Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

Just when Britain was afraid that other countries were vigorously building navies, which would cause the British navy to shrink its advantage.

On March 4, 1864, the latest news came from the North American Civil War. This news was for countries that were paying attention to naval construction. It was undoubtedly news that shocked them.

It turns out that the Battle of Fort Sumter, which passed through the Confederate States of the United States in the south, first provoked the United States of America in the north, heralded the outbreak of the American Civil War on April 12, 1861.

The First Battle of Manassas on July 21, 1861 cost the Confederate States of the South more than 2,000 men and the Confederate States of the North more than 3,000 men.

The North was completely awakened.

And the South laid the foundation for its first victory.

The Battle of Antietam and the Second Battle of Manassas caused the northern United States to retreat step by step. In the end, the North led by President Lincoln could only retreat step by step.

It also lets people know how poor the preparations in the north are.

On February 10, 1864, at the Battle of Fort Frederick, General Robert Lee, the leader of the Southern military command, once again successfully defeated the North, causing the victories that the North of the United States had just won elsewhere to disappear for a time.

The United States of the Southern United States and the United States of the Northern United States have returned to their original structures.

However, the South's Indian regions in the central part of the country and the Kansas and Arizona regions became allies or territories of the South after the war broke out.

The armies of the North and the South entered a tug-of-war in Richmond, Virginia, where the southern capital was located.

Opposite Richmond is the northern capital city of Washington.

At this time, the South took another approach. The navy led by General Robert Lee actually used a new weapon.

On February 27, 1864, the USS Hanley, a submarine belonging to the Confederate States of the South, sank the armed steam schooner USS Housatonic of the United States of America in Charleston Bay, becoming the first time in history that a warship was destroyed by a submarine. Records of being sunk in combat.

This feat of the South caused unknown fear in the Northern Navy, and President Lincoln even ordered the Northern Navy to temporarily retreat.

For a time the South had the upper hand.

When the news reached Europe on March 3, everyone, including Queen Victoria, felt the seriousness of the situation.

Because the seemingly invincible warships at sea finally encountered a new naval branch.

So people were sent to the United States of the South on the other side of the Atlantic to learn from it, while the north was left out in the cold by other countries.

The Russian Empire and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which previously supported the north, also sent military representatives to the north to visit Richmond.

The South took this as an opportunity to lobby other countries to recognize Southern independence.

March 13, 1864, is a very important day in history.

For William IV at least, this was a day that changed history.

Because Europe was actually divided into two camps, each providing support to the north and south of the United States.

On this day, with the support of the British Empire, the French Empire, the Austrian Empire, the Kingdom of Portugal, the Kingdom of Spain, the Royal Palace of Belgium, the Kingdom of Italy, etc., they recognized the United States of the Southern United States as an independent country and no longer under the rule of the North.

As fans from various countries recognized the independence of the southern regime, the Lincoln administration in the north naturally no longer remained silent.

"We condemn the actions of Britain, France, Austria, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, and Italy to split the United States, and warn them that they will bear corresponding responsibilities for this."

U.S. Secretary of State Seward shouted to the outside world: "We hope that all countries will withdraw from this statement and return to their original neutral position."

Although Seward spoke forcefully,

However, so many big powers supported the South, which put too much pressure on them in the North.

Secretary of State West, like President Lincoln, did not see the names of many countries on the list, so he began to send American delegations to these countries to lobby and join the ranks of the North.

March 24, 1864.

The Russian Empire, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Prussia, the Kingdom of Sweden, and the Kingdom of Denmark announced their recognition of the Northern United States of America. At the same time, the North and the South were asked to sit down and continue negotiations to resolve disputes peacefully.

With the joining of several countries, Lincoln and the others in the north were slightly more confident.

However, Lincoln and others also discovered a problem, that is, the Netherlands, Tsarist Russia and other countries only recognized the north as a country and did not recognize that the south was subordinate to the rule of the north. This made Lincoln and others dissatisfied, but they were bound to become stronger, and they could only Can be suppressed temporarily.

However, they know.

The United States seems to be really divided.

European countries finally participated with their long arms and succeeded in dividing the newly born great country in North America into two.

Washington, the northern capital.

Secretary of State Seward lamented:

"Britain and France and Austria and so on are breathing a sigh of relief.

Britain is afraid that Canada will be threatened by the United States.

France was condemned by the Lincoln government in the north for supporting an Austrian prince to ascend to the position of emperor of Mexico, and even intervened in Mexico's resistance.

