Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

In the Americas, only Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador agreed to sanction the French Empire, but those countries with stronger ties to the French Empire were unwilling to take action because they did not need to offend a major European country.

Before the United Kingdom announced sanctions, as the United Kingdom also joined the ranks of sanctions, the Americas suddenly became turbulent, and other countries also changed.

Paraguay and Mexico, allies of the French Empire, even claimed that the French Empire's invasion was the right thing to do.

In order to counter the influence of North and South America, the Mexican Emperor Maximiliano I of the French Empire and the President of Paraguay, Pelos, even announced their support for the French Empire, and even announced the purchase of the French Empire's industries and weapons, claiming that this was an attack on the French Empire. A manifestation of the friendship between the two countries.

For this reason, both the north and the south of America expressed their dissatisfaction with Maximiliano I and demanded that the country withdraw from the agreement between France and Mexico. America even demanded that the French Empire withdraw from Mexico, otherwise the two parties would impose sanctions on France. sanctions.

However, at this time, Napoleon III, who had heard the word "sanctions" and was numb, only had resentment and no forced submission. Therefore, the answer naturally obtained by the American Federation was the veto of the French Empire.

As a result, the two countries joined the ranks of criticizing the French Empire.

For this reason, many people say that this is just an excuse for the two countries. After all, there are many French people in the two countries, and this is the best way to silence them.

Therefore, Hermann Van Rompuy, a Dutch political expert and dean of the Rector School of Diplomacy at Leiden University, said in an interview:

“This is a question of legitimacy, that is, this series of sanctions was not authorized by a coalition of all countries, so politically it does not have a worldwide law enforcement nature.

Therefore, internationally, countries are not obligated to participate in sanctions. In terms of actual policies, the nature of countries to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages also makes them unwilling to take measures that damage relations with the French Empire. In other words, most countries are unwilling to choose Standing on the side”

The attitudes of the European powers and other European countries changed from soft to hard after the French Empire went to war against the Kingdom of Siam. Before the war began, Britain was unwilling to fall out with the French Empire and refused to give up its balance of power relationship with the French Empire.

In terms of supporting the Kingdom of Siam, the British had previously only legitimately sold ordinary small arms. Even at the beginning, many of the weapons sold by the British were old-fashioned flintlock weapons and were scorned by the Kingdom of Siam.

However, as the war gradually expanded, especially when there was unrest in the Dominion of Canada in North America and the French imperial government was involved, the British suppressed it angrily.

So it directed its anger towards the French Empire, and Britain immediately reversed its position and generously sent several batches of the most advanced rifles and other advanced weapons used by the British military. British Tory Prime Minister Disraeli even sent Reversing the practice of the previous Prime Minister Palmerston's era, he changed his approach of not participating in continental affairs at will and announced sanctions against the French Empire.

In the end, the French Empire also implemented counter-sanctions against the United Kingdom, not only withdrawing from the friendly jurisdictional relationship with the United Kingdom in the English Channel, but also withdrawing from many bilateral relations issue organizations. This makes the situation in the Far East more intense as it unfolds on the European continent.

As a result, in Belgium, the French and the Belgians headed by Leopold II escalated the confrontation in the streets of Belgium. The Dutch became the mediators within the Kingdom of Belgium. This was very important to Prime Minister Jules Danetant and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Joseph Beit's rule became more stable.

However, due to the Dutch government's stance favoring sanctions against the French Empire, the French Empire eventually discovered that Belgium also passed legislation to sanction France and joined in sanctioning them.

This makes the French people in Belgium extremely angry, but it does not help, because their population base has become less than 20% of Belgium's, and their weight is no longer enough to push the votes required to pass all parliaments.

However, compared to the United Kingdom, Prussia strived for peace talks, while Austria-Hungary was unwilling to ignore the enemy.

Just like Britain at the beginning, Spain purchased a lot of weapons from the French Empire. The French Empire sold armaments to Spain, and Spain was France's most advanced weapons buyer.

According to previous data from the Amsterdam Peace Institute, from 1860 to 1865, although Spain was also an arms exporting country, it was also a large arms importing country. 30% of the armaments used by the country’s army came from the French Empire. Therefore, at the beginning, Spain The hesitancy to impose sanctions is understandable.

However, Sweden broke with convention and supported the Netherlands, highlighting the alliance between the Netherlands and Sweden.

Sweden has always maintained neutrality since 1815 to defend itself against the Russian Empire. Choosing to be friendly to other countries, it always chose an ambiguous attitude towards the development of the situation in Europe. Even when Prussia invaded Denmark, Sweden chose to turn a blind eye and showed an unwillingness to participate. Denmark once The kingdom was furious.

In this regard, Hermann Van Peron said that this involves issues in the international system, and there are too many veto points, which hinders the response to major international events. These are issues that countries should reflect on, how to reform and eliminate accumulated shortcomings.

Even so, he said, this is actually a struggle between several parties in the European continent. Countries such as Sweden are no longer on the sidelines, and the outcome will not be as easy as before. Therefore, in the end, it is better to choose sides.

He also said that the European and American countries that responded to sanctions this time were mainly countries that were not very friendly to the French Empire and had even been wary of French influence.

Within European and American countries, the breadth and intensity of these countries' sanctions are also related to their degree of economic and military dependence on the French Empire. In fact, these countries are not very economically dependent. Even the Netherlands has a certain degree of economic autonomy. and military autonomy have long been out of the scope of France's influence, not to mention the United Kingdom, so it does not have too many concerns about sanctioning the French Empire.

However, for countries like Spain, because of the long-standing friendly relations between the two countries and the serious overlap of economic and military closeness, it is impossible to decouple this link from the French Empire in terms of armaments and economy.

However, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was always on the fence, because the Austro-Hungarian Empire was highly dependent on the industrial support of the French Empire. When Franz Joseph I faced domestic anti-French people, he warned the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the beginning of the implementation of sanctions that if the Austro-Hungarian Empire implemented Sanctions against France will trigger an economic recession in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He said that the Austro-Hungarian Empire will appropriately reduce its industrial dependence on France. Now cutting off all industrial economies with the French Empire will catch the Austro-Hungarian Empire's economy by surprise.

He further told the people that the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the French Empire had no major disputes and that they had common basic interests in the balance of power on the European continent.

Many people speculate that this is because the Austro-Hungarian Empire and France also faced the threat of the newly rising power of the Kingdom of Prussia.

Obviously, Franz Joseph I did not want to worry the Kingdom of Prussia, which has not yet appeared on the list of sanctioned countries. This directed attention to Prussia, who was an old fox.

As a result, among the major powers, the Russian Empire was the only one left that had not expressed any attitude towards the French Empire. Countries in Europe and America turned their attention to St. Petersburg, seeming to be waiting for Alexander II to speak out.