Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

Since the new British Prime Minister Creston succeeded Viscount Palmerston as Prime Minister and came to power, the UK seems to be facing the dissatisfaction of European countries and has begun to strategically shrink in the Middle East in a disguised manner, trying to shift its strategic focus to both sides of the Atlantic as soon as possible. However, Since the war in the Balkans has not yet ended, and there is no armistice agreement signed between the United Kingdom and the Russian Empire, the United Kingdom currently has more than 30,000 British troops stationed in the Bulgarian region of the Balkans.

This caused Britain to be in a dilemma, because Britain took the lead in retreating, causing constant conflicts with its ally in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Ottoman Empire. Trust was damaged and the rifts continued to grow.

Along with the strategic contraction of Britain's Balkan Peninsula, the Ottoman Empire's foreign policy independence is becoming increasingly stronger, and it seems that it is facing a new round of structural adjustment there.

Regarding the conflict between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, William IV could see that Britain hoped that both countries would lose, so that Britain could more easily control the Ottoman Empire to maintain control of the Suez Canal, the Red Sea and even the Eastern Mediterranean.

But it was also afraid that the Ottoman Empire would be overly weakened by the Russian Empire, which would ultimately benefit Italy, France and Spain. In the end, Britain would send troops to support its rule and invest more resources into it. Britain should be very conflicted about this.

William IV guessed that this was the reason why No. 10 Downing Street and Buckingham Palace did not want to see the Ottoman Empire continue to fight. After all, both sides suffered losses at that time, and the recently rising Prussia and the eyeing France became the winners of your promotion.

Britain is also lagging behind.

Overall, this is the dilemma facing British diplomacy.

Therefore, this time Britain followed the trend and took over the western part of Yemen. It was actually a smart move to break free from the shackles between Britain and its allies in the Ottoman Empire. It first made profits and reduced the alliance to a minimum, and then it could escape from the Balkans openly. In this situation, the UK has returned to its best role as a mediator, becoming an offshore balancer that benefits both sides rather than a member of the frontline battle.

However, the Netherlands and Prussia would not let Britain get away easily.

This time Nicholas Pierson, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, went to the Kingdom of Prussia and was received by Bismarck. Many people thought that this was just a coordination effort by the Netherlands to purchase territory on the Ala Peninsula. In fact, this was not the case. Although the three-nation alliance between Prussia and the Netherlands and France has expired this year, the two countries still signed a unilateral alliance, among which the strategic cooperation alliance has become the core.

Among them, the strategic defense against Britain, France and the Austro-Hungarian Empire is the biggest foundation for cooperation between the two countries.

William IV thought of Bismarck's secret plan, and the Netherlands could be said to have sent timely rain. However, the Netherlands could not do too many things too cleverly, otherwise the Netherlands under his leadership would prepare a plan to earn dividends from the rise of Prussia. , but died young.

The Netherlands is still too small. Although the population development in the past few years has been beneficial to the Austrian War, the Millennium War, and the Balkan Peninsula War, population migration was deliberately guided by the Netherlands. The Netherlands attracted many refugees to Australia in the Far East. In other places, the overall white population has exceeded 10 million, the native population has remained at around 6 million, and the Far East has exceeded 5 million. If this year's plan is followed, then 1 million people will immigrate to the native land, and then there will be Reached 6 million.

This is a big project. After completion, the white population of Australia will exceed 3 million, and the population of East India will be more than 2 million. New Guinea plus other South Pacific islands such as Hawaii will have a combined population of more than 1 million.

You must know that the population of Denmark at this time was only about 2.4 million, and the population of Sweden and Norway was only about 6 million. Although it is due to immigration overseas, it also shows that Northern Europe has suffered a serious population loss in Sweden and Denmark. It is precisely because of this that the Netherlands is trying its best to make good friends with these two countries. Many people think that they are just strategic allies that the Netherlands needs. In fact, William IV The world pays more attention to high-quality immigrants from the two countries. Before the Millennium War, these immigrants could originally flow to places in North America. However, after the Millennium Civil War, places such as Australia and East India in the Far East were the first choice.

Although the Irish who are currently at odds with the British government still consider immigrating to the Commonwealth of America as their first choice, the Far East has also become Ireland because of its friendliness to the Irish and the relationship between the Netherlands and the Commonwealth of America. It is the third largest choice for human immigration after North America and the European continent.

In recent years, more than 200,000 Irish people have immigrated to the Far East and the Netherlands, which is quite a large scale.

Therefore, William IV's war against the United States was not prepared for real mediation. Instead, he thought about how to slow down and maximize the interests of the Netherlands, from blocking the flow of international immigrants to the Commonwealth of America to the Netherlands. Come on, this is the most scarce thing in the Netherlands. As for territory, it is not the most scarce thing in the Netherlands. Of course, if it is a key area like the United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands will not give up easily. The more the better.

"It still requires a planned plan so that the Netherlands can avoid provoking war as much as possible and take advantage of it. However, how to start this requires careful calculation before it can be achieved."

There are currently three war flashpoints in the Balkan Peninsula in the Netherlands, the dispute in Uruguay in South America, and the North and South in the United States of America. However, it seems that this has not affected the European mainland, which is a pity.

Thinking of this, he summoned Tolbeck and others into the palace, ready to take a look. There was still Holland, a shit stirrer, who could poke the hornet's nest caused by the explosion and guide it to sting other countries, especially France, Italy, Spain, etc. As a country, the Netherlands does not want to develop itself while these countries also reap the benefits.

"We have to drag them down and consume their national power."

On August 16, 1866, the British "Times" newspaper, which was close to the opposition Tory party, stated that since the Creston government came to power, the Middle East was no longer the center of British diplomacy, which had cooled relations between Britain and the Ottoman Empire. , and the differences over the Tsarist Russian Empire have become the latest signal of damage to relations between the two countries.

The newspaper stated that some analysts pointed out that Britain, out of its own considerations, responded indifferently to the Ottoman Empire's request for Britain to support the Ottoman Empire's security policy against the Russian Empire. This made the Ottoman Empire, a major Middle Eastern country that Britain had been trying to win over since the early 19th century, increasingly different from Britain. Strange, the relationship is dull.

The analysis also pointed out that the UK's many irresponsible practices in the Middle East this year have increased the insecurity of the Ottoman Empire. It is difficult to truly improve the relationship between the UK and this country just by relying on Britain's empty-talking Foreign Secretary Russell's visit. alliances with the Middle Eastern hegemons, which in turn required the Ottoman Empire to help safeguard British interests there.

The newspaper pointed out that this is a huge waste of British diplomatic resources in the past half century. The ruling Whigs were asked to change this strategy and should restore or even strengthen their alliance with the Ottoman Empire to continue to provide stronger guarantees for the protection of the Suez Canal, not the other way around.