Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

On April 11, 1867, just as the Netherlands and six other countries announced sanctions against the French Empire, the French Empire's old enemy, Britain, hardened its attitude. Joined this legal sanction at the first time. It even began to accelerate the transfer of weapons from the Indian colonies to Lower Burma and then sell them to the Kingdom of Siam, which broke the country's practice for many years.

At the same time, British Prime Minister Disraeli was affected by domestic anti-French demonstrations, which even attracted more than 500,000 people in London. The British cabinet government held an emergency cabinet meeting, intending to follow the judgment of the International Court of Justice in The Hague and impose sanctions on France.

Finally, on April 12, 1867, the British House of Commons formally passed Britain's first sanctions bill, which also followed the seven countries in sanctioning the French Empire.

This shocked the world because this was the first time since the French invasion of the Kingdom of Siam that the most powerful country in Europe had participated in sanctions, and the public opinion in the UK was there.

This showed that the relationship between France and Britain would definitely be difficult to calm down in a short time, so everyone set their sights on Paris. At this time, they wanted to see how Napoleon III would deal with such a bad situation.

Royal Palace of the Netherlands.

William IV looked at the information in his hand, and finally showed a proud smile on his face. Yes, it was a kind of pride that he had a pearl of wisdom in hand.

"This time, I see how Britain will make peace. Even if Napoleon III wants to give in, unless he ousts the Parisians in the north, otherwise, he will never be able to soften, and he will not dare to soften."

Many people originally thought that this time the British were responsible for domestic pressure, but if they saw the intelligence that William IV now had, this idea would disappear. It turned out that there were other reasons.

And the reason is still not in Europe.

This is the benefit of familiarity with history.

William IV narrowed his eyes and murmured.

Why was Canada able to gain independence as a country in 1867? It turns out that the reason lies in France.

What happened in 1867? Britain actually agreed to Canadian independence?

Canada's independence from the colonial road took two steps. The first step was the British North America Act approved by the British Parliament in 1867. Since then, Canada has become a British Dominion and is close to a sovereign country.

The second step is that in the 1990s, with the approval of Queen Elizabeth, Canada can exist as a separate country except that it will continue to be the Queen of England in name only.

This was William IV’s understanding of Canada in his previous life.

But at that time, there were some doubts as to why Britain delegated power to Canada in 1867. At this time, there were still decades before World War I and World War II. The British Empire was still at its peak and it was still the largest country in the world. William IV couldn't help but wonder: Why 1867?

Therefore, he began to trace a large amount of relevant information, and then, by combining the information one by one, he finally found out a lot of the ins and outs.

So I incorporated it into this big plan to cheat.

And with the emergence of this detailed intelligence from the Director of the Dutch International Intelligence Agency, McKay Sean, William IV knew that his plan based on historical developments had worked.

Before 1867, the British North American colonies were scattered in the Canadian provinces of Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. Not only do the various departments have large cultural differences, but they also do not belong to each other. The British royal family plays the role of suzerain and mediator.

Beginning in 1583, the British established their first colony in Newfoundland. Since then, the British have vigorously expanded to North America. The Union Jack has been planted in many areas, including the thirteen states of North America.

However, the United Kingdom is not the only operator in the Americas. France, the Netherlands, Spain and other countries that followed were also competitors of the United Kingdom. However, in the end, the Netherlands and Spain were all in the south, but in the end, France, a major European country, was dissatisfied with the British exclusive rights. policy, so it has always maintained a competitive relationship with Britain.

The British won the Seven Years' War from 1756 to 1763 and annexed France's territory in Canada. Britain became the only dominant player in North America. However, this situation did not last long because the United Kingdom was soon established in the Thirteen States. Although the British suppressed it, the resentful French Empire, with the support of almost all the countries such as Spain and the Netherlands, withstood the pressure of the British, and finally negotiated with the British to recognize the country's status as a country. This further undermined Britain's dominant position in North America from within.

The royalists who continued to advocate accepting the British rule fled to Canada in the north. At that time, America wanted to drive away the British and showed an increasingly strong desire for expansion.

The Second Anglo-American War provoked by the Americans in 1812 was an attempt by the Americans to annex Canada. Although the British won this war, they had to think about the future of the British Canadian colony. Destiny, the state of dividing and governing the Canadian provinces was originally in the best interests of the United Kingdom. However, the turbulent international situation did not allow the United Kingdom to continue to maintain this way.

In particular, there were conflicts within Canada between the British, Dutch and French. Until today in 1867, Canada was oscillating between the two major groups, the British and the French.

