Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

Far away in the British Isles in Europe, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom understood better. If we say in this world, which country is the greatest threat to the interests of the Netherlands? Britain should be ranked first, and Germany threatens second place in Europe.

After all, seriously speaking, the Netherlands' territory of more than 40,000 square kilometers in Europe is extremely fertile, and one-third of the border belongs to the coastal area. This is absolutely a drought for the German Empire, and it can obtain the Netherlands. It is much better than occupying the inland areas in northern Austria.

Did Bismarck have no ambitions for Dutch European territories? No one would believe it even to death. Queen Victoria was the first one not to believe it.

Before the German Empire agreed, there were many German states and federal states. Thirty-three states and four free cities made it a mess.

After the end of the Napoleonic War, there were still more than 30 states in Germany. The states of the German Confederation were not unified in currency types, units of measurement, etc., and they also set up checkpoints and levied tariffs, which was not conducive to a unified domestic market. This posed a great obstacle to the development of capitalist industrialization in the German Empire.

Just imagine, if Londoners go to Edinburgh, Wales, Ireland, etc., they need to go to the bank to exchange local currency. Wouldn’t it be very troublesome? Obviously, this is bad for the British economy.

Queen Victoria naturally understood that this was the reason why the German Confederation was trapped.

However, since the 1830s, under the leadership of Prussia, most of the German Confederation has joined the Prussian-led German Customs Union. The German Customs Union has abolished tariffs between each other, implemented unified currency, measurement units, etc. Unify business rules, eliminate trade barriers between them, and implement unified tariffs externally. The establishment of the German Customs Union began to unify the markets of the North German Customs Union. It was the beginning of the unification of the German Empire. Queen Victoria had to sigh. This is definitely an important chapter in European history. thing.

After the war of unification of Germany by Prussia in 1867, with the completion of the unification of the German Empire, the currency, business rules, measurement units, etc. in Germany were finally fully unified. This was conducive to the formation of a domestic market that promoted German unification and promoted the capital of the German Empire. development of socialist industry.

In addition, the German government also attaches great importance to issues related to railway construction. After the reunification of Germany, the railways in the German Empire doubled. The total railway distance exceeded 60,000 kilometers in 1880. The German Empire therefore became the most dense country in Europe at that time. In addition to railway construction, the inland shipping industry of the German Empire was also very developed. The development of the transportation industry laid the foundation for strengthening domestic economic exchanges in the German Empire and helped the development of other German industrial sectors. In turn, , and further strengthened the unification of the German market, thus promoting the process of German industrialization.

In this era, few people understand how important this is to a country.

The reason why the Netherlands, led by William IV of the Netherlands, rose to prominence, according to Queen Victoria, was because William IV had always focused most on the unified commerce, currency, prices, personnel, labor, markets, etc. of the Netherlands, which allowed the Netherlands to operate quickly. Economy, in the end, the European economy dominated all other countries, and then Sweden, Denmark, Greece, Siam, and even the United States and other South American countries were included in the unified large market of the Netherlands, and these countries became nutrients for the development of the Netherlands like a siphon.

Even according to the British internal argument, these countries are actually different from British territorial colonization. The Netherlands implemented economic colonization of these countries.

And these countries are still complacent and have taken advantage of the Netherlands.

However, Queen Victoria had to sigh and said that even the United Kingdom was helpless about this. After all, small countries do not have such long-term calculations and only value the present. What's more, in many countries such as the United States, in fact, the president and prime minister of the country are short-term. In power, if the Netherlands can provide enough resources for the other party to squander, why would these people be willing to give up the benefits they have obtained?

Even the intelligence received by Queen Victoria showed that many of the Dutch allies, after those countries fell from power, would go to the Netherlands for so-called further studies. The older ones would go to famous Dutch hospitals for treatment in the name of recuperation. Therefore, you become a de facto citizen of the Netherlands.

This made Queen Victoria dumbfounded when she first heard it. Then I felt inspired.

However, when I just wanted to implement this in the UK, I still encountered unprecedented opposition, especially the British aristocrats, who had the strongest opposition, and the same was true for the capitalists. After all, in their view, the UK's fat meat has been divided by enough people. After a few more, the domestic market and titles in the UK will become even more scarce.

In the end, Queen Victoria had to watch helplessly as the Netherlands continued to siphon talent and resources from around the world for its own use, while the UK could only watch.

The Queen returned to her previous thoughts. The German Confederation Customs Union implemented unified taxation for foreign countries. Unified taxation protected the industrial development of the German region, which was something Austria could not do.

Therefore, the North German Customs Union became more and more powerful. On the other hand, Austria was really lonely. In the end, it was defeated, and the German Empire was unified and kicked out of the group.

What is even more disgusting is that after the reunification in 1867, the government of the German Empire began to impose high tariffs on industrial products from Britain, the world hegemon after the first industrial revolution, the Netherlands, France, Austria-Hungary and even the United States. As a result, high prices weakened the competitiveness of British and Dutch products in the German Empire market, which helped the development of the German Empire's domestic industry during this period.

This is what Queen Victoria hates the most, because Germany's policy made following the trend popular. France followed suit in less than a month. Later, Austria-Hungary, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, the United States, and even the European industrially weak Tsarist Russia also implemented it. With this policy, the competitiveness of the British industrial products market was suddenly weakened, and the world market was divided among various countries.

However, the Netherlands relies on its allies and long-prepared free trade agreements. Not only does it remain unchanged in Sweden, Denmark, Greece, Spain and other countries, but because the UK is restricted, the Netherlands takes its place.

The Dutch fisherman profited.

However, in the UK, the world's industrial export supply exceeds sales, there is overcapacity, factory production is reduced, and worker unemployment is prevalent.

The opposition Tories in the country added fuel to the flames, causing the ruling Whig Party to be criticized more and more loudly, and the struggle between the two parties became more and more intense.

After Queen Victoria took office for 44 years in 1837, the first economic crisis suddenly came.