Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

On May 10, 1866, Emperor Napoleon III of France and Emperor Louis I of the Kingdom of Portugal accepted the invitation of William IV and met in The Hague. During the mediation of the Netherlands, the two rulers were firm in their respective positions and had no objections. progress.

This made the dispute between Paraguay and Brazil due to Uruguay held by the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which was held on the second day, once again attract the attention of the world. At the same time, it also expressed doubts about the mediation mechanism of the Hague Court.

The wars in the Balkans and North America resumed.

On May 13, 1866, the Tsarist Empire's media "Voice of Tsarist Russia" quoted a lecture given by a political professor at Oxford University in the United Kingdom. After the report came out, it caused an uproar in the world.

In the end, even Viscount Palmerston and Queen Victoria had to stand up and say that his arguments did not represent the official British position.

It turns out that this professor is the most famous political science professor in the UK, and he is a household name in the UK.

The students he taught have reached high-level positions in British politics. Every time he expresses his views, he will attract the attention of the society.

It is said that he has recently been attracted by the British Tory Party and has become an adviser to Disraeli, the new leader of the Tory Party. He is preparing to help Disraeli run for the next British Prime Minister. Therefore, he has been building momentum for the Tory Party recently.

The Tory campaign adviser began making social statements that hit the soft spots of the ruling Whig party.

Among them, the most attacks were on the American Federation and the Russian Empire.

In his ground-breaking lecture on Geographic Pivots in History at Oxford University, he stated:

There are no more places in the world for empire expansion, so the competition for existing resources is bound to intensify further.

The distribution of population and continental structure will restrict the process of this competition.

He drew a sensational map called "The Inherent Seats of Powers", and he designated the Tsarist Empire, which spanned the two continents of Europe and Asia, as the best natural fortress in the world.

Surrounding this heartland is the "core crescent" semi-continent, including Britain, the Ottoman Empire and the Far East.

Further out is the ocean-type "outer crescent", which connects Canada, America, Japan, the Philippine Islands, and the Malayan Islands.

At first he included Prussia in it, but the recent rise made Prussia's intentions unclear. However, he warned the British government in his lecture to be careful about the possible alliance between Prussia and the Russian Empire.

In the last lecture, the Oxford professor advocated the establishment of an isolation zone composed of old and emerging industrial countries composed of Britain, France, Spain, Austria, Ottoman, the Indian subcontinent, Canada, and the Netherlands to block Tsarist Russia. , Prussia and the two countries.

He even invented a formula during the lecture:

Control Eastern Europe and you control the heartland.

If you control the heartland, you control the world island.

If you control the World Island, you control the whole world.

The sales volume of "Voice of Tsarist Russia" in the Baltics was pretty good, so as soon as the newspaper was published, everyone who read it was stunned by the British professor's "wild words."

But when I calm down, I feel that he is indeed a famous professor at Oxford University, and his views are unique.

However, this ushered in the dissatisfaction of many people in St. Petersburg, especially when Britain and the Russian Empire were at war in the Balkans.

Berlin, which suddenly received an "unexpected disaster", summoned the British Embassy in Berlin for this purpose.

Bismarck even issued a statement condemning Britain for sowing discord between Prussia and other countries.

"I don't understand the purpose of this so-called well-known professor in the UK and what he wants to get from it, but what I can tell you is that Prussia has always been independent in its foreign policy. There are no so-called speculations by the UK. We hope that the UK can increase Countries place trust in them, instead of engaging in conspiracy theories.”

Of course, the one who responded to Bismarck was Gorchakov, the Prime Minister of the Russian Empire.

“The thoughts of this famous professor are destined to be taken seriously by all the people of the Tsarist Empire. Those of us who have read his views have to be wary of this ideological trend within the United Kingdom that divides spheres of influence. This is worthy of vigilance by all countries.

Tsarist Russia is not afraid of challenges, because we will give unforgettable lessons to those who offend the Tsarist Russian Empire. You can wait and see, just like the Balkans some time ago. "

Afterwards, high-level political leaders from various countries expressed their dissatisfaction with this famous British professor.

It would be fine if he was just an ordinary professor, but the other party is also the campaign consultant of the British opposition party. If the opposition party is elected, this will be an endorsement of the foreign policy of the next British government, which has caused various countries to put pressure on London. .

Media outlets from various countries have accused Britain of being arrogant and expressed dissatisfaction.

Britain dictates the foreign policies of various countries. There was a backlash.

However, Britain has had smooth sailing for decades or hundreds of years, and the British people are so arrogant that they will never accept such criticism.

Therefore, with the help of the opposition Tories, the British media actually started to compete with the media from other countries. Even newspapers that had always supported the Whig Party finally had to join this campaign initiated by the Tories for the sake of sales and influence. The xenophobic foreign offensive was something Viscount Palmerston did not expect.

British Prime Minister Viscount Palmerston finally had to seek help from Buckingham Palace to suppress anti-foreign sentiment in London.

