Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

"Now it has the support of the French Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Kingdom of Sweden, and the United Kingdom has also gained approval because of the transaction during the situation in Belgium.

In addition to Spain and Portugal and the Southern German Confederation headed by Austria, the Ottoman Empire and the Tsarist Russian Empire remained.

Your Majesty, now we have obtained the support of more than half of the six major countries. The Russian Empire has close relations with the Netherlands, so there is no need to worry.

But on the Austrian side, it’s a bit difficult because the current king of Greece, Otto I, is a prince of the Kingdom of Bavaria.”

"Franz Joseph I was a man who knew the current affairs. He would know what to do. Besides, don't forget that the current situation in the Austrian Empire is not good. They will not be bad guys easily, because their friends have become more and more evil. There are fewer and fewer coming, but there are more and more enemies.

Although the Netherlands is not a big country, if you offend the Kingdom of the Netherlands, you will suffer some consequences. If you don’t believe it, just wait and see.”

Irredentism has long existed in Greece, and every Greek has the dream of restoring the Byzantine Empire.

There are 2.4 million Greeks in the Ottomans. In places such as Constantinople, Thessalonise, and Smyrna, the Greeks there have particularly strong demands.

These places also became the centers of activity for Greek merchants in the Ottoman Empire, and Crete was always ready for uprising.

At the time, Otto I included himself in these patriotic actions, which attracted the recognition of the Greeks, won their trust, and used this to promote that he came to restore the original Byzantine Empire.

This became a huge opportunity for him to win over the people.

Under the pressure of the German Confederation headed by Austria and the alliance of the Russian Empire, in 1850 the Patriarch of Constantinople officially recognized the independent status of the Greek Orthodox Church.

The Orthodox Russian Empire, which shared the same beliefs as Greece, gradually replaced Britain as the protector of Greece's interests.

In 1850, the Patriarch of Constantinople officially recognized the independent status of the Greek Orthodox Church.

The Russian Empire, which also believed in the Orthodox Church like Greece, gradually replaced Britain as the protector of Greek interests.

In 1859, Austria and Italy fought over Venice.

Otto I and his Greek subjects disagreed for the first time, with the Greeks siding with Italy, which wanted to be independent.

Otto I sided with his relative, the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I. In the end, Italy won with the unexpected support of Napoleon III of France.

Otto I was in trouble. In the end, he got nothing and lost some of the people's support. It was insinuated that he cared about the interests of his motherland and family, and he was the king of Greece but his heart was not in Greece.

Greece began to become dissatisfied with him, and Otto I naturally failed to realize this change, so he tried to restore his prestige by attacking Ottoman Turkey. However, due to the lessons learned last time, he did not get the approval of the government and people, because many people suspected that he was acting selfishly.

But even so, Otto and his Greek subjects were in peace, but the strange thing was that Otto I had no descendants, and his younger brother was unwilling to change from Catholicism to Orthodox Christianity, so in 1855, the issue of succession began to be raised in the country government agenda, but Otto I chose to support and ignore it.

This angered many people.

Under these operations of Otto I, almost half of the Greeks had given up their confidence in him. Otto I refused to allow new Greek politicians to be elected to Congress to prevent people from Bavaria from continuing to occupy key government positions and be taken over by the Greeks. Later, it angered the Greek elite.

Otto I also secretly opposed the Greek Prime Minister Vistantin Canasri, slandered him, and was eventually imprisoned.

The strange thing is that these things were revealed and published in major newspapers in Greece. For a time, Otto I became a street rat in Greece, and everyone called for beating him.

For the sake of safety, he even replaced the Greek guards, and the personal guards around him were all composed of Bavarians.

Something happened in September 1862, and the situation in Greece suddenly attracted more attention in Europe.

Because this time, a student actually tried to assassinate the queen of Otto I. Although he failed, the student leader was regarded as a hero by the Greeks.

Following the arrest of this student leader, large crowds of people began to demonstrate on the streets of Greece at the end of October, which became a trigger and triggered the outbreak of violence in Greece.

When William IV passed through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean, and after a brief visit to Istanbul in the Ottoman Empire to meet with Sultan Abdulaziz of that country, the two made shady transactions, but the situation in Greece changed. It gets worse and worse.

On November 12, many rebellions occurred in Greece, and the Greek army became more and more undisciplined.

However, William IV visited Athens on November 15th without fear. During this period, William IV even visited former Prime Minister Vistanin Cana in prison after talking to Otto I. Sri.

He later expressed his hope that the situation in Greece would ease and urged Otto I to calm the situation in Greece as soon as possible.

Such actions made the Greeks favor William IV.

When William IV returned to Amsterdam on November 25, political instability broke out in Greece.

It turned out that in Lamia, southeast of the Pindus Mountains, an important city on the way north from Athens, a small leader announced a rebellion in one of the towns. A few days later, various places responded, and the Athenian troops also joined the ranks of the rebellion. Among them was former Prime Minister Westandin Canasli who was in prison. He quickly established a provisional government and announced the abolition of Otto I on the same day.

At this time, Otto I had already seen that the situation was not good, and had already traveled north from the Ionian Sea and the Strait of Otranto, and had already fled back to the Kingdom of Bavaria.

This speed is so fast that European countries are like boiling oil with water added, almost frying the pot.

How long has it been since Europe has seen such an incident in which a king was overthrown?

As a result, the major European royal families began to hold an emergency consultation meeting in Paris on December 5, 1862. Almost all kings and emperors in Europe were present. All countries were suspicious and worried about European countries without kings. The threat, the incident in the United States is there.

If a regime like the United States occurs in Europe, it will be a disaster for the royal family.

In order to quickly turn Greece back to a country ruled by the royal family, various countries, while complaining that Otto I was unable to support him, had also unknowingly rejected candidates from the Kingdom of Bavaria and Austria.

Europe is in trouble at this time. The six major countries all want to place their own national princes and other candidates in Greece, so as to have an additional ally. However, Metternich had the ability to do this at the beginning, but now there are no such figures in European countries.

Even the countries within the German Confederation were rejected, with the Russian Empire and France being particularly strong, and Britain also agreeing.

Even the Ottoman Empire did not agree with the German Confederation this time and chose a new king.

So the six major countries naturally understood that it was impossible for them, so they all set their sights on other smaller countries.

The Swede cannot do it. Prince Oscar could have done it, but Karl XV did not agree because he had no male descendants. However, the Oscar lineage will inherit Sweden in the future. Based on the fourth brother, he is an artist and has no country. Moreover, she was over thirty and had no children after several years of marriage, so she was also rejected by Karl XV.

Spain's population was not prosperous, and naturally Portugal was even more so. Belgium was still a possibility, but Leopold II knew that the Netherlands had ambitions, so he had to be a smooth favor, so he chose not to participate.