In 1837, French Canadians were dissatisfied with the British rule and started a uprising. Although it was finally subsided, the British royal family and cabinet government had to think about how to prevent such an incident from happening again.

At the suggestion of the Governor-General of Canada, the Earl of Durham, Upper Canada and Lower Canada were merged into the Province of Canada, in the hope that the two groups could be reconciled in peace and create conditions for Canada's unification.

The dissatisfaction of the French was partially quelled by the concessions made by the British and the British government and royal family.

In 1861, during the American Civil War, the Northern American Commonwealth and the Southern American Confederate States launched a brutal and bloody war for six years. Although the British initially expressed neutrality, they secretly supported the South. After all, the southern states had always been the source of British raw materials. .

The British even designed and built a cruiser named the Alabama. For this reason, a large number of merchant ships in the north were sunk. In order to protest, the north even directly threatened to ask for compensation from British and Canadian lands.

The attitude of the Millennium Confederacy made Britain feel threatened. If Canada was not integrated into a unified force, it would be difficult to guarantee that the War of 1812 would not be repeated.

In addition to the eyes of the Northern American Commonwealth, big changes have also occurred on the European continent. Among them, the most frightening thing for the British is the strong rise of Prussia.

A few years ago, the King of Prussia began to unify the German Confederation. Prime Minister Bismarck first united with Austria to defeat Denmark, and then turned around and defeated Austria and expelled it from the German Confederation in just 7 weeks. He simply and neatly eliminated the largest country in the German Confederation. The fell down.

This shocked the entire UK, from the Queen to the nobles, to the common people.

Therefore, everyone in the UK believes that the Kingdom of Prussia, which occupies all parts of the German Confederation, must be a powerful emerging power in Europe. As a result, Britain's balance of power diplomacy will inevitably be challenged, and the UK must invest more energy and resources accordingly. Things that came to the British continent at this time, Canada, which was far more than North America, naturally needed to be self-reliant.

It is precisely because of this that the British government is trying to keep the Confederate States of the South as the bottom line. It will make some concessions in Canada before it is willing to reconcile with the Confederate States in a low-key manner and cede British Columbia to them. , in order to reduce the expansion of the front, which is difficult to take into account.

At the same time, Britain is preparing to reconcile with the Russian Empire, and it no longer cares about giving the Russian Empire benefits in the Balkans and Caucasus.

A few years ago, Britain learned that Dutch-speaking Tsarist Russia had reached a preliminary agreement. After Tsarist Russia sold the Alaska Peninsula to the Netherlands, although the British were dissatisfied on the surface, they were not slow to act privately. In order to maintain Britain's position in North America and the management of Canada, they In the first month after learning about it, the British Parliament agreed on July 1, 1865, to merge the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick (today's Quebec and Ontario) to form a federal form. In the Dominion of Canada, this day is also the same day as Canada Day, which William IV was familiar with.

After that, Canada took advantage of the fact that America was divided during the Civil War and had no time to take care of them, and gradually integrated all the British Canadian colonies.

After the reconciliation between the north and the south of the United States, the Confederate States of Northern America could only occupy the western province of British Columbia in the name of revenge. The rest had already been integrated.

"Your Majesty, Napoleon III never dreamed that he wanted to encourage French Canadians to fight against British rule, but it was because of the wrong timing. Now he has fallen into an already passive environment and is even more embarrassed."

William IV nodded thoughtfully. After seeing the American Commonwealth take over British Columbia, French Canadians actually launched a rebellion in Quebec.

Moreover, it also received support from France and even hooked up with "some people" in the Commonwealth of America, which naturally made London furious. Therefore, the British did not want to break the North American peace agreement that had just been reached, and took out their anger on the French Empire, which was being sanctioned by various countries.

Napoleon III is indeed a famous diplomatic hapless man in history. Every time he took action, he turned a situation that was originally beneficial to France into an unfavorable situation.

Although Napoleon III casually jumped into the pit and danced because of his own plot against the French Empire, there was nothing William IV could do.

Alas, it’s not easy for a big country these days!

McKay Sean: "Your Majesty, do you want to inform the ambassadors abroad and others and ask them to step up coordination with these countries to join the camp to sanction the French Empire?"

"Why are you sure they will join our sanctions?" William IV asked seemingly unintentionally.

McKay Sean: "Now this is a trend in the international community. I think all countries can understand it. It made sense before. Now that the UK has joined, I think other countries will not fall behind."

The UK has already taken action, will other countries still hesitate?

What is the logic? Are other countries not allowed to choose whether to impose sanctions on their own?

William IV shook his head and said something that surprised McShane. He said: "Bismarck is a relatively advanced man. I think his attitude may be different from yours."