Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2203 Dunkirk

Dunkirk is not a typical French city.

This city originally belonged to Spain, and the people living here are basically Walloons from the southern Netherlands. There are not many French people, and their beliefs are mainly Catholic.About 30 years ago, the British sold the city from Spain to the French for 40 pounds, and they also encountered domestic opposition.

After Louis XIV bought Dunkirk, he immediately expanded it.He almost doubled the size of the city, and at the same time built a series of new facilities such as forts, docks, fortresses, and shipyards, turning it into the home port of the French Western Fleet (Atlantic Fleet), and Toulon Naval Port in the Mediterranean Sea in the south. Far away.

At present, Dunkirk has a permanent population of about 4, more than half of whom are French who have just moved here, and there are also some foreign businessmen, technicians, mercenaries and their families.The official language of the city is French, but in real life, Dutch, German and even Spanish speakers still abound, and the culture of the whole city is relatively diverse.

But Louis XIV obviously didn't like this so-called multiculturalism.In fact, before he came to Dunkirk this time, he had already issued an order requiring all residents of Dunkirk to learn to speak French, and all kinds of private schools must also teach French as the most important language. Obviously He wanted to fundamentally change the culture here, making it more like a French city.

The local non-French residents are naturally very dissatisfied with this imposed behavior.They all complained that the king's control was too lenient, and they had no freedom at all.But all the complaints were ignored. Louis XIV was a man of tenacity, and he would always carry out the things he was looking for in an orderly manner. Therefore, the aborigines in Dunkirk had no choice but to accept in the end and forced themselves Live the French way.

Needless to say, this is conquest, this is assimilation, and this is colonization!Dunkirk was originally a small fishing port in the ten provinces of the Southern Netherlands, and supported the departure of Flemish expedition ships and North Sea whaling ships. It is a typical lowland pearl city.But in the face of French power, they lack the ability to protect themselves and are still irreversibly occupied, ruled, and colonized by the enemy, and there is no way.This case tells everyone that being weak is the original sin, and if you fall behind, you will be beaten!

Dunkirk is now the camp of King Louis XIV of France.Louis XIV, who had just gotten rid of the mistresses in Paris, arrived at a manor in the suburbs with an army of [-], and the first thing he did was to summon the naval officers who had just returned to give lectures.The French navy has occupied an absolute dominant position in the North Sea for several years. Until the second half of last year, it recovered and lost to the Anglo-Dutch coalition forces. Louis XIV wanted to know why the navy he spent a lot of money on failed.

The results of the investigation made him very dissatisfied.The main reason why the Anglo-Dutch coalition gained the upper hand is that the large ships they built in the past two years have entered service one after another. The commissioning of these powerful warships that are not inferior to the French battleships has greatly strengthened their strength. In addition, the Anglo-Dutch navy is relatively high. Professional quality, so it is not surprising that they have achieved a better exchange ratio in the battle.

And once the French Navy cannot occupy absolute command of the sea in the English Channel, it will not be a good result waiting for James II, who is still struggling in Ireland.Louis XIV has basically confirmed that James II is finished, maybe this year.The British offensive was extremely fierce, William III did not give him a chance at all, and the local Catholics in Ireland did not support him, all of which put James II in a great predicament.Worse than these objective dilemmas is James' mental collapse.This man is no longer afraid to fight the enemy face to face. When William III came to the front line and even passed a shell, James II timidly hid in the rear, letting a group of foreign troops who did not have a good impression of him in the front Desperately.How can James' army have combat effectiveness under such a situation?

But even if James II failed, he was better off than most of his troubled family.The founder of the Stuart family was King James of Scotland, who was imprisoned in England for 18 years before being murdered by his own subjects along with his wife.And their son, who also died while participating in the war against Britain, was only 29 years old.

Both James III and James IV died in the war, and their granddaughter Mary was driven from the throne and fled to England, where she lost her head after 18 years of imprisonment.A few years later, Mary's grandson was also sent to the guillotine where his grandmother died.

Compared with these ancestors, James II, who lost his throne because of a mass, is really lucky, at least he is still alive, isn't he?Although he couldn't even confirm whether the child was his own.

After listening to the report from the admiral, Louis XIV could only let out a long sigh, and then ordered the fleet still in the port to set sail immediately and head for the port of Brest on the Brittany Peninsula.Whether it is to continue the expedition across the sea or to withdraw the army that is struggling in the quagmire off the coast of Ireland, the Navy needs to be ready.

After instructing the navy, Louis XIV also summoned some army generals and listened to their reports on the war in the Netherlands.The situation here is also not very optimistic, but at least it can give Louis XIV some comfort.His favorite general, Butteville, Duke of Luxembourg, did a pretty good job. In the Battle of Namur at the end of last year, Butteville led his army to defeat tens of thousands of troops from the United Provinces, and then captured the city in San Francisco through hard work. The strategically important town at the confluence of the Bull River and the Maas River - during the siege, Louis XIV made an appearance on the front line. Although he left soon, this did not prevent him from regarding the victory of the siege as his own. Well directed.

