Start 1861: I just inherited the Dutch throne

Chapter 1173 The Reluctance of the Pope

On June 1883, 6, the development of the situation in the Mexican War once again shocked the world.

Because, after winning a small victory in the counterattack, Mexico actually increased its offensive in Oaxaca, directly forcing the 30,000 Austro-Hungarian soldiers stationed there to retreat 30 kilometers.

Even Crown Prince Rudolf of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, who was commanding the troops at the front line, was shot through the left ear. That year, the only son of Franz Joseph I was just 25 years old.

Also accompanying him to the war in Mexico was his cousin Archduke Franz Ferdinand, who was 20 years old that year.

After Crown Prince Rudolf was injured, Archduke Ferdinand, who temporarily commanded the army, wanted to protect himself from the anger of Franz Joseph I, so he found a good idea to divert his uncle's anger.

On June 1883, 6, Archduke Ferdinand, who temporarily replaced Crown Prince Rudolf in charge of the army, ordered a counterattack against the Mexican army and ordered a massacre of Mexican residents. Until the last day of June, nearly 20 Mexican civilians were killed or injured at the hands of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, with more than half of them dying.

This news was like a tornado, sweeping across both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Even both sides of the Pacific Ocean were shocked by the further deepening of the Mexican War.

Mexican President Manuel González publicly condemned the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Mexico City: "I am saddened by the indiscriminate killing of Mexican civilians, and even more saddened that Mexico could not defeat the powerful invader Austro-Hungarian army.

We have reason to unite against these frenzied Austro-Hungarian soldiers. I swear, I will make them pay the price. Mexico will remember how our people were hurt by Vienna. Franz Joseph I must be held accountable for this, and Vienna will pay a heavy price to atone for it. "

The Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs even convened a diplomatic conference and invited the Latin American G3 as well as the United States, Brazil, Argentina, France, Spain, Italy and other countries to attend this emergency meeting on the Austro-Hungarian Empire's massacre of Mexico.

After the meeting, all participating countries stated that Austria-Hungary should not massacre Mexicans and demanded that Austria-Hungary guarantee that similar massacres of civilians would not occur again.

However, Mexico still did not receive a response from many countries on the issue of the joint communiqué condemning the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

For example, both France and Italy made it clear that they did not want to see statements condemning Austria-Hungary appear in the joint communiqué.

The attitudes of these two countries have caused some countries that originally expressed support to begin to hesitate.

Especially Brazil.

In response, William IV said that there was something wrong with his son Albert.

The content is why Brazil, France and Spain were so opposed to public condemnation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

"Father"

"Brazil is a country with the title of the panacea of ​​the Western Hemisphere. This country is currently second only to the Americas in terms of comprehensive strength in the Americas. Although Argentina's status has risen rapidly in recent years, it must be said that the special relationship between Brazil and Portugal has allowed Brazil to virtually maintain its second place in the Americas.

On the contrary, Argentina's status has declined a lot because of its hostility with us in recent years.

Brazil is a country that knows how to protect itself, while Argentina is too ostentatious, so it is understandable that Brazil is still as hidden as before. "

William IV nodded, and his attentive look shocked Albert, who continued to express his thoughts, "Brazil naturally has reasons to hesitate, and so do France and Spain.

France and Italy both had territorial disputes with Austria-Hungary in the past, but both countries are Catholic countries, one of the three major Christian denominations, and more importantly, all three countries are loyal to the Roman Catholic Church. I remember seeing a report in the Australian Times on my father's desk two months ago that Pope Leo XIII went out of Rome and visited Vienna, Milan and Paris, and even Madrid and Lisbon.

I then noticed that subsequent newspapers all followed up on the attitudes of various countries to ease relations after the governments of these places welcomed him.

Therefore, I boldly speculate that the reason why these countries softened their attitude towards the appearance of Vienna may be related to Leo XIII’s visit, or even the move of the Vatican to unite Catholic countries is "causing trouble".

Although the countries are dissatisfied with the long-arm jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church, almost all of their citizens believe in Catholicism. At this time, giving them enough face is the best way to rule their citizens. "

William IV nodded and said, "Yes, you are very observant. That's great."

"Whether Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant, they are the basis for each country to rule its people. This is the helplessness of the rulers. Sometimes compromise is still necessary.

This is what I originally wanted to tell you today. I didn’t expect you to have figured it out by yourself. That’s great.”

Albert's face remained serious, and he did not show any joy at receiving the praise.

William IV was extremely satisfied in his heart. He was not proud or complacent when receiving praise, but he remained confident. Combined with his exuding elegance, he indeed showed the demeanor of a great European aristocrat.

At this moment, the battlefield in Mexico was littered with corpses dumped in the wild, waiting for wild wolves to eat them.

These were photographed and published in major newspapers, making people even more dissatisfied with the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

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But this time Franz Joseph I was much smarter. Their military directly refuted that what happened in the newspaper was not caused by them. "We have reason to believe that this is not a lie made by Mexico to morally kidnap the world. On the contrary, it is to let the world point fingers at our Austro-Hungarian Empire. Of course, we have to deny this. We hope that those people in Mexico City will think more about how to solve the current war machine and how to stop this machine from running, instead of continuing this boring moral attack."

Whether it is a lie or not, under the guidance of certain public opinions, people have different interests and utilization values, so they can choose which side’s lies to believe selectively.

For example, now, the German Empire and Britain are both being ambiguous and selectively adopting the words used by the Austro-Hungarian military to announce the "truth" to show that they are on the side of the Austrian army.

On the contrary, Mexico has received support from many countries in South America, as well as the Netherlands and other countries.

At this moment, both sides are trying to create the impression that the other side is the perpetrator of these corpse photos and that they are innocent.

What's pitiful is that they forgot that the corpses are the truly innocent people. Indeed, in war, the lower-class civilians and soldiers are the ones who suffer the most.

But what is surprising is that on the battlefield, Catholic believers seemed to be crossing the battlefield to collect the corpses, perform various kinds of masses for them, and make various prayers for them to enter the afterlife.

The enemies on the battlefield secretly cooperated in this because both sides were countries within the sphere of influence of Catholicism.

William IV could not help but sigh, "Germany and Britain have not yet taken action, but the Vatican has taken action first. Sure enough, accidents always come suddenly. But is the intervention of the Vatican really an accident?"

William IV expressed doubts about this.

(End of this chapter)