Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

On December 1, 1868, Prince Frederik, the Crown Prince of Denmark, and Princess Louisa, the only princess of King Carl XV of Sweden, will hold a wedding in Copenhagen on December 12, 1868. William IV will bring Alexander Queen Deira makes an official visit to Copenhagen, Denmark, to attend the wedding.

“How small and medium-sized countries should respond to the great changes”

After arriving in Copenhagen on December 2, 1868, His Majesty William IV said in an interview with Luxembourg's "European Times" that although small countries cannot influence major international situations, this does not mean that small countries are in an unsafe situation and cannot take the initiative. own future.

Attending the Danish royal wedding will be one of the stops on William IV's itinerary. Another reason is that Copenhagen is the venue for the Nordic Alliance King Summit.

Queen Alexandra of the Netherlands is the biological sister of Crown Prince Frederik, so William IV is the son-in-law of the Kingdom of Denmark. At the same time, with the addition of the Swedish princess to William IV, the brother-in-law, the alliance between the three countries will become even closer. .

They can all form a table.

William IV, who had not yet entered the King's Summit after attending the wedding, was interviewed by the accompanying Danish media on December 2. When asked how small countries such as Denmark could deal with themselves in Europe and the world, he said that although his sister-in-law cannot influence major issues. international trends, but this does not mean that small countries are in an unsafe situation and cannot take the initiative to control their own future. He said that if they can cooperate, they can speak louder and unite most countries more effectively to play a certain role. role.

As the relationship between major powers in Europe continues to be tense, the rivalry in this region of Europe has become more and more obvious, which has put pressure on small and medium-sized countries. In response to questions from Danish and international reporters, William IV said that in order to help small and medium-sized countries cope with the risks of the game between big powers, he proposed Dutch insights.

There is a view that the game between great powers means that small and medium-sized countries must choose sides in diplomacy, and must move closer to the great powers in terms of military affairs in order to gain security.

However, this is not the only answer. William IV’s statement shows that small and medium-sized countries still have room for choice to maintain their own independent foreign policies.

William IV further pointed out that great powers have the power and influence of great powers, but they still want the support and approval of other countries. There is plenty of factual support for this view.

During the Crimean War, when the British Empire and other countries punished the Russian Empire for invading the Ottoman Empire, although they took a large number of collective measures, what was more important was to unite most of the major powers in Europe to form an alliance militarily, and to unite the countries of Western Europe economically. Collective power strength.

This is the same as when it dealt with His Majesty Napoleon I of the French Empire. In this regard, Britain used it very skillfully.

In the Americas, the Commonwealth of America is relatively self-reliant. The United Kingdom, on the basis of its local allies such as the Southern Confederate States of America and its overseas territories of Canada and Chile, has also proposed cooperating with its Portuguese compatriot Brazil to curb the development of the Commonwealth of America. , and even in order to maintain the global financial status of the British Empire, London used the Rothschild family to disrupt the financial order of countries around the world in order to get a glimpse of the weaknesses of each country.

Therefore, in order to protect itself, the Netherlands also proposed the establishment of the South American Union based on the original allies of the Netherlands such as Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, and proposed the establishment of an inter-American economic framework to gather the support of small and medium-sized countries in the Americas to maintain the Netherlands' Leadership of the Americas.

"European Times" further reported that the game between the major powers in Europe has continued to escalate. When the British Empire faced challenges from the old and new powers on the European continent, it proposed new military and diplomatic balancing actions on the European continent.

For this reason, the Netherlands, in response to Britain's compressed small country space, formed various organizations. The Netherlands tried to expand its influence in the region, and then attracted countries around the world to join. Almost all of these countries entered the Netherlands under the threat of big powers around them. organized organization.

In particular, the establishment of the International Court of Justice in The Hague has allowed the world to see a different pattern.

Recently, the Netherlands is more suitable to prepare for the establishment of a new organization - the "Deep Blue Pacific Partnership". The Netherlands intends to unite the Commonwealth of America, Spain, Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru to form a Pacific 7-nation alliance plan to strengthen cooperation with Pacific coastal countries. relations to hedge against the military and diplomatic offensives of the British Empire and the French Empire in the Pacific.

"European Times" mentioned that William IV said that small countries have their own views and opinions. If they can be elaborated systematically and logically, they will have a certain role and market in the world. This is also supported by history.

During the European War of Napoleon I, many small and medium-sized franchising countries and free states refused to join the confrontation between the two major groups in order to maintain their diplomatic independence and actively support the initiative not to participate in the war, and finally obtained the status of neutral countries. Even now, neutral countries With the increasing number of countries, similar actions are becoming more common.

For example, the Balkan Peninsula War between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, the North-South Civil War in America, etc., coupled with the invasion war launched by the French Empire in the Kingdom of Siam, seriously damaged the interests of European countries in the Kingdom of Siam. At this time, the Netherlands automatically organized After launching sanctions against France, it launched multiple forums for small and medium-sized countries, allowing small European and American countries to formulate a common position on issues of mutual concern and make a more powerful voice in the world.

In the past few years, the Netherlands has also initiated a number of world-level organizations to form global governance institutions. The purpose of the Netherlands is not to enhance its own influence. Of course, it would be false to say that it does not exist, but more to promote cooperation with the Netherlands. There are also weak small and medium-sized countries that increase their weight in negotiations or bargaining with big countries. Of course, they have more links with big countries.

"European Times" said that William IV believed that the French Empire began to emphasize that the war in the Far East was not a war, leading to the assertion that France was safeguarding its own interests. William IV believed that even the French themselves did not believe the reasons given by their own government. Not to mention other people in various countries around the world.

Therefore, the Netherlands needs to conduct more consultations with other countries on this issue.

At the same time, William IV also said that the Netherlands was not willing to get too involved in Prussia's invasion of other countries in the entire German Confederation, but the Netherlands would listen to the views of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was once a member of the German Confederation, and would take it seriously. We will consider whether these reasons are reasonable and then convey them to Berlin and Vienna.

"European Times" believes that these competing actions may not be easy to stop in the short term.