Two months ago, because a French spy whose identity had been exposed was asked by the Dutch to give false information, the French army commanded by Butteville was brutally attacked by Prince Waldeck in his sleep.But Bootwell again turned the tide, reorganizing the disorganized troops in just two hours and then swiftly completing the transfer.After the transfer, he did not panic, but led this part of the army to counterattack.

In this heroic counterattack, the senior French generals took the lead.Philippe, Duke of Orleans, grandson of Louis XIV, Louis de Bourbon, grandson of Prince Condé, François-Louis, grandnephew of Prince Conti, Duke Vendôme, grandson of Henry IV, and other princely grandsons took the lead in the charge , which greatly stimulated the morale of the French army.

The tragic charge was carried out three times in total, and the disadvantage of the French army was brought back.Afterwards, Marshal Bouffleur, who got the news, arrived overnight with 5000 cavalry, and he defeated Prince Waldeck's troops in one fell swoop.In this battle, the French army killed more than 6000 people, but also left more than 7000 corpses of the German and Dutch coalition forces, and captured more than 3000 people. It can be said that it turned defeat into victory and greatly shocked the enemy's will to fight.

At present, the Dutch on the opposite side have mobilized a large number of French Huguenots who were exiled in the past.These people received good training in the rear, and even many of them were originally soldiers. They were all issued with weapons, and were reorganized into several independent legions, and they were stationed in the Southern Netherlands together with the Dutch and German coalition forces.These guys have a deep-rooted hatred for the French King Louis XIV, and their fighting will is extremely tenacious. They are full of morale without mobilization, and they can be called the enemy of the French Army.In the previous few limited-scale confrontations, these people have shown superb fighting skills and cruel nature-they even killed the French prisoners, which can be described as frantic to the extreme.

After listening to the meeting report, Louis XIV waved the generals away, and then called his Minister of War Loire.The current battle situation in the Southern Netherlands and the Rhine River Basin makes him feel very weak. If he wants to give up, the French army has won many times, and the battlefield has the upper hand. If he continues, he still cannot make decisive progress. Can be consumed with the Dutch and Germans a little bit.

The only thing that has made progress is probably that the Principality of Savoy in Italy has completely surrendered after two disastrous defeats. They ceded some land to the Kingdom of France and paid 200 million livres in compensation, which greatly satisfied Louis XIV.He accepted the terms of the Duchy of Savoy, and then "mercifully" let them go.

However, after letting go of the Principality of Savoy, Louis XIV had no intention of letting go of other parts of Northern Italy.His original plan was to mobilize about [-] army soldiers into northern Italy, and then conquer the local city-states one by one.However, the arrival of a piece of bad news made him dispel this idea: it is said that with the help of the people on the east coast, several city-states in northern Italy have formed a loose alliance and formed a coalition of northern Italy.

The number of this coalition army is unknown, but it is believed to be no less than 2 people. It is composed of officers and non-commissioned officers from the Republic of Venice, supplemented by a large number of soldiers with war experience—some of them come from mercenaries who fought for the Spanish king. Some of them came from the German region - all the staff were equipped with weapons and equipment given to them on credit by the people on the east bank, and some of the army staff on the east bank provided training guidance. Overall, the combat effectiveness is still acceptable.

Of course, Louis XIV would not think that the tens of thousands of French troops deployed on the southeastern front could not defeat this so-called coalition army, but the number of enemies was too many. In addition to the [-] new troops, each city-state also had more old troops. Army, the sum is not a small number.Once they are determined and determined to fight the French army to the end, they may not be able to effectively occupy those territories with just tens of thousands of people.

After all, I still blame the East Coast people!If they hadn't messed around inside and successfully mobilized the unity and enthusiasm of the Italians, the situation facing the Kingdom of France in this regard should be much simpler.In the final analysis, it was all external forces that interfered, which ultimately prevented France from achieving the desired situation here.

At this time, Louis XIV thought of a series of actions that the people on the east coast had done at sea, which made him feel even more depressed.He is not unaware of the strength of the East Coast Navy, that is, they have the ability to load steam engines on battleships and continue to operate stably, which makes their battleships even more powerful.Nowadays, many countries in continental Europe are studying this technology, including the Kingdom of France, but there are always problems of one kind or another, and it has never been successful.But if you want to break the grip of the people on the east coast, it is undoubtedly crucial to conquer this technology. Louis XIV always felt that now that the British and Dutch navies are coming from behind, if the French navies want to regain the upper hand, perhaps the breakthrough lies here.

Louis XIV talked with Loire for more than two hours at the end, and the two decided that now is the right time to close when they see each other on the Italian battlefield.Anyway, they have already obtained enough benefits from the Principality of Savoy, and some small city-states in northern Italy that cannot withstand the pressure have also paid them some money and materials, and the benefits are already good.

After the battle here, the tens of thousands of people in Catina can go to the Pyrenees to join the small number of local French troops to deter the Spaniards.If the Spaniards can't stand the pressure, maybe they can still get some benefits, and they can subsidize the consumption to some extent, but this time I hope that the people on the east coast will stop interfering.

(End of this chapter)