Prussia's defeat at the hands of Austria in the First Brothers' War was probably the most symbolic thing in the past generation in terms of international power. The once-mighty Prussian army's disarray and defeat at the hands of the purportedly cowardly, disorganized Austrian army proved to the world that Metternich's plans had begun to fall flat.
The second thing was likely the development by the Dutch Navy of metal warships. Ironclads and monitors are, we feel, proof that the Dutch Navy is well on its way to reclaiming its place on the high seas from Britannia.
Our ascendancy to renewed global prominence was also certainly dependent on our making friends with the Portuguese. This new friendship between our nations will, with any luck, bring wealth to both of our nations--and, of course, their overseas colonies will fuel our factories, and ours theirs.
Our further securing of the sulfur trade by way of the Peruvian trade agreements was also certainly critical to the development of Dutch industry, particularly in military areas. Surely, our soldiers' beloved Albini-Braendlins, manufactured in Vlaanderen, would not have become so prominent, cheap, and accessible if not for Peruvian sulfur.
Indeed, our nation has been extremely prosperous the whole of the decade, save the misguided factories built in Panama. The end of the international tariffs and lowering of taxes for the well-to-do have been proof of the wealth of the Dutch state.
The Socialists are, without a doubt, our greatest opponent in this. Though their views on the market are better-aimed than their liberal counterparts, everything else about them--their irreligion, their fetishization of all that is foreign, their spineless pacifism--is Danish foolery, anathema to the Dutch state.
Now, back to foreign policy--there have, of course, been upsets in Europe's power outside of Prussia's failure. The Catalonian War and the prominence of Munich on the international stage were probably entirely unforeseen at the Congress of Vienna, and indeed, came as a shock to all of us.
Our fruitful alliance with Austria in 1864 was certainly the deciding factor in the following years, of course. Let us discuss two incidents of critical importance in the lead-up to the Second Brothers' War--the Macedonian Cessation and the Geneva Convention.
Greece and Turkey have, for quite some time, been distinctly at odds with one another, and following the so-called "Greek Massacre", the slaughter of a number of Greeks in East Macedonia by a particularly cruel Turkish governor, the Greek state demanded the cessation of the territory to prevent further crimes. Prussia, being a staunch defender of the traditional order--wherever it may be--led the Ottomans' side of the conflict from the beginning. Russia, seeing an ally in majority-Eastern-Orthodox Greece and the potential to weaken their longtime Turkish rivals, took the side of the Hellenic state.
Our country threw in with the Russians and the French, knowing that Austria would almost certainly intervene against Prussia, further tipping the scales in Greek favor.
Prussia was forced to make a humiliating concession on behalf of the Turks, and their resent against the Austrian state smoldered even further beyond their sore loss of the first Brothers' War.
At about this time, the Geneva Convention was drawn up in Switzerland. Though Prussia was not one of the initial signatories, Chancellor von Bismarck talked King Wilhelm into joining into the conventions immediately in the aftermath of the crisis. Though we're not certain why, exactly, our Foreign Minister has suggested that it was related to unaddressed Prussian claims of Austrian war crimes committed during the first war and the search for a new
casus belli against the Austrians.
Between 1864 and 1867, the Dutch military was expanded, as well. The van Haren Line--the series of fortifications on the eastern border--was completed, as was
Hertog Hendrik, our first ironclad. Though an odd story seems to have arisen that it's named for a relative of the Queen,
Hertog is, in fact, named for a courageous duke of Brabant some seven hundred years ago.
Prussian troops marched from Aachen into Spa in a matter of days, and as our troops had not yet been relocated to the border--our long-neglected mobilization timetables had still been working toward dealing with a naval attack--our troops took a few days to reach the border.
However, the ensuing Battle of Spa--led by our own Gustaaf van Renesse--was a bloodbath for the Prussians, who were outnumbered and overwhelmed.
The Battle of Zwolle shortly thereafter saw the end of the Prussian mobilized regiment ordered to deal with our military.
By December, our troops had overrun much of Westphalia, but the war remained an indeterminate back-and-forth on the Czech-Silesian front.
I should add that the outbreak of the war precipitated serious political upheaval over here, during which the landowning requirement for voting was revoked--a mistake, in my opinion, though I am first and foremost a military strategist, not a philosopher.
After the disaster at Magdeburg, the Prussians were forced to retreat even further, and we laid siege to Berlin in March 1868; it fell within a month.
This map--from a week before the surrender of Berlin--shows the extent of the war at that point. Westphalia had fallen, and central Germany was failing, but the Austrians were weakening; the Prussian troops had focused most of their attention on the Austrian front, perhaps not expecting the ferocity of the Dutch army.
