Start 1861: I just inherited the Dutch throne

Chapter 1163: Will the Seven Years' War Reappear One Hundred Years Ago?

Crown Prince Edward picked up the document that Queen Victoria threw to him and began to read it. The more he read, the worse his expression became.

There were only a few words written on it: The restlessness of the British aristocracy!
"No wonder my mother is reluctant to confront the Netherlands directly. It turns out that the British nobles are preparing to demand more rights from the royal family."

Thinking about his boasting just now, which was not adopted in the end, he couldn't help but feel resentful towards the British aristocracy.

For this reason, after Queen Victoria died in 1901, Edward came to power and directly supported the common people in many issues in the House of Commons, which exacerbated his conflict with the aristocracy. This is a story for later, so we will not go into it for now.

Melbourne, Kingdom of the Netherlands.

William IV watched several Dutch intelligence chiefs leave.

I felt relieved, but also a little regretful.

The eruption of Krakatoa volcano put William IV's original plan into a passive position.

Ever since the outbreak of the Mexican War, he had been planning how to draw Britain into it, but Britain was not fooled.

Over the years, it was the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Mexico that were directly involved in the war, and afterwards, the Allies led by the Netherlands and the United Kingdom and Germany provided various assistance to the two countries.

These include weapons and ammunition, as well as economic assistance.

These are the reasons why the two countries, especially Mexico, were able to hold their ground step by step under the fierce attack of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, one of the top five powers in Europe.

But this was not the result William IV wanted to see.

What he wanted to see was that Britain and even Germany would be drawn into it, and then the Netherlands' allies would be dragged in as well. In the end, both sides would exhaust their own strength, and the Netherlands would gain the same advantageous position as the United States did in World War I and World War II.

However, as they grew older, their energy never diminished. Queen Doria of England and Emperor William I of Germany were never fooled.

Especially for the old William I of the German Empire, who was born in 1797 and is 86 years old this year, it is a bit too much for him to still maintain a stable ruling status.

According to history, he would not die until 1888, which is still five years away.

Until his death, his son Prince Frederick took power for a year and then died.

Later, his grandson William II (who was the German emperor who started the First World War) came to power and suppressed Bismarck, the pillar of Germany, and even forced him to resign soon after. Bismarck then died of frustration, causing huge losses to the German strategic circle.

At this moment, Germany's iron triangle (William I, Bismarck, and Moltke) is still alive. Other countries including Britain, Tsarist Russia, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire are very worried about it, but because of the current world situation, they can only put this aside for the time being.

"Hey, nai-naide. The relationship between the Netherlands and Britain now is just like the relationship between Britain and the old powers France and Spain after its rise more than a hundred years ago. Britain has been completely suppressed. Do we really have to fight a war to determine who is superior and who is inferior?"

Germany and Britain had been allies in the early years, especially before the Seven Years' War between Britain and France more than a hundred years ago.

This is especially true of Prussia, the predecessor of Germany. With the help of Britain, King Frederick the Great of Prussia rose to become one of the top five powers in Europe. This further established Prussia's position as Britain's ally in Europe, not to mention that the two countries were both Germanic countries.

Therefore, France must be dissatisfied with the German Empire established by the Prussians. Prussia helped Britain defeat them back then, and this feud will always be remembered in their hearts.

Speaking of the Seven Years' War in European history, it was a war that took place between 1756 and 1763. At that time, the economies of European countries were developing rapidly, their comprehensive national strength was greatly enhanced, many heroes emerged, the competition for interests intensified, the world pattern was reorganized, and it truly entered a white-hot stage.

A war was brewing quietly, with Europe as the core and overseas colonies involved, and eventually it broke out. The situation in Europe before the Seven Years' War from 1756 to 1763 can be described as a war of war.

At that time, France, which once dominated the European continent, was no longer as powerful as before and no longer had the strength and energy to support the rise of many European powers.

Under the rule of Louis XV, France's finances fell into crisis and could not extricate itself, and the country was trapped both internally and externally.

At this time, emerging countries on the European continent, represented by Prussia, Austria and Tsarist Russia, the predecessor of the German Empire, were rising rapidly.

After Frederick II of Prussia came to power in 1740, he established and strengthened centralized rule, strengthened the construction of the state apparatus, abolished serfdom, encouraged immigration, improved transportation, promoted industry and commerce, developed education, advocated science and rationality, and established the Prussian Academy of Sciences.

The army expanded from 8 to more than 20, becoming one of the powerful countries on the European continent.

Empress Theresa of Austria inherited the Habsburg dynasty in 1740. Through the eight-year War of the Austrian Succession, she defeated the interveners such as Prussia, Britain, and France. She not only consolidated her ruling position, but also adopted measures such as strengthening centralization, implementing a conscription system, promoting land reform, confiscating church property, and rewarding industry and commerce. This allowed the already dying Habsburg dynasty to regain some of its vitality, regain vitality, and embark on the road to revival.

The Russian Empire, which had the largest territory in Europe, was not willing to lag behind. In 1689, after Peter the Great gained control of the country, it began to learn from the West, introduced advanced science and technology, established a new navy and army, supported the development of industry and commerce, and developed Western-style education.

Through 21 years of war, Russia opened up the outlet to the Baltic Sea. Subsequent generations of tsars continued to implement reforms and external expansion. Russia's status as a powerful country on the European continent has remained unchanged, and in fact has become more important.

At this time, Britain had completed the bourgeois revolution and entered the fast lane of development. In the early 18th century, British industry and commerce had already ranked first in Europe, and it had reformed agriculture to make food and agricultural products abundant.

The rapid economic development and the increase in national strength made it difficult for Britain to suppress the urge to expand overseas. France, the overlord of 2,000 overseas colonies, blocked Britain's path to overseas expansion.

The end of the War of the Austrian Succession in 1748 brought eight years of peace to Europe.

However, there are undercurrents behind this calm.

Because the rise of Austria, Prussia and Tsarist Russia has broken the original balance of power in Europe, all countries are calculating and accumulating strength in preparation for a new round of selfish expansion.

At this time, Britain and France were competing for colonial expansion.

Prussia and Austria competed for hegemony over the German Confederation.

The disputes between Tsarist Russia and Prussia over their expansion in Poland, etc., were becoming more acute.

This has prompted a reorganization of relations among European countries.

Because of common interests, Prussia eventually allied with Britain, and France gradually joined forces with Austria and Tsarist Russia.

After the Indo-Prussian Alliance, the small German states of Hanover and Portugal joined in.

The Franco-Austrian alliance included Sweden, Saxony and later Spain.

These countries are actually similar to the current situation where Britain, Germany, Austria are facing the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Tsarist Russia and the Netherlands' circle of allies around the world.

William IV kept wondering, would the Seven Years' War really happen again under the leadership of Britain and the Netherlands?

(End of this chapter)