Chapter 827 William II’s Ambition
Although the punishment was not severe, little Kurdre's attitude was very serious. He would thank guests behind closed doors when he returned home, which made the whole of Luxembourg very nervous.
The Courdere family had a lofty status in Luxembourg at this time. After all, the glory of Luxembourg at this time was due to the old Courdere's huge gamble on the German Confederation.
It was also very painful for the Luxembourgers to leave their homeland and go to Africa. However, seeing that other countries sent so many people, they could only send some "volunteers" there.
In addition to the Luxembourgers, the Dutch were not too happy, at least not their King Wilhelm II.
In fact, he was really excited when he heard that old Pretorius said that the Boers were not Germans.
William II felt that the Boers might want to recognize their ancestors, which was similar to the Great Dutchism he advocated.
In fact, William II also advocated that the Dutch were not Germans. Although they were part of the German Confederation, this did not mean that the Dutch had to be Germans.
And the Dutch themselves are no longer the immortal little strongman who resisted Spain (the Eighty Years War, which lasted for eighty years) and fought hard against France (the Franco-Dutch War).
After the Dutch fought a series of arduous wars, they did not see the light of day. Instead, the elites packed up and ran away.
Britain's Glorious Revolution, William of Holland came to rule Britain.
Although many history books say that William was nothing more than a mascot, the Bank of England established with his support has left a profound mark on the entire history of capitalism, and is also one of the important reasons why Britain can truly take off. .
Now in the history compiled by the Anglo-Saxons, the Bank of England is the world's first central bank, but in fact the Bank of Amsterdam in the Netherlands was earlier.
Now I only mention how the clever capitalists defeated the conservative and stupid old aristocracy of England, but there is no mention of William or the final decision of King William III to issue the "charter", let alone the principal of the Bank of England. Borrowed from the Netherlands.
With the transfer of capital, shipbuilding, manufacturing, and even the service industry also moved to the UK. After that, the UK naturally became the world's financial center and the world's hegemon.
Capital has no borders, technology has no borders, and knowledge has no borders. The elite can treason, but ordinary people in the Netherlands are not even qualified to treason.
In the end, they only got a piece of chicken feathers, their economy plummeted, and later they were destroyed by France. The French army also carried forward their fine traditions and committed all kinds of evil.
After the Napoleonic Wars, "Merchant King" William I began a series of reforms, and the economy finally recovered. As a result, the British asked Leopold I to break the soil on the Dutch land and make him king.
William I's reforms failed, the ZTE was interrupted, and the Dutch economy once again ushered in a great recession.
Later, it was joining the German Confederation that made the Netherlands, which had been lying flat, sit up again. Therefore, it does not matter to ordinary people whether they are Dutch or not. What is important is that they can live a good life.
Then why don't the Dutch engage in French nationalism or British nationalism? It's because of the language barrier.
The cost for people at the bottom to learn a foreign language is very high, and German is at most a dialect, but at the very least the language logic is the same.
A Dutch person might feel familiar with German, but never with Spanish, even though they were ruled by the Spaniards for centuries.
Therefore, the Netherlands is very puzzled and even disgusted with the behavior of King William II. Wilhelm II was equally puzzled and felt instead that his people had betrayed him.
He was very excited when he heard that Dutch descendants did not consider themselves Boers. However, reality soon gave William II a heavy blow. Old Pretorius did not consider himself Dutch either.
This directly frustrated William II's plan to monopolize the Transvaal. In his logic, he believed that although the German Confederation bought the Transvaal, the people living there were Dutch.
So the Netherlands should take over the Transvaal, and he should be King of the Transvaal.
However, the German Confederation obviously only regarded it as a penal colony. Criminals in prisons in various countries would be sent to the Transvaal, and it was also called "help".
William II felt that the German Confederation was too hypocritical, but at this time it was more advantageous for the Netherlands to side with the German Confederation than to side with France and Britain, because the benefits were visible.
Moreover, the Netherlands has also received a share of the benefits in Switzerland. If it chooses to withdraw from the German Confederation at this time, the Swiss enclave will naturally cease to exist.
William II felt that he should find an opportunity to punish the domestic nationalists, and the Dutch nationalists could no longer tolerate their king. It only took a spark to ignite the anger between the two parties.
Spain.
The clouds of war once again loomed over the country, and Carlists who had been trained in England entered Spain from Portugal.
The French were also unwilling to let the fat in their mouths fly away. Almost at the same time, the French Foreign Legion entered Spain from the Pyrenees border.
It was uncomfortable for Queen Regent Christiana to be attacked from both sides, but there was nothing she could do. Neither Britain nor France could compete with Spain at this time.
In the end, the orthodox faction, headed by Queen Regent Christiana, chose to lie down, huddle all their forces near the capital, and then sit back and watch the British and French fight on their own land.
At this time, Austria and the German Confederation were still busy digesting Switzerland. Post-war reconstruction was the top priority. If it didn't work well, it would be better to just vacate the cage and replace the bird, so the states were particularly concerned.
The people of Allgäu did not have any objection to returning to the Habsburg family. After all, they had been tortured by Frey Holoser before.
After losing 10% of the population, 30% of the houses, and almost all the pastures, there will naturally be no memories of the Swiss Confederation of the past.
Thanks to the tyranny of Frei Holosai, the obstacles were cleared for Franz. As long as he is no worse than before, he can win the hearts of the people.
At the same time, the old bureaucrats and local gentry defected from the Orthodox Alliance to join the Free Alliance before the war. Their actions were also considered by the locals to be the source of the disaster.
After all, surrendering without firing a shot always makes people feel a little unconvinced.
The old bureaucracy and the local squires' misjudgments before the war and their incompetence during the tyranny of Frei Holosai left them with a tarnished reputation and no longer able to win over the people.
But this actually saved their lives, because Allgäu was an enclave after all, and Franz didn't want these people to get bigger, let alone accept someone who could challenge the authority of the empire.
But now that there was a group of street rats that everyone was shouting to beat, Franz didn’t need to be too serious. Franz only needs to make them admit their mistakes, then firmly nail them to the pillar of shame, and then use the gesture of a great country to win people's hearts.