Onze Plaats in de Zon: The Rise of Frederik de Grote (van Holland)

[Tommy4ever]

I'm glad you didn't attack the Portuguese (that's what I assumed when you said colonial war). Now if my numbers are correct you'll currently have 8bb which means you can go attack Bali and get another 8bb and mabye even that country in Malaya. Three OPM unciv annexations would give you 24bb in all which is within your limit. With the annexation fo Belgium being a bb free cb I guess you can safely go on a rampage in Asia before even thinking about securing the Southern provinces.

[Tommy4ever]

Sorry to double post but I think this deserves a seperate post from my basic comment.

Congrats Tanzhang (譚張)! This is the new Weekly AAR Showcase!

[Boris ze Spider]

Nicely done, congrats on being the showcase.

[Eber]

Excellent AAR. I was brought here by your nomination of Weekly AAR Showcase (congratulations by the way!) and I must say Tommy4ever did a great job in choosing you. Your AAR is wonderfully detailed and I absolutely loved your assassination scene. The Netherlands is one of my favorite countries and you're telling its story in an amazing and entertaining history. Well done!

[Alexspeed]

Well done Tanzhang, good to see the updates flowing in, and gratulations to making it in the AAR Showcase

Cant wait to see how things will unfold with the Belgians.

[Dhimmi]

will be following it although I'm Belgian myself

[punterke]

nice tread, even if it involves plans to annex my country!
Do you see the Boer in their remote South African republics in the Dutch future? Too bad that in Victoria 2 the Boer population aren't Dutch anymore.

btw: I think your title has a hunch of being litterally translated from English probably to Dutch. It's correct Dutch, but it means "our place inside the sun", more correct would be "Onze plaats onder de zon". But it can also point out that the Dutch are getting their asses kicked by the Belgians.

btw2: Most Belgians speak Dutch, in the game they are called Flemish (and in reality too). Like the Dutch in the southern Netherlands (Maastricht, Eindhoven, Breda and the southern part of the Middelburg province) they are catholics. In the game all the Dutch are protestants and I guess some Dutch back then wished that was the case. Like in Germany, divisions and tensions between catholic and protestant populations have lasted until today. At least a third of the Dutch population was catholic and in the 20th century that rose up to 40+%. Back then they were considered second rank citizens (main reason why the Belgians tried to become independant).

[Tanzhang (譚張)]

Thanks for all the comments everyone! I know I've got one hell of an update to write up to meet your expectations.

Enewald: Brunei is definitely on Frederik's hit list, but Indochina has been far from his thoughts, but who knows what he'll be thinking tomorrow?

Tommy (1): Belgium will come before Bali, that I can assure you. After Belgium I'm not sure where my next two wars will be, but any conflict in Malaya might upset the British.

Tommy (2): Thank you very much!

Boris: Thank you, I hope you stick around

Eber: Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying it! I hope you stick around too

Alex: Thank you, I hope I'll prove worthy of winning the Showcase

Dhimmi: Nobody's perfect Nah, Frederik has no problems with the southern provinces; It's the southern provinces that have a problem with Frederik! Glad to have you on board.

Punterke (1): Oh, there more than just plans

Punterke (2): There will be a token attempt to influence them and establish relations, but Dutch influence in South Africa will most likely be traded in for British influence in SE Asia. Asia is the future, the Afrikaners are in the past.

Punterke (3): Right you are, My knowledge of Dutch basically consists of a few words in Afrikaans, what i can understand from my knowledge of English and German and phrases I picked up from hours of playing Age of Empires III (klaar?)

Punterke (4): Not bloody likely! It's the Belgians who are having their donkeys kicked.

Punterke (5): Thanks for the info, and it's good to have you on board

[hoi2geek]

Where next? Spain and Portugal must be annexed and a new Iberian state be established.

[Leviathan07]

Johor has several gold provinces. You should seriously consider conquering them, before the UK does!!

If you keep UK relations up at +100 (not too difficult with your alliance) then they shouldn't ever go aggro on you. It's a small risk that I would take for sure.

[Alyosha]

If you keep UK relations up at +100 (not too difficult with your alliance) then they shouldn't ever go aggro on you. It's a small risk that I would take for sure.

I took Johor in a game as Belgium and the UK never thought to go to war over it, even after I became a Great Power (and left their sphere).

[FlyingDutchie]

Stubled upon this AAR by accident, but I'm pleasantly surprised. Having Frederick as king is an interesting point of departure too, replacing poor, weakwilled Willem II by a man with more backbone. Wonder if Thorbecke is able to push the constitution through in 1948...

