Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne Chapter 22

But more than that, this pretext is not new either, and even the operation routines seem familiar.

Three years ago, Norway's largest newspaper, Corriere della Sera, reported that it was also the Dutch intelligence organization that got the news leaked, and an insider disclosed it to the newspaper media. It was reported that the British Empire would attack Bergen, one of Norway's most important ports. The city took over directly, and then built a secret naval base facility that was contracted by London businessmen and shared by the navy and the people.

snort!

After receiving this information, Ruidian issued a diplomatic rhetoric of serious concern to the British Empire. At the same time, as the news became more and more intense, he even summoned the ambassador to protest, and he almost fell into the turmoil of breaking diplomatic relations.

That incident made the British Empire's diplomats tragically run around. Only after reassuring that there was no such idea, did King Carl XV of Sweden choose to believe it. However, compared with before, the United Kingdom still felt it. Afterwards, Ruidian took more precautions against the United Kingdom, especially in Norway's maritime trade transactions, and it was even more strictly controlled, so that the original attempt to use the Norwegians to check Rudian's hegemonic influence in northern Europe fell through. "

In the end, it was Viscount Palmerston himself who went to Sweden to explain, and initiated intensive and rapid diplomatic efforts. Foreign Secretary Russell and other senior officials of the British Empire visited Stockholm frequently, and finally stopped the British Empire to manufacture the steam that Europe began to equip with the exception of the British Empire and France. The ironclad battleship arms sales plan threatened to force the other side to re-open iron ore and coke and primitive shrubs, etc., and reached an agreement on the reopening of the United Kingdom.

"All the evidence disclosed this time is obtained by those people, not the information obtained by themselves. In principle, we do not participate in such inaccurate prediction topics to comment."

Russell, the British Empire's foreign secretary, said in an interview with The Financial Times that "we are not currently undertaking any construction, so our partners in Europe need not worry."

"Russell's words made many people hear the meaning, that is, there is no construction at present, but there are plans."

Hermann van Peron, Dean of the School of Foreign Affairs of Leiden University, said rudely to the British, who were muzzled by the media:

"This is the sophistry that the UK has always been good at, and it is just as jarring as the sophistry on the issue of Belgian ownership."

On February 2, 1862, the battle of mouths escalated!

The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed that the United Kingdom was planning to build naval bases in Belgium, Denmark and Portugal, but the statement was denied and refuted by the British ambassador to the Netherlands on the same day.

On the same day, many media in Paris disclosed to the media according to the so-called "informed people" of the upper class in Paris that they were seeking to sign a secret agreement with the Kingdom of Italy to share the Mediterranean military base, allowing the British Empire's army Use the ports of the Kingdom of Italy as military bases.

Although the British Empire and the Kingdom of Italy both denied this plan, the French Foreign Ministry also strongly dissatisfied and criticized the existence of this possible drafting stage on the grounds that the western Mediterranean is not wide enough.

And claimed that France has the right to maintain naval security in the Mediterranean and make necessary reflections and countermeasures.

The French people even took to the streets because of this news. Out of a population of 33 million, 5 million people took to the streets to oppose the expansion of the British Empire in the Mediterranean Sea, of which Paris alone accounted for 1 million.

With the sudden rise of this trend, and it seems to be the same, a large number of demonstrations against the hegemony of the British Empire appeared in the south to Portugal and Spain, all the way to the north to the German Confederation such as the Netherlands and Prussia, and to the north to Sweden and Norway. shiwei.

Originally, the upper-level elite thought it was self-directed and self-acted, selling their anxiety only for the British Empire, and even they themselves were blushing for the people on their side, and they couldn't stand it any longer.

Even in the upper echelons of Paris there is a lot of talk.

Are you anxious? Anyway, I'm not worried, I still have to attack thousands of kilometers from London to the Mediterranean."

"Across from and next to the Netherlands? Coming from London and coming from Belgium, the distance is not much different. It's just a day's work. If the British really want to fight the Netherlands, I don't think they will care about the hundreds of kilometers. "

However, I didn't expect that it eventually turned into the participation of the whole of Europe, with tens of millions of parades. Is this still the effect of self-directed and self-acted?

They themselves have shaken their previous views,

Three people become tigers, two people are true!

The opinions of many people are the direction of truth!

Don't these people understand this common sense?

Obviously not.

