Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

Chapter 1173 The Roman Pope’s Reluctance

On June 18, 1883, the evolution of the Mexican War shocked the world again.

Because, after Mexico achieved a small victory in the counterattack, it actually stepped up its offensive in Oaxaca, directly driving the 30,000 Austro-Hungarian soldiers stationed there back thirty kilometers.

Even Crown Prince Rudolf of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, who was commanding the army on the front line, was shot through his left ear by a bullet. This year, the only son of Franz Joseph I was just 25 years old.

Also accompanying him to the war in Mexico was his cousin Archduke Ferdinand, who was 20 years old this year.

After Crown Prince Rudolf was injured, Archduke Ferdinand, who temporarily commanded the army, came up with a good idea to divert his uncle's anger in order to protect himself from the anger of Franz Joseph I.

On June 20, 1883, Archduke Ferdinand, who temporarily replaced Crown Prince Rudolf in charge of the army, ordered a counterattack against the Mexican army and ordered the massacre of Mexican residents. Until the last day of June, nearly 48,000 Mexican civilians died More than half of the casualties were killed by the guns of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

This news was like a tornado, sweeping across both sides of the Atlantic. Even both sides of the Pacific were shocked by the further deepening of the Mexican War.

Mexican President Manuel Gonzalez publicly condemned the Austro-Hungarian Empire directly in Mexico City, “I feel sad for the indiscriminate killing of Mexican civilians, and I feel even more sad for Mexico’s inability to defeat the powerful invader Austro-Hungarian army. pain.

We have reason to unite to deal with these crazy Austro-Hungarian soldiers. I swear that I will make the other party pay the price. Mexico will firmly remember how our people were harmed by Vienna. Franz Joseph I must be responsible for this incident, and Vienna will pay a heavy price to atone for it. "

The Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs even held a diplomatic conference and invited the Thirteen Latin American Group, as well as the United States of America, Brazil, Argentina, France, Spain, Italy and many other countries to participate in this emergency meeting where the Austro-Hungarian Empire massacred Mexico.

After the meeting, all participating countries stated that the Austro-Hungarian Empire should not massacre Mexicans, and asked the Austro-Hungarian Empire to ensure that similar massacres of civilians would not occur again.

However, Mexico still received no response from many countries when it came to the joint communiqué condemning the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

For example, both France and Italy made it clear that they did not want to see condemnation of Austria-Hungary appear in the joint communiqué.

The attitudes of these two countries have caused some countries that originally expressed support to hesitate.

Especially Brazil.

In response, William IV claimed that something was wrong with his son Albert.

The content is why Brazil, France and Spain are so opposed to public condemnation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

"Father"

"Brazil is a country that has the title of the most powerful country in the Western Hemisphere. This country is currently second only to the Americas in terms of comprehensive strength. Although Argentina's status has risen extremely fast in recent years, it must be said that the special relationship between Brazil and Portugal has allowed Brazil to invisibly maintain its position. Second place in the Americas.

On the contrary, Argentina's status has dropped a lot because of its bad relations with us over the years.

Brazil is a country that knows how to protect itself wisely, but Argentina is too showy, so it is understandable that Brazil remains as invisible as ever. "

William IV nodded and looked like he was listening hard, which shocked Albert. He continued to express his thoughts, "Brazil naturally has reasons for hesitation, especially France and Spain.

France and Italy have competed for territory with the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the past, but the two countries are Catholic countries, one of the three major Christian denominations, and more importantly, the three countries are all loyal countries that believe in the Roman Catholic Church.

I remember that two months ago I saw in front of my father’s desk that our Australian Times reported that Pope Leo XIII left Rome and specifically visited Vienna, Milan and Paris, and even Madrid, Lisbon is not spared.

I later noticed that subsequent newspapers followed and reported on the attitudes of various countries in these places to ease relations after welcoming him.

So I make a bold guess that the reason why these countries have softened their attitude towards the appearance of Vienna may be related to Leo XIII's visit, or even because the Holy See's move to unite the Catholic countries is "troubling".

Although various countries are dissatisfied with the long-arm jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church, almost all their citizens believe in Catholicism. At this time, giving each other adequate face is the best way to govern their citizens. "

William IV nodded and said: "Yes, you can observe the details, which is very good."

"Whether it is Catholicism, Orthodoxy, or Protestantism, it is the basis for each country to rule its citizens. This is the helplessness of those in power. Sometimes compromise is still needed.

This is what I originally wanted to tell you today, but unexpectedly, you have already figured it out yourself, which is very good. "

Albert's face was still serious, and he did not show a happy expression after receiving praise.

William IV was extremely satisfied in his heart. He was not proud or complacent when he was praised, but he did not lose his confidence. Coupled with his overflowing elegance, he really showed the magnanimity of the European nobles he had cultivated.

At this moment, on the Mexican battlefield, there are corpses scattered everywhere in the wild, leaving wild wolves waiting for them to gnaw on them.

These were photographed and published in major newspapers, making people even more dissatisfied with the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

However, this time Franz Joseph I was much smarter. Their military directly refuted that what happened in the newspaper was not caused by them. "We have reason to believe that this is not a century-old absurdity created by Mexico to morally kidnap the world, but on the contrary, let the world point at our Austro-Hungarian Empire. Of course, we have to deny this. We hope that those people in Mexico City will think more about how to solve the current war machine and how to stop this machine from running, instead of continuing this boring moral attack."

Whether it is a lie or not, under the guidance of certain public opinion, because of different interests and different utilization values, everyone can choose which side's true or false lies to believe.

For example, now, the German Empire and the United Kingdom are both vague and selectively adopt the words used by the Austro-Hungarian military to announce the "truth" to show that they are on the side of the Austrian army.

On the contrary, Mexico has received support from many countries in South America, and the Netherlands and other countries are the same.

At this moment, both sides are trying to create the other side as the perpetrator of these corpse photos and they are innocent.

The pity is that they forgot that the corpses are the real innocent people. As expected, in war, the lower-class civilians and soldiers are the most miserable.

But what is surprising is that on the battlefield, Catholics seem to cross the battlefield to pick up the corpses, give them various kinds of mass, and pray for them to enter the afterlife.

The enemies on the battlefield secretly cooperated with this because both sides were countries within the sphere of influence of Catholicism.

William IV had to sigh, "Germany and Britain have not yet made a move, but the Roman Catholic Church has made a move first. As expected, accidents always come suddenly, but is the intervention of the Roman Catholic Church really an accident?"

William IV expressed doubts about this.