Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

Netherlands.

William IV was also talking about Ethiopia, to be precise, when he was talking about Kenya, he talked about Ethiopia by the way.

"Although these understandings of Tewodros II were simple, they were already valuable for a closed-minded indigenous emperor. It was precisely because of this kind of vigilance that the British colonial rulers did not dare to treat Tewodros II had many scruples, so the British took two measures to deal with him.

One is to avoid direct conflict with him and secretly support local forces dissatisfied with his regime. Instead, it expands the conflicts between Ethiopia, Egypt and the Ottomans, provokes conflicts between Islam and Islam, and uses the mutual weakening of both parties to reap the benefits. "

"This move has made it difficult for Tewodros II, who wanted to revitalize Ethiopia, to make progress in recent years, and the surrounding environment has been even more difficult to improve."

Tolbeck: "Your Majesty, why do you think that Italy will attack Ethiopia first before Austria?"

"Why?"

William IV: “In the war for hegemony around the Mediterranean region, the Arrival was no match for either Britain or France, and on the European continent, although the Arrival had turned the Apennines, except for the seat of the Catholic headquarters, into They even defeated Austria in the battle for Venice, which established their position despite the help of France.

But this was far from enough to satisfy Emmanuel II of Italy. His ambition was to control the southeastern Mediterranean between Europe and Africa. Even in order to compare with Napieron III of France, he also wanted to rely on Libya. Develop into North and East Africa and control East Africa.

Therefore, after Italy captured Eritrea, it then wanted to capture Somalia. These were all attempts to gain more North Africa.

In addition to Africa, Italy has been active in the Balkans in recent years, instigating these countries to establish various bond organizations composed of Italy, and increasing its influence on Greece and Hungary in the Danube Basin."

However, the latter acted cautiously because they were afraid of triggering a backlash from other major powers, especially Austria's strong opposition.

Therefore, developing southward is the main axis of Italy. "

William IV had just discussed Ethiopia with members of the Privy Council.

At this moment, when McKay Sean walked in again after leaving, he brought some bad news.

William IV shrugged and said: "Italy was indeed fooled. Emmanuel II finally couldn't help but show his claws and reach out to Ethiopia."

On January 2, 1863, Emmanuel II issued a war speech to the country, publicly announcing that he would annex Ethiopia by force.

He said that he had been preparing for this day for 5 years, and had made careful arrangements for 5 years, and there was no need to wait any longer.

He asserted that as long as the Italian army, which continued to have an absolute advantage in equipment, entered Ethiopian territory, the indigenous king Tewodros II, who had always looked down upon European powers, would surrender.

On the second day of Emmanuel II's speech, he received various inquiries from various European countries, and also received a letter of protest from Franz I of Austria, expressing his disapproval of Italy's shamelessness when it knew that Austria was going to send troops to Ethiopia. expressed dissatisfaction with the preemptive dispatch of troops and asked Emmanuel II of Italy to withdraw the decision.

However, is this possible? So the answer Franz I got was naturally a categorical rejection.

When European countries saw Italy making such a move, they all felt that the situation in Africa had entered a very bad cycle, because many people realized that unlike in the past, it seemed that it had begun to enter another mode. .

Once it is declared occupied, it still needs a strong garrison to guard it before it is considered yours.

Italy seems to have brought the African colonial governance model into a completely new situation, forcing the powerful countries to slowly move part of their local military strength southwards.

We went there to prevent other countries from grabbing our territory, and this caused a new pattern of military strength in Europe, which had an impact on the future European wars, which I won't mention for the time being.

As various European countries responded to Italy's attack on Ethiopia, Italian troops crossed over without declaring war.

On January 6, 1863, they moved south from Asmara, the largest city in Eritrea, and captured Mekele, the largest city in northwest Ethiopia, on the 9th.

According to the combat plan, the Italian army launched attacks on Ethiopia from the east and west.

The Western Front is commanded by Alfonso Ferrero Lamarmora, former Governor of Milan and current Undersecretary of Army and Army, and serves as the main offensive.

The mission was to eliminate the Ethiopian army and occupy the territory on the western side of the country near the southern part of the country. It was also to be prepared to guard against British intervention.

The Eastern Front was commanded by Giuseppe Garibaldi, the Italian Army Chief of Staff.

The task on the eastern front was for Giuseppe Garibaldi to lead the 10,000 Italian troops who landed in Assab, plus the 2,000 troops originally left behind in the army. With the support of the navy, they quickly moved eastward, captured Djibouti, and then The Italian Navy is stationed in this coastal port city as Ethiopia's window to the outside world, blocking Ethiopia from receiving external maritime support.

