Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

On October 1, 1867, an article in the "European Times" immediately triggered a wave of heated comments in European and American countries.

"Herman Van Peron is known as the world's most famous political commentator on current affairs since the 19th century. He has been commentating on global political affairs for more than 10 years in Europe's most famous newspaper "European Times". Every time he expresses his views, he attracts a lot of attention. People’s reading and analysis, even the royal families and government officials of various countries will take his opinions very seriously, and then analyze the pros and cons to themselves."

"That's right. Principal Hermann Van Peron is so awesome. It is said that during this period, even Napoleon III was looking forward to his new political review, hoping to get a glimpse of the strengths and weaknesses of the French Empire."

"Well, let me tell you, Hermann Van Peron has been the president of Leiden University for more than 20 years. He even became the head of William III's think tank. Now, although he has not been absorbed by William IV to continue to hold this position, he still Serving as a policy advisor in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Dutch cabinet government, it can be said that the diplomatic influence of the Netherlands has not diminished.”

"You may not know yet, but the article he published this time, "The Rapidly Changing Periphery of the French Empire," was written by Principal Hermann Van Peron invited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Dutch Government."

"No way? In this case, why was it published in the European Times? Doesn't this popularize this view all over the world? How does the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Dutch government benefit from this?"

"Don't you understand this? This is called a heart-breaking strategy. The purpose is to directly attack the French society and disrupt the stability of the other side's society. However, it also allows the French Empire and other countries in the world to only believe in this popular opinion, because it only represents the popular opinion. , and it’s very convincing.”

In "The Rapidly Changing Periphery of the French Empire", Hermann Van Peron said that he mentioned at the beginning of the war that this would be a small-scale Crimean War (1853-1856).

History may not repeat the scene when the Tsarist Empire faced Britain, France and Austria, but real people are bound by history. From the French Emperor Napoleon III to the diplomatic and strategic circles of the French Empire, they are obsessed with the glorious history of the French Empire, and at the same time they are also obsessed with it. Confused by the current urgency of the French Empire, the glory of history and the shackles of reality tear the elites of the French Empire apart.

The war between the French Empire's invasion and the Kingdom of Siam's counter-invasion was a war between two sovereign countries. It was also the war in which the French Empire's external ambitions were most directly expressed. It can even be said that if it wins, France will be completely stable. The history of France being suppressed by other countries since 1815 has turned an important page, which is crucial to the French Empire.

War is like an earthquake. An earthquake spreads far away and causes varying degrees of damage.

First of all, the "fog" and accidents of the war between France and Siam reversed the military image problems of France and Siam, as well as their generally recognized status in the international community. The French Empire was second only to the British Empire in comprehensive national power and ranked third in the world. The two major military powers fell from the altar.

In recent years, the French Empire, relying on its status recognized by various countries, has invaded Mexico in various parts of the world, such as the Americas, which has made various countries fearful. As a result, the French Empire has faced little resistance and few countries have intervened.

All these allowed Napoleon III to stabilize his footing and establish a military and strategic deterrent to Russia in the surrounding areas and even around the world. This was the only pillar for the French Empire to continuously pursue the status of a world power, even surpassing the status of the United Kingdom.

From the Crimean War in 1853, Britain supported the Ottoman Empire to defeat the Russian Empire, to leading the support for the Kingdom of Sardinia (renamed the Kingdom of Italy after 1861) in its war with the Austrian Empire in 1860, and then to the subsequent Mexican Invasion War, and Some time ago, it deliberately supported Paraguay in provoking conflicts in South America and prepared to send troops to participate.

These types of wars, involving large and small battles, greatly expanded the deterrent power of the French Empire and established and consolidated its status as the world's second largest military power.

On November 20, 1866, France invaded the Kingdom of Siam and the war broke out. Three days after the war began, France encountered strong resistance. Although it occupied the large town of Takeo, its advance slowed down.

Within 10 days of the war, while the French Empire slowly advanced, its own casualties rose sharply, exceeding 3,000 people.

At the same time, anti-Francophobia broke out in world public opinion. Most public opinion believed that the French Empire would quickly occupy the Cambodian region of the Kingdom of Siam.

But in the end, this estimate was wrong. Until March 20, 1867, four months after the war began, the French Empire had only occupied a few southeastern cities including Phnom Penh, and the casualties of the French Empire had reached more than 20,000. The French army sent additional troops from Mexico to no avail.

