v3 Chapter 239： The turmoil caused by "The Geographical Hub in History"

"Opening 1861: I just inherited the Dutch throne (

On May 10, 1866, the French Emperor Napoleon III and the Portuguese Emperor Louis I accepted the invitation of William IV to meet in The Hague. During the Dutch mediation, the two rulers were firm in their respective positions. progress.

This made the dispute between Paraguay and Brazil caused by Uruguay at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which was held on the second day, draw the world's attention again.

The war in the Balkans and North America resumed.

On May 13, 1866, the Tsarist Russian Empire's media "Voice of Tsarist Russia" quoted a lecture by a professor of politics at Niujin University in the United Kingdom. After the report came out, it caused an uproar in the world.

Even in the end, both Viscount Palmerston and Queen Victoria did not come forward to say that his arguments did not represent the official British position.

It turns out that this visiting professor is the most well-known political science professor in the UK, and he is well known in the UK. The students he taught have already entered the top ranks in British politics, and every time he expresses an opinion, he will attract the attention of the society.

It is said that he has been wooed by the British Tory Party recently and has become a consultant to Disraeli, the new leader of the Tory Party. He is ready to help Disraeli participate in the next Tory Party's campaign for British Prime Minister. Therefore, he has recently been in the Tory Party. .

The Tory campaign adviser began speaking out in society to hit the soft underbelly of the ruling Whig party.

Among them, the attacks on the United States of America and the Russian Empire were the most.

In his extensive Lecture on Geographical Pivots in History at Oxford University, he noted that,

There are no more places in the world for the empire to expand, so the competition for existing resources will be further intensified.

Both population distribution and continental tectonics will constrain the course of this competition.

He drew a sensational map called "The Inherent Seat of a Power", and he delineated the Russian Empire, which spanned two continents, Europe and Asia, as the world's best natural fortress.

Surrounding this heartland is the "core crescent" half-continent, including Britain, the Ottoman Empire and the Qing Empire.

Further out is the ocean-shaped "outer crescent", which connects Canada, Michigan, Japan, the Philippine Islands and the Malayan Islands.

At first he also counted Prussia in it, but the recent rise made the Dutch intentions unclear, but he warned the British government in his lectures to be wary of a possible alliance between Prussia and the Russian Empire.

At the end of the lecture, the Oxford professor advocated the establishment of an isolation belt composed of newly industrialized countries composed of Britain, France, Spain, Austria, Ottoman, the Indian subcontinent, Canada, and the Netherlands, in order to block Tsarist Russia and Prussia.

He even invented a formula in his lectures:

If you control Eastern Europe, you control the heartland.

If you control the heartland, you control the world island.

If you control the world island, you control the whole world.

"Voice of Tsarist Russia" sold well in the Baltic Sea, so as soon as the newspaper was published, people who read it were stunned by the "mad talk" of the British professor.

But after calming down, he felt that he was worthy of being a famous professor at Oxford University, but his point of view was unique.

But this has ushered in the dissatisfaction of many people in St. Petersburg, especially when the British and Russian empires are at war in the Balkans.

Berlin, which suddenly received an "unintelligible disaster", summoned the British Embassy in Berlin for this purpose.

Bismarck even condemned Britain for breaking the friendly relations between Prussia and other countries.

"I don't understand what the purpose of this so-called famous professor in the UK is and what he wants from it, but what I can tell you is that Prussia's foreign policy has always been self-reliant, and there is no so-called speculation in the UK. We hope that the UK can increase more Countries trust them, not the other way around, conspiracy theories"

Naturally, Gorchakov, the Prime Minister of the Russian Empire, responded to Bismarck.

"The ideas of this famous professor are destined to be taken seriously by all the people of the Tsarist Russian Empire. Those who have read his views have to be wary of this ideological trend of dividing spheres of influence within the UK, which is worthy of the vigilance of all countries. Tsarist Russia is not afraid Challenge, because we will give unforgettable lessons to those who offend the Russian Empire, and everyone can wait and see, just like in the Balkans some time ago."

After that, high-level political leaders from various countries expressed their dissatisfaction with the famous British professor.

If it’s just an ordinary professor, it’s fine, but the other party is also the campaign adviser of the British opposition party. If the opposition party is elected, this is an endorsement of the foreign policy of the next British government, because countries have put pressure on London.

Media from various countries have accused the UK of arrogance and expressed dissatisfaction with the UK's dictation of foreign policies of other countries.

However, the British people have been arrogant and arrogant in the past few decades and hundreds of years in the United Kingdom. How can they accept such criticism.

Therefore, with the help of the opposition party, the British media even confronted the media of other countries. Even the newspapers that had always supported the Whig party finally had to join the Tory party to launch an external offensive for sales and influence. The Viscount Palmerston didn't expect it.

British Prime Minister Viscount Palmerston finally had to ask Buckingham Palace to suppress the anti-foreign sentiment in London.

