Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

On June 8, 1869, Dutch Prime Minister Torbecke visited the Kingdom of Prussia and met with Bismarck. The two formally signed an agreement on behalf of the two countries. One of the public agreements was that the Netherlands purchased the The Middle East Gulf region has an area of ​​only 780 square kilometers, the Bahrain Islands.

I only know that the islands were given to Prussia by the Ottoman Empire when Prussia purchased the Qatar Peninsula in order to deepen its relationship with Prussia, an emerging power.

This time, under Bismarck's special publicity, it seemed that he had "earned" 200,000 pounds "in vain", but it did not arouse much resentment among the Prussians.

The other treaty was signed in secret. This treaty promised Prussia that if it could complete the attack and capture Paris, it would complete the agreement to transfer the French territory of East Oman to the Netherlands.

After Prussian King Wilhelm I visited the Netherlands in less than a month, the Dutch Prime Minister actually returned to Prussia. Such an intimate visit made European countries have different thoughts.

Especially when it comes to major events such as signing the purchase and sale of territory, this has made many countries think carefully.

However, the two most powerful countries in Europe, Britain and France, are currently trapped in the Southeast Asian Peninsula in the Far East. Britain is keeping up with the indigenous people of Myanmar in preparing for war, which makes many people temporarily suppress their curiosity.

Although the British Empire was suspicious, when faced with the thoughts of the Netherlands and Prussia at this time, as long as they did not provoke them, the British, they could wait until the gang of natives in Burma were resolved.

The French Empire also had doubts, but just like the United Kingdom, France secretly supported Burma, but it was because of evil intentions and evil intentions in its heart that Napoleon III chose to remain silent.

These two big countries are like this. Even if Franz Joseph I of the Austro-Hungarian Empire has other ideas, he can only wait for Britain and France to free up their hands from the Far East before worrying about it. After all, he was defeated by William 3 years ago. I and Prussia led by Bismarck were frightened.

Britain wants to fight to the death with the coalition forces in Upper Burma. Currently, Upper Burma has no chance of winning the war. In order to prevent someone from taking advantage of the situation in the southern seas, the British Ministry of Defense announced in London that it would support one-third of the ships in the Malayan Peninsula from the South African fleet.

Although there are more than 80,000 regular British troops in India, because the Indian subcontinent has a flat but vast land area, although the 80,000 troops may seem like a lot, in fact, they are not many when spread out.

There are currently only 50,000 troops in South Africa. This is only what the British were able to deploy after the Boers left there. After Canada signed a peace agreement with the Commonwealth of America, the number of troops in Canada was only about 60,000. Including colonies such as British Sudan in the Middle East, the total number is less than 30,000. More than 200,000 people have been deployed overseas, and the British army only has about 550,000 people. Calculating, in fact, the British army is fully equipped, and there are only about 300,000 troops in the mainland.

Therefore, the army that attacked Myanmar this time basically lost the indigenous troops temporarily recruited by the British. In fact, what the British most hoped for was to use the indigenous troops of India and Bangladesh to attack the indigenous troops of Myanmar. I believe that the British advanced With firearms and training technology, it would be strange for the Burmese natives not to surrender.

Upper Burma seems to have sufficient troops, but in fact when facing Britain, the most powerful country in the world, it can only defend Upper Burma. Fortunately, it is far away from the British mainland, otherwise they may face attacks from the British. There are more regular army enemies on the mainland.

However, Upper Burma is currently a tough nut to crack for the UK. West Bengal may face a surprise attack from Chin State, and the south faces the strongest Upper Burma force in Mandalay Province.

Therefore, more troops must be added there. No one can guarantee that the Upper Burma Alliance is not attacking in the east and in the west. The southern coast is the British naval sphere of influence. The vast land to the west of Bangladesh is where the Burmese indigenous army attacks.

Thinking of this, Prime Minister Disraeli immediately prepared to convene a cabinet meeting and prepare to request an increase in the garrison of British troops in the West Bengal region of Myanmar.

But before these cabinet members arrived, news came from the Far East, but it was bad news.

On June 10, 1869, the Five-Party Alliance in Upper Burma suddenly attacked the British Empire colony of Bengal (renamed Assam after the British colonization). Because the Five-Party Alliance dispatched 40,000 troops during this attack, there were only 30,000 Indian troops. The British army of the Tubang Army, which had just arrived in Bangladesh from India, was not accustomed to the acclimatization and was unfamiliar with the terrain, faced the 40,000-strong Burmese army and was completely defeated in less than 5 hours. More than half were killed or wounded, and the remaining 15,000 people chose to flee the battlefield, so the Upper Burmese army chose to quickly advance westward. By the morning of June 11, Upper Burma had occupied Manipur and Kabul in the British Bengal Colony. The two Chal exams went to the highlands of Myanmar.

Occupying this place will form an advantageous position for Bengal in western Myanmar.

The news from the Far East immediately spread to London and shocked the whole of Britain. Not only Britain, the whole of Europe could not help but be shocked. When did the indigenous army become so powerful?

You must know that among the 30,000 Indian princely troops, there are 3,000 British regular troops ten to one. The 30,000-strong army with 3,000 regular British troops retreated in one blow, and it was the British troops who were beaten fiercely. This was really surprising.

It is said that Queen Victoria was very angry and immediately convened a meeting of the British Privy Council. Finally, she ordered the Disraeli cabinet to investigate the reasons for their defeat. At the same time, she also asked the Disraeli government to quickly counterattack into Burma and regain the occupied territory.

It can be seen how dissatisfied the Queen was with Britain being defeated by Upper Burma.

Also, you must know that in her 30 years of rule, Britain has rarely been defeated by indigenous countries. The most recent defeat by another country was only against the Tsarist Russian Empire in the Balkans. Going forward, within the past ten years, that is The Commonwealth of America and the Kingdom of the Netherlands are at least white countries, not indigenous countries.

But now the British are defeated by the Burmese indigenous country despite being upright. How can the citizens of the British Empire, who have always been extremely proud, endure such humiliation?

It's strange that Queen Victoria didn't get angry. At least, she should have done so to alleviate the people's dissatisfaction with the royal family.

On June 15, 1869, the British government mobilized 20,000 Indian regular troops to Dhaka, the largest town in Bangladesh, and began to form a counterattack team there.

At the same time, the British mainland began to mobilize 50,000 British regular troops to support the war in the Far East. It is expected to arrive in southern Myanmar and land in early July. By this time, William IV, William I, Bismarck and others knew that as long as they caused more harm to Britain, their plans would begin to be implemented.