But some people just want them not.

Reporter Yard is the editor of the Paris Le Monde specializing in European politics. He has visited Norway and the Netherlands many times before, and even lived in the Indian Ocean, an island country, and even served in the military on the island of Mauritius.

He obviously knew European affairs very well, but he wrote it anyway, and it turned out that the provocative articles he had written were very successful and did not expect to be published in the newspapers and cause much more heat than his previous editors The article, perhaps because he is the same as before, as long as the opponent against France becomes a touch of his "The Threat of the British Empire", and the content is decent, he can get enough sales in Paris.

As for Belgium, in order to confirm this time, France has sent diplomats and military personnel to visit Belgium, asking Belgium to reject the British Empire's request to garrison troops, and even said in a threatening tone,

"We have made it clear to Belgium that the potential actions of a major country's activities will cause national security concerns in neighboring countries. Therefore, any such actions in Belgium will trigger a chain reaction. Please be careful in Belgium."

Whether this kind of contact by the French hard-line delegation can be effective, including the French people themselves, is uncertain, but according to the voices from Paris, Versailles believes that France needs continuous and longer-term efforts to counter the British Empire Belgian influence.

Although Belgium has a small coastline and the shortest coastline among Western European countries, the country's location and unique geographical location determine the degree to which France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom attach great importance to it.

A Dutch university expert told the media that the British Empire has always regarded the Atlantic Ocean as its exclusive hunting ground, so the British Empire will be extremely sensitive to any disturbances in this area.

In addition, France and the Netherlands are both strategic competitors identified by the British Empire before and after, any actions of these two countries will be observed, interpreted, amplified and hyped by the British Empire.

From Portugal to Norway, then from Denmark to Belgium, this is like fishing with four buoys. It is impossible for any European country to enter the sea on a large scale without being discovered by the United Kingdom.

Moreover, the threat of the British Empire, in fact, this kind of anti-British public opinion urgently needs to hype similar issues to consolidate the consensus of hostility to Britain in their respective countries.

Come to gain political capital and make profits.

In addition, it can be observed that the locations selected by the British Empire, from southern Europe to northern Europe, are considered to be strategic weak points of the British Empire and important Atlantic coastal ports. In the past, they did not dare to touch them for fear of attracting public anger. Although his actions were minor, they still could not stop the worries of other countries.

However, with the rapid development of the navies of various countries, these areas have really become the soft underbelly of the British Empire, so the British Empire panicked and wanted to constantly strengthen its vests.

Among them, Belgium is the best to start, and it is considered whether the British Empire will eventually become the object of European countries' fear on land.

Experts who are familiar with the British Empire believe that it is very difficult for the British Empire to attack the influence of France and the Netherlands in Belgium in all directions, because the population composition of Belgium is originally the majority of France and the Netherlands. com This is the strength of the two countries.

The British Empire wants to use the naval base as the entry point, and wants to expand its presence in Belgium through military power. In fact, it seems that it will be far away to see the results.

Because of the broad interests of France and the Netherlands, the protection of many actions of the two countries in Belgium has become justified. Although the United Kingdom and Leopold I were rulers, their roots were not here. Therefore, after 30 years, people in these two places actually still think of their homeland in their hearts. No, because of this, something happened in Belgium again.

And the most serious one.

February 4, 1862, southern Belgium, the French-speaking departments of Hainaut and Namur and the provinces of Antwerp and Limburg in the north, the Prussian-speaking cities of Verviers and Malmedy in the east of Liege in the east , the three parties jointly announced the formation of an alliance.

Because they were both dissatisfied with the Belgian government's pro-British policy, and clearly expressed their opposition to the British Empire even if a single soldier was stationed in Belgian territory, and stated that they would form an offensive and defensive alliance together against the Belgian government and the rule of Leopold I.

This is worth it!

The British Empire was the first to stand up and strongly condemned this as a tripartite alliance and asked all countries not to support it.

At the same time, Leopold of Belgium announced that he would have a dialogue with them, but the premise was to proceed without preconditions in order to maintain the integrity of the Belgian territory.

However, I don't know if it was an illusion or not. This time, the Netherlands was the first to speak out, and France and Prussia were willing to succumb to it.

Clearly the Netherlands dominates. 'Does this make European countries re-examine the status of the Netherlands for the first time in this century and start a revival?

Chapter end