Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

October 7, 1864.

Under the mediation of the United Kingdom, Prussia, Austria, and Denmark sent representatives to sit down for negotiations and began armistice negotiations.

The Danish side once introduced several lists of compromise policy plans. As Prussia took the lead and Austria followed, insisting that Denmark must give up Schleswig and Holstein unconditionally, the negotiations ended in vain.

Due to the strong Danish navy in the eastern port of Kiel, the Austro-Prussian coalition was unable to move at all, so the Austro-Prussian coalition simply left only some cavalry for cover, leaving 35,000 soldiers and 5,000 in Neumünster. After wandering outside, the remaining 30,000 troops rushed to Itzeho in the west.

In just half a day, the small town of more than 20,000 people and 2,000 Danish soldiers fell under the attack of Danpu. Denmark died and burned more than 10,000 people before falling.

However, for the Prussian and Austrian armies, they showed their dignity, because in this occupation war, Danish civilians actually participated in the war, and they were four times as many as the army. Obviously, Denmark was very reluctant to resist the Austro-Prussian attack on Denmark. However, they were dissatisfied, so both countries quickly reported the situation to their respective governments, reminding their respective governments of the rising resistance in Denmark.

On October 15, Heide City, west of Schleswig, fell again.

And just like the previous Itzehoe, the 50,000 Danes regarded death as if they were home, and actually followed the 5,000 Danish troops to resist the attack of the Austro-Prussian coalition. However, after the Austro-Prussian two countries learned of the situation, another 30,000 were added With the supply of reinforcements from the army (15,000 Austro-Prussian troops each), under the attack of nearly 50,000 Austro-Prussian troops, the Danish military and civilian casualties exceeded 30,000, and the Austro-Prussian coalition also paid a price of 5,000 troops to win the battle. Hyde City.

At this point, the Austro-Prussian forces had completely occupied the territory south and west of central Schleswig, Heidestadt-Rundsburg.

However, those in the east were previously afraid of Denmark being under the naval cover of Kiel Port, so it was difficult to launch an attack, fearing that the damage would be too serious.

For this reason, the Prussian and Austrian coalition restarted their offensive on October 20. This time, the focus of the two countries' attacks was Kiel, central Schleswig, in the southeastern part of the Jutland Peninsula.

The port of Kiel has more than 1 level 2 sailing battleship, more than 2 level 4 sailing battleships, and more than 5 level 5 and level 6 sailing battleships.

This was the Danish deployment information obtained by Opp. So in the early morning of October 20, when the Port of Kiel in Denmark was still quiet, suddenly the sound of gunfire came from the sea, and the Prussian Navy sent a navy of the same size to conduct a sneak attack. Although the Danish Navy was far superior to the Prussian Navy in terms of experience, the effect of the sneak attack was very obvious. The commanders of the Danish Navy panicked and failed to take precautions. In the end, after the Prussian Navy lost several fifth- and sixth-level battleships, Denmark After the second-level battleships were sunk and the fourth-level battleships were also silent, the remaining five battleships fled hurriedly from the port of Kiel and went north to the port of Eckenförde. The port of Kiel fell and also fell. and the whole city.

Kiel Port is a big city, but it is the largest and most important maritime trading city and residential city in Schleswig. More than 200,000 Danes live here.

This battle was very big. Denmark deployed more than 30,000 troops in Kiel, almost one-third of the Danish standing army.

There are more than 200,000 Danish civilians living here, and they are all believers in the Danish state. Therefore, when the Austro-Prussian coalition forces appeared here, both the army and the people launched a fierce resistance.

However, under the attack of the ferocious and bloodthirsty Opp coalition forces of nearly 40,000 people, the 30,000 Danish troops suffered more than 20,000 casualties, and more than 50,000 civilians were killed or injured.

The Danish Navy was defeated miserably by the Prussian Navy for the first time. Although it was carried out under a sneak attack, who cares whether it was a sneak attack or not.

From the war to the present, the Danish military and civilian casualties have exceeded 150,000, especially the army. Adding the previous casualties in other cities to more than 50,000, Denmark with 100,000 troops has suffered nearly half of its casualties.

Prussia and Austria thought they would only have to deal with the Danish army, but they did not expect that the Danish civilians would also resist so enthusiastically, and they also lost more than 25,000 people.

Among them, Prussia lost more than 11,000 people, while Austria lost 14,000 people.

Saxony and Hanover suffered more than 35,000 casualties in Schleswig.

In other words, this time the German Confederacy's marching force totaled 40,000 Depp and 30,000 reinforcements, a total of 70,000, with 25,000 casualties and 45,000 still in Schleswig. Currently it occupies the southern part of Schleswig below the central cities including Heidel-Rundsburg-Kiel and so on.

After the 40,000-strong coalition forces of Hanover, Saxony and other principalities lost 35,000, 5,000 fled the battlefield and withdrew from participating in the wars of Schleswig and Holstein.

