Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

The changes in North America have made Europe surprisingly peaceful, but outside of Europe, European forces are also making waves in various places.

It turns out that in South America, the navies of the Brazilian Empire and the Kingdom of Portugal conducted naval exercises in the offshore waters between Porto Alegre and Rio de Janeiro. The time was from October 18 to November 3, 1866. The two countries invited Italy to conduct naval exercises. observer state.

Paraguay has no open sea, but it has an ally, the French Empire.

So France also conducted exercises off the coast of Uruguay, and soon returned to the port of Cayenne in French Guiana.

The UK even conducted maritime exercises between South Africa and Chile.

All right.

South American countries felt threatened, so Argentina proposed to the Netherlands that the members of the South American Union conduct naval exercises. William IV naturally did not object.

However, there are differences regarding the location of the exercise. Argentina wants to conduct the exercise off the coast of Argentina, especially outside the mouth of the Rio de la Plata between Uruguay and Argentina. This can be effective for Argentina. to intimidate the Brazilian and Portuguese alliances.

Argentina is naturally unwilling to face these powerful countries, so it takes the opportunity to show that Argentina is not alone.

However, Venezuela and Colombia believe that the exercise should be held outside the Gulf of Venezuela in the Caribbean Sea, which is still the junction of Venezuela and Colombia. Outside the mouth of the bay is the Dutch offshore territory of Aruba.

But in the end, several South American countries themselves hesitated, because if it was in the Caribbean, it was too close to the Confederate States of Southern America. Not to mention the reaction of the Confederate States, it seemed that this was a provocation, as if it was deliberately showing Support the United States of America. This seems unnecessary for Venezuela and Colombia.

So Argentina came up with the idea of ​​​​this direction, and finally Venezuela and Colombia and Ecuador also agreed on the seriousness of the problem of hosting there.

As for Argentina, it is possible that several northern countries are unwilling to conflict with Brazil and Portugal, let alone be easily involved in a confrontation with the French Empire. Among them, the Federal Republic of America is particularly strong.

This can make other countries understand. After all, they are still offending the British Empire. If there is another dispute with the French Empire, it will definitely be unprecedented pressure on the Lincoln government.

During the process, the Kingdom of the Netherlands did not take any position.

In the end, everyone compromised. Because the Commonwealth of America was at war with the Confederate States of America and the United Kingdom, the final choice was in Ecuador. Ecuador should even propose to do it in the Pacific, outside the Bay of Guayaquil. The Netherlands has a wide range of islands in the South Pacific, just like Colombia and Ecuador in the Pacific, but the location of the exercise is in the Hawaiian Islands. Because this can effectively avoid the current war in North America and temporarily not intervene in the disputes in South America.

Therefore, under such circumstances, the Hawaiian Islands became the destination for the first military exercise of the Confederate States of South America.

On November 1, 1866, the six countries of the South American Alliance conducted a four-day army exercise on Maui, the second largest island in the Hawaiian Islands, and then on November 5 they conducted a naval warship exercise off the coast of Oahu, the third largest island. The exercise took place around the Hawaiian Islands.

When the British Indian Ocean Navy passed the Hawaiian Islands on November 7, preparing to head north to Canada for support, the two sides almost clashed with the United Kingdom because of the Commonwealth of America. In the end, the Netherlands used the excuse that this was just an exercise, and after communicating with the United Kingdom, Then the confrontation stopped.

Although everyone was upset because of the conflicts that Millican seemed to deliberately provoke, it had to be said that doing so did not violate the treaty of the Confederate States of South America. So everyone could only lament that they came to the middle of the Pacific Ocean and actually made everyone laugh bitterly.

This exercise attracted attention, not only from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Commonwealth of America, and South America, but also from the United Kingdom, Spain, and even Japan, Tsarist Russia, and other countries. After all, this was held in front of their colonies or territories. , it’s okay not to pay attention to it.

"The magnificent scene is very shocking. It is different from the cold weapons of more than a hundred years ago. At that time, you could not just hold a sword or shield, ride a horse, and rush forward to kill the enemy. Now we have hot weapons. With guns, cannons, and the same bunker-like warships, it was an era when you could kill enemies on a large scale without getting close to your body.

A few days ago, I was invited along with my successor colleagues to personally follow the Dutch navy to the Hawaiian Islands. The beauty there is absolutely stunning to all other places in the Netherlands. I am proud that the Netherlands has such a beautiful place.

Watching the military exercises in this extremely beautiful place made me feel very distressed, but I also felt it was necessary. After all, beautiful things need to be maintained. No one knows whether one day thieves will invade and take it away. .

I personally interviewed the actors in the six countries of the South American Union, and I was really shocked. Of course, this was from the perspective of the enemy.

From our standpoint, what we should be most proud of is being a citizen of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. This six-nation exercise is just the beginning. I guess that if necessary, the six nations will conduct more similar exercises in the future. of.

I even heard that the alliance is planning to invite a group of observer states to watch the next show. By the way, my name is Addis, a reporter from the Neue Rotterdam Zeitung."

Not only the Neue Rotterdam Zeitung, where Addis worked, was reporting on the exercise, but also newspapers in various countries in the Americas reported it immediately.

This time, the Confederate States of South America created the first case in human history that journalists accompanying the army followed military operations, making the entire exercise almost transparent and displayed in front of journalists from the Confederate States.

It was extremely shocking, so journalists who were already good at editing used their pens and paper to maximize the impact and reality of this exercise.

This allowed the people of the alliance countries to feel the power brought by the alliance and have more trust in the South American Union.

On November 9, 1866, when the British Indian Ocean Transport Fleet supporting Canada was about to arrive at Queen Charlotte Island in Canada, Queen Charlotte Island and the Commonwealth of America in Vancouver Harbor appeared, and the two navies faced off.

Just when the British fleet was about to take action against the American fleet, which was inferior to itself, it was suddenly attacked underwater. At the same time, the surface ships of the American Commonwealth joined the battle. The huge British fleet could only launch a limited counterattack. ,lost heavily. Even among the 30,000 soldiers on the transport fleet, the transport ship was bombarded by artillery fire and sank to the bottom of the sea, resulting in the loss of more than 20,000 people.

However, the Commonwealth of America only lost two second-class sailing battleships. As for the source of underwater attacks, three were sunk by the British Navy.

When the news came out, the world was shocked. Everyone stopped what they were doing and was shocked.

20,000 people? Just gone?

The last time the British Navy suffered huge losses due to an inexplicable underwater attack on Beipingyan, this time again, the Commonwealth of America has obviously mastered underwater weapons, which is absolutely disastrous for Britain.

Many people speculate that this should be the latest weapon of the American Alliance - submarine.

But when did submarines become so powerful? Therefore, submarines instantly became the focus of all maritime countries because their achievements were so brilliant.