Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

June 5, 1864.

Serious civil disputes occurred in Holstein, the Principality of Denmark.

It turns out that the Germans make up the majority in Holstein, and the Danes only make up a small part.

In addition, during the Congress of Vienna, it was also recognized as a member of the German Confederation, so it became even more Germanized.

As a result, a resistance organization composed of Germans who resisted Danish rule was born.

Where there is good, there is also a negative. These German organizations correspond to the Danish organizations that maintain Danish rule.

On this day, several people who advocated for their respective support met when they were promoting in various places in Holstein.

The team of several hundred people increased their momentum, and the two parties even stopped to confront each other. When the quarrel was no longer satisfied, the two parties finally had a physical conflict. In the end, more than 20 people died. Among them, the Danes were There were more than 15 people, and there were more than 5 Germans.

Is this okay?

So Holstein became a mess.

Many Danes in Holstein became targets of the Germans. Burning, killing, looting, and looting seemed to be the target. For this reason, the Danes fled Holstein and went north to Schleswig. In the chassis where the Danes accounted for the majority, these vindictive Danes took action against the Germans there.

So the chaos spread to Schleswig.

The Kingdom of Denmark and Prussia blamed each other for the incident.

"Denmark's rule has suffocated the Germans in these two places. These Germans feel that the Danish government is unfriendly to them. We strongly condemn the Danish government's differential treatment and seriously doubt Denmark's regulatory capabilities."

The Prussian Foreign Ministry attacked the Danish government.

"We don't think this is a single incident, this is a planned operation to disrupt the Danish dominance of Schleswig and Holstein, and we will not give up."

The Danish government did not give in and faced Prussia.

When the new King Christian IX succeeded to the throne, it was a time when he was in high spirits and wanted to consolidate his position. Therefore, the events of Schleswig and Holstein made him see an opportunity to increase his He felt that this was an opportunity for the Danish people to increase their support for him.

Therefore, in June 1864, Schleswig and Holstein once again became a hot topic of international debate.

But this time Danish support was reduced.

In order to deal with Austria, France was not prepared to confront Prussia. On the British side, because Queen Victoria herself was of German descent, she also sympathized with the Germans. Therefore, although the British government did not express its stance, this attitude It's all there, everyone can see it at a glance.

King William IV of the Netherlands, the son-in-law of Christian IX, called on the two countries to sit down and conduct meaningful peace talks to avoid accidents.

Austria seems to be ready to watch a good show, so it keeps making noises, hoping that both countries will lose in a fight, so that Prussia can no longer threaten Austria's position.

However, Italy and Portugal did not think it was a big deal, so they all made a fuss and sent out contradictory messages. They only adopted more contradictory and ambiguous policies regarding the ownership of the two places.

On June 15, 1864, Denmark once again reborn Schleswig as a Danish territory. Even Danish Prime Minister Detlef Gothard Monrad announced that he would legislate soon to directly attribute Schleswig to Denmark. Straight.

On June 16, after the German Confederation Congress received instructions from Prussian Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck, the German Confederation Congress issued an announcement threatening that the Germans would intervene in this incident.

On June 20, while the Austrian army in Ethiopia was confronting the Prussian army, Denmark's Christian IX announced the abolition of the provisions of the Danish constitution affecting Holstein and Lauenburg, while retaining control of Denmark and Schleswig. Qualified provisions.

Christian will sign the new constitution and deal with this bill.

Many people are a little confused about Denmark's approach, because the new king has put himself in trouble. If he signs, he will violate the terms of being the king. If he does not sign, he will be in conflict with the Danes who share the same ideals. The people were in opposition. Therefore, he had to choose the easier of the two dilemmas whether to sign or not. So on June 22, Christian IX officially signed the bill in Copenhagen, expressing his abandonment of Holstein and Lauenburg. The rule of Schleswig was retained, and it was the same rule as the rest of Denmark.

When the news reached Germany, the people were excited and angry.

The Schleswig-Holstein region has an extremely important strategic position. Historically, the two principalities on the Elbe River have been a sore point in Europe, which has long troubled and tortured European politicians.

Beginning in the 15th century, after a long period of migration, southern Schleswig was gradually Germanized. Therefore, this time Christian IX regained direct control of Schleswig. For the Germans who migrated, it was Very scary. Especially when Holstein was directly abandoned by the Danes.

Needless to say, the Danes are now afraid of German infiltration.

Will Denmark reap any good fruits after direct administration?

Berlin.

Bismarck, King William I of Prussia, Chief of Army General Staff Moltke, Minister of Military Affairs Count von Rohn, and Crown Prince Frederick were having a discussion about the London Conference. As Bismarck turned to his northern neighbor Denmark, several people Subconsciously showing dissatisfaction.