Because of the proper operation of the Tory Party this time, public opinion in the UK has been greatly improved. The latest polls show that the former Whig Party candidate for the next Prime Minister, the current Chancellor of the Exchequer Clayston is better than the opposition Tory Party The leader, Disraeli, was 10 percentage points higher, but now he has overtaken it. At present, Disraeli's approval rate has reached 45%, and Creston's approval rate is 38%.

10 Downing Street.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Clayston, opposite the Viscount Palmerston said dissatisfiedly:

"This time, the Tories' manipulative nationalism has gained a lot. The media and governments of various countries have become their helpers. Instead, we have become the scapegoat."

Foreign Secretary Russell said with a wry smile: "The Tory Party's use of nationalism can be described as a double-edged sword. It can stab opponents, but it will hurt itself at the same time. After coming to power, the public opinion that this will lead to is actually It’s easy to turn back on yourself.”

Russell just looked at Viscount Palmerston, but found that Viscount Palmerston's face was blue, sweating wildly, and his body was shaking.

Quickly support him.

"Viscount......"

Creston was also startled and ran over to help the other side...

On May 20, 1866, British Prime Minister Viscount Palmerston died of illness at the age of 82.

Europe was suddenly quiet.

But the Qing Dynasty in the Far East cheered on hearing the news, celebrating that the man who launched the war of aggression against them had finally entered the Avici Hell.

European countries, on the other hand, are complicated.

He served as British Foreign Secretary three times from 1830 to 1851 and Home Secretary from 1852 to 1855. He was Prime Minister of Great Britain twice from 1856 to 1866.

He is well-known in the UK and a bigwig in European politics.

However, he is also a Eurosceptic. He is the main enemy of the Tsarist Russia Empire in Central Asia and the Far East. In order to compete with Tsarist Russia for hegemony, he advocates maintaining the integrity of the Ottoman Empire. In 1853, he deliberately provoked the Crimean War. France and Ottomans to weaken Tsarist Russia.

He also regarded France as a major competitor in Greece, Egypt, the Iberian Peninsula and the Mediterranean, so the British strongly supported the expansion of the Sardinian Kingdom and agreed to the Apennine Peninsula to become the Kingdom of Italy in order to deal with the French Empire

In the Prussian war against Denmark, many people thought he was against Prussia, but that was wrong.

In fact, he strongly supported Prussia and hoped that Prussia would grow into a strong enemy of France and Tsarist Russia in order to maintain the balance of power in Europe.

In the Far East, he launched a crow-pian war that invaded the Qing Dynasty, helped the Qing Dynasty suppress the Tianpingtian-guo ****, and brutally suppressed the Indian national uprising in the sub-Indian continent.

He intervened in the Millician Civil War and supported the slave owners in the south. He was initially opposed by the British workers and did not dare to send troops to intervene for a long time. Although he was finally authorized, his defeat in North America damaged his prestige. In addition, the South African soldiers The defeat made him, among the prime ministers in British history, positioned as an upper-middle by the British.

But this is UK only.

Viscount Palmerston's British succession to the prime minister's position was originally supposed to be inherited by Russell, the second leader of the Whig Party, but because of the death of Viscount Palmerston, Russell unexpectedly produced Retirement ideas. To everyone's surprise, he indicated within the Whig party that he would not take over this position, and finally the Prime Minister's throne with less than 7 months left fell to the Chancellor of the Exchequer Clayston.

The Viscount Palmerston, the strongman who held down the political circles of European countries for 30 years, passed away, and the British Prime Minister changed his position.

As a result, the once stagnant European political arena has once again become a living water.

First of all, the negotiations between Paraguay and Brazil in The Hague were stopped by Napoleon III, and the French Empire began to continuously send arms to Paraguay. At a glance, people with discernment knew that this was preparing to suppress Brazil with hard power.

Seeing this, Portugal naturally did not dare to show weakness. It couldn't compare to itself, but with allies, Portugal naturally began to conduct intensive diplomatic visits. Italy and the United Kingdom are the direction of Portugal's key offensive.

However, on the British side, there seemed to be hesitation in confronting France with Portugal's request, which made Louis I dissatisfied.

It was this hesitation that made Napoleon III think that he had seen through the British and did not want to get involved, so Napoleon III unexpectedly threw 10,000 soldiers to land from Maldonado in southern Uruguay. The discounted name was the White Party supported by Paraguay. It is also a government recognized by France, which supports the party as the enforcer of the legitimate government of Uruguay.

Pedro II was naturally unwilling, and the soldiers on the front were even more dissatisfied with France's show of power, so the situation was almost on the verge of breaking out.

Paraguay's President Lopez made another border request to Argentina, and this time President Mitre unexpectedly agreed.

This makes the situation even more confusing.

Argentina, what's the idea this time?