And please do all Dutch-speakers a favour and forget all Dutch learned from 'Age of Empires'. There's not a sigle word of actual Dutch in the game (only direct, babelfishlike translations) .

[Tanzhang (譚張)]

hoi2geek: No, I will not be releasing any of the so-called "celtic" nations. Please do no ask again. (good to have you following though )
Leviathan & Alyosha: Welcome! The important thing is whether or not "Frederik" would risk war with the UK, not me. That being said though, I haven't quite made up my mind what I'll do once i start playing again and Leviathan puts forth a compelling case...
FlyingDutchie: Isn't klaar a word? Anyway, it's great to have some actual Nederlanders following (and not if Frederik has anything to say about it! the Reactionaries still outnumber the Liberals at this stage)

[Tanzhang (譚張)]

"Give The Belgians Enough Rope, And They'll Hang Themselves"
The Coronation of Queen Victoria
William IV, King of Great Britain & Ireland died on the 20th of June, 1837. His successor would be his niece, Victoria who would be coronated eight days later. Among those monarchs in attendance was Europe's "rising stars" King Frederik of The Netherlands and King Leopold of Belgium.


Queen Victoria's coronation, the main event of Europe's social calendar.

As soon as news of William's death reached Frederik, he had been exited on what this meant for the future of The Netherlands. William had been known as the "Guardian of Belgium" in Europe and was a close friend of Leopold I, and it was primarily through William's influence that Leopold became King of Belgium in the first place. He knew that as long as William was alive any chance of avenging those lost in the Rebellion of 1830 would mean a war with Great Britain, something that he wouldn't dare risk. He also knew that William's niece Victoria shared no such love for her family, including her uncle Leopold. This was something Frederik was betting on.

Spain, which in terms of prestige had suffered greatly during the ongoing Carlist War attempted to hitch on to the Low Countries bandwagon by awarding both monarchs The Order of the Golden Fleece. The Spanish Ambassador hosted a dinner shortly after the coronation in honour of Queen Victoria, attended by all the monarchs, lords and ladies who had attended Victoria's coronation. Leopold accepted the award whereas Frederik refused, stating that as the King was currently busy fighting the Liberals in Spain, he could not accept the award unless he conferred it personally.

Such a public act of defiance was a great blow to Spanish prestige, and failure from Spain to retaliate revealed it as a Paper Tiger. Many of those in the know believed it would be only a matter of time before Belgium supplanted Spain as a Great Power. Victoria was quite amused.

The Antwerp Incident of '38
Throughout 1837 and 1838, Leopold had been greatly asserting his might in European affairs. He engaged in alliances with Denmark and Spain, and oversaw the reconstruction of the Royal Belgian Navy, under the supervision of Danish and Spanish naval advisors.

In order to provide rigging for the new ships, Leopold needed rope. There were plenty of factories in Belgium that could provide the rope he needed, but Leopold turned to one particular factory in Antwerp to do the job, one that was run by Dutchmen and owned by Dutch Capitalists who repatriated to Holland after 1831. Leopold launched an official demand to the Dutch King for Belgium to nationalise the factory, a demand to which Frederik acceded, partially to win support with the growing Dutch liberal movement who supported the acquisition.

Liberalism was growing in The Netherlands

When his Chief of the Army, Ruben van Wassenaer asked him why he agreed to Leopold demands, the king tactfully replied: "Give The Belgians enough rope, and they'll hang themselves"


Hang themselves they did

The Glorious War of Unification
On the 13th of June, 1839 The Kingdom of Belgium formally announced it's position as a Great Power of Europe and the expulsion of all Concessions to Great Britain that Belgium had conceded as part of it's Sphere of Influence, though the two countries remained allies, it would now be on equal terms. Exactly thirty-five minutes after the proclamation Frederik I declared war on Belgium, with the goal of uniting it with Holland. None in Europe were surprised, and thus there was no negative reaction to Frederik's war, apart from two of his allies: Denmark and Spain, the latter saw this as a chance to get even over Frederik's comments two years earlier. Belgium's third ally however, Great Britain, stayed Neutral. For Queen Victoria it was an easy decision, she could either join Belgium and plunge her country into a war that had no gain, or she could remain allied with The Netherlands and remain at peace. (OOC: I didn't call my allies into the war)

Queen Victoria was still upset over Leopold's decision to leave her Sphere of Influence. She wisely kept Britain neutral.

