Chapter 827 William II's Ambition

Although the punishment was not severe, the attitude of the young Courdre was very serious. He closed the door and refused to see visitors when he returned home, which made the whole Luxembourg very nervous.

The Courdre family had a high status in Luxembourg at that time. After all, the glory of Luxembourg at that time originated from the big bet of the old Courdre on the German Confederation.

Leaving their homeland to Africa was also very painful for the Luxembourgers, but seeing that other states had sent so many people, they could only send some "volunteers" over.

In addition to the Luxembourgers, the Dutch were not very happy, at least their King William II was not very happy.

In fact, when he heard that the old Pretorius said that the Boers were not Germans, he was really excited.

William II thought that the Boers might want to recognize their ancestors, which was similar to the Greater Dutchism he advocated.

In fact, William II was also promoting that the Dutch were not Germans. Although they were part of the German Confederation, this did not mean that the Dutch must be Germans.

The Dutch are no longer the invincible little strongman who fought against Spain (the Eighty Years' War, which lasted for eighty years) and France (the Franco-Dutch War).

After a series of arduous wars, the Dutch did not see the dawn, but the elites collectively packed up and ran away.

The Glorious Revolution in Britain, William, the ruling of the Netherlands, took over Britain.

Although many history books say that William is just a mascot, the Bank of England established with his support can leave a strong mark in the entire history of capitalism, and it is also one of the important reasons why Britain can really take off.

Now in the history edited 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 is earlier.

Now only mentions how the clever capitalists defeated the conservative and stupid old aristocrats in Britain, but not a word about William or King William III of Britain who issued the "charter" with the final word, let alone saying that the capital of the Bank of England was borrowed by William from the Netherlands.

With the transfer of capital, the shipbuilding industry, manufacturing industry, and even the service industry also moved to Britain. After that, Britain naturally became the world's financial center and the world hegemon.

Capital has no borders, technology has no borders, and knowledge has no borders. The elite class can commit treason, but ordinary people in the Netherlands do not even have the qualifications to commit treason.

In the end, they only got a mess, the economy plummeted, and then they were destroyed by France, and the French army also carried forward their fine traditions and did all kinds of evil.

After the Napoleonic Wars, the "Merchant King" William I began a series of reforms. The economy finally showed signs of recovery, but the British made Leopold I split the land and crowned the king on the Dutch land with just one sentence.

William I's reforms failed, and the trend of revival was interrupted. The Dutch economy once again ushered in a major recession.

Later, it was joining the German Confederation that allowed the Netherlands, which had been lying flat, to sit up again. So whether it is Dutch or not is not important to ordinary people. What is important is that they can live a good life.

Then why don't the Dutch engage in French nationalism or British nationalism? Because the language is not common.

The cost of learning a foreign language for the lower class is very high, and German is at most a dialect, at least the language logic is the same.

A Dutch person may feel close to German, but will never feel close to Spanish, although they have been ruled by the Spanish for centuries.

So the Dutch were very puzzled and even disgusted by the behavior of King William II. William II was also puzzled, but felt that his people betrayed him.

He was very excited when he heard that the descendants of the Dutch did not think of themselves as Boers, but reality soon gave William II a heavy blow, and the old Pretorius did not think of himself as a Dutchman.

This directly ruined William II's plan to monopolize the Transvaal. In his logic, he believed that although it was the German Confederation that bought the Transvaal, it was the Dutch who lived there.

So the Netherlands should take over the Transvaal, and he should be the king of the Transvaal.

However, the German Confederation obviously only regarded it as a place of exile, and criminals in prisons of 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 stand with the German Confederation than with France and Britain, because the benefits were visible.

Moreover, the Netherlands also got a share of the benefits in Switzerland. If it chose to withdraw from the German Confederation at this time, then the Swiss enclave would naturally no longer exist.

William II felt that he should find an opportunity to punish the nationalists in his country, and the nationalists in the Netherlands could no longer tolerate their king. The anger of both sides only needed a spark to ignite.

Spain.

The cloud of war once again enveloped the country, and the Carlos faction trained in Britain entered Spain from Portugal.

The French were also unwilling to let the fat meat fly away. Almost at the same time, the French Foreign Legion entered Spain from the border of the Pyrenees.

The regent queen Christiana, who was attacked from both sides, was not comfortable, but she had no choice. Neither Britain nor France could compete with Spain at this time.

In the end, the orthodox faction led by Regent Queen Christiane chose to lie low, withdrawing all their forces to the vicinity of the capital, and then watched 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 was not done well, it would be better to just change the cage and replace the bird, so the various states were particularly concerned.

The people of Aargau had no objection to returning to the Habsburg family, after all, they were abused by Frei Holose before.

Having lost 10% of the population, 30% of the houses, and almost all the pastures, they naturally would not have any nostalgia for the past Swiss Confederation.

Thanks to Frei Holose's tyranny, the obstacles were cleared for Franz. As long as it was not worse than before, he could win the hearts of the people.

At the same time, the old bureaucrats and local gentry rebelled from the Orthodox Alliance to join the Free Alliance before the war, and their actions were also considered by the locals to be the root cause of this disaster.

After all, surrendering without firing a shot always makes people feel a little unconvinced.

The old bureaucrats and local gentry's misjudgment before the war and their incompetent performance during Frei Holose's tyranny made them lose their reputation and could no longer win the hearts of the people.

But this actually saved their lives, because Argau was an enclave after all, and Franz didn't want these people to become powerful, let alone accept that someone could challenge the authority of the empire.

But now they were just a bunch of rats that everyone wanted to kill, so Franz didn't need to take it too seriously. Franz only needed to make them admit their mistakes, then firmly nail them to the pillar of shame, and then use the attitude of a great power to win over people's hearts.