"Since the victory of the French War, the whole of Europe defeated French Napoleon I. At the post-war Vienna Spoils Conference, I and Prussia contributed a lot to suppress most of their energy in the north, preventing him from concentrating on the attack. To the west and the British Isles, Prussia did not get much in return from the meeting hosted by the Austrians.

Metternich was notoriously cunning, and they may have already begun to consider how to check and balance Prussia after the war. "

Bismarck said firmly to Crown Prince Frederick: "The German Confederation needs to be unified, and Prussia needs to get back what it did not get at the Congress of Vienna, even at the cost of war. Your Royal Highness, the Crown Prince, you should know that Britain, Tsarist Russia, France No European country, including the United States, wants the emergence of a German state powerful enough to annex the German Confederation, but this must be our goal."

Crown Prince Frederick said sarcastically: "Will all countries easily let Prussia complete the annexation process one after another? I'm afraid that when Prussia just completed the annexation of a principality, Austria would start fighting with me. Although these years The Austrian Empire has become weaker. That is just because it has risen too quickly compared to Prussia. But no one can deny the fact that Austria's strength is almost the same as that of Prussia. I don't understand what Prime Minister Bismarck's unified German Confederation will do. How is it going to go on?”

William I glanced at his son indifferently. Compared to his son Crown Prince Frederick, perhaps because of the separation of generations, he preferred his grandson William Jr.

Except for Crown Prince Frederick, everyone here knew about Bismarck's plan. Bismarck told Crown Prince Frederick so hard that he actually wanted to change his pro-British mind. However, as the conversation progressed, William I became a little dissatisfied. Oh, why is this guy so lumpy? He's like a wooden man and can't be pushed.

"Has Crown Prince Frederick forgotten Denmark?" Bismarck said confidently, "Schleswig and Holstein in Denmark have been symbols of the unity of the German people for many years. If the Germans here are wronged, they will form a unity in Germany. This kind of unity with the same hatred is also the common interest of everyone."

"Did Prime Minister Bismarck want to use Denmark as an enemy to unite the Germans?" Crown Prince Frederick asked doubtfully: "Has the Prime Minister forgotten that the Treaty of Ribe stipulated that Schleswig and Holstein will never Separate, the kings of Denmark have their kings and dukes.”

Bismarck smiled and said: "Of course I know about this historical treaty. On the contrary, I want to use this non-separation policy in this treaty to encourage the Germans to return to Prussia.

The Austrians thought they were smart and threw this burden to us in the first place, but they themselves are not bordered by these two places, so our relationship with Denmark has always been skewed.

But as you can see, Prussia's actions to protect the Germans in these two places have won the hearts of the entire North German people. Holstein is almost shouting to break away from Denmark, and the same is true for Southern Schleswig. People in both places had a favorable impression of Prussia.

The Treaty of Ribe also stipulated that it was a direct bloodline, but Christian IX was not. Now we must make sure that Denmark makes a mistake, and then we can take advantage of our righteousness to go to war with Denmark and let Prussia become the hero of the Germans and marginalize it. Austria, suddenly became incompetent, and all Germans consciously thought that Prussia was the orthodoxy of the Germans. "

Following Bismarck's explanation, Crown Prince Frederick could imagine how much help the crazy Germans would provide to the unification of Prussia if they really found a reason to go to war with Denmark to obtain Schleswig-Holstein. help.

So when Holstein's sudden change occurred, Crown Prince Frederick instantly understood that the man behind this incident must be the Prussian Prime Minister in front of him. And looking at the people around him, Crown Prince Frederick I thought very bitterly: It turned out that this plan was implemented jointly by several people, and he was the one who was informed after the deployment was completed.

Thinking of this, he had doubts about his pro-British policy. Is it worth it to create a gap between father and son, monarch and ministers just to be pro-British?

William IV, who was in the Royal Palace of the Netherlands, sighed to his beloved wife Alexandra:

"My father-in-law, don't you know what it means to act too hastily? Now, this is an excuse for Denmark to send Prussia to Prussia."

When Alexandra heard this, the expression on her beautiful face changed, and she looked at her current husband pleadingly.

William IV had a headache.

"Alexandra, Schleswig is a constant headache for Denmark, and the German Confederation often interferes in Denmark's relations with the two southern principalities.

This interference was not limited to Holstein, a member of the Confederation, but also extended to the affairs of Schleswig, which was not a member of the German Confederation.

Therefore, it can be said that Schleswig actually has nothing to do with the German Confederation.

But everyone knows that the purpose of the German Confederation is to turn Schleswig into another completely Germanized Holstein and drag Schleswig into the German Confederation. "

Thank you to book friend Jiang Shan Dai Wu Lin for your support!