Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

William IV: "I am not afraid of leaking secrets. In fact, we are also building, and we have already built two ships."

James: "Oh my god, is this true? Does your Majesty know the consequences of these words?"

William IV: "Of course, but the Netherlands has become one of the naval countries with the most advanced technology in the world. As you just mentioned, the Netherlands has become the only country with steam battleship technology alongside the United Kingdom and France, and has manufactured capable country”

William IV: "The United Kingdom faces diplomatic choices internationally. The Mediterranean will not change how many countries are wary of Britain just because of one or two foreign visits by the Prime Minister.

Although the Royal Navy is the best in the world, it does not have enough and safe supply ports, which will become a shortcoming for the United Kingdom.

The international situation has been changing rapidly in recent years, and everyone including the Kingdom of the Netherlands has felt that the world situation is very different from what it was five years ago. Therefore, the era when Britain relied on its navy to sail to other countries' coastlines and made other countries bow their heads seems to be very disgusting to all countries. , and resistance”

James: "In your Majesty's opinion, does this mean that the British navy is not enough to maintain Britain's previous status? Well, it means that there is a huge difference between what your Majesty said 5 years ago and 5 years later."

William IV: "Nature is different. This is not just the Netherlands, but the whole world."

James: "Does this mean that Britain is in decline?"

William IV: "We cannot say that Britain is in decline, we can only say that other countries are progressing too fast."

James: "What is the current attitude of the Netherlands towards the implementation of British foreign policy? Your Majesty, can you say this?"

William IV: "This is a difficult topic. Seriously speaking, the Netherlands has a love-hate relationship with the United Kingdom. Everyone knows that the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have had the closest integration under the rule of the United Kingdom under one king. By Britain stole the Netherlands internally, and the Netherlands lost its advantages over Britain, including capital and naval advantages.

It is precisely because of such a profound history that the Netherlands has been vigilant enough to guard against the United Kingdom when facing it. At the same time, because of the same national conditions, the Netherlands has a foreign policy that focuses on contact with the United Kingdom. Therefore, in the past For several years, the relationship between the Netherlands and Britain has been in this contradictory state. "

James: "His Majesty just talked about the unexpected fact that the Netherlands already has two steam battleships. To be honest, I feel like my heart is still beating fast. I believe that after this news comes out, the world will cause a sensation. We know that the current number of battleships of this type in Britain and France is only three and four respectively.

Among the four French ships, one is a half-sail and half-steam product, and French battleships are generally smaller in tonnage. If the Dutch steam battleships are large enough, then"

William IV: "I know what you want to say, but the tonnage of the Netherlands' new warships is no less than that of the British."

James: "I'm curious, have these two steam battleships in the Netherlands been named?"

William IV: "Naturally, the first ship was named Nassau and the second ship was named after our royal family of Nassau and Orange in the Netherlands."

James: "I have to say, this is a good name. Again, Your Majesty, can you tell me where the Nassau and Orange are deployed? It shouldn't be in Amsterdam, right?"

William IV: "Yes, the Orange is currently at Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands and Surabaya Port in the East Indies"

James: "The Netherlands' main ace army is actually deployed in the Far East Pacific?"

William IV: "Actually, the Dutch military in Europe is not weak either."

James: "However, placing the most advanced warships in the Pacific Ocean shows that the Netherlands attaches great importance to that area. Does the Netherlands really value the Far East that much?"

William IV: "We are also helpless. The Netherlands is surrounded by big countries. This is a very dangerous thing for the Netherlands. The depth of the Netherlands' European domestic strategy is too narrow. This environment makes it very difficult for the Netherlands to develop. This These are things that everyone knows, and there is no need to hide them.

The Far East is precisely the key to the Netherlands' solution to this problem. We do not deny that the Netherlands wanted to use this to make the Netherlands a great power. With hundreds of years of continuous southward and eastward expansion, the Russian Empire occupied the entire northern half of the Eurasian continent and was powerful in the east and west.

With the world's most powerful navy, Britain conquered cities and islands in the world's waters and became a maritime hegemon.

The Netherlands does not have such capital. Therefore, the Netherlands can only stay away from the inner circle of European countries competing for hegemony and go to the Far East to open up wasteland. Yes, it is to open up wasteland. We are ready to use a construction attitude to build a new powerful country, the Netherlands. "

James: "It seems that everything is going according to the plan of His Majesty and the Dutch government, so I congratulate you on the prosperity of the Netherlands under your Majesty's leadership."

. . . . .

The sales of "Echo" around the world spread the relevant statements of William IV around the world, and the attitudes of various countries responded differently.

But William used this newspaper to announce that the Netherlands had secretly become the third country to own the world's most advanced steam battleships. The world was shocked for a while.

If Britain and France could possess it before, other countries in the world could not think of it, then the possession of the Netherlands has put great pressure on some of the world's big countries such as Prussia, Austria-Hungary and even Italy.

The pride in the country that was deliberately promoted by the government pushed up the expectations of the people. Suddenly, steam battleships appeared in the Netherlands, and they also asked their respective governments to let their countries join the ranks as soon as possible.

Naturally, they don't know how many accessories and matching technologies are needed to build such a steam battleship, but this is the counter-effect that managers receive under the obscurantist policy.

People pay so much in taxes every year, and they don’t want to see a weak government because it’s not worth the taxes they pay. What they want is the glory of not being able to lag behind other countries. Yes, it’s that simple.

As a result, Prussia and the Tsarist Russian Empire, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, etc. were all deeply implicated because of William IV's interview, and they couldn't help complaining about the evil he had done.

Even in North America, both the North and the South were confused by the news that the Netherlands suddenly had steam battleships.

The Lincoln administration announced that it would approach the Kingdom of the Netherlands, requesting Dutch assistance in establishing their fleet of steam battleships in the Confederate States of America.

To this end, the Lincoln government announced that it would set up a special fund of more than US$10 million (£2 million) to purchase and introduce this technology from the Netherlands.

US$10 million, equivalent to 0.55% of their US$1.8 billion GDP

This investment is not small.

For this reason, the world fell silent.

But the opponents of the Lincoln administration dared not remain silent.

The Davis government in the south stated that it did not want the Netherlands to grant this technology to the Lincoln government in the north, because this would undermine the position that the Dutch government has always declared, which is to maintain world peace, and the Netherlands should not do this.

However, even they themselves do not believe that the Netherlands will realize such a slogan.

Because they themselves say one thing and do another. This is a unique gene inherited from England.