Start 1861: I just inherited the Dutch throne

Chapter 1164 William I's Vision
The person whose ideas were not much different from those of William IV was William I of the German Empire.

As the glory of the German Empire, Frederick the Great was William I's idol and lifelong goal.

Frederick II had no children, and before his death in 1786 he passed the throne of Prussia to his nephew - his grandfather Frederick William II.

In 1797, before his grandfather died, it was passed on to his father, Frederick William III.

In 1840, his father passed the position to his eldest brother, Frederick William IV, who served until his death in Berlin due to illness in 1861.

The eldest brother, Frederick William IV, had no children and had named himself Prince William many years ago, confirming himself as the heir to the Prussian throne.

So when his eldest brother passed away in 1861, William became the King of Prussia.

And his great-great-grandfather Frederick II (Frederick the Great) was his life goal.

He valued the extremely arrogant Bismarck and kept a tight grip on old Moltke.

In addition, in order to continue to maintain the alliance established with Britain during the reign of Frederick the Great and to become Britain's counterbalance to France on the European continent, he finally agreed to the marriage of his only son, Prince Frederick, with Princess Victoria, the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria of Britain, to ensure that Prussia continued to rely on Britain for development under the Anglo-Prussian Alliance.

This model enabled Prussia, under his leadership, to rise faster.

In the 1861 years from 1883 to 22, Prussia became a power in Europe comparable to Britain.

In terms of military, it was no weaker than Britain and the Russian Empire, and crushed its once most powerful rivals, France, and Austria, its rival within the German Confederation.

Unfortunately, the unexpected rise of the Netherlands disrupted William I and Bismarck's plan to challenge Britain's status as a world power.

They even had to pretend to be nice to Britain and continue to recognize Britain's dominant position.

It has to be said that William I's self-strategy is no less than anyone else's.

There was no way, mainly because his great-grandfather's brother Frederick the Great had a huge influence on him when he was young.

For him, the Seven Years' War was an exciting era of the rise of Prussia.

"I really hope that when I rule Prussia and it becomes the German Empire, I can continue to lead it to become a key factor in the rise of the new Seven Years' War era."

William I could not help but recall the stories of the Seven Years' War told by his father, Frederick William III, when he was a child.

Before the Seven Years' War broke out in 1756, all preparations for war behind the calm in Europe were ready, waiting for someone to provoke the war.

In August 1756, Prussia's great-great-grandfather Frederick II first sent troops to Saxony, which was also a member of the German Confederation. At that time, Saxony supported the alliance of France, Austria and Tsarist Russia, and stood on the opposite side of Britain, Prussia, Hanover and Portugal.

So Frederick II took the initiative. But because of this, the war on the European continent was ignited.

Immediately afterwards, Queen Theresa of Austria, who was also a member of the German Confederation, announced that Prussia's actions violated the unity within the German Confederation and was willing to declare war on Prussia for Saxony.

In accordance with the alliance agreements concluded between France and Tsarist Russia and Austria, Louis XV of France and Elizabeth I of Russia finally decided to join the war against Prussia.

For a time, Prussia was caught in a passive situation of being outnumbered four at one time. Faced with such a difficult situation, the hateful British were not in a hurry.

Instead, at a time when Frederick II was overwhelmed, almost in despair, and even wanted to commit suicide twice, the British came to Prussia like a timely help, providing Prussia with large amounts of regular financial assistance to ensure that Prussia would not collapse.

My father, Frederick William III, once told me that the British cannot be trusted, that British promises are always bullshit, and that they only care about their own interests.

Remind him that the British can only be used, not to trust the promises made on paper.
William I naturally had some dissatisfaction with Britain since he was a child, considering the beginning of the Seven Years' War.

With the participation of Britain and Frederick II's use of diplomats to persuade Elizabeth I of Russia, Russia suddenly withdrew from the war, giving Prussia a chance to catch its breath.

William I later learned that after Elizabeth I abdicated, Peter III, an admirer of Frederick II, succeeded to the Russian throne in 1762. Tsarist Russia then turned to support Prussia and joined forces with Sweden to attack Austria.

A few months later, after Catherine II came to power through a coup, she also chose to withdraw from the war, because after all, her marriage to Peter III had been strongly supported by Frederick II.

These are all Prussia's greatest opportunities for a comeback.

At the same time, France was overwhelmed by the rising Britain's overseas expansion and had no intention of fighting again. In the end, only Austria was left, which was obsessed with competing with Prussia for the position of leader within the German Confederation. Victory began to beckon to Prussia and Britain.

The damn British are really good at scheming. They used Prussia to provoke powerful enemies on all sides, and slowly eroded France's colonies overseas. Even after Prussia consumed a lot of France's energy, they defeated France overseas. At this point, the victory of Britain and Prussia has become a foregone conclusion.

In 1763, Britain and France signed the Treaty of Paris, and Britain obtained a large number of overseas colonies ceded by France, including North America, especially Canada. Prussia and Austria also signed the Treaty of Hubertusburg, obtaining Silesia. In the end, the Seven Years' War ended with a great victory for Britain and Prussia.

The comprehensive rise of the two countries is no longer unstoppable.

Britain reaped huge rewards from the Seven Years' War. It completed the annexation of Scotland and soon thereafter annexed Ireland, establishing the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In Asia, it controlled the entire Indian subcontinent and almost monopolized it, establishing its status as a world power in one fell swoop, allowing it to quietly maintain world hegemony for nearly a century.

However, William I had to admit that with the support of Britain and during the Seven Years' War, Prussia became a true power in Europe, which further consolidated Prussia's position as the second largest country in the German Confederation after Austria. It even challenged Austria's position from time to time. This caused dozens of states within the German Confederation to frequently take sides, which laid the foundation for him to win over these states to oppose Austria after he came to power, and finally established the German Empire in 1871.

The Seven Years' War also made France, once the world hegemon, the biggest loser, and made the already tight French finances even worse. France had no choice but to borrow heavily from foreign debts and increase taxes, which led to the intensification of internal contradictions in France and eventually brewed the great revolution of 1789 that shocked the world.

The European landscape changed again with the rise of the Netherlands. In this new round of the "Seven Years' War", can Prussia rise again and go further?

Thinking of this, William I's eyes were full of longing. Perhaps he could use it to make the German Empire a world power.

(End of this chapter)