Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

Just as everyone in the West, like William IV, had just spent Christmas Eve Mass on the eve of the eve, and happily enjoyed the joy brought by this Christmas the next day, on December 27, 1869, , the wars and political disputes in Europe have finally become the most eye-catching things in newspapers around the world.

In particular, on the front page of the "European Times", Europe's largest newspaper, which was put on the shelves on December 27, 1869, a group of bold and large fonts read: In order to deal with Prussia, the United Kingdom solicited partner countries to negotiate and support Paris!

It turned out that on December 26, 1869, in order to deal with the influence of the Kingdom of Prussia, the United Kingdom was about to hold partnership negotiations in London to assist the French Second Empire in Paris.

At the beginning of the article, the British Foreign Office targeted the security agreement signed by Prime Minister Bismarck of the Kingdom of Prussia and French rebel President Adolphe Thiers in Berlin a few days ago.

The newspaper quoted the top famous European commentator Hermann Van Peron as saying that the competition between Britain and Prussia for influence in Western Europe has intensified, and Britain is worried that Prussia's rapid development from Central Europe to Western Europe will annex others and strengthen itself, making the British Empire always Maintaining the balance of the European continent and allowing Britain to maintain maritime hegemony to restrict European countries suddenly lost its effect. The differences between the two countries intensified competition and raised concerns that Western Europe might become the annexation of Prussia and the militarization of Britain's support for various countries' anti-annexation actions.

Hermann Van Peron, dean of the Diplomatic School of Leiden University, the oldest university in the Netherlands since 1862, and a special commentator for Europe's most influential "European Times" said,

"With much of Europe's rapid response to the rise of Prussia so poorly coordinated, the UK must now explore the best course of action and has now applied to join the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

It is said that it is also applying to become a partner country of the Nordic Alliance and is even said to be preparing to apply to become a member of the Nordic Alliance in the near future. Therefore, I think that the UK may use the existing mechanisms and organizations established by the Netherlands to work more closely with the entire European and even Atlantic countries. contact and strive to maximize Britain's influence.

The reason for Britain to join may be the opportunity brought by the danger of Prussia's rise to Britain. Britain strives to use the pressure brought by Prussia to other countries to make its intervention more acceptable, because that way it can do better than it is now."

"European Times" reported: The United Kingdom will invite the foreign ministers of all member countries of the International Court of Justice in The Hague to a meeting in London this week to discuss how to better coordinate the European and American countries on both sides of the Atlantic in the face of competition from Prussia in the face of France's current situation. Dilemma, and at the same time, the United Kingdom took the lead in declaring in advance that this meeting was an aid summit to support the Second French Empire in Paris.

A spokesman for the British Foreign Office revealed at an event at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in London on Monday that the British Foreign Secretary will hold a diplomatic summit in London on Friday with foreign minister-level officials from various countries organized by the International Tribunal in The Hague. Prior to this, Foreign Secretary Russell will hold a 10-nation meeting with Spain, the Netherlands, Austria-Hungary, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, Tsarist Russia, Belgium, the French Second Empire (Paris) and the host United Kingdom on Thursday, because this is to include all the surrounding issues It controls all the countries of the Kingdom of Prussia, so it is also called the "Anti-Prussian 10-Nation Alliance" by the good guys. This "Anti-Prussian 10-Nation Alliance" discusses issues related to the European region.

If the 10-nation anti-Prussian alliance succeeds in convening this summit, Britain may increase its influence on the European continent in one fell swoop. After all, this organization includes almost more than two-thirds of the countries in Europe, leaving only Italy, Greece, Portugal, Prussia.

Hermann Van Peron said that if the "10-nation Anti-Prussian Alliance" becomes a long-term force, then Prussia will be like having half a big shackle hanging around its neck in the future, and its every move will be vigilant to all countries. During the observation, it became the target of attention from all countries.

If the intelligence of various countries uses Prussia as a connecting point to achieve interconnection, then Prussia may find it difficult to move in the future.

He said that the reason why all European countries are willing to cooperate with Britain's call and send diplomats at the level of foreign ministers to London this time shows that the countries surrounding Prussia in Europe have turned against Prussia again after Prussia launched the Prussian-Danish and Prussian-Austrian wars one after another. Even a country as powerful as the French Empire was defeated, which gave all countries an unprecedented sense of fear. Countries felt threatened to survive around Prussia, and their situation was more severe than in the past. Faced with the threats and changes of Prussia, they posed existential threats and caused economic disasters. A serious impact.

"As the leading country in the organization of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, the Kingdom of the Netherlands currently seems to have unreliable speculations about the Netherlands. It is not because the Netherlands has done something wrong, but because the Netherlands is not powerful enough. The Netherlands cannot check Prussia. Therefore, countries Attention turned to maritime Britain. After all, Britain once led the opposition to Napoleon I and succeeded. Britain's offshore balancing hand policy in the past few decades has also promoted peace in Europe, so Britain may really take over because of this. The Hague International Court of Justice"

Hermann Van Peron said, “The International Court of Justice in The Hague provides insufficient coordination of security support to most countries in Europe. Therefore, the organization may adopt a series of discussions on best practices after the UK joins. They will use existing mechanisms and other force to counterbalance Prussian ambitions”

He told the "European Times" that some countries will anticipate assistance for Prussia's business prospects and carry out more diplomatic work in the European region, and that expanding contacts may have "Prussia's undeniable strategic considerations." This means that Prussia can It also plays a role in checking and balancing other major countries.

"In the past six or seven years, we have seen an increasingly ambitious Prussia. He wants to develop military power in the European continent and Africa. This has caused dissatisfaction with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Tsarist Russian Empire, the British Empire and other countries, especially the French Empire. Because I thought I couldn't help but want to take action when the threat was still small, but I was the first to be hit. The defeat of Denmark, Austria, and France made the countries surrounding Prussia extremely anxious, as did other countries in the region. .”

Herman Van Peyron said that British Foreign Secretary Russell held the "Pan-Prussian 10-nation Summit" on December 29 and December 30 before the end of 1869, which reflected that the British Empire "wanted to make clear Zhang Siwei's views on Prussia." A greater power expansion in Europe restricts”

He said that Britain did not want to see Europe, especially the Western European region close to Britain, become Prussia's coastline, but it also showed that Britain was not willing to directly compete with Prussia's tough ones. Instead, it was using the Pan-Prussian country to consume Prussia's military and diplomatic power.