The strong military deterrence established by the French Empire based on its army and some advanced weapons and equipment has greatly faded. The most intuitive manifestation is that the French Empire's firearms, battleships and troops were blocked by the Kingdom of Siam, and its warships were sunk. A few ships. Come to think of it, in the future, the image of the French Empire, the world's third largest arms seller in the past five years, will be greatly reduced. As a product exporter, arms trade exports will be greatly reduced. Some countries have even begun to prepare to cancel orders.

Secondly, the French Imperial War was a war between a big country and a small country. The proud and noble French Imperial Army originally thought it would be a smooth journey, but the strong side did not happen. Instead, it was trapped everywhere and progress was slow. The status of Napoleon III's military-strongman was seriously damaged. .

The image of the French Empire plummeted, and the big country was vividly held back by the small country before the world.

The third was that other medium-sized countries such as the Netherlands joined in to defend their strategic interests and openly supported the Kingdom of Siam. This caught the French Empire by surprise and caused even more heavy losses.

This is the first time that many small and medium-sized countries have united to resist the world powers, and they managed to resist.

The French Empire was completely defeated both internally and externally.

The first anniversary is still more than a month away, and the French-Siamese War is still raging in central Cambodia. The French Empire has invested more than 150,000 troops in this war, and more than half of it has been damaged so far. It can be called a Waterloo. war.

The Kingdom of Siam has received support from more and more countries. Member countries of the International Hague Tribunal, the United Kingdom, and American countries. Until some time ago, Prussia and the Commonwealth of America seemed to have expressed their willingness to cooperate with the Netherlands and cooperate with the Netherlands in the Pacific. Although this move did not mean to publicly support the Netherlands against the French Empire, who would think that it had no substantial content.

It seems that even the southern Confederate States of America are beginning to discuss humanitarian support for the Kingdom of Siam in parliament.

The French Empire was the main contributor in helping the United States to establish itself outside the British colonies. Now the whole of North and South America is helping the opponents of the French Empire. This may be regarded as a betrayal by the French Empire, which has triggered the anger and revenge of the French Empire. , it was done first in North and South America, which shows that the influence of the French Empire has really weakened.

This war in the Far East led to the adventurous move of the French Empire to challenge the dominance of Britain and the Netherlands in the Far East.

If it fails, not only will the plan of the French Empire be aborted and all previous efforts will be wasted, but the image of the French Empire in Europe will also decline, and the French Empire's own allies will have a stronger centrifugal tendency.

In the end, the stalemate in this war was an ups and downs move by the French Empire to restructure its power. Napoleon III may have realized that the northern Kingdom of Prussia had become unstoppable in its rise to power after defeating the Austrian Empire and annexing the entire German Confederation.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands also absorbed the resources of the Far East and the powerful overseas territorial resources of Africa. Although its rise was not as intuitive as that of Prussia, it also made the French Empire feel that there was a sword hanging on its back, which was very uncomfortable.

The United Kingdom has even completed the integration of the Indian subcontinent. Rich resources are continuously transported to the British Isles through the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea. Britain's national power is slowly but solidly increasing.

The French Empire only relied on the barren lands of Africa, with a large area and few resources, but it was difficult to fight against these threats.

In particular, there is also a rising Italy in the Mediterranean and Spain, which is unwilling to be reduced to a second-class country, making the situation in the Mediterranean a secret struggle.

All of this brought a sense of urgency to the top brass of the French Empire.

Therefore, it is the national policy of the French Empire to plunder the Far East, which is rich in overseas resources, and to catch up with the tide of plundering resources from overseas territories of Britain, Prussia, the Netherlands and other countries to strengthen itself.

The United Kingdom, Prussia, and the Netherlands naturally also saw the mystery. Therefore, this time the Netherlands took the lead in joining forces to impose sanctions on the French Empire, gaining the public support of the United Kingdom and the secret approval of Prussia.

Although the Netherlands was a little bit fake, it really hit a beautiful combination of punches, which hit the flesh, and the French Empire was deeply hurt by this.

As the empire of France declined, the international image of the Netherlands greatly increased and skyrocketed.

The outbreak of war in the Far East and its stalemate plunged the French Empire into a quagmire, providing a good opportunity for the Kingdom of Spain and the Kingdom of Italy to get rid of the influence of the French Empire.

