turned a blind eye to Paraguay's ultimatum, but also sent troops to Uruguay to intervene, so Pelos later ordered the Paraguayan army to attack the Brazilian caravan on the inland river."

Olivier said to Napoleon III: "Your Majesty, now that Paraguay has sent such a letter asking for help, do we want to support it?

If we support them, we may offend Argentina and Brazil, and as a result, we may lose more than we gain and lose everything.

But if we don't support it, we may lose France's prestige, and it may even cause a chain reaction, and other small countries will no longer trust France. "

“The majesty of France cannot be discarded”

Napoleon III's words made Olivier know the answer immediately.

France is destined to be involved in this South American vortex!

On April 1, 1866, Pelos commanded his general and 3,000 soldiers to enter the Brazilian province of Mato Grosso, which was larger than the three countries of Britain, France, and Prussia. However, this province only has an area of ​​90,000 people and its defenses are weak.

Paraguay's army seemed to be in uninhabited territory. Due to the fourth dangerous situation, after Paraguay occupied the province, the reinforcements from Rio de Janeiro were still halfway there, and it was even difficult to capture the condescending Paraguayan army.

In the second week of the war, Paraguay occupied an area several times the size of the territory. The news came out, which shocked the world.

Pedro II was even more humiliated.

Argentina's President Miter was even more shocked by this. So out of Argentina's 100,000 troops, only 20,000 were stationed in the north. He thought they were enough to deal with the 80,000 Paraguayan troops, but now he is a little worried.

So an additional 10,000 troops were urgently sent to the north. In addition to the original 10,000 troops in Corinste and Salta, these 10,000 troops were mobilized to San Miguel.

After completing the invasion of western Brazil.

On April 17, Paraguay formally applied to Argentina to transit through Misiones to assist the Uruguayan White Party in dealing with the Brazilian army there.

The capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires.

When President Mitre was about to reject Pelos' request, he was blocked by the newly promoted Finance Minister Sarmiento.

Mitre looked at him with some dissatisfaction and waved everyone away, leaving only two people.

Mitre looked at Sarmiento and said dissatisfied: "Tell me, why do you stop me from rejecting Paraguay's request? If you come up with a good reason, you don't need to be the Minister of Finance. You know, I have the energy." "

Sarmiento's face remained as calm as ever.

He said: "Your Excellency, you know, Argentina and Brazil have never been of the same mind."

Miret would naturally not object to this statement, otherwise there would be no need for the two countries to have a dispute over the Uruguay region in 1828 due to historical reasons. In the end, after everyone compromised, they gave in to each other and established the country of Uruguay.

President Mitre: "Keep talking"

Sarmiento breathed a sigh of relief and continued: "At first, both of our countries had their own factions in the Red Party government, but Paraguay later participated in the name of ethnicity, but Brazil couldn't help it. Why? We in Argentina are still indifferent because the White Party actually has no hostility towards Argentina.

Even for the sake of team Brazil, the White Party proposed normal trade with Argentina. Instead, it severed ties with Brazil.

This is obvious, but there is no change for Argentina. "

Mitre said: "But in this case, the original establishment of Uruguay as a buffer state between Argentina and Brazil could become an excuse for Brazil to send troops. If Argentina does not participate in the end and Brazil completely takes over Uruguay, for Argentina, A strategic piece of land will be lost.”

Sarmiento said: "Your Excellency, what if Uruguay and Brazil can never win it?"

Mitre looked at Sarmiento who was full of information in surprise.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Your Excellency, Paraguay has allies."

Mitre heard this and said, "Napoleon III? France?"

Sarmiento nodded and said: "Before I came back to Argentina, Dutch Prime Minister Tolbeck mentioned the issue of increasing trade volume with Argentina."

Mitre frowned. He didn't understand why Sarmiento changed the topic. He hesitated for a moment and then said: "The relationship between the Netherlands and Argentina is good, and they can be negotiated. However, it is difficult to explain to the Lincoln administration."

Sarmiento: "The Dutch side said it would handle it themselves, and the Netherlands is not prepared to do business on both sides of the Atlantic."

Miret asked curiously: "Where are you going to do?"

Sarmiento: "Australia and the East Indies in the Far East"

There?

Miret walked to the map next to him and looked for the location of the Far East. In this era, the Atlantic Ocean was the center of the world, so maps were often centered on the Atlantic Ocean, with the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean as the edges. Therefore, Miret looked for It took me a long time to see Australia.

Pointing to the unfamiliar continent of Australasia, he said to Sarmiento: "We are relatively close here. We only need to pass through the Strait of Magellan not far away. It can be said that it is much closer than taking the Atlantic to the north. Yes, the market over there is not that big. You must know that Europe has always been the largest market for Argentina’s grain.”

Sarmiento paused and gritted his teeth: "The Netherlands not only wants to buy all Argentina's grain, but is also preparing to recommend arms and industrial products to Argentina. Of course, they also expressed their support for Argentina's political power interests in Uruguay. "

Mitre's eyes lit up and he asked urgently: "What do you mean?"

Sarmiento said slowly and with emphasis: "The Netherlands wants to have an equally open trade, political and military policy with Argentina, and the Netherlands is willing to support Argentina in realizing its ambitions."

Sarmiento saw Mitre's breathing quicken and knew that Mitre's heart was beating, so he dropped another bomb.

"Paraguay is conducting a large-scale arms trade with France. According to Dutch intelligence, Tolbeck reminded us that the French Empire seems to be somewhat interested in Uruguay, reminding Argentina that the situation in Uruguay may become more complicated in the future. Therefore, Argentina can In the early stage, you choose to stay outside, and in the later stage, when the situation becomes clear, you can join in and reap the benefits.”

When Mitred heard the news, his whole body was shocked.

Is France going to join Uruguay's situation?

If this is the case, it would be very unwise for Argentina to participate now, and it may even result in more losses than gains.

Argentina is known as the second largest country in South America, but it only has 2.6 million people, while Brazil has 11 million, which is more than four times that of Argentina.

Therefore, Argentina has always been afraid of Brazil. I am afraid that Brazil and Argentina will have an all-out war.

Therefore, when Uruguay had the advantage, Argentina compromised and turned the entire Uruguay into a buffer area. It even gave up the territory across the river from Buenos Aire, the capital of Argentina, so that the capital of Argentina was facing Threats to buffer states.

Therefore, this is a great strategic threat to Argentina. I have long thought about taking it back.

Sarmiento knew it was time.

Said: "The Netherlands expressed its willingness to support the entire mouth of the Rio de la Plata becoming Argentine territory."

"real?"

Miter's breathing became a little rough and he asked: "The Netherlands really said that, but why do they think they can help Argentina against France and Portugal behind Brazil?"

Although the Netherlands is stronger than Argentina and much more industrially and industrially developed than Brazil, Brazil and Portugal alone are enough to irritate the Netherlands, not to mention France, the second most powerful country in Europe. How can the Prime Minister of the Netherlands be so embarrassed to say that? if.

Mitre asked with some disbelief.