Start 1861: I just inherited the Dutch throne

Chapter 1130 Sit back and watch the German Bismarck’s performance first

"The relationship between Britain and France has plummeted, and now France and Germany have become enemies; the Austro-Hungarian Empire has formed an alliance with Germany, and Tsarist Russia has already fallen out with Austria-Hungary. They are in harmony with the German Empire on the surface, but secretly they are wary of each other.

So, Your Majesty, the entry point of the Netherlands is here. Are you sure you don’t want to get involved at this time? "

Herman Van Peron asked again. In his opinion, getting involved at this time can bring the Netherlands one step closer to Tsarist Russia and France. This is a better thing for the Netherlands to cope with the three major powers of Britain, Germany and Austria-Hungary on its own.

His Majesty actually refused?

Does your Majesty have a better plan?

Hermann Van Peron has known William IV since he was accepted by Philip in 1860. It has been 22 years now. His young Majesty, who was born in 1840, has now entered middle age.

The Netherlands has also transformed from a medium-sized European country into a global power that has moved its capital to Australia.

In the past 22 years, the world has been changing, and the dominance of the British maritime industry has been broken by the rise of the Netherlands again.

However, France's land hegemony in Europe gave way to Prussia after Prussia defeated Denmark, Austria, and France in three battles in just seven years.

The German Empire's European hegemony emerged spontaneously.

The Russian Empire turned from being pro-German to being suspicious of Germany.

The most pitiful thing is that after Napoleon was captured by Prussia in 1870, the south began to rebel and was divided into northern and southern France. One was the Second French Empire in the north with Paris as its capital, ruled by Napoleon III.

One is the French Third Republic with Adolphe Thiers as president and Lyon in the south as its capital.

For many years Napoleon believed that Queen Victoria would support him against the German Empire behind the southern government.

Support Paris in reconquering the South.

However, 12 years later, Britain still did not touch this issue. The south often received officials from the German Empire, accelerating the consolidation of its dominance.

Napoleon III was naturally impatient.

But he still held back, because France, which lost the south, was already worse than Britain and Germany and fell into a period of weakness.

But even if Britain didn't help, it actually added insult to injury and raided the Suez Canal controlled by France overseas. This was Napoleon III's most self-esteemed project.

Now the fruit is about to be plucked by the British. It is strange that Napoleon III and the French government can agree. The people of Paris are even more unhappy.

Hermann Van Peron took a fancy to Napoleon III and the entire people of the Second French Empire in the north had entered a stage of anger, so any support from the Netherlands was likely to be richly rewarded.

But His Majesty actually refused?

He was confused. At this time, William IV first talked about the factors that led to the establishment of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

He said: “The establishment of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was essentially the result of a compromise between the Habsburg dynasty and the Hungarian aristocracy. It did not play any effective role in regulating domestic ethnic conflicts. The parliamentary seats in Vienna and Budapest were only for Germans and Hungarians. , but ethnic minorities such as the Czechs and Slavs have no right to enter, which will intensify their determination for independence, and the seeds of the eventual division of the Austro-Hungarian Empire have been sown."

William IV looked at Hermann Van Peron and asked: "Do you know what this means?"

Hermann Van Peron was stunned for a moment, then showed a look of shock, "Representing the German-Austrian Alliance, in the end Austria-Hungary may be plotted by the German Bismarck government?"

William IV praised: "Yes, the Hungarian Parliament controlled by the Magyar nobles of Hungary has become one of the only centers of power in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Such a rule will become the Austro-Hungarian Empire at some stage in the future. The weakness lies in the fact that Franz Joseph I of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was an unqualified monarch who did not know the so-called unqualified monarch. He did not understand at all that war would make their country's rule chaotic, and war would make their paper tiger appear."

In this regard, Herman Van Peiron had to admit that this was right.

"The Austro-Hungarian Empire has a special geographical location and is surrounded by powerful countries. It has the Tsarist Empire in the east, the Ottoman Empire in the south, France and Germany in the northwest, and the naval power Britain in the south of the Mediterranean. Of course, we are stationed in Greece. Next to it, our Dutch garrison in southern Europe guarded the new territory of Albania Province on the eastern Adriatic.

In such an environment, in order to obtain more benefits while preserving oneself, it is necessary to form alliances with other countries. This is very popular among European countries now.

Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire were both linguistically German-speaking countries. In addition, Bismarck tried his best to promote the German-Austrian Alliance in order to isolate his old enemy France.

For Tsarist Russia, in order to restrain Britain in Central Asia, it also urgently needs to unite with Germany.

At the same time, the Austro-Hungarian Empire also needed to be wary of the expansion of the Tsarist Russia and the Netherlands in the Balkans. The expansion of the Netherlands and Tsarist Russia threatened the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so both Tsarist Russia and Austria-Hungary needed a third party to check and balance. Therefore, Germany became a hot potato in the early years, sitting back and reaping the benefits. "

William IV also had to lament that if he had not brought the rise of the Netherlands after he came to this world, according to the original history, in the second half of the 19th century, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Germany, and Tsarist Russia formed a geopolitical alliance, known in history as the "Three Emperors" agreement".

Later, in the late 19s, as the Ottoman Empire gradually declined, the Russian Empire took the opportunity to provoke a war, and promised to carve up the Balkan Peninsula to win the neutral attitude of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After the war, the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not waste a single soldier. Then we got the custody of the Bosnia and Herzegovina region (Bosnia and Herzegovina), which was like pie in the sky.

The residents of Bosnia and Herzegovina are mainly Serbs, who were enslaved by the Ottoman Empire in history, so they are mostly nationalistic.

Later, in 1908, the Austro-Hungarian Empire tore off the mask of escrow and directly annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina by force. This move aroused the indignation of the Serbs.

As a result, the blind expansion of the Austro-Hungarian Empire finally caused the Austro-Hungarian Empire to get into trouble. On June 1914, 6, Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, as the Crown Prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, visited Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was raped and killed by a young Serbian nationalist on the way. This incident led to Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia. Since each had allies, the war eventually developed into World War I.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire was subsequently defeated and disintegrated. It was not until it was invaded by Germany after World War II that it tried to revive itself with the help of Greater Germany. Unfortunately, after its defeat, it became just one of many small countries in Europe.

"Bismarck of the German Empire saw exactly this, so Bismarck will not let go of any opportunity to peek at Austria-Hungary. We need to see Germany's tactics clearly before taking action."

(End of this chapter)