Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

In Mexico, the battlefield is changing all the time.

And what happened on the battlefield was indeed strange.

On October 19, 1881, an additional 20,000 troops from the Austro-Hungarian Empire arrived in Merida, bringing the number of Austrian troops in Mexico to more than 40,000. On the same day, the Austro-Hungarian Empire prepared for a major offensive, starting from Tlateco on the Atlantic coast. Talpan attacks south, preparing to capture Tuxtepec. In the east, the city of Minatitlan and the city of Examination Cuarcos, which have been occupied by Austria-Hungary, are also preparing to join forces to attack westward. The three parties will join forces to capture this city and march westward. A major gateway town in Mexico.

At the same time, the southern Mexican army in Tehuacán and Oaxaca, west of Tuxtepec, began to put itself on the defensive.

Obviously, they were preparing to resist the attack of the Austro-Hungarian army with all their strength.

After all, if Tuxtepec is captured by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, then it will be them, and then they will face the capital Mexico City being beaten to the gate.

At the same time, Mexico City quickly dispatched 10,000 troops and publicly expressed support for Tuxtepec on the front.

However, according to the information collected by the Austro-Hungarian frontline intelligence personnel, it was still 50 kilometers away from Tuxtepec, but suddenly, the 10,000 troops chose to stand still there, and it seemed that there were many troops stationed there. move. Eight hours later, we turned around again to Oaxaca in the south. What happened to this dramatic change?

Everyone who followed the war was astonished.

After a day of silence, Archduke Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, who went to Mexico to preside over the war, publicly answered in Merida: Simply put, we don’t know what Mexico is thinking. As everyone knows now, at a critical moment, Mexico is facing weapons support from the members of the Group of Thirteen, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire needs to turn to its ally the German Empire. After all, our German-Austrian Alliance needs Germany to face certain difficulties with us. Fulfill our expectations

Is this really the case?

Archduke Ferdinand’s answer was simple: We don’t know and we have nothing to say.

But after these eight hours of change, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was originally the most worried and prepared, was undoubtedly relieved. Second only to Austria-Hungary, Wuyishan Germany, and just like other countries, Germany has the same acumen as Austria-Hungary. Senseless.

But now they are all thinking about their ambition to capture Tuxtepec and then send their troops to the northwest to capture Mexico, so naturally they will not be deterred by this.

On the evening of October 19, 1881, after the meeting between William IV and Tsar Alexander III, the Dutch government announced an industrial and technological blockade of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It stated that it would not sit back and watch Mexico be occupied and bullied, and announced that it would suspend additional sanctions against Argentina. Fully focused on the war between Austria-Hungary and Mexico.

You know, the Netherlands was originally very ambitious in Latin America. It had always strangled the anti-Dutch forces with all its strength and then quickly. It was about to add new suppression. Especially after the incident in Argentina, the Netherlands had always been cautious in Latin America for fear of This caused a backlash, and now Austria-Hungary invaded Mexico, providing a golden opportunity for the Dutch to penetrate Latin America politically and militaryly. Of course he won't let it go.

On October 20, 1881, facing the "unity" of the Netherlands and the Russian Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was anxious and quickly looked for "comfort" from Berlin.

But will the German Empire stand up for Vienna?

"The German Empire supports many of the practices of Vienna as an ally. We are currently communicating with Vienna to understand Vienna's thoughts and attitude towards protecting its own interests, so we in Berlin do not want to appear to be partial to any party in this matter."

This is the news announced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Berlin. The meaning is very clear. Now the German Empire will not stand directly on the side of Austria-Hungary. Wouldn't that mean directly shouldering the two powerful powers of the Netherlands and the Russian Empire? Even if it doesn't have any good feelings towards St. Petersburg and Melbourne, the German Empire doesn't want to do anything that puts Berlin in danger now.

So from the evening of November 19th to the next day, October 20th, Germany was also very busy.

Kaiser Wilhelm I, who was nearly 80 years old, immediately summoned Prime Minister Bismarck, Chief of General Staff Moltke, Military Minister Ron, Crown Prince Frederick, and his grandson Prince William to hold an emergency meeting to discuss countermeasures.

Then, William I sent telegrams to Queen Victoria, President Thiers of the Third French Republic, and Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary to discuss the progress of the situation.

German Prime Minister Bismarck also had telegrams with the prime ministers and other government leaders of the above-mentioned countries one by one, trying to coordinate each other's positions.

Crown Prince Frederick was naturally not idle, and simply announced his visit to London to hold talks with Crown Prince Edward and the two royal heirs to coordinate and bring together the interests of Britain and Germany on global issues.

On top of this, the two also announced that they would visit Vienna together, hold trilateral talks with Archduke Ferdinand, Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, and directly hold a meeting of the crown princes of the three major powers, promising to maintain close coordination with the other two countries.

General Moltke, the chief of staff of the German Empire, was originally going to visit Lyon, the capital of the Third French Republic, but because of an urgent matter, he simply skipped the trip and stayed in Berlin to observe the situation.

According to the judgment of many people in the German Empire, this is the first time that the Netherlands and the Tsarist Russian Empire have publicly taken joint action against a country. As the most powerful land power in Eurasia, the Tsarist Russian Empire is even more formidable and huge than the German Empire. With its depth and population of over 100 million, the Netherlands, as the world's second largest surface naval power, coupled with the Netherlands' unique underwater power intimidation, has made Berlin, Vienna, and London afraid.

Therefore, the three countries had to publicly perform various "shows", which obviously made the Netherlands and Tsarist Russia feel the power of the outside world against them.

The three major powers of Germany, Austria, Britain and the Netherlands Pk Russia, this seems to be the most direct direct collision in the current international situation.

The Netherlands, on the other hand, believed that the assassination of Alexander II by Britain, Germany and Austria some time ago had angered his successor Alexander III, so the Russian Empire took the initiative to tie up the Netherlands in order to avoid disputes with these countries in the future. No matter how lonely it is, it can even prevent Britain, Germany and Austria from interfering in Tsarist Russia's internal affairs again. After all, there are many supporters of these three countries within the Tsarist Russian Empire.

Obviously all countries understand that Britain, Germany, and Austria seem to be provoking a fierce civil war in the Tsarist Empire, and then further weakening Tsarist Russia, the bear to the east of Germany and Britain's generational enemy, and the greedy threat to Austria-Hungary in the north, to reassure them. , only by weakening Tsarist Russia will it have a major turning impact on the growth of their global power. Naturally, we must not be careless, and we must seize the opportunity.

However, the atmosphere has been heightened, and I am afraid that the three countries will suddenly stop acting for their own interests.