Queen Isabel II of Spain accelerated the reform process of domestic politics, and at the same time strengthened the strategic ties between the member states of the International Court of Justice in The Hague. She rejected the French Empire's request that Spain send troops to help France's war in the Far East, and opened up a relationship with the French Empire on the international stage. From the distance, it can be seen that the military deterrence and control system created by the French Empire in the surrounding areas were greatly reduced due to the stalemate on the Far East invasion battlefield.

A profound consequence of this war was that the French Empire had to face an international reality, that is, the French Empire was once again isolated internationally.

Hermann Van Peron said that the French Empire is destroying its own interests by abandoning the positive image established over the past few decades and abandoning many important legacies in history. The French Empire dreams of establishing an overseas colony to rival Britain, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. and the Indian Ocean system, but the current war in the Kingdom of Siam will cause the French Empire to establish a hard border with this grand plan. The French Empire will be forcibly established by surrounding countries for a long time in the future. Driven out of Europe, he became a clown on center stage.

After the war in the Far East broke out, the International Court of Justice in The Hague was activated and small and medium-sized European countries awakened. Under the leadership of the Netherlands, these loose countries united and cooperated unprecedentedly.

The Netherlands took the lead in resisting the French Empire, and countries such as Sweden and Denmark supported it in response to the threat of French Napoleon III. Even countries in the Americas responded to the call of the Netherlands.

Even the United Kingdom was frightened by this powerful force, so the United Kingdom finally chose to join the plan in order to ease its relations with these countries.

In the end, this force brought a steady stream of support, including weapons, to the Kingdom of Siam, which enabled the Kingdom of Siam to withstand the attack of the French Empire. This was not only a victory for the Kingdom of Siam, but also a victory for these small and medium-sized countries. According to The Netherlands privately said that this was an attempt by a small and medium-sized country to use a proxy war to challenge the French Empire, and it succeeded.

Hermann Van Peron pointed out that this war broke the rules, the world situation entered a period of chaos, and the balance of power among countries began to change.

The Netherlands even used this unique method to overcome its own lack of strength and successfully challenge the French Empire, the world's second most powerful country.

That's what Fight to Fame says.

The French Empire has lost the military deterrence it accumulated after the Napoleonic Wars. It can be expected that as the war in the Kingdom of Siam continues, the sanctions imposed by the countries of the International Court of Justice in The Hague will be further expanded, and more small countries will be recruited to join the organization. The number of members will also increase. .

He even speculated that it was not impossible that major powers would join recently. In that case, this organization would have more say in global affairs, and the French Empire would face further isolation.

This war incident became an excuse for the expansion of this organization, and the French Empire would also become a reason for other European countries to unite, establishing a hard border with the French Empire.

After this war, the expansion of the French Empire will definitely be suspended, and the policy of turning to the Far East will also be stopped. The French Empire will have to redirect its diplomatic resources to easing relations with neighboring countries.

But unlike the first half of this century, with the rise of the Netherlands and the strength of Prussia, Europe has undergone major changes. It is no longer dominated by Britain and Tsarist Russia and Austria in 1815. The French Empire needs to face more countries. Demanding compensation for the benefits was a headache for Napoleon III.

With so many people and so many voices, France needs to change in every aspect it faces, and France will suffer huge losses as a result.

Fan Peilong pointed out that it can be expected that after this war, the European powers will no longer underestimate the status of small countries, let alone destroy each other's interests at will.

He said that Europe may usher in a brand new system, and the Atlantic and the world will also welcome the coming decades of peace because of this lesson.

Of course, this is just his guess. You have to look at it to find out the details.

William IV put down this article and fully agreed with Hermann Van Peron's views.

"It is indeed the public clarion call for the Dutch foreign policy that I have tried my best to promote. I think all the countries in the world are convinced by your views."

William IV looked proudly at Hermann Van Peron beside him.

The latter said: "The situation in Europe has changed. The rise of the Netherlands has become a reality. The struggle in the Far East will continue. Your Majesty, I think the UK will be wary of this and be more prepared for us."

William IV nodded, agreeing with this statement.

"The advantages of France and the Netherlands have become increasingly thin, both economic and military.

Originally, African territories and Catholic allies such as Spain and Italy were France's room for maneuver. But after this war, France's primary challenge is how to ease relations, find ways to cooperate with other countries again, and even explore other opportunities besides being sanctioned. "

When William IV said this, he looked at Van Peron and said at the same time: "The opportunity for the Netherlands has come."