Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

But more than that, this idea is not new at all, and even the operating routines seem familiar.

Three years ago, Norway's largest newspaper Aftenposten reported that the Dutch intelligence organization had leaked the information, and an insider revealed it to the newspaper. There were reports that the British Empire would attack one of Norway's most important ports, Bergen. The city took over direct takeover, and then built a secret naval base facility contracted by London businessmen jointly built by the navy and civilians.

snort!

After receiving this information, the Reddian issued a diplomatic statement of serious concern for the British Empire. At the same time, as the news became more and more serious, it finally even went so far as to summon the ambassador to protest, and almost fell into a turmoil of severing diplomatic relations.

That incident caused great harm to the diplomats of the British Empire. They ran around here and there. Only after repeated assurances that they had no such idea did King Carl XV of Sweden choose to believe it.

However, compared to before, the UK still felt that Sweden was taking more precautions against the UK, especially in Norwegian maritime trade transactions, which had stricter controls, which made it originally want to use the Norwegians to check and balance Sweden's hegemonic influence in Northern Europe. force, but it failed because of this. "

In the end, it was Viscount Palmerston who went to Sweden to explain himself and initiated intensive and rapid diplomatic efforts.

Foreign Secretary Russell and other senior officials of the British Empire frequently visited Stockholm, and finally threatened to suspend the British Empire's arms sales plan for Sweden to manufacture European steam-iron armored battleships, except for the steam ironclad battleships that the British Empire and France began to equip, forcing the other side to return to iron ore, coke and primitive shrubs. Wait, there is an agreement on reopening the UK.

"All the evidence disclosed this time was obtained by those people through others, not the information obtained by ourselves. In principle, we will not comment on such inaccurate prediction topics."

British Foreign Secretary Russell said in an interview with the Financial Times in response to this matter, "We are not currently carrying out any construction, so our European partners do not need to worry."

"Russell's words made many people understand the meaning, that is, there is currently no construction, but there are plans."

Hermann Van Peron, dean of the School of Diplomacy at Leiden University, said unceremoniously to the British who were targeted by the media:

"This is the quibble that Britain has always been best at. It is just as jarring as the quibble over the ownership of Belgium."

On February 2, 1862, the war of words escalated!

The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed that the United Kingdom was preparing to build naval bases in Belgium, Denmark, and Portugal. However, this statement was denied and refuted by the British Ambassador to the Netherlands that day.

On the same day, many media in Paris revealed to the media based on so-called "informed sources" from the upper echelons of Paris that they were seeking to sign a secret agreement with the Kingdom of Italy on sharing military bases in the Mediterranean, allowing the British Empire's troops to Use the ports of the Kingdom of Italy as military bases.

Although the British Empire and the Kingdom of Italy both denied this plan, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs also expressed strong dissatisfaction and criticism on the existence of this possible drafting stage on the same day on the grounds that the western Mediterranean was not wide enough.

And claimed that France has the right to maintain naval security in the Mediterranean and make necessary reactions and countermeasures.

French people even took to the streets because of this news. Out of a population of 33 million, 5 million people took to the streets to oppose the expansion of the British Empire in the Mediterranean, including 1 million in Paris alone.

With the sudden rise of this trend, seemingly in unison, large numbers of demonstrations against the hegemony of the British Empire took place as far south as Portugal and Spain, all the way north to the German Confederation such as the Netherlands and Prussia, and as far north as Sweden and Norway. shiwei.

Originally, the upper-class elite thought that this was a self-directed and self-acted show, only selling their anxiety for the British Empire. Even they themselves felt hot and ashamed for the people on their side, and they could hardly stand it anymore.

There was talk even among the upper echelons of Paris.

Are you anxious? Anyway, I’m not anxious, it’s still a journey of several thousand kilometers from London to the Mediterranean.”

"Opposite and next to the Netherlands? Coming from London and coming from Belgium, the distance is actually not much different. It's just a day. If the British really want to attack the Netherlands, I don't think they will care about the extra few hundred kilometers. "

However, I didn’t expect that it would eventually turn into a demonstration involving the entire Europe and tens of millions of people. Is this still the effect of self-directed and self-acted?

They themselves have shaken their previous views,

Three people become tigers, two people are real!

The opinions of many people are the direction of truth!

Don’t these people understand this common sense?

Obviously not.

But some people just want what they are not.