After Kiel was occupied by the Austro-Prussian army on October 22, the German Confederacy sent a total of 110,000 troops, and the entire German Confederation suffered 55,000 casualties, leaving behind 55,000 Austro-Prussian troops and the Hanoverian and Saxon coalition forces who returned to their respective homes.

The casualty ratio was as high as 50%, which was terrifying.

So the German Confederation Parliament hurriedly held a parliamentary session in Vienna.

Copenhagen also called on the people of the entire country to pay tribute and observe a moment of silence under the leadership of Christian IX in response to the death and injury of more than 110,000 soldiers and civilians.

He made an uncompromising declaration.

Christian IX even designated October 22 as a national disaster day and asked the people to remember this day.

At the same time, it announced the recruitment of more than 100,000 new soldiers from the society in order to face the invasion from the German Confederacy including the Austro-Prussian coalition.

As this public memorial day progressed, the Danes, half beaten to death, actually registered 100,000 people in less than ten days. This shows that patriotism is really a good excuse for citizens to enlist in the army. .

Although they are new soldiers, Denmark now has an army of 150,000 men again.

Prussia and Austria naturally knew what was happening in Denmark, so Prussia once again sent 20,000 reinforcements to Schleswig, while Austria increased the number to 30,000.

By this time, Austria had over 50,000 people in Schleswig, and Prussia had 45,000.

The German Confederation invested a total of more than 160,000 troops in the Second Schleswig War.

On October 25, 1864, Opp launched another fierce attack, from Rendsburg to the left and right.

In the west, in addition to the 10,000 people who stayed behind to supply supplies, there were also 10,000 people stationed in major cities occupied by the 10,000 Prussian troops stationed in the rear.

The remaining 30,000 Austrian troops all moved towards Eckenförde in the east.

After leaving 20,000 people behind, Prussia also dispatched 25,000 people to attack Husum in the west.

The two parties agreed to finally meet in the city of Schleswig.

Faced with the Second Schleswig War, which seems to be unstoppable, the international community has issued various statements on this, but just like before, the interests of various countries are different, and their positions are destined to be sincere. How deep is the concern.

The last time Denmark hoped for support from other countries, the final result was that they were disheartened. From then on, they knew that it was better to rely on themselves than relying on others.

Therefore, in the face of international public opinion, Copenhagen is much calmer.

However, even though the upper class people like Christian IX are like this on the surface, they will not sit still and wait for death.

They wanted to communicate with other countries in the audience, intending to use other countries to stop the Schleswig War again.

Denmark, Copenhagen.

"What, Your Majesty means that you are ready to compromise with other countries for help?"

As the Prime Minister of Denmark, Monrad has been in and out of the Danish royal palace more these days than in the past year.

Almost every day I have to make more than two trips to the Danish Royal Palace (also known as the Yellow Palace).

This one was not called to the palace again.

However, I originally thought that His Majesty Christian IX had summoned him because he wanted to inquire about the war inspector on the Schleswig front in the south. However, as soon as he sat down and the stool was not yet warm, Christian IX issued an order. He was shocked by the news.

Is His Majesty preparing to solicit help from non-German empires?

This made him feel that the tough new king finally compromised when faced with the cold reality.

Although it was incredible on the surface, Monrad was relieved in his heart.

To be honest, his current position as prime minister feels too hot. If Denmark is attacked by the Austro-Prussian coalition, he will become a humiliating existence in future history, so he is very resistant to this position.

So he actually wanted to stop the war a long time ago.

But when the new king came to power, he didn't dare to bring it up. Now that Christian IX was soft, he was relieved.

When Christian IX faced the Prime Minister he promoted, he was considered a minister of the dragon, but he was also a new person.

So, he took out a secret letter. Seeing the surprise in Monrad's eyes, Christian IX said: "This is Alexandra's letter home from the Netherlands."

Letter home?

Monrad didn't understand, at this juncture, why Christian IX still had the leisure to take out the family letters of Princess Alexandra, the eldest princess of the Netherlands, no, the current Queen Alexandra of the Netherlands. .

Suddenly, he thought of William IV, the man who had dominated Europe in the past two years. Since the start of the war between Denmark and the German Confederation, the Netherlands has begun to keep a low profile. For more than half a year, the Netherlands seems to have never expressed any stance on the Schleswig War except for continuing to express its impartiality. This seems to be It is very unusual. How could William IV of the Netherlands be so indifferent to such a disaster in Denmark, the natal family of the Dutch Queen? Is this normal?

So with this idea in mind, he quickly took the family letter from Christian IX, and under the attention of Christian IX, he opened it with curiosity.

Just hello?

But slowly, his surprise turned into astonishment. After reading the first piece of paper, when the content of the second piece of paper fell into his eyes, he was completely shocked. He hurriedly raised his head to read To Christian IX, the latter sighed: "I think the method William IV told Alexandra is good, and I recognize its feasibility."

The Danish Prime Minister Monrad suddenly thought: His Majesty has approved it, so according to the above statement, if it is really successful, it seems that it will really be over.