The Battle of Leipzig was close, but thanks to the courageous actions of General Renesse, the Prussians were routed, and again destroyed at Cottbus.
Shortly thereafter, our troops relieved the Czech front.
And then came the revolution.
The story is still a bit muddled, and German journalists are still picking through the accounts, but from our understanding, what happened was as follows:
Germany was left in disarray due to Dutch and Austrian occupation; some places fell into near-anarchy due to the replacement of the central government with local occupation governments. In Oldenburg, a hotbed of activism and protests since 1841, discontent over the war and with occupation by the Austrian army allowed a contingent of German nationalist partisans known as the "Einherier"--some sort of mythology reference--to garner enough men to stage a full-on revolution. An eyewitness reports that as a large mob gathered outside of the city hall, the leader of the Einhereir and his supporters stormed the building, overpowered the guards, and took the occupational minister hostage. Purportedly, the leader emerged from a balcony, fired his pistol into the air, and shouted, "
Germanic thunder has struck! Let us perform a grand play in Germany--let us make the French revolution look like an innocent idyll!"
Following this, nationalist revolts arose across Germany. The Prussian government, which we now know was in seclusion in Danzig at the time, was also overpowered by the revolutionaries, who broke through the doors of the provisional ministry's chambers and held the Kaiser at gunpoint. They demanded the immediate dissolution of the government and the abdication of all top-level government officials, who had little choice but to agree. Shortly thereafter, the revolutionary
Freireichstag was established and staffed by an eclectic mix of former Prussian parliament members and prominent revolutionary politicians and activists. The revolutionaries secured the support of Prussia's former allies, but Austria and her allies, alongside Bavaria, refused to enter into the new coalition. Leopold von Saxe-Coburg-Gotha--none other than the son of the ex-king of Belgium, though a German by blood--was invited to act as the new German emperor, an honor which he gladly accepted.
King Wilhelm, Chancellor von Bismarck, and most of the highest-ranking Prussian officials have been exiled from Germany, as have a number of the smaller German rulers. We are not sure where most of them have gone, though we suspect Bismarck and Wilhelm are in hiding in Argentina. Kaiser Leopold has stated that he bears no ill-will toward the Netherlands, and maintains no claim to the 'Belgian' throne. However, Leopold has declared that, as Kaiser of Germany, he has rightful claims to southern Germany and the German-speaking eastern French territories, which will lead to no shortage of wars in the future.
In any case, the revolutionary government saw the Second Brothers' War as Bismarck's and Wilhelm's war of aggression and almost immediately brokered a peace. Austria had stated their intent to annex Silesia within two months of the war's beginning, and they followed through with it.
Though our position is tenuous, French, British, and American newspapers and politicians now seem to hold the Netherlands in higher regard than Germany or Russia in the aftermath of the German Revolution.
Now, as for my proposal for a future mobilization and war plan against Germany: the 'van Diemen Plan'. We will seek to maintain good relations with the French kingdom and focus our potential military efforts against Germany; their next goal, we're certain, will be to annex the south German states, which we must stop at all costs, though the political sensibilities of a hypothetical Bavarian intervention are questionable.
The first part of the plan revolves around a location known as the "Emden Gap", a hole in the fortifications of the German state in their northwesternmost territory. We will send the Royal Guard through this indefensible gap, then have them strike at Munster, the heart of Rhineland industry.
The regular army, meanwhile, will be guarding the fortified sections of the border. The German military presence on the Western border seems weak, but it will likely grow once the German military rebuilds. It will probably be an impenetrable front at first, but once the Royal Guard arrives on the other side of the Rhine, we believe that we'll be able to easily punch through and advance into German territory.
The First Dutch Division will then take Cologne, another major industrial center along the border; the Second Dutch Divison will take Wiesbaden, Kassel, Weimar, and Halle. The Second Dutch Division can also, if the circumstances demand it, break off from this plan, to aid Bavarian or other South German forces. While this happens, the Royal Guard will return northward, to strike at German naval bases and the North Sea Coast, which will during this period be blockaded by the Iron Fleet.
For the final phase of the plan, the Royal Guard will continue along the Baltic coast, taking industrial centers and naval bases such as Stettin and Danzig. The Iron Fleet will sail through the Oresund and blockade Pomerania and Prussia. The First Dutch Division will march on the German heartland, taking the key German cities of Magdeburg and Berlin, then advance into Posen and Gneizo. The Second Dutch Division will hunt down stray Prussian troops, aid the First Divison, occupy more rural territory, or aid Austrian troops on the Silesian front.
That is all for the meeting today. Dismissed.
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Topic: Let's Play Victoria II: The Second Brothers' War (1861-1869) (Read 7978 times)