Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

"Here I'm going to give you a clue. I won't talk about Europe, but just Ireland on the British Isles."

Jonler saw everyone's expressions, but he suddenly did not directly announce the data as they thought, but chose to use Ireland as an example. Although it was dissatisfying, he did not object to stop it.

William IV couldn't help but think of a later review of the history of European immigration that he had read, in which Ireland was called the history of immigrants' blood and tears as a microcosm of a classic case.

In later generations, Ireland was a country with a per capita income of US$80,000, one of the few countries with the highest income.

However, the population is only 4 million, while the population around the world is as high as 70 million. This is all due to immigration.

In addition to being rich, Ireland is also regarded as one of the few livable countries. The capital Dublin has been ranked among the most livable cities many times. At that time, William IV was very puzzled when he saw this in his previous life. The population of Ireland What happened? Why do such unusual population fluctuations and proportions occur?

Irish people in later generations were basically descendants of Celts. Beginning in the 10th century, Celts from Europe landed on the island of Ireland for the purpose of developing and expanding their borders. Soon after, the Celtic culture here became the local mainstream culture.

"St. Bode's status in the hearts of local people is very high, and his Catholic culture is even more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. This is also an important reason why Ireland has not carried out reforms with the rise of Protestantism and has always been a Catholic country."

At this point, everyone here couldn't help but change their expressions. This is a sensitive topic although it is not taboo.

This was also the case in the Netherlands.

The battle between Catholicism and Protestantism in Europe has never stopped. In the past, the Netherlands was at the forefront. Why?

Because Luxembourg belongs to the Catholic Church, France also belongs to the Catholic Church, the Austrian Empire, Spain and Portugal, etc., all belong to the Catholic sphere of influence, especially the many large and small principalities around Rome.

In contrast, the Netherlands, the German Confederation, Sweden, the direct state of Norway, and the two British islands except Ireland are all Protestant areas, and the rest from Tsarist Russia in the north to Greece in the south are Orthodox.

Special note: The French-speaking area in southern Belgium is Catholic, while the Dutch-speaking area in the north is Protestant.

This is the League of Faith, which once led to the famous Thirty Years War in Europe, which lasted from 1618 to 1648.

This was a large-scale European melee that evolved from the Civil War of the Holy Roman Empire. It was also the first war in history in which all Europe participated. This war was the product of conflicts among European countries competing for interests, establishing hegemony, and intensified religious disputes. The war ended with The Habsburg dynasty headed by Austria was defeated and ended with the signing of the "Contract of Westphalia". After the Middle Ages, the Holy Roman Empire gradually declined, and disputes continued among the princely states. After the Reformation, Catholicism and Protestantism have developed sharply. The confrontation, coupled with the rise of neighboring countries, led to a large-scale international war from 1618 to 1648 in which major European countries were involved in the German League Civil War, which is also called a "religious war" by European countries today.

The war was basically fought between the northern Protestant princely states of the German Alliance and Sweden and Denmark, and was supported by the Protestant Netherlands and the British Empire. In order to counter Vienna, the Orthodox Tsarist Russia also came out to support.

France also supports this side. Although France is Catholic, it is willing to stand with these Protestant countries in order to dominate Europe and fight back against the rule of the Austrian Empire. It can be said that France has always been called the most untrustworthy country. This is not without reason. .

On the other side are the Holy Roman Emperor, the Catholic princes in the German League, and Spain and Portugal on the other side. and received support from the Pope and Poland.

This war marked the formation of European nation-states and was the beginning of modern European history. This war resulted in the disappearance of about 40 people from the states of the German Union.

Even the Kingdom of Bavaria is 70% Catholic. 65% of the population of the Pomeranian Kingdom was killed, 25% of the population of Silesia was killed, and nearly half of the men of the German Union states were killed.

Therefore, whenever someone talks about this period of history, no one in Europe or even in the entire Western Hemisphere is interested in it.

Therefore, when Jonler said it, everyone here had read that period of history, so it was no exception.

Jonler said indifferently: "It refers to the fact that since the Middle Ages, religion has exerted control over people's minds, which has aroused strong public outrage. Vast areas in Europe such as the German Union and the United Kingdom have carried out internal reforms of their own culture. This reform has This triggered the birth of the conflict between Catholicism and New Friendship.

Due to the natural proximity of the geographical location, starting from the 16th century, the British Protestant forces adopted various infiltration methods to penetrate into the Kingdom of Ireland and intervene in its political direction. At the end of the 17th century, the Protestant forces took control of the Irish political power through regime change, and The discriminatory treatment of Catholicism has aroused the dissatisfaction of a large number of Catholics in Ireland, which is also an important reason for frequent internal conflicts in Ireland."

In 1800, after being swallowed up politically and coerced militarily, the Irish Parliament finally had no choice but to pass the law of merger with the United Kingdom and announced the establishment of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. This period of history was the beginning of a big opening for Irish immigration. Social unrest forced the Irish to make a living in other places, including Europe and the newly emerging Americas.