Journalist Yade is a reporter and editor specializing in European politics for Le Monde in Paris. He has visited Norway, the Netherlands and other places many times before. He has even lived in the island country of the Indian Ocean and even served in the military on the island of Mauritius.

He obviously knew a lot about European affairs, but he still wrote it like this, and the results showed that the incitement article he had written was very successful, but he did not expect that after being published in the newspaper, it would arouse much more popularity than his previous editor article, perhaps because he was just like before, as long as the opponent against France became involved in his "The Threat to the British Empire" and the content was decent, he could get enough sales in Paris.

As for Belgium, in order to confirm this, France has sent diplomats and military personnel to visit Belgium, asking Belgium to reject the British Empire’s request to station troops, and even expressed it in a threatening tone.

"We have made it clear to Belgium that the potential actions of a certain major country will trigger national security concerns in neighboring countries. Therefore, any such move by Belgium will trigger a chain reaction. Belgium should be cautious."

Whether this kind of contact by France's hard-line delegation can be effective, including the French people, is uncertain. However, according to the voices coming out of Paris, the Palace of Versailles believes that France needs sustained and longer-term efforts to counter the British Empire's influence. Belgian influence.

Although Belgium is small and has the shortest coastline among Western European countries, the country's location and unique geographical location determine how much France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom attach great importance to it.

A Dutch university expert told the media that the British Empire has always regarded the Atlantic Ocean as its exclusive hunting ground, so it will be extremely sensitive to any disturbance in this area.

In addition, France and the Netherlands are both strategic competitors that have been recognized by the British Empire. Any actions of these two countries will be observed, interpreted, amplified and hyped by the British Empire.

From Portugal to Norway, and then from Denmark to Belgium, these are like four buoys for sea fishing. It is impossible for any European country to enter the sea on a large scale without being discovered by the United Kingdom.

In addition to the threat of the British Empire, in fact, this kind of anti-British public opinion now urgently needs to hype up similar issues to consolidate the consensus of hostility to Britain in their respective countries.

To gain political capital and make profits.

In addition, it can be observed that the locations selected by the British Empire, from southern Europe to northern Europe, are considered strategic weak points of the British Empire and important Atlantic coastal ports. In the past, they did not dare to touch for fear of attracting public anger. Now they are really Although the action was slight, it still could not stop the worries of other countries.

However, with the rapid development of the navies of various countries, these areas have really become the weakness of the British Empire. Therefore, the British Empire panicked and wanted to continuously strengthen its vest.

Among them, Belgium is the best to start, and it is considered to be whether the British Empire will eventually become the object of fear of European countries on land.

Experts familiar with the British Empire believe that it would be difficult for the British Empire to fully attack the influence of France and the Netherlands in Belgium, because the population of Belgium is originally dominated by France and the Netherlands. This is where the confidence of the two countries lies. .

The British Empire wants to use the naval base as an entry point and wants to expand its presence in Belgium through military power. In fact, it seems that the results will be far away at present.

Because of the extensive interests of France and the Netherlands, many actions taken by the two countries to protect Belgium have become legitimate. Although the United Kingdom and Leopold I are rulers, in fact, their roots are not here. Therefore, people in these two places, after thirty years, actually still miss their homeland in their hearts. No, because of this, something happened in Belgium again.

And it's the most serious kind.

On February 4, 1862, in southern Belgium, the French-speaking provinces of Hainaut and Namur, the provinces of Antwerp and Limburg in the north, the province of Liège in the east, the Prussian-speaking city of Verviers and the city of Malmedy in the east , the three parties jointly announced the formation of an alliance.

Because they were dissatisfied with the pro-British policy of the Belgian government, they clearly expressed their opposition to even a single soldier from the British Empire stationed in Belgian territory, and stated that they would jointly form an offensive and defensive alliance to fight against the Belgian government and the rule of Leopold I.

That’s okay!

The British Empire was the first to stand up and strongly condemn this tripartite alliance, asking all countries not to support it.

At the same time, Belgium's Leopold announced that he would enter into dialogue with them, but the premise was to proceed without any preconditions in order to maintain the integrity of Belgium's territory.

However, I don’t know if it was an illusion, but this time the Netherlands actually spoke first, and France and Prussia were actually willing to succumb to it.

It was clear that the Netherlands dominated. ‘Has this caused European countries to re-examine the status of the Netherlands for the first time this century and start a revival?