Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

On January 20, 1865, a series of battles broke out at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in the former United States, now the northern American Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, attracting the attention of the world. Even William IV, who was holding a Privy Council meeting, He also stopped talking about various topics and turned his attention to the east coast of North America on the other side of the Atlantic.

Gettysburg was originally a small village in southern Pennsylvania. Before the outbreak of the war, it was a fruit production and processing place.

As the war situation changed, Gettysburg gradually evolved into a battlefield between the North and the South, and the peace of the past disappeared without a trace.

On January 17, 1865, Confederate Commander Robert E. Lee and the Union Army began a three-day and three-night fierce battle here. The battle finally ended with the victory of the Union Army.

This was the largest battle with the heaviest casualties since the American Civil War.

On January 15, Southern generals Hill and Ewell successfully commanded the army to arrive at Gettysburg first and occupy a powerful position.

Facing the superior strength of the Southern Confederate Army, General Hancock, the general of the Northern Confederate States, quickly adjusted his army, regrouped, built fortifications, and prepared to attack the Southern Army led by General Hill from the front.

After inspecting and asking locals, Hancock found that Cemetery Ridge where they were located was easy to defend and difficult to attack, so he asked other troops who came to support to deploy along it to take advantage of the location.

Sure enough, in the ensuing battle of conquest, the Northern Army relied on the dangerous mountain terrain to defeat the Confederate attacks one after another.

At the suggestion of his subordinates, Southern Commander Robert E. Lee suspended the attack, temporarily withdrew his troops, and decided to make a new plan and fight again tomorrow.

After Robert Lee's research, he discovered that the Northern Army's left flank was defended against a mountain. If it were forcibly captured, it would only result in the loss of its own troops, so he sent General Ewell to lead an army to raid the Northern Union Army's right flank.

The northern army was caught off guard and was forced down Pus Mountain. Afterwards, the Northern Confederate Army recovered and immediately launched a counterattack. The southern General Ewell's offensive momentum was immediately suppressed and even retreated.

However, Robert E. Lee was naturally not one to give up easily. He made a comeback on the 19th. First, he bombarded Cemetery Ridge with a burst of artillery, causing the defending Union Army to use artillery to counterattack. The artillery battles often lasted for more than two hours, and the air was thick with smoke. The smell of gunpowder.

After stopping the fighting, Robert Lee anxiously ordered General Pickett to lead a raiding party across the grass and forcefully broke into the center of the federal army.

Since the distance between the two sides was more than one mile, this unit became a living target for the federal army, suffering heavy casualties. However, soon as the unit reached the north, hand-to-hand combat began, and finally a gap was opened, and the south began to rush in. However, the north also launched a counterattack to block the crossing, so the battle for and counterattack began.

Finally, on the morning of January 20, 1865, after a heavy rain, the crossing on the battlefield was still blocked by the Union Army.

Robert Lee could no longer wade across the river and launch another attack. Heavy rains in the north meant that the counterattack needed to cross the swollen river, so he gave up the opportunity to destroy the enemy.

This war is known as the fiercest and bloodiest battle between the North and the South. The North and the South invested a total of more than 300,000 troops, of which the Federal Army invested more than 148,000 and the Union Army invested 156,600.

The final casualties were more than 51,000 Union troops and more than 75,000 Confederate troops.

This war caused the Confederacy to suffer its first large-scale battle defeat, and for the first time, the number of casualties on the battlefield was higher than that of the North.

As William IV learned about the Gettysburg War, he predicted:

"The North defeated General Robert Lee's attack. Perhaps with the end of this war, the North and the South began to have a war situation, which will be reversed this time."

"How can Your Majesty see you?"

asked Army Secretary Petter de Jong.

“Before the war started, the southern army was a battle-hardened army that fought many wars with Mexico. The southern plantations were originally designed for defense to prevent slaves from resisting, so they were equipped with guns and ammunition. Very complete.

In comparison, the north is an industrial production base. Although guns and ammunition are also produced, the scope of application is very limited, and many people have never even held a gun.

How could they defeat the opponent in the first attack launched by the South? "

Chief of General Staff Mark Ruede spoke.

Hearing this, Petter de Jong said: "So, in the beginning of the Civil War, the North was retreating steadily. Is it understandable?"

"Naturally," William IV sighed: "Before the war, the entire south and north together had less than 100,000 regular troops. But precisely because of this, the British had begun not to waste military strength, so they had not launched any attack on the United States. In a big war, you can think about how exciting it will be on the faces of Queen Victoria, Viscount Palmerston and others in London."

Everyone heard this and couldn't help but laugh when they thought about the scene.

William IV was right, but there is a lot of discussion in London now.

"The United States has launched such a large-scale war, with 300,000 troops fighting. If the United Kingdom rashly participates, can it get a good result?"

"How is it possible? As the army in the north has been tempered and gradually formed a strong military force, the 22 million northern Americans are only less than 10 million people less than our British Empire. How can our British Empire be in that group? Too much military strength is wasted on our former prisoners.

If we want to fight, we will have to fight France, Tsarist Russia and other countries on the European continent. America is still too poor, and the income and expenditure are not proportional."

"That's right. I think it's not as good as the Kingdom of the Netherlands on the opposite coast in Europe. At least the lowlands there have abundant food production. With the immigration of nearly 2 million people to the Far East, the remaining 6 million people are comparable to the 2,200 in the northern United States. Wish we had dealt with it right."

"I almost believed it. If I hadn't learned from a friend of mine who works in the government department that the Dutch military is also top-notch today, I would have almost thought what you said makes sense."

"When did the Netherlands become the top? What kind of friends are you trustworthy?"

"Humph, of course, he is the team leader of the newly established British MI6/Service. It is said that the intelligence they received showed that the Netherlands has hidden a lot of strength. In fact, all European countries are more or less in the process of finding out. However, Britain has the most intelligence. It is precisely because of this that in the past few years, when the Netherlands had conflicts with our British Empire, our government restrained itself and did not completely fall out with the Netherlands."

"No wonder, let me just say, Viscount Palmerston has become so talkative in recent years. He remains indifferent to Holland's provocations again and again. He is not the same at all. It turns out he is aware of the danger."