Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

On August 5, 1869, the French Emperor Napoleon III officially declared war on Prussia in front of 100,000 Parisians in front of the Palace of Versailles in Paris.

Immediately issued a passionate declaration of war against Prussia.

"The French Empire cannot be humiliated, and the proud Gauls cannot be bullied, so we want the Prussians to pay the due price."

The Kingdom of Prussia also responded to William I's seemingly reluctant but forced response to France's declaration of war.

So on August 8, 1869, Bismarck, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Prussia, also declared war on France on behalf of William I in Berlin.

Faced with France and Prussia declaring war on each other, William IV raised the national warning level.

William IV was listening to military intelligence from Chief of General Staff Mark Rudd about the Prussian and French sides.

“On August 6, 1869, after the French Empire declared war on Prussia, Napoleon III appointed himself Commander-in-Chief of the French Army, and Edmond Leboeuf was appointed Chief of Staff by Napoleon III.

Patrice McMahon was appointed by Napoleon III as the commander of the Army of Chalons. The commander of the 1st Army of the Army was McMahon concurrently; the commander of the 5th Army was De Fay; and the commander of the 7th Army was Felix. .Douai; the reserve is the 2nd Cavalry Division.

The commander of the Metz Army was François Achille Bazin.

The 2nd Corps Commander of the Corps is Filosar, the 3rd Corps Commander Bazin also serves as the commander; the 4th Corps Commander is Radmiro.

In addition, Napoleon III directly commanded the Royal Guards and Bourbaki, a direct descendant of Napoleon III, deputy commander.

The commander of the 6th Army is Francois Sertan Canrobert.

In addition, France also has two armies: reserve cavalry and reserve artillery. "

After William IV waited for Mark Rudd to finish speaking, he said: "In summary, the French army is divided into two armies, namely the Chalon Army and the Metz Army?"

Mark Rudd said: "Yes, there was only one army before, the Army of the Rhine. It was only last year that it was reorganized into two armies, and they were given the leadership of Bazin and McMahon respectively."

After seeing Macrud nod, William IV asked: "What about Prussia? Know yourself and know the enemy and you will be victorious in every battle. Prussia's ambitions are well known to everyone. Now that Prussia has just taken action against France, you don't need to guess that they will not worry too much about the Netherlands. Since In this way, we have to be more vigilant.”

Having said this, William IV sat back on the chair he was lying on and asked, "Can you also talk about Prussia's military deployment?"

Mark Rudd would naturally not object. As the commander-in-chief of the Dutch military second only to William IV, he was naturally familiar with the military affairs of the big countries around him.

"The organization of the Prussian army is that the commander-in-chief is also King William I of Prussia, and the commander of the First Army is General Carl Friedrich von Steinmetz.

The commander of the 1st Army of the First Army was Bittenfeldt; the commander of the 2nd Army was Zastrov; and the commander of the 3rd Army was August Carl von Gerben.

In addition, there are the 1st and 3rd Cavalry Divisions directly under the corps commander Karl Friedrich von Steinmetz. "

William IV thought: Comparing the Prussian First Army with the French Army, we can find that the order of the legions at this time can tell what the military discipline of the two countries is like. It can be seen that Prussia had already overwhelmed France at this time.

When Mark Rudd saw William IV deep in thought, he continued without hesitation: "The 2nd Army of the Kingdom of Prussia is commanded by Prince Friedrich Karl, Prince of Prussia and nephew of His Majesty William I."

William IV suddenly asked: "Is that the leader of the colonial forces that Prussia arranged in Africa when we formed the Franco-Prussian Alliance in 1862? The one who has been stationed in Mogadishu, Somalia for the past seven years?"

"Yes, that's him," Mark Rudd said: "This man is a close relative of the royal family. He was entrusted with an important task by William I. He leads William I's Guards. The commander is August, Prince of Württemberg; the 2nd Army , the commander of the army is Frantzsky; the commander of the 3rd and 4th armies is Westandin von Alvinslevin; the commander of the 9th army is Manstein; the commander of the 10th army is Fu Igtz-Retz, the commander of the 12th Army is Crown Prince Albert of Saxony, and the 2nd Army also controls the 5th and 6th Cavalry Divisions."

William IV asked in surprise: "It seems that William I is absolutely trusting his nephew." The West is indeed different from the East. In the East, the most taboo thing for the royal family is to give military power to their brothers, uncles and nephews, because this is very dangerous. It is easy to cause the disaster of Xiaoqiang.

After all, brothers, uncles and nephews are the biggest challengers and successors to their royal power.

Precisely because he had watched too many court dramas about the East in his previous life, William IV's thinking still did not completely break away from that line of thinking. Therefore, I am deeply puzzled that Prince Friedrich Carl is so highly used.

"Prince Carl has been deeply loved by William I since he was a child, and he is a brother-in-law with Crown Prince Frederick. It is said that he actually grew up next to William I, and he is a loyal defender of William I's royal power."

"The commander of the Third Army is" Mark Rudd just wanted to say it.

"Wait a minute," William IV stopped him. He looked at Mark Rudd and said, "I guess the commander of the army is Crown Prince Frederick? Is that right?"

Mark Rudd nodded and said: "It is indeed him."

Seeing that William IV had no intention of speaking, he said: "The commander of the Third Army, Friedrich William, is Crown Prince Frederick of the Palace of Prussia."

“He was in charge of the 5th Army, commanded by Kirschbach; the 6th Army, commanded by Tumplinger; the 11th Army, commanded by Boser; and the 1st Bavarian Army, commanded by Tann. Ratzamhausen; the 2nd Bavarian Army, commanded by Hartmann; also directly under him were the Würtenburg Division, the Baden Division, and the 2nd and 4th Cavalry Divisions."

William IV: "As can be seen from the above, the Prussian royal family is in charge of two-thirds of the army, and the royal family is also in charge of all the other small principalities and the original armies of the kingdom that were previously annexed to the German Confederation. This is done to prevent These old small countries took the opportunity to rebel and slowly swallowed and integrated them, am I right?"

"Your Majesty's words are very reasonable." This is why Prussia has been able to stabilize its internal affairs so quickly in recent years and is now able to show its ambitions towards France.

The Prussian royal family is definitely the largest force in the Kingdom of Prussia at present. Many people think that the Prussian royal family is suppressed by the powerful Bismarck. In fact, they know that this is all the royal family cooperating with Bismarck. That is because Bismarck is loyal enough and wants to Otherwise, the situation would be different. "

William IV first nodded in approval of his statement, and then said: "From the current point of view, Prussia has three legions, while France only has two. The number of legions is not yet known which one has the advantage, but one thing is very clear. , that is, the French Legion is not in the hands of the direct descendants of Napoleon III, but Prussia is on the contrary, not only in the hands, but also members of the royal family. Is there any suspense in this battle?"