Start 1861: I just inherited the Dutch throne

Chapter 1136 The drastic change in German diplomacy

While Empress Diplomacy was being held between France and Tsarist Russia, and demonstrations and suppression of demonstrations by the British and Irish were attracting global attention, the public part of the meeting between the German and Austrian Prime Ministers in Budapest on September 1882, 9 shocked everyone.

"The virtual and actual diplomacy of the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire's allies, an interpretation of European geopolitics!"

Even though Austria-Hungary's military invasion in Mexico has been criticized by the international community, German Prime Minister Bismarck and Austro-Hungarian Count Andrássy made it clear during their meeting in Vienna that the German Empire would fully and unconditionally support the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the war. Regarding military operations in Latin America, the German Empire regarded the actions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire as a sacred war to safeguard its own interests.

This was the first time that Bismarck of the German Empire clearly stated his support for Austria-Hungary's invasion of Mexico when he visited Budapest on September 1882, 9.

Count Andrassy stated that he discussed agricultural cooperation with Bismarck, who came from afar, and the German Empire promised to provide assistance, including weapons, to Austria-Hungary.

Count Andrassy told the media that the Austro-Hungarian Empire would assist the German Empire in developing its influence in South America.

This explains the reason why the summit between the two prime ministers was chosen in Budapest, in order to show Prime Minister Bismarck that Budapest, where the power of the Kingdom of Hungary in the Austro-Hungarian Empire was concentrated, was to show the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s view of the German Empire Covenant as the unity of all Austria-Hungary.

The Austro-Hungarian Prime Minister also expressed his willingness to strengthen the unity of Austria-Hungary and the German Empire in European affairs and help the German Empire's presence in the Mediterranean.

On the other hand, if the German Empire really provides more explicit support to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, for example, it currently only provides firearms and ammunition for light weapons, but if it is upgraded to support advanced German artillery, etc., then the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Mexico The war will bring the Mexican War into an even larger war.

This has led many people to believe that even if the German Empire had a huge inventory of artillery weapons, Berlin might not be willing to hand over a large amount of weapons to Vienna.

In other words, the German Empire's potential arms supply to Austria-Hungary is unlikely to bring about a breakthrough in the Mexican War, but it will undoubtedly help the Austro-Hungarian Empire maintain the same meat grinder tactics. After all, Franz Joseph I still firmly believes that Latin America and Dutch military aid to Mexico would eventually run out.

In general, the meeting between Bismarck and Count Andrassy will not lead to a complete breakdown of relations between Germany and the United States, or between Austria-Hungary and the United States, but it will definitely test the diplomatic issues between them. After all, the United States of America has always been a fellow traveler in Latin America. The Monroe Doctrine still dominates American foreign policy.

This has caused a crisis in the strategic mutual trust issues that brought the United States and Germany closer in the past, so the Garfield administration has begun to formulate a foreign policy that is more biased toward Mexico. In turn, it began to alienate its relationship with Germany and set an upper limit.

The meeting between Bismarck and Count Andrassy became the focus of the world on September 9, and it happened to have side effects on the Austro-Hungarian Empire, covering up the diplomatic situation in which the Austro-Hungarian Empire was increasingly isolated from the international community in the Mexican War.

For example, the Inter-American Political Forum held in Ecuador under the leadership of the Netherlands was extremely lively. With the exception of Argentina, almost all American countries participated. This forum was held in Kiel, the capital of Ecuador, last year, symbolizing the Netherlands’ influence as a bridgehead in Latin America. The grand strategy is even more clear.

This time, heavyweights such as President Garfield of the United States and Prime Minister of Brazil Fonseca were invited to participate in the forum. The Prime Minister of the Netherlands Jourda Netang chaired the meeting.

Although the United States was unwilling to stand with the Netherlands in the past in order to show recognition of the legitimacy of the Netherlands in Latin America, the situation is stronger than the people. The United States has felt that it will be isolated in the Americas if it does not participate.

The same goes for Brazil. The United States and Brazil's approach to the Netherlands was dissatisfied by the Europeans, Britain, Germany and Austria.

However, the response of these two countries is that they have the right to choose to interact with any country without interference from third countries or third parties.

For these two countries, participating in the Conference of the Americas in Ecuador shows that the American pattern is rapidly taking shape. It also demonstrates the independence of American countries in the increasingly complex situation in Europe. It also reflects the inability of the three countries of Britain, Germany and Austria to take into account the influence they impose. Tougher sanctions have changed the decision-making of countries such as Brazil and the United States.

It was precisely based on the hosting of the Summit of the Americas that the meeting between Bismarck and Count Andrassy in Budapest was a warning to the participants of the South American Summit, reminding the participants in Ecuador not to expand military assistance to Mexico.

These two heavyweight players in European politics said that their respective countries are ready to adopt the German-Latin American, Austro-Hungarian-Latin American policy to strengthen relations with Latin America. They intend to use this stance to express that they have no intention of going against all Latin American countries. At the same time, the two countries also stated that they would ask the organizer, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, to restrain these countries' anti-German and anti-Austro-Hungarian behavior.

Compared with the Austro-Hungarian Empire's invasion of Mexico, the image of the German Empire in Latin America is much more positive. This country's current political and economic cooperation with Uruguay in Latin America has reached an unprecedented peak.

Even the German Empire invited a thousand German troops to garrison when Uruguay encountered the threat of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. Even now, after many years of hard work, the German Empire is forming a closer relationship with Paraguay, trying to use these two countries to build An inner corridor deep into the Latin American continent.

Therefore, in the past foreign policy of the German Empire, Bismarck had reservations about clearly and openly supporting Austria-Hungary's invasion of Mexico. He was very hesitant and had no intention of sending large artillery to Austria-Hungary.

This meeting between Bismarck and Count Andrassy showed a drastic change in the foreign policy of the German Empire. This may indicate that Germany has reached a consensus and needs to take a big step in its policy of supporting Austria-Hungary.

The German Reich may also begin to be more aggressive with its historically conservative policies in Latin America.

This may also be the policy of the German Empire to expand its influence through the Austro-Hungarian Empire's invasion of Mexico. However, one thing is certain, Germany's diplomatic changes will continue to contain the Netherlands' Latin American policy, but will this be counterproductive and cause Dutch revenge remains to be seen.

The historical ties between the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire contributed to the current alliance between the two countries. However, the breakdown of the German Confederation and the changes in the relationship between Prussia and Austria's eldest brother and Austria-Hungary have already broken down bilaterally. After that, the two countries took measures with the Netherlands. However, with the re-alliance of the two countries, bilateral cooperation is now more based on pragmatic interests.

During the Austro-Hungarian invasion of Mexico, the current situation in Europe was with the breakdown of relations between Britain and France, the closer relations between France and Tsarist Russia, and the emergence of a third camp such as Deoga, Britain, Italy, the Netherlands + Spain, Sweden, Denmark, and Greece, which put the European situation in a new situation. under.

Odd needed each other now more than ever.

According to the latest "European Times", the German Imperial Parliament has begun to provide artillery for approval in exchange for Austria-Hungary's support for the German Empire's presence in Latin America.

(End of this chapter)