Chapter 170

Netherlands.

William IV was also talking about Ethiopia, to be precise, when he was talking about Kenya, he was talking about Ethiopia by the way.

"Though the understandings of King Tewodros II are simple, they are already invaluable for a closed native emperor, and it is officially because of such vigilance that the colonial rulers of the British colonies did not dare to treat Tewodros. II had many scruples, and for this reason, the British took two measures to deal with him.

One is to avoid direct conflict with him and secretly support local forces dissatisfied with his regime. Instead, it expands the contradictions between Ethiopia, Egypt and the Ottomans, provokes the conflict between Islam and Hejidu, uses the mutual weakening of the two sides, and reaps the benefits of the fisherman. "

"This move has made it difficult for Tewodros II, who wants to rejuvenate Ethiopia, to make progress over the years, and the surrounding environment is even more difficult to improve."

Tolbeck: "Your Majesty, why do you think that Italy will definitely be ahead of Austria, and it will be better to attack Ethiopia first?"

"Why?"

William IV: "In the war for hegemony around the Mediterranean region, there has been an adversary neither England nor France, but on the European continent, although it has come, it has turned the Apennine peninsula, except the seat of the Catholic headquarters, into their territory, and even in the battle for Venice, it defeated Austria, which, despite the help of France, established their position.

But this is far from enough to satisfy Emmanuel II of Italy. His ambition is to control the southeastern Mediterranean between Europe and Africa. Even in order to compare with Napiron III of France, he also wants to rely on Libya. Expand to North and East Africa, control East Africa.

Therefore, after Italy won Eritrea, it wants to win Somalia, all of which are trying to get more North Africa,

In addition to Africa, Italy has been active in the Balkans in recent years, instigating these countries to establish various bond organizations composed of Italy, and increasing its influence on Greece and Hungary in the Danube River Basin."

However, the latter acted cautiously, for fear of causing a backlash from other powers, especially Austria's strong opposition.

Therefore, the development of the south is the main axis of Italy. "

William IV had just discussed Ethiopia with members of the Privy Council.

At this moment, when McKay Sean walked in again after leaving, he brought some not-so-good news.

William IV shrugged and said, "Italy was fooled, and Emmanuel II finally couldn't help showing his minions and reaching out to Ethiopia."

...

On January 2, 1863, Emmanuel II issued a war speech to the nation, publicly announcing that Ethiopia would be annexed by force.

He said that for this day, he has been preparing for 5 years, he has made careful deployment for 5 years, and there is no need to wait any longer.

He asserted that as long as the Italian army, which was still equipped with an absolute advantage, marched into Ethiopian territory, the indigenous king Tevodros II, who had always ignored European powers, would surrender.

On the second day of Emmanuel II's speech, he received various inquiries from various European countries, and also received a letter of protest from Franz I of Austria, expressing that Italy was shameless when he knew that Austria was going to send troops to Ethiopia. The preemptive launch of troops expressed dissatisfaction and demanded that Emmanuel II of Italy withdraw the decision.

However, is this possible? So Franz I got the answer, of course, categorically rejected.

When European countries saw that Italy made such a move, they all felt that the situation in Africa had entered a very bad cycle, because many people realized that it was different from you, and now it seems to be entering another mode. .

Declare the occupation, and you need a strong garrison to guard it.

Italy seems to have brought the African colonial governance model into a brand new situation, forcing the great powers to gradually shift their local military strength to the south.

The purpose of going there is to prevent other countries from grabbing their own territory, and this has led to a new pattern of local European forces, which will have an impact on future European wars.

Italian troops crossed undeclared war as European countries reacted to Italy's response to Ethiopia.

On January 6, 1863, they headed south from Asmara, the largest city in Eritrea, and occupied Merkele, the largest city in northwestern Ethiopia, on the 9th.

According to the operational plan, the Italian army launched an attack on Ethiopia from the east and west.

The Western Front was commanded by Alfonso Ferrero La Marmora, the former Governor of Milan and the current Deputy Minister of the Army and Army, and served as the main attack.

The task is to eliminate the Ethiopian army and occupy the territory on the western side of the country close to the southern part of the Sun.

The Eastern Front was commanded by Giuseppe Garibaldi, the Italian Army Chief of Staff.

The task of the Eastern Front is that Giuseppe Garibaldi led Assab to land the 10,000 Italian troops, plus 2,000,000 who were originally left in the army. With the support of the navy, they quickly moved eastward, took Djibouti, and later The Italian navy is stationed in this port city on the coast of Ethiopia's external window, blocking Ethiopia to receive external maritime support.

Then Giuseppe Garibaldi left behind an army of about 5,000 men to defend, and then began to lead 7,000 men south to capture Harar.

