Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

Vol 3 Chapter 421: Australia's Unknown Cycling Corps

Everyone in the military is happy about the potential military savings of such a large sum of money.

William IV asked: "How has the military's current strength changed?"

His eyes were placed on the Dutch Chief of Staff Mark. on Lude.

"At present, the Netherlands is developing rapidly in terms of military power. The surface tonnage of the navy remains at around 250,000 tons, which is already on par with the French Empire, and the United Kingdom has reached 300,000 tons.

Specifically, 7 British steam battleships have been built, and 5 are built for the French Empire.

The Netherlands indicated that there were 4 ships, of which 2 were deployed locally and 2 were deployed in the Far East. In fact, we have manufactured and deployed more than 10 in the Far East.”

"Oh" William IV asked, "How to deploy?"

The "Jakarta" is deployed in Jakarta, the capital of the Dutch East India, and the "Elysium Peninsula" is also located at the largest naval base in the Far East of the Elysium Peninsula, New Guinea Island.

In the South Pacific Islands east of the Australian Parkway, we deployed the Fiji on the island of Fiji.

In the Hawaiian Islands, the "Pearl Harbor" and the "Hawaii" were deployed to guard there.

In the Australian mainland, the "Sydney" and "Melbourne" were deployed in Sydney Harbour to guard the entire eastern part of the Australian continent, and the "Perth" was also deployed in Perth in the west.

"So, 8 steam battleships have been deployed throughout the Far East? It's a luxury."

William IV exclaimed. You must know that the six British fleets (original seven fleets, because Australia has no more, so the Australian fleet is missing) is a total of seven ships. It is said that the entire Indian Ocean fleet is second only to the mainland Atlantic fleet, and there are only two steam battleships. , the local Atlantic fleet is only 2, the North-Sea Fleet 1, the Mediterranean Fleet and the Canadian Fleet each 1, the South African Fleet, not even one.

And there are two ships in the Far East of the Netherlands, including two in the Hawaiian Fleet. This is really powerful.

"What about the army?" The strong development of the navy is naturally in line with William IV's idea. After all, in the 21st century, the navy is still the most powerful symbol of a big country. The population of the army can be vague, but the tonnage of the navy is real. , Otherwise, why the United States is superior in the next world is that its seven aircraft carrier fleets dominate the world.

Whatever happens, all countries will first think of where the US aircraft carrier is.

150 years later, that's how it is said, let alone now.

Therefore, the development of the navy is still one of the main directions of the future Dutch military power in the 19th century and even the 20th century.

War Secretary Pat. De Jong saw William IV asking, so he said: "Currently, the regular army of the Dutch army is 168,000, the one-year compulsory army is more than 50,000, and the indigenous army is more than 120,000."

In other words, there are more than 338,000 soldiers in total? Plus the Navy nearly 400,000?

Are 32 million people and 400,000 soldiers a lot?

In this day and age, not much.

Especially when there are frequent wars in Europe and the world is not at all peaceful.

You must know that the French Empire has a regular army of 500,000, and other types of conscripts and reserve forces can be mobilized to millions.

Sweden has a population of 7.5 million and a regular army of more than 200,000. Sweden implements a national system of conscripts and guards against the Tsarist Russian Empire. If a war really breaks out, Karl XV can mobilize more than 1 million troops in an instant, and still all. After training, this is also the case where the population of the Russian Empire is far larger than that of Sweden, and the land is incomparable. For decades, the Russian Empire has not dared to do anything to Sweden. Alexander II and his father Nicholas I would rather attack the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East than open fire on Sweden. It is really too much militarization of the Swedes.

In addition to the cold weather and the geographical location where it is easy to defend and difficult to attack, Sweden's local military defense measures are even more shocking, so northern Europe is almost a forbidden area for major military powers.

In this case, the size of the Dutch army of 400,000 is really not much. After all, this is a country with tens of millions of square kilometers that needs to be guarded.

The geographical location of the Netherlands is also destined to require so many troops to guard.

This is why William IV needed the indigenous army. He was at the forefront of the war, and he could be the Weiheli who guarded the country at home. Although the combat strength remains to be seen, the figure of 100,000 soldiers itself is a shocking figure for Europe. At the moment when the number of Danish military personnel is 80,000, this has moved the total number of military personnel in Denmark.

"Your Majesty, the Dutch army has now been replaced with Mauser guns, and with the development of the military industry, many of our equipment are equipped with the most advanced equipment. It can be said that if we are currently speaking according to the ranking of European countries , equipment we dare to say second, no army dare to say they are first."

William IV was dumbfounded. The equipment is the most advanced in the Dutch army and arguably the most luxurious in Europe.

The Dutch army can be said to be built with money.

No country can use defense-expenditure weapons like the Netherlands, and their whole body has begun to develop towards protecting bulletproof equipment. Therefore, the equipment of the Netherlands can be said to be embarrassing.

"By the way, how about the new armies called Army Training recently?"

New troops?

Many cabinet members looked at William IV in confusion.

When did the Netherlands have a new army? How did they not know?

If yes~www.readwn.com~ What type of new unit is this?

The military's degree of secrecy is getting higher and higher.

"According to His Majesty's orders, we have mobilized more than 30,000 people in three divisions to conduct military training there. All three divisions have completed the training of His Majesty's new arms. The results are good so far."