With the establishment of the southern power, in order to gain support, the South agreed to the requests of France and Austria, recognizing the Austrian prince's status as Emperor of Mexico, and at the same time recognizing France's supporter status in Mexico. "

Seward said to Lincoln dissatisfied: "President, with the statements of various European countries, we are no longer able to do anything."

President Lincoln was silent.

After a long time, he said: "Obviously, Europe does not want to see the rise of a powerful North American country. This is not in their interests. President Monroe's Monroe Doctrine is designed to isolate the connection between America and Europe, making Europe from then on. Not happy with us.

It’s understandable that they are doing this now. It’s me, and I would do the same thing.”

Seward asked, "What shall we do now?"

Lincoln paused. Just when Seward was getting impatient, Lincoln suddenly said harshly: "Since the South likes to be independent so much, don't blame us for being too cruel."

Seward had never seen Lincoln like this before. The stern look on his face clearly made the countries and the South angry.

When he heard Lincoln's plan, Seward couldn't help but gasped. Lincoln's tactic of cutting firepower made him doubt for the first time in his life, is the president a good person?

Europe is shocked!

On March 29, 1864, on the territory of Ethiopia in East Africa, the Austrian Empire was still fighting with the Ethiopian army outside the city of Desai. All countries thought that in fact, Austria's reinforcements and military equipment slowly crossed the Mediterranean to the edge of the Red Sea and supported Ethiopia. The balance of victory in this war has tipped towards Austria.

But accidents often happen unexpectedly.

It turned out that on this day, Prussian Berlin actually announced that it had completed the garrison of more than 10,000 troops in Harar, Ethiopia.

“We were invited by King Tewodros II of Ethiopia, and at the same time as the needs of the Kingdom of Prussia happened, we sent 10,000 of our combat-experienced soldiers into Harar, which is close to our city of Kharg in western Somalia. Saharan is so close that we even plan to open a big highway to connect the two places. In this way, we can continuously transport Ethiopian resources and agricultural products through Hargeisa to the port of the Gulf of Aden and transport them back to Berlin. "

With Bismarck's sudden announcement.

European countries have not yet recovered from the situation in the United States, and were shocked by Prussia's operations.

This really made many people in Vienna jump to their feet.

Harar is not far south of Djibouti. More importantly, it blocks the southward route of Austria's eastern front. With Prussia stationing troops there, Austria has almost lost the possibility of invading the eastern Ethiopian territory.

Prussia can even form a pattern of mutual assistance with Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, to protect the small town of Efeson outside Desai, which is at war with Austria.

Prussia was doing this for economic reasons, but this was to oppose Austria, and its actions were pretty much the same.

This made Vienna very angry.

It is said that Joseph I even broke many of his favorite Oriental ceramics for this reason.

Joseph I was still not relieved, so he issued an order, which immediately caused dark clouds to gather in Europe.

On March 30, 1864, Austria violently attacked the town of Efesson. Even the army in Djibouti secretly participated in the western region. In the end, Efesson was lost due to the disparity in strength. The Egyptian army could only go south and retreat to Debler Khan.

As long as Austria is defeated and occupied here, the next step can be to face Addis Abel, the capital of Ethiopia.

However, Ethiopia seems to be being taken care of by God recently, and Austria seems to have encountered a trick of God, and they are just preparing to pursue the victory.

However, bad news came from the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa, which forced Vienna to suspend the plan. The local troop increase plan continued, but the direction was changed to Nigeria.

It turned out that as Joseph I ordered Nigeria to wait for opportunistic actions and seize more colonies, Nigeria's Austrian army began to become restless. It began to expand rapidly in the east, west, and north directions, and the annexation of Benin in the west further encouraged the situation. their ambitions.

So they wanted to continue advancing in the west, but they encountered resistance from Sweden. After many failed attempts, they chose Niger in the north, although they knew that this was an indigenous force supported by the French.

But they no longer had any scruples. With His Majesty's orders, they had nothing to fear, so Niamey, the largest city in Niger, became their target.

On March 20, 1864, when all countries were attracted by the Dutch-Portuguese War, the Austro-Egyptian War, and the American Civil War, the Austrian-Nigerian Army actually marched directly towards Niamey. A mighty army of 5,000 people It starts from Abuja, the seat of the new Governor-General's Palace in Nigeria, and goes north through Kaduna and Sokoto.

Finally, on March 25, an attack was launched on Niamey, and there was even a massacre of the city. Although it was well covered up, there were always fish that slipped through the net.