Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

Prince Edward picked up the document Queen Victoria threw to him and started reading it. The more he read, the worse his face became.

There were only a few words written on it: The restlessness of the British aristocracy!

"No wonder my mother didn't want to confront the Netherlands directly. It turns out that the British aristocracy is preparing to ask the royal family for more rights."

Thinking of his previous boasting, which was not adopted in the end, he couldn't help but feel resentful towards the British aristocracy.

For this reason, after Queen Victoria died in 1901, Edward directly supported civilians in many issues in the House of Commons after he came to power, which intensified his conflict with the aristocracy. This is a later story, so let's not talk about it for now.

Kingdom of the Netherlands, Melbourne.

William IV watched several Dutch intelligence chiefs leave.

He was relieved at the same time, but also had some regrets.

The eruption of Krakatoa volcano made William IV's original plan passive.

Since the outbreak of the Mexican War, he has been planning how to pull Britain in, but Britain just won't be fooled.

Over the years, Austria-Hungary and Mexico have been directly involved in the war, and then the allies led by the Netherlands and Britain and Germany have provided various assistance to the two countries.

These include weapons and ammunition, as well as economic assistance.

These are the reasons why the two countries, especially Mexico, can persist step by step under the fierce attack of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, one of the top five powers in Europe.

But this is not the result that William IV wants to see.

What he wants to see is that Britain and even Germany will fall into it, and then the allies of the Netherlands will be dragged in, and finally the two sides will consume their own strength, and the Netherlands will gain the same dominant position as the United States in World War I and World War II.

But as they get older, their energy has never diminished. Queen Doria of the United Kingdom and Emperor William I of the German Empire have never been fooled.

Especially William I of the German Empire, this old man who was born in 1797 is 86 years old this year, and he still maintains a stable ruling state, which is a bit too much.

According to history, he will not die until 1888, and there are still five years.

Until he died, his son Prince Frederick came to power for a year and then died.

Then his grandson William II (who was the German emperor who started World War I) came to power and suppressed Bismarck, the pillar of Germany, and even forced him to resign soon. Then he died of frustration, causing huge losses to Germany's strategic circle.

At this moment, Germany's iron triangle (William I, Bismarck, Moltke) is still alive, and other countries including Britain, Tsarist Russia, and Austria-Hungary are very worried about it, but because of the current world situation, they can only put this aside for the time being.

"He is nai-naide. The relationship between the Netherlands and Britain is just like the old powers France and Spain after Britain's rise more than a hundred years ago. They are completely suppressed. Do they really have to fight a war to separate the superior and the inferior?"

Germany and Britain were already allies in the early years, especially before the Seven Years' War between Britain and France more than a hundred years ago.

This is even more true of Prussia, the predecessor of Germany. Prussian King Frederick the Great rose to become one of the top five powers in Europe with the help of Britain, which further established Prussia's position as Britain's ally in Europe, not to mention that the two countries are both Germanic countries.

Therefore, France must be dissatisfied with the German Empire established by the Prussians. Prussia helped Britain defeat them together, and this feud will always be remembered in their hearts.

Speaking of the Seven Years' War in European history, this was a war that took place between 1756 and 1763. At that time, the economies of European countries were developing rapidly, the comprehensive national strength was greatly improved, the heroes rose, the competition for interests intensified, and the world pattern was reorganized, which really entered a white-hot stage.

A war with the whole of Europe as the core and affecting overseas colonies was also quietly brewing, and the war eventually broke out.

The European pattern before the Seven Years' War from 1756 to 1763 can be described as heroes eager to try and everyone was on the verge of a fight.

At that time, France, which once dominated the European continent, was no longer as powerful as before, and no longer had the strength and energy to support the rise of the European continent.

Under the rule of Louis XV, France's finances fell into crisis and could not extricate itself, and the country was in trouble both internally and externally.

At this time, the emerging countries on the European continent represented by Prussia, Austria and Tsarist Russia, the predecessor of the German Empire, were rising rapidly.

After Frederick II of Prussia came to power in 1740, he established and strengthened centralized rule, strengthened the construction of the state machinery, abolished serfdom, encouraged immigration, improved transportation, promoted industry and commerce, developed education, advocated science and rationality, and established the Prussian Academy of Sciences.

The army expanded from 80,000 to more than 200,000, becoming one of the powerful countries on the European continent.

Empress Theresa of Austria inherited the Habsburg dynasty in 1740. Through the eight-year War of the Austrian Succession, she defeated Prussia, Britain, France and other interveners. She not only consolidated her ruling position, but also took measures such as strengthening centralization, implementing conscription, promoting land reform, confiscating church property, and rewarding industry and commerce, which restored some of the vitality of the dying Habsburg dynasty, brought it back to life, and embarked on the road of revival.

The Russian Empire, the largest empire in Europe, was not far behind. In 1689, after Peter the Great took over the throne, he began to learn from the West, introduced advanced science and technology, established a new navy and army, supported the development of industry and commerce, and developed Western-style education.

Through the 21-year war, Britain opened up the Baltic Sea. The following generations of tsars continued to promote reforms and external expansion, and its status as a powerful country on the European continent has not changed, and its status has even become more important.

At this time, Britain had completed the bourgeois revolution and entered the fast lane of development. In the early 18th century, British industry and commerce had already ranked first in Europe, and it reformed agriculture to enrich food and agricultural products.

The rapid economic development and the strengthening of national strength made it difficult for Britain to suppress the impulse to expand overseas. France, the overlord of 2,000 overseas colonies, blocked Britain's path to overseas expansion.

The end of the War of the Austrian Succession in 1748 brought 8 years of peace to Europe.

However, there were undercurrents behind this calm.

Because the rise of Austria, Prussia and Tsarist Russia had broken the original balance of power in Europe, all countries were calculating and accumulating strength to prepare for a new round of selfish expansion.

At this time, the competition between Britain and France for colonial expansion.

The competition between Prussia and Austria for the hegemony of the German Confederation.

The disputes between Tsarist Russia and Prussia over their expansion in Poland, etc., are becoming more acute.

This has prompted the reorganization of relations among European countries.

Because of common interests, Prussia eventually allied with Britain, and France gradually joined forces with Austria and Tsarist Russia.

After the Anglo-Prussian alliance, the small German states of Hanover and Portugal joined in.

The Franco-Austrian-Russian alliance included Sweden, Saxony, and later Spain.

These countries are actually similar to the current Britain, Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Tsarist Russia, and the Netherlands' circle of allies around the world.

William IV kept thinking, will the Seven Years' War really happen again under the leadership of Britain and the Netherlands?