As the last member to join the United Kingdom, Ireland was highly at odds with England on religious issues, because at this time Protestantism was the state religion of England, and the new homeland became the largest political center in the United Kingdom, while Ireland was a Catholic-dominated area. With the increasing penetration of Protestantism, dissatisfied Catholics began to get tired of local life. Especially when the British government's policies favored the Protestant areas, and even the starvation disaster in Ireland was ignored, immigrants began to arrive in large numbers. They originally wanted to leave for Europe, but in the end they found that even southern France could not protect themselves. There were no new jobs available for them. Therefore, these people were moved by the new establishment of the United States.

After potatoes were introduced from the Americas in the 17th century, Ireland experienced a prosperous economic and social period, with a substantial population increase. Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. Starting in 1802, Ireland's potato cultivation suffered a large-scale plant epidemic, and a large number of Potatoes rot in the ground. According to British data, there have been 24 disasters in Ireland since 1728, but the disaster officially reached its peak in 1802, and all previous disasters were insignificant.

Potatoes were the staple food of the Irish people at that time. The harvest loss caused by the epidemic seriously threatened their lives and health. The epidemic did not gradually ease until 1852.

However, the main reason for the sharp decline in Ireland's population was the lack of religious and food supply, but there was another main reason, which was aggravated by the poor leadership of the British Empire. After the famine, the British government not only did not relax urgently and transport supplies. On the contrary, they allowed the large Protestant landowners to continue to impose crop expropriations on these Catholic farmers, giving priority to the already scarce food supplies to England.

What is even more outrageous is that Protestant merchants continued to use Ireland as a transshipment port for American grain, but were unwilling to sell it to the poor Irish at low prices. This also contributed to the spread of famine among the Irish and the estrangement between the two places. . It laid the groundwork for hatred in the future.

The Irish who were lucky enough to survive began to seek a new way out, and North America became an important option for them. Since the British colonial power penetrated into the Americas, many workers and oppressed people at the bottom have successively traveled across the ocean. The poor Irish who came to this New World in search of business opportunities were naturally yearning for North America, where there were many ethnic groups in the same situation.

"This series of reasons caused the development of the Irish immigration wave. From 1800 to 1810, 12,750 Irish immigrants immigrated to the United States, from 1810 to 1820, 25,800 people immigrated to the United States, from 1820 to 1830, 54,338 people immigrated to the United States, and from 1830 to 1830, There were 207,140 people in 1840, 780,790 people from 1840 to 1850, and by the last decade from 1850 to 1860, the number of Irish people was a terrifying 911,145."

As sets of data emerge from Interior Secretary Jon Leer.

Suck, suck, suck!

Everyone breathed rapidly and looked at William IV uneasily.

"Ireland alone has so many immigrants to the United States, so how many people will there be in the whole of Europe? I calculated that in the past sixty years, Ireland has immigrated to the United States, reaching 1.991963 people. Is this even more? The registered population is at least 108,000 more, no problem on time. Your Majesty, no wonder the population of the United States is growing so fast. Think about it, their population was only 4 million in 1800, which is about the same as ours, but now it has reached There are more than 30 million people, and immigrants are among them, I think at least more than half of them.”

Industry Minister Wem Cote sighed, and further said: "If the Netherlands has so many immigrants, then the country and other industrial systems will definitely be larger and more complete. With the economic strength and industrial level of the Netherlands, if the population is large enough, , reaching the gate of 30 million, then, with the development of many new technologies, we are not sure that we will not completely reach or even surpass the scale and level of the British, but at least surpass France, we are still confident."

The speaker was unintentional, but the listener was intentional. Foreign Minister Hesbert Feng's heart moved. He couldn't help but think of His Majesty William IV, and he was inexplicably horrified.

Because he thought of a question, that is, William IV's heavyweight spy in the United States, Washburn, the chairman of the Trade Committee and Appropriations Committee of the U.S. Congress, was of Irish descent. Did His Majesty, as early as a few years ago, He has already seen the potential of the Irish ethnic group, especially the contradiction between the Irish and the English, so he dared to cultivate each other boldly in this way.

I couldn't help but sigh: Sure enough, Your Majesty stands high and looks far away!

After hearing that the Irish now account for 30% of the European population going to the United States, the total number of European immigrants in the last decade is finally known. 2.7 million, which is the total number of immigrants including refugees from 1850 to 1860.

Although many people have speculated, they are still frightened by it.

Nearly half of the Dutch population.

It's terrifying.

"Two years is equivalent to the entire Netherlands moving to the United States, Your Majesty, we"

William IV stopped the Minister of Industry, Wem Cote, and ignored those people's concerns. Instead, he said to Tolbeck and Hesbert Feng: "This is why I want to capture Canada. The Netherlands is a geomantic treasure land, but it is also a land of four wars. It is not a place suitable for the growth of our ambitions. Canada is."

"But Your Majesty, the climate in the United States has become so bad now. If we join in, will the United States suffer from this?"

"Good question," William IV said secretly when he saw the Minister of Education, Lud Bales.

(ps: I will start correcting typos in previous chapters today)

Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 are being coded!