Chapter 375 Human dreams will never end
Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
The Dutch army has been assembled and is about to head to the front line. The 80,000-strong army is almost all the assets of the Netherlands. In order to regain Flemish, King William II of the Netherlands thought it was worth a try.
In fact, he was betting on the fate of the country and the character of the Habsburg family. Because there were less than 20,000 troops stationed in the Netherlands at this time, it was actually an empty shell.
If the Austrian Empire takes this opportunity to launch an attack on the Netherlands, then William II will inevitably suffer the same fate of exile overseas as his ancestors.
(During the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleon once named his younger brother King of the Netherlands, known as "Ludwik II" in history)
In fact, William II was not a gambler at all, he just had a new lover who always liked to play a few games. This lady's gambling skills were superb, and she could always make William II kill everyone at the gambling table.
Over time, this timid king turned into a gambler. This time when William II was wavering, it was his lover who made the decision for him.
The reason is:
“Although Britain is close at hand, its reinforcements are far away, and although Austria is 840 kilometers away from the Netherlands, their troops have already arrived in Luxembourg.
The United Kingdom has promised us that as long as we try our best to preserve our territorial integrity, who is responsible for the incompleteness of the Dutch territory at this time?
Although Austria will transfer the province of Limburg to Luxembourg, you will still be the nominal monarch of Luxembourg. At the same time, Austria will return the Flemish region to you, and Austria is also willing to serve as a penal colony for local Catholics.
Are you going to let one hundred thousand Dutch soldiers die in vain, waiting for the illusory reinforcements, or are you willing to take back the territory that truly belongs to you at the expense of Limburg? "
At this time, William II received new news. The Austrians had occupied Flemish and captured King Leopold I of Belgium. They had sent envoys to the palace to urge him to take over the place as soon as possible.
This surprised and delighted William II. He was delighted that Austria kept its promise and captured Flemish without even needing the Dutch to send troops. He was also surprised.
The Flemish region was the core area of Belgian rule, and Brussels itself was a city built on a fortress.
But the Austrians captured this strong city before their troops could be assembled, not to mention the Walloon region, which was the only way to attack Flemish Province.
It was really scary to conquer the whole of Belgium in less than a week.
This convinced him that the Austrians had completed mobilization and deployment before the war began. If he rejects the Austrian proposal, he will now either become a prisoner like Leopold I, or he will face attacks from two directions.
"Let General Fulen Gurlitt receive it." King William of the Netherlands ordered.
General Gurlitt woke up from the shock. As an army general, he was far more shocked than others at this time.
"Is this the rebirth of Napoleon?" General Fulen Gurlitt couldn't believe the speed of Austria's advance. On the other hand, he was also wondering who this Archduke Albrecht was?
Although Archduke Albrecht was very famous in the Austrian Empire, he was not well-known in either European military circles or aristocratic circles.
One is because he acts too low-key, or is unsociable.
The second reason is because of the age issue. At that time, whether in the military or political circles, seniority was required.
“Limburg for Flanders.”
In fact, the happiest person about this transaction is the abdicated King William I of the Netherlands.
William I was called the "Merchant King", but this was not just a disparagement, but also a praise for his outstanding achievements in economic development.
However, William I was not satisfied with the title of Merchant King. He wanted to completely unify the north and south (the south refers to the Austrian Netherlands and other regions) and become the true king of the Netherlands.
It is a pity that William I's business methods had a counterproductive effect on the people, and at the same time, the malicious intentions from overseas did not want the Netherlands to be unified and strong. In the end, he could only sit back and watch his country divide and abdicate sadly.
When the news of the Dutch army's recapture of Flemish spread back to the country, William I locked himself in a room. He took out the bottle of gin that was thirteen years old from the cabinet and drank it down.
Thirteen years ago, France sent troops and Belgium became independent. The scene of him abdicating sadly seemed like it happened yesterday.
Twelve months later, the 71-year-old former King William I of the Netherlands boarded the merchant ship on which he traveled all over the world when he was young. Here he seemed to feel his passionate heart again, the sea that made his heart surge, and the sea that made him feel happy. Fascinated by the world, he never looked back to his motherland - the Greater Netherlands.
"People's dreams never end!"
On December 12, 1843, the former Dutch King William I passed away.
The book returns to its true story.
At the Franco-Belgian border, 20,000 French advance troops crossed the Franco-Belgian border in a mighty manner, preparing to take over the Walloon region in advance.
The reason why the French army violated its agreement with the German Confederation was because Louis Philippe hoped to get a more favorable situation, while Guizot wanted to leave room for negotiations with the British.
This of course requires cutting off the Austrians' retreat. According to their intelligence, the First Army of the German Confederation (Austrian Army) is heading towards the Flemish region at this time.
If the French army occupied Wallonia at this time, France would be in an invincible position whether negotiating terms with the British or the German Confederation.
The 20,000 French troops ignored the warnings of the German Confederate Volunteers and forcibly broke through the Franco-Belgian border. They went straight to the important military town of Namur Fortress along the way.
After receiving the news that the Prussian vanguard was defeated, Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig felt humiliated. The Austrians in front were about to return victoriously, but he was defeated by 20,000 French troops who broke through the defense line.
Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig was the famous "Cannonball Prince" in history, the first emperor of the German Empire, Wilhelm I, an emperor with a bad temper.
At this time, his army staff officer was Moltke, a famous figure in military history.
Both of them felt that it was too shameful to be defeated by a mere 20,000 French troops. Although this group of French troops came to cut off the Austrian army's retreat, the entire German Confederation had hundreds of thousands of troops here, and Albrecht himself had nearly three dozen troops. It is not difficult for a force of 10,000 to defeat this French army of only 20,000 people.
In addition, the Dutch have sent 100,000 troops (allegedly) to support the German Confederation. If Namur is lost in this battle, let alone leading Germany in the future, they may be expelled from the German Confederation.
The armies of the German Confederacy were not uniformly dispatched, and most of them acted independently and were vulnerable to the powerful French army.
This also gave the French general Jean Durde an undue self-confidence. Coupled with the lack of intelligence, he believed that there were only a few thousand German Confederate troops in the Wallonia region at most. As long as he occupied Namur, he could completely reverse the situation of the war. , to achieve true central flowering.
I finished this chapter before, but I thought it was a bit too bland, so I revised it, and now I feel it was a bit too much.
I will sort out my thoughts tomorrow. If I can think of something, I will update it as usual. If I can't think of it, I will continue to do it.
Gu Gu Gu Gu.