War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

London, England.

The cabinet was very excited to find this huge bargain. Not only did they get a colony rich in gold, silver, and high-quality timber, they didn't even have to pay for it themselves. This couldn't be described as simple luck.

(The Whigs resigned collectively, but after a series of operations by Queen Victoria, they became the ruling party again. The reason was actually just that the personal relationship between the Queen and Lord Russell was better.)

But unlike others, Palmerston was not satisfied with this victory, and he seemed to have found a pattern, that is, the French did not dare to be tough on Britain.

"Gentlemen! Are you satisfied with this?"

The cabinet members all turned to look at Palmerston and couldn't help but think to themselves.

"What bad idea does this guy have? Why would he be dissatisfied with such a great victory without spending a single soldier? What a madman!"

"Viscount Palmerston, what do you want to say?"

"There are two countries in Central America, Nicaragua and Costa Rica." Palmerston said.

"You want us to invade two independent countries?"

John Russell had always been opposed to Palmerston's radical expansion policy. He felt that internal relations should be strengthened first to prevent worker riots and colonial rebellions.

At the same time, John Russell was also very jealous of Palmerston's talent, because that was what he lacked.

"No! It's protection! Just like we protect Honduras."

Palmerston, on the other hand, was completely unafraid of questioning. On the contrary, he enjoyed the challenge.

After hearing Palmerston's explanation, all the British cabinet members laughed. Only Russell remained gloomy and didn't know what he was thinking.

As a result, Britain extended an olive branch to Nicaragua and Costa Rica, hoping that these two weak countries could accept the protection of Great Britain.

But it was rejected, so Britain was ready to send troops to conduct some "friendly" negotiations.

The result of the negotiation was surprising. One of the two troop transport ships ran aground, so the two ships were forced to anchor on the coast. As a result, they were ambushed by local armed forces as soon as they landed. 700 soldiers, 130 People are missing, 75 people are dead, and 201 people are injured.

The British had to temporarily give up the idea of ​​negotiation, or send a larger negotiation team. But they soon understood the cause of the fiasco, for both countries declared themselves protectorates of Austria and released British prisoners.

Although Austria is not a naval power, let alone a colonial power, Britain will not go to war with other powers casually, even if it is a landlubber.

Moreover, it is a common practice in this era for emerging independent countries to find a big brother to cover them in Europe. It is understandable that Nicaragua and Costa Rica chose Austria.

Palmerston was extremely dissatisfied. He felt that this was an Austrian conspiracy and demanded that troops be sent to attack Nicaragua and Costa Rica from land and seize Austrian merchant ships.

But this time his proposal met with fierce opposition from the cabinet. Britain could not fall out with Austria over two bad pieces of land, and the French had also extended their influence into Central America. If the two countries joined forces, the situation would be unfavorable to Britain.

From the perspective of global hegemony, France and Austria are both targets that Britain needs to win over, and they cannot be allowed to fall to Russia's side. In addition, the French's experiences in Central America and their own experiences in Afghanistan made the British government very afraid of mountain warfare.

Palmerston insisted that "the French would never dare to be enemies of Britain!" But no one was willing to take this risk, let alone take it.

At the same time, the President of the United States once again issued a protest against the colonial behavior of European powers in the Americas, which was a blasphemy against the Monroe Declaration.

The then President of the United States, John Tyler, once again reiterated the contents of the Monroe Declaration.

1. Request European countries not to colonize the Western Hemisphere. This principle not only expresses opposition to the expansion of Western European countries in Latin America, but also opposes Russia's expansion on the west coast of North America;

2. Demand that Europe not interfere in the affairs of independent American countries;

3. Ensure that the United States does not interfere in European affairs, including the affairs of Europe's existing colonies in the Americas.

But for the European powers, this is just a joke that is not funny. Austria and the United Kingdom have not made a clear stance due to their close trade ties with the United States.

However, since France is allied with Spain and both sides have a lot of interests in the Americas, it is impossible to accept the so-called "Monroe Declaration". It openly accuses the United States of wanting to monopolize the American continent and resolutely refuses to accept the intimidation of the Americans. This is quite inconsistent. The posture is about to start a war.

The previous disastrous defeat in Texas is still fresh in the minds of the generals of the U.S. Army. Although the size of the U.S. Army has expanded more than five times compared to that time, no general dares to say that he can win Texas. Even You can't take San Antonio.

In fact, not to mention San Antonio, even Fort Dallas, the northern gate of Texas, the U.S. military was not sure of capturing because the French built a huge group of fortresses here.

There were even conflicts within the U.S. military regarding the declaration of war against France. The Army requested a naval blockade of France, but at this time there were six French battleships parked in the Port of Houston. These big guys were not something that the U.S.'s small-tonnage cruisers could handle.

At this time, the Port of Houston had been named "Port Phillip" by the French in memory of their great King.

John Tyler's historical evaluation as the President of the United States is not high, not because of lack of ability, but simply because he was on the wrong team. After his death, he was "whipped to death" by Lincoln, which made him the most disliked person in American history. president.

But in fact, he was very capable. In history, it was John Tyler who annexed Texas, successfully pushed the British out of Oregon, redrawn the U.S.-Canada border, used diplomatic means to resolve conflicts between Britain and the United States, and used despicable means. Forcing other countries to sign one unequal treaty after another.

The ruthless plundering of Indians at home thwarted the conspiracy of the big industrial and commercial bourgeoisie to manipulate finance and monopolize federal power; he signed the "Preemption Act", which was the most important land measure passed by the U.S. government since its establishment. Reform the navy, rectify taxation, and bloody suppress rebellions.

John Taylor judged based on the military's rhetoric alone that the U.S. military was not ready for war at all, so he had to make concessions to France.

However, the United States did not recognize France's rights to Central America, and secretly funded anti-French, anti-British, and anti-Austrian forces in the hope of mobilizing local people to drive Western powers out of the Americas.

What's even more frightening is that the Americans actually rescued Ramosan from prison by unknown means.

But the situation he faced at this time was much more severe than in history. Britain, France, and Austria had all entered the Americas. Although the civil war in Mexico continued, compared with the average of more than a hundred riots a year, one changed every four months. I don’t know how much stronger Mexico has become under this administration.