As long as the largest city in eastern Ethiopia is taken, it is almost certain that northern Ethiopia will fall into Italian hands.

After completing this task on the eastern front, Djibouti and Harar can be used as a line of defense to prevent Prussia in the direction of eastern Somalia from interfering in the northern war in Ethiopia.

As long as Italy wins Desai on the western front, Italy will enter a favorable fighter plane, and the two fronts will launch a southward attack on the Ethiopian capital. The ruined city is just around the corner.

However, this was a battle plan planned by Emmanuel II and his ministers.

At the beginning, as they planned, everything went smoothly. The east line went south to Jeepty and the west line even won Desai.

However, when Garibaldi wanted to occupy Harar on the eastern front, he encountered obstacles.

The Ethiopian army is inferior to Italy in strength and armament.

On January 10, Dire Dava was occupied by Italy on the eastern front.

Seeing that Harar was well-defended and experienced, Giuseppe Garibaldi did not attack the city immediately. Instead, he crossed Harar and attacked Gota, which is close to the capital. Finished occupying the small town of Gota.

Giuseppe Garibaldi saw the hearts of everyone in Harrell, so he turned his head and gave them another headshot, but he was wrong, and it was outrageously wrong.

When the Italian army launched an attack on the city of Harar on the 13th, more than 5,000 Ethiopian troops rose up to resist, killing and wounding more than 3,000 Italian troops. Even when the army led by Giuseppe was beaten up, Regained the Gota that had just been lost.

This war seemed to be a turning point. It dealt a heavy blow to the Italian invading army, which bankrupted Emmanuel II's quick-fix plan.

Because the 7,000 people who went south from the east line actually lost nearly half of them before they reached Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, the east line could only shrink.

This dealt a heavy blow to the invaders. This bankrupted Mussolini's plan for a quick battle.

So Giuseppe could only collect the rest of his army in Dire Dava, north of Harar, waiting for reinforcements, and hoped that Alfonso Ferrero Lamarmora would get a quick victory on the western front.

The news from this side came back to Europe, and Europe was wowed, and another European power lost in the war between Africa and the native kingdom.

And they were defeated so thoroughly. Under the head-to-head confrontation, a generation of famous Italian players, Giuseppe and Garibaldi, both failed, and lost to Tevodros II.

...

"This time, Britain's face is finally better. After all, some time ago in South Africa, Viscount Palmerston and Queen Victoria were embarrassed."

Napoleon III smiled at Olivier.

Olivier smiled and said: "Yeah, who would have thought that Ethiopia would be so powerful that it defeated Giuseppe, a famous general who had fought in Italy for decades. You must know that he has defeated many times before. Austria, in the Battle of Venice, was defeated by Austria.

He was defeated, Austria originally wanted to take Ethiopia, will this make Joseph I back down?"

Napoleon III shook his head, I am familiar with Joseph I, this guy is not ordinary stubborn, he will not give up lightly, he is waiting for Italy to fail, and then Austria will go up, the battle will be settled, and Italy will not be able to beat Austria. , humiliated Emmanuel II, and also rebuilt the prestige of the Austrian Empire. How could this guy give up such a rare opportunity. "

Olivier: "So we have a good show"

Napoleon III nodded and said, "Naturally."

...

"His Excellency Viscount Palmerston, according to UU reading www.uukanshu.com, Italy has to steal the chicken this time."

Queen Victoria in London was also watching what happened to Italy in Africa, where the British colonies of Sudan and Egypt were taking grades, so Italy's every move there was almost immediately transmitted to London, to her and the cabinet's table .

So she summoned the Viscount Palmerston.

"Although Italy was founded not long ago, Emmanuel II, with the support of the three founding heroes of Cavour, Mazzini, and Garibaldi, completed the transformation of a great power, and his strength is not weaker than that of Prussia.

However, Cavour's death last year has greatly compromised Italy's diplomacy. There is no check and balance of Emmanuel II, and the current king's willful and reckless situation has emerged, so it is reasonable. "

[The book chasing app recommended to me by an old book friend who I have known for ten years, Mimi read! It's so easy to use, I rely on this reading aloud to pass the time before driving and before going to bed, you can download it here]

"Look at what I do, what you said is true."

Queen Victoria said angrily to Viscount Palmerston.

"Then do you think that Emmanuel II will take Ethiopia under the addition of troops to the south?"

"The Queen is looking down on me"

"How to say?"

"Who is there around Ethiopia? It's no wonder that Italy can win it. King Tewodros II is not stupid. This guy is very clever. He knows how to choose. , it's still worth it, and you can even see a big European war in Africa.