Start 1861: I just inherited the Dutch throne

Chapter 807: Arms Purchase Craze
It turns out that Europe has never been truly peaceful.

More than 100 years have passed since the naval battle between Britain and Spain, and Spain has never given up any opportunity to surpass Britain again.

Similarly, Britain will not allow any country to surpass it. Just like it now treats the Netherlands, Britain will not be merciful to any potential rival.

According to a report in the "European Times" on August 1880, 8, affected by the Anglo-Dutch conflict, various countries were increasing their arms procurement.Regions with severe security environments such as Europe, North and South America, and the Far East are actively introducing new weapons. In particular, old European powers such as Britain and France have limited weapons supplies, and emerging powers such as the Netherlands, Germany, and the United States have begun to rise.

According to reports, many countries are increasing their efforts to introduce weapons from the Netherlands. The Russian Empire, which is at odds with Britain, continues to order submarines and warships from the Netherlands, which are deployed in two fleets in the Baltic Sea and the Far East Port of Vladivostok.

Such a large-scale order of naval power by Tsarist Russia in turn led Sweden and Denmark to decide to purchase as many as ten submarines and multiple warships from the Netherlands at a price of more than ten million pounds.

Greece signed a contract with the United Journal to purchase more than 50 rear rifled gun systems, and the Netherlands also helped Greece build multiple docks that can accommodate submarines.

The Kingdom of Siam even signed an arms purchase agreement worth 2000 million pounds with the Netherlands in the past year. The next three years will be a period of intensive deliveries from the Netherlands.

Allied countries of the Netherlands in South America have also signed 9% discount arms purchase plans with the Netherlands. In short, the Netherlands' arms business accounted for more than 60% of the global foreign arms purchase amount in the past year, while the UK only had a 20% global share.

According to reports, based on the National Security Strategy and the Defense Mutual Assistance Agreement signed with the Netherlands, Spain will introduce the military airship project of the Dutch air supremacy from the Netherlands, even to the point where the number of airships reaches 10. , coupled with the training plan assisted by the Netherlands, this will open up a breakthrough for mutual aid projects between the two countries' militaries.

The report pointed out that the main reason why countries "group-purchase" Dutch weapons is the need to enhance their own security capabilities.

Moreover, when countries deal with the international situation, many countries' positions are in the same direction.

The Tsarist Russian Empire purchased weapons from the Netherlands, mainly because the Tsarist Russian Empire never gave up its ambition to expand. It currently supports the Pan-Slavic movement in Serbia in the Balkans, so many of the Dutch weapons are used as reserves.

Naturally, the rise of Argentina and Brazil among the South American allies has put everyone in other countries in danger.

Therefore, the emergence of the Netherlands made these allies very happy. The Netherlands proposed that an ally purchase weapons and strengthen their own defense capabilities, which was naturally happy for them. After all, they were originally suspicious of the Netherlands, but the Netherlands allowed each country to have its own National defense capabilities have made all countries feel more at ease, so they have responded to the Netherlands' call to increase weapons procurement.

But what they don't know is that this is exactly the purpose of William IV. After getting used to using Dutch weapons, these countries will favor the Netherlands in future defense weapons procurement. At the same time, the cost of repairing weapon parts will also be huge. In addition, Training, etc., are all Dutch-style weapons. Even if these countries fall out with the Netherlands in the future, they will still be unable to do without Dutch weapons within ten or even 20 years. The Dutch influence will be difficult to eliminate.

This was the trap William IV set for them.According to reports, as a weapons supplier, the Dutch defense industry has begun to increase production.According to the "Australian Times" report, the Dutch arms giant East India Arms Group has started a 7-hour, 24-day, continuous production model in the Americas.

There are already more than 50 orders for the sale of surface ships, more than 1000 orders for rifled guns, and more than 20 ammunition for semi-automatic rifles.

The weapons department of the Dutch East India Arms Group, the rival of the Dutch East India Arms Group, is also working overtime day and night to catch up on the overflowing orders.

It is said that the second Dutch arms company has foreign trade orders for more than 38 submarines, with delivery deadlines in the next two years.

Airship orders are also one of the company's largest revenues.

The weapons company of the Dutch United Group is also increasing the supply of gunpowder. This Dutch third capital group giant has since united with the Swedish Nobel family gunpowder company (yes, the founder of the future Nobel Prize) to form the Netherlands -Swedish United Arms Company, all the latter's patents have become the third largest Dutch company's stepping stone into the world's arms industry. Now more than one-third of the world's gunpowder is provided by this joint company.

The combination of the Dutch United Group and the Swedish Nobel family gunpowder company broke the precedent of cross-border alliances among large companies in the world and attracted the attention of the world at that time.

This joint company then formed the Dutch Union-Nobel Brothers Oil Company and began to enter the oil industry.

According to reports, the United Kingdom was the world's second largest arms exporter after the Netherlands before the Netherlands fell out with the United Kingdom. After 1868, Britain's arms exports were surpassed by the Netherlands. In the past 12 years, the arms export gap between the two countries has widened. It is getting bigger and bigger, and even the amount is only one-third of the current amount of the Netherlands, and the number of weapons and the range of countries selling them are far from the Netherlands' opponents.

The long-term conflict between the UK and the Netherlands, coupled with the Dutch ban on the UK, and the concerns of European countries about the UK, have restricted British export targets. The UK has also been unable to produce foreign exports due to its confrontation with the Netherlands in the Balkans and the Americas some time ago. The weapons did not recover until 1872, but by that time it was already too late and the market share was occupied by the Netherlands.The main export weapons for this visa are surface ships and rifles. There are also many front rifled guns and other artillery. Now they have been replaced by the Netherlands' more advanced ironclads, semi-automatic rifles, rear rifled guns, etc. This is also what countries are doing One of the factors that began to adjust to neutrality during the Anglo-Dutch conflict.

In addition, the German Empire's army weapons and equipment, and France's navy and army equipment are all top-notch in the world. American technology may be inferior to theirs in quality, but fortunately it is high quality and cheap, and it has both the navy and the army, so It has been favored by many countries, such as poor countries with relatively low funds.

Especially submarines. The quality of the U.S.-made submarines is second only to that of the Netherlands. It is second-generation submarines like the United Kingdom and Germany. You must know that the second-generation submarines have a range of 200 nautical miles, while the early first-generation submarines have a range of 50 nautical miles. As for the most advanced third-generation submarines, only the Netherlands currently has them. The third-generation submarines have a range of more than 500 nautical miles. It is also said that the mysterious third-generation submarines of the Netherlands also have a multi-tube torpedo-launching weapon system, which is said to be able to penetrate armored warships in a concentrated manner. The bottom of the boat is very mysterious.

In short, with the rise of arms buying craze, everyone understands that the expansion of arms transactions reflects the escalation of global tensions.

(End of this chapter)