Then Giuseppe Garibaldi left about 5,000 troops to defend, and then began to lead 7,000 men south to capture Harar.

As long as this largest city in eastern Ethiopia is captured, northern Ethiopia will almost certainly fall into Italian hands.

After completing this task on the Eastern Front, Djibouti and Harar can be used to form a line of defense to prevent Prussia in the direction of eastern Somalia from intervening in the northern Ethiopian war.

As long as Italy wins Desai on the western front, Italy will be in a favorable position to launch a two-front southward attack on the Ethiopian capital. The ruined city is right in front of us.

However, this was all a battle plan planned by Emmanuel II and his ministers.

At the beginning, everything went smoothly as they planned. The eastern front went south to Jipti and the western front even captured Desai.

However, when Garibaldi wanted to capture Harar on the eastern front, he encountered obstacles.

The Ethiopian army is inferior to Italy in terms of strength and weapons and equipment.

On January 10, Italy from the east came and occupied Dire Dawa.

Seeing that Harar was well-defended and experienced, Giuseppe Garibaldi did not attack the city immediately. Instead, he crossed Harar and attacked Gotta, which is close to the capital, and on January 11 Completed the occupation of the small town of Gota.

Giuseppe Garibaldi saw that the hearts of everyone in Harar were floating, so he turned around and gave them a headshot, but he was wrong, and he was terribly wrong.

When the Italian army launched an attack on the city of Harar on the 13th, more than 5,000 Ethiopian troops rose up to resist, killing and wounding more than 3,000 Italian troops. Even when the army led by Giuseppe was stunned, Recaptured the recently lost Gota.

This war seemed to be a turning point. It dealt a heavy blow to the Italian invading army, which made Emmanuel II's quick victory plan bankrupt.

Because nearly half of the 7,000 people on the Eastern Front heading south were lost before they even reached Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. The Eastern Front could only shrink.

This dealt a heavy blow to the invaders. This ruined Mussolini's plan for a quick war.

So Giuseppe could only keep the remaining troops in Dire Dava, north of Harar, waiting for reinforcements, and also hoped that Alfonso Ferrero Lamarmora on the western front would achieve quick results.

The news here spread back to Europe, causing Europe to panic. Another European power failed in a war with an indigenous kingdom in Africa.

And the defeat was so complete. In a head-to-head confrontation, the famous Italian generals Giuseppe and Garibaldi both failed and were defeated by Tewodros II.

"Now, Britain is finally having a better time. After all, South Africa embarrassed Viscount Palmerston and Queen Victoria some time ago."

Napoleon III smiled at Olivier.

Olivier smiled and said: "Yeah, who would have thought that this Ethiopian could be so strong and defeated Giuseppe, a famous general who had been fighting in Italy for decades. You know, he had defeated him many times before. The Austrian army was defeated steadily in the Battle of Venice.

He was defeated. Austria originally wanted to seize Ethiopia. Will this make Joseph I retreat?"

Napoleon III shook his head. I am familiar with Joseph I. This guy is not ordinary stubborn. He will not give up easily. He is waiting for Italy to fail. Then Austria will go up and decide the outcome in one battle, creating a situation where Italy cannot succeed and Austria is overwhelmed. , humiliated Emmanuel II, and reestablished the majesty of the Austrian Empire. How could this guy give up such a rare opportunity? "

Olivier: "So, we have a good show."

Napoleon III nodded and said: "Of course it is."

"Your Excellency, Viscount Palmerston, it seems that Italy has lost the rice this time."

Queen Victoria in London was also observing what was happening in Italy in Africa, including the British colonies of Sudan and Egypt. Therefore, every move that Italy made there was almost quickly spread to London and sent to the table of her and the cabinet. .

So she summoned Viscount Palmerston.

“Although Italy was founded not long ago, Emmanuel II, with the support of the three founders of the country, Cavour, Mazzini, and Garibaldi, completed the transformation of a great country, and its strength is not much weaker than Prussia.

However, Cavour's death last year greatly reduced Italy's diplomacy. Without the checks and balances on Emmanuel II, the current king is acting willfully, so it is reasonable. "

"Look at what I'm doing, what you said is also true."

Queen Victoria said to Viscount Palmerston angrily.

"Then do you think Emmanuel II will take Ethiopia after increasing his troops and moving south?"

"The Queen is looking down on me."

"How to say?"

"Who is around Ethiopia? It's no wonder that Italy can take it. Tewodros II is not a stupid person. This guy is very smart. He knows how to choose. After all, it is better to pay a small price than to destroy the country. , it’s still worth it, you can even see a big European war in Africa.”