Start 1861: I just inherited the Dutch throne

Chapter 861 The DNA of the comprehensive strength of a powerful country
Crown Prince Albert of the Netherlands was very surprised that his father, William IV, was still afraid of these two and a half men in 1881 when the Netherlands was at the top of the world.

The first one was Queen Victoria of the British Empire. Who was the other half? He was really curious.

Seeing that his mother Queen Alexandra also showed a curious expression, she couldn't help but ask: "Father, who are the remaining one and a half people?"

William IV first answered the question incorrectly.

“In fact, many people in the world currently believe that with the rise of the Netherlands, Germany, and the United States, many people are predicting that Britain must weaken.

It's just that no country can do what they mean by replacing Britain. They all think that Germany, the Netherlands, the United States and other countries will only share the excess power shared by Britain and other established powers.

Of course, in Europe, most countries believe that the German Empire has the best chance.

One thing they have in common is that they all use economic strength as the standard to measure a country's strength, and security is also included.

These people look at the rise and fall of a country based on its population flow.

However, there are more and more claims that Britain is in decline.

In particular, the rise of the German Empire on European land disrupted Britain's previous balanced foreign and military policy of driving wolves and swallowing tigers offshore.

The rise of the Netherlands after the 60s, especially the rise of the sea, has gone from cooperation to conflict with Britain's maritime hegemony, squeezing Britain's international hegemony space in all aspects.

Coupled with the fact that the economic rise of the United States is squeezing the British market space in the Americas, Britain's three major attacks on these three countries have become increasingly weak.

However, further confirmation of weakness still needs to be discussed, because the evidence is not very sufficient. "

William IV saw that Prince Albert listened carefully, and he followed:
"Looking at Queen Victoria's unfazed appearance so far, you should know that the current difficulties facing Britain have not actually put the most powerful queen in Europe under real pressure.

Perhaps it can be said that what the Netherlands is currently doing has not actually reached a critical moment for the UK.

For those British decline theorists, the best way is to observe more about the flow of the world's population.

If people from all over the world no longer rush to the UK or leave British rule, but instead the British immigrate overseas or the British colonies break away from British rule, and this situation continues for a period of time, Britain may really not be far from recession. . "

William IV: "You can even imagine that at that time, Queen Victoria would never be as calm as she is now, and it is not impossible for her to even be panicked."

The more Queen Alexandra and Prince Albert listened, they really realized how old they were.

After all, at that time, Britain's foundation had been shaken, and its position as a superpower was no longer guaranteed.

William IV: "But for now, although the GDP and scientific and technological strength of the British economy are surpassed by the Netherlands, and the circle of allies is not as large as the Netherlands, the British population is one-third larger than the Dutch, and the colonial population is also blacker than the Dutch. -There are much more people and indigenous people. India alone has hundreds of millions, not counting other places such as Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Pakistan, while the Netherlands only has about 4000 million. So in terms of population, the Netherlands is worse than the United Kingdom. Far too far, the population is the market for industrial products. The UK has such a huge ruling market, but the sale of industrial products is not as urgent as ours in the Netherlands. On the contrary, the Netherlands has a ruling population of only more than 6000 million, and the market is only one-fifth of the UK. Two, what should we do?”

William IV naturally turned the question to Prince Albert.

When cultivating successors, the most important thing is to teach through words and deeds.

Queen Alexandra looked at her eldest son with interest, and she also wanted to hear Albert's answer.

Prince Albert thought for a while, and then said calmly: "I have carefully studied the past policies of my father's pro-government. Compared with other powerful countries in Europe, the Netherlands' population has always been our shortcoming, so my father started from 1861. Since my grandfather inherited the Netherlands, he has successively introduced various population policies. For example, at the beginning of his father's administration, the Dutch Parliament began to pass the establishment of more institutions of higher learning throughout the Netherlands, universities, and colleges. In addition, In 1862, universal primary education was implemented nationwide.

Ten years later, in 10, universal secondary education was implemented in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

In the past 20 years, with the support of his father, the Netherlands has fully opened its doors to immigrants from Europe and even the world, attracting more than 500 million immigrants from Europe and the world. Including second-generation immigrants, the number exceeds 900 million. Our Dutch domestic organization predicts that by 1885, the combined number of first- and second-generation immigrants will exceed 1000 million.

These immigrants and their descendants greatly supplemented the population shortage of the Netherlands.

In 1885, the population of the Netherlands was about to reach 2700 million, surpassing the Kingdom of Spain with 2600 million and the Ottoman Empire with 2400 million.

In Europe, the Netherlands ranks sixth in population after the Russian Empire, the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the British Empire and the French Empire. "

William IV asked: "Only this?"

Obviously, such a satisfactory answer did not satisfy him.

Prince Albert paused, and then said: "Father used addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to increase the number of immigrants to the Netherlands, while also reducing the number of nationals in various countries in disguise. After the countries led by Germany learned of our purpose, they When limiting quantity, my father replaced quantity with quality and absorbed high-quality and high-end talents from Europe and the world. This is the multiplication and division of our immigration. All the talents lost in Europe came to us."

“Although it’s not true or accurate, it’s not far off.”

William IV; "Going back to the topic of Britain's decline. Those who say that Britain has declined are obviously premature. Unfortunately, most people tend to ignore this point. They pay too much attention to material strength that is easy to carry out quantitative analysis. Other aspects of strength are ignored, such as social cohesion, political leadership, ideological appeal, cultural appeal, etc.

Of course, this does not mean that spiritual power is the only factor that determines national strength, nor does it mean that non-material power is more powerful than material power."

William IV: "I just want to emphasize to you that national strength is not one-sided or one-dimensional, it should be comprehensive and comprehensive."

Prince Albert suddenly said: "Father is saying that national strength is a complex. He has the spiritual strength and material strength to form this view? The Netherlands is currently moving in this direction, and the reason why the United Kingdom is currently able to stabilize Yes, is it because Britain still scores high in the aspects my father mentioned?"

　I owe a total of 10 chapters during this period. I have been a little busy recently, so I plan to pay off the debt during the Qingming Festival. As for the next new book, I have been writing the outline and adding details recently. Is it still early? "Holland" has no less than 300 million words. The next volume will be released soon. The next volume will enter the military game between great powers and enter the dark clouds and military war stage on the eve of World War I. Let's take a look.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)