Because of the Tory Party's proper operation this time, public opinion in the UK has greatly improved. The latest polls show that the original candidate for the Whig Party's next prime minister, the current Chancellor of the Exchequer, Creston, is better than the opposition Tory Party. The leader, Disraeli, was 10 percentage points higher, but now he has surpassed him. Disraeli's approval rate currently reaches 45%, and Creston's approval rate is 38%.

10 Downing Street.

Opposite Viscount Palmerston, Chancellor of the Exchequer Creston said dissatisfied:

"This time the Tories have gained a lot from manipulating nationalism. The media and governments of various countries have become their help. On the contrary, we have now become the scapegoat."

Foreign Secretary Russell said with a wry smile: "The Tories are using nationalism as a double-edged sword. It can hurt their opponents, but it can also hurt themselves. After coming to power in the future, this trend will bring Public opinion can easily backfire on oneself."

Russell just looked at Viscount Palmerston, only to find that Viscount Palmerston's face was blue, he was sweating wildly, and his body was shaky.

Help him quickly.

"Viscount."

Creston was also startled and ran over to help the other side.

On May 20, 1866, British Prime Minister Viscount Palmerston died of illness at the age of 82.

The ruling Whig party lost a great British man, and everyone was full of curiosity about how the Whig party would come to power next!

Europe suddenly fell silent.

But the big countries in the Far East burst into joy when they heard the news, celebrating that the man who launched the war of aggression against them finally entered the Abi Hell.

However, European countries have complicated thoughts.

He served as the British Foreign Secretary three times from 1830 to 1851, and the Home Secretary from 1852 to 1855. He was elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice from 1856 to 1866.

He is well-known in the UK and a veritable big boss in European politics. He is second only to the late Austrian Prime Minister Metternich in the European diplomatic community, but his status in the world exceeds the latter.

However, he was also a Eurosceptic. He regarded the Tsarist Empire as Britain's main enemy in Central Asia and the Far East. In order to compete with Tsarist Russia for hegemony in Europe, he advocated maintaining the integrity of the Ottoman Empire. In 1853, he deliberately provoked the Crimean War, borrowing the help of France and Russia. Ottoman came to weaken Tsarist Russia.

He also regarded France as the main competitor in Greece, Egypt, the Iberian Peninsula and the Mediterranean. Therefore, in 1860, he pushed Britain to strongly support the growth of the Kingdom of Sardinia and the unification of the Apennine Peninsula to form the Kingdom of Italy in order to deal with the French Empire.

During the Prussian-Austrian War against Denmark, many people thought that he was against Prussia. In fact, that was wrong.

Instead, he strongly supported Prussia, hoping that Prussia would grow and become a powerful enemy of France and Tsarist Russia in order to maintain the balance of power in Europe.

In the Far East, the power that separated Belgium from the Netherlands in 1840 launched the Ya-Pian War of invading the Far East, helping the Qing Dynasty suppress Tai-pingtian-guoge-ming, and brutally suppressed the Indian subcontinent. The Indian national uprising.

He intervened in the Millennium Civil War and supported the slave owners in the South. He was originally opposed by the British workers and did not dare to send troops to intervene for a long time. Although he was finally authorized, his defeat in North America damaged his prestige. In addition, South Africa His defeat in the war made him regarded by the British as just above average among the prime ministers in British history.

But this is Britain.

Viscount Palmerston's position as British Prime Minister was originally supposed to be succeeded by Russell, the second leader of the Whig Party. However, with the death of Viscount Palmerston, Russell actually had the idea of ​​​​retiring.

To everyone's surprise, he stated within the Whig Party that he would not take over the position. In the end, the prime minister's throne, with less than seven months left, fell to the third leader, Lord Chancellor of the Exchequer, Creston.

Viscount Palmerston, a powerful man who had dominated the political arena in Europe for more than 30 years, passed away, and the British Prime Minister changed his position.

As a result, the European political arena, which was originally a pool of stagnant water, became living water again.

First of all, the negotiations between Paraguay and Brazil in The Hague were stopped by Napoleon III. The French Empire began to continuously deliver arms to Paraguay. Anyone with a discerning eye would know that this was preparing to use hard power to suppress Brazil.

Seeing this, Portugal naturally did not dare to show weakness. It was not as good as itself, but it still had allies. Portugal naturally began to carry out intensive diplomatic visits. Italy and the United Kingdom were both the focus of Portugal's offensive.

However, the British side seemed to be hesitant about Portugal's request to fight against France, which made Louis I dissatisfied.

It was this hesitation that made Napoleon III think that he had seen through the British and did not want to get involved, so Napoleon III actually dispatched 10,000 soldiers to land at Maldonado in southern Uruguay, under the name of the White Party supported by Paraguay, and also A government recognized by France, which supports the party as the legitimate executor of the government of Uruguay.

Pedro II was naturally unwilling to give in, and the soldiers on the front line were even more dissatisfied with France's show of force, so the situation was almost on the verge of breaking out.

President Lopez of Paraguay once again made a border request to Argentina, and this time President Mitre unexpectedly agreed.

This makes the situation even more confusing.

Argentina, what is your plan this time?