Leopold, Commander in Chief of the Belgian forces was furious. He personally commanded the Royal Army stationed in Bruges and went to attack the entire Dutch army stationed in Middelburg while the Second Army stationed in Hasselt was commanded by Frederic Malou, who was ordered to attack Maastrict.

Frederik and Ruben jointly commanded the Royal Dutch Army stationed in Middelburg. Emulating his strategy for the Aceh invasion, Frederik had his army retreat to Rotterdam, enticing Leopold to siege Middelburg allowing his forces to go on the offensive and fight in Dutch Territory.

Belgian and Dutch war plans on the outbreak of war

The two monarchs clashed at the Battle of Middelburg, leading to a victory for Frederik and the Dutch.

Leopold and The Belgians retreated to Bruges with the Dutch in hot pursuit, Frederik won splendid victories against Leopold at the battles of Bruges, Tournai and Charleroi, where Leopold was captured and the Royal Belgian Army obliterated. Frederik then marched his army out of Belgium and through Dutch territory to relieve Maastrict from the Second Army.

The Second Army retreated to Liege, where they were routed by the pursuing Dutch Army. Frederik then ordered the entire Royal Dutch Army to fan out and besiege all Belgian provinces simultaneously, Frederik led the Siege of Brussels personally.

Dutch armies laying siege to Belgium

King Frederik leading the breakthrough during the Siege of Brussles

With the war against Belgium in Europe nearly over, their Danish allies launched a daring invasion of Aceh. The sheer logistical challenge of reaching Aceh from Denmark without stopping was extraordinary and would go down in Danish folklore as "the Danish Expedition".

despite being completely unexpected, the Danish Expedition was easily routed by the veteran Dutch Colonial Army at the Battle of Banda Aceh. This marked the first time Muzzle-loaded Rifles were used by a Dutch Army

In retaliation, the Royal Dutch Navy blockaded Danish ports. The Belgian Navy launched a joint relief force with the Royal Spanish Navy (their only military action of the war) but were defeated at the Battle of Hegoland Bight.


On the 21st of May 1840, The Kingdom of Belgium was annexed, a truce was signed with Denmark and Spain and the Kingdom of The Netherlands was disbanded with The United Kingdom of The Netherlands formed to replace it. A general amnesty was proclaimed to any soldiers who fought for Belgium during the War of Unification, only the Ringleaders of the Revolution, high-ranked officers and King Leopold were put on trial. The Officers were imprisoned, while the ringleaders and "King" Leopold were charged with orchestrating the Assassination of Willem, Prince of Orange (VI) and hanged. Frederik ordered Leopold be given a proper burial in an unmarked grave, the others were cremated.

Leopold I, the first, last and only King of Belgium

Coming up next: Great Britain (and someone else) Join the Gentleman's Game and I get to resume playing!

[Tommy4ever]

To execute a King, even a deposed one, is quite an act and would surely draw violent protests from across Europe.

Glad to see that the Benelux has been united, you are now assured of a position in the ranks of the Great Powers. If not straight away then very soon.

[Tanzhang (譚張)]

To execute a King, even a deposed one, is quite an act and would surely draw violent protests from across Europe.

To assassinate a prince would surely draw protests too, of course anyone who was there would know Leopold had nothing to do with killing of Willem...

Glad to see that the Benelux has been united, you are now assured of a position in the ranks of the Great Powers. If not straight away then very soon.

Yes, we were sixth, but quickly dropped to seventh due to US Industrialisation.

[Eber]

Great update! The Belgians went down with relative ease.

[mayorqw]

Very good! I love the story-telling. It's fast, but there's still plenty of detail. What will you do now?

[Alexspeed]

A marvellous update, thank you, it was a enjoyable read.

I would have thought the Belgians would put up more of a fight.
Well, united at last, the less bloodshed the better i guess

[Tanzhang (譚張)]

Eber & Alex: I'm glad you both enjoyed the chapter so much, as it took a very long time to write. I told you i wouldn't need allies to beat Belgium
Mayorqw: Great to have you on board! As for what I'll do next...

I've already decided, but I want to see what you readers think. What i can tell you is that:
* I mentioned the continuing of the Gentleman's Game: The next update will deal primarily with SE Asia
* I started researching Railways in November, you'll see lots of railway building next chapter.
* As i invaded Aceh before Belgium, my Infamy was low enough for me to start THREE colonial wars (with who i won't say)