"Military And Military Sub-Plane" author: Xia Worm can not speak ice
We all know a phrase called "there are no eternal friends, only eternal interests", this "famous saying" in interpersonal communication is now often used in international relations, and international relations have become the topic of small talk for many people after dinner.
In today's issue of push, Xiaobian will talk to you about the historical feud between the United States and France about Louisiana, and look at the international relations between them.
Friendly reminder: In order to avoid unnecessary arguments, all content involving transliteration in this article shall be subject to the original English version.
Louisiana, not a state
First of all, let me state that louisiana we are talking about today is not the current louisiana state of the United States, but the louisiana territory (hereinafter referred to as Louisiana), which includes a large area from the mouth of the Mississippi River to the Canadian border.
The picture shows the historical Louisiana Territory, including a large area from the mouth of the Mississippi River to the Canadian border.
The current Louisiana state of the United States is one of the 15 states that the U.S. government later divided into this territory. (Knocking on the blackboard) is not a concept, we should pay attention to the distinction, do not confuse.
▲ The picture shows the location of today's Louisiana state in the United States, which is far from the historical Louisiana territory, and today's state is only a small part of the territory of that year
Before European colonists came, the first owners of the land were Indians, who hunted and herded cattle and sheep on the vast plains. In 1682, French colonists came to Louisiana and discovered this "treasure land". The French said: "This place is good, an endless plain, but unfortunately the Indians will graze, and if they are blind in such a good place, if they plant something and raise something, and make it developed, is it not fragrant?" ”
So the French colonists reported to the King of France: "We have discovered a terra nullius, and we propose to include it in the territory of our divine greatness." At that time, King Louis XIV of France was very happy: "The young man is doing a good job, I am optimistic about you", this place is called "Louisiana".
▲ Pictured is King Louis XIV of France, full name Louis-Dieudonne, self-proclaimed Sun King (French: le Roi du Soleil), the King of Bourbon France and King of Navarre. Reigned for 72 years and 110 days, he was one of the longest-reigning monarchs and the longest-reigning sovereign monarch in world history.
Since then, the area has become French Louisiana, and since 1699, French colonists have established multiple colonization sites here and begun the colonial road.
In 1756, the "Seven Years' War" broke out in Europe, and the Seven Years' War was, to put it bluntly, a great brawl in several European countries. On one side are The British Prussia and Portugal, on the other side are France, Russia and Austria, Spain and Sweden. After 7 years of war, Britain defeated France, and France ceded French Louisiana to Britain.
The Seven Years War was a war between the British-Prussian Alliance and the French-Austrian Alliance, which lasted for seven years, so it was called the Seven Years' War. It was a war that affected Europe, North America, Central America, the west African coast, India and the Philippine archipelago.
But the French were very unimpressed, because they had reached a secret agreement with Spain the year before the end of the war, and in order to repay the Spaniards for not abandoning it, the French gave Louisiana to Spain. That is to say, the French transferred the Louisiana territory that had been given to Spain and gave it to the British.
Just as the so-called "one woman does not marry two husbands, one servant does not serve two masters", in the treaty after the end of the war, Louisiana was divided into two by the Mississippi River, with England in the east and Spain in the west, one and a half.
▲ The picture shows the division of power of European colonists on the North American continent before and after the Seven Years' War. It can be seen that after the war, french Louisiana territories were occupied by Britain and Spain, and France lost all its colonies on the North American continent.
So after the Seven Years' War, Britain and Spain were equivalent to dividing up the North American continent. The war wiped out Britain's pockets, so Britain began to suppress the North American colonies, and the War of Independence broke out.....
The story begins after the independence of the United States...
After independence, the territory of the United States was the thirteen colonies that britain had originally been near the Atlantic coast. But by 1783, when Britain recognized the independence of the United States, in addition to the thirteen colonies, the United States also acquired all the areas east of the Mississippi River, north of Florida, and south of Canada, that is, the British half of Louisiana Territory, which was named the United States, and the land area of the United States directly soared from 800,000 square kilometers to 2.3 million square kilometers.
In 1783, Britain and the United States signed the Treaty of Paris, and Britain officially recognized the independence of the United States. It includes confirming the boundaries of the United States stretching from the Atlantic coast in the east to the Mississippi River in the west, canada's Great Lakes region in the north, and the northern boundary of Florida in the south.
The Mississippi River, which is regarded as a boundary river, became an important channel for the transportation of agricultural products. But only half of the upper reaches of the river were in American hands, and the downstream areas and the important sea port city of New Orleans were still under Spanish control. In order to ensure the free use of the downstream and ports by American merchants, the Treaty of Pinkoni was signed in 1795.
The picture shows the lower Mississippi River region under Spanish control and the important sea port city of New Orleans.
The time came to 1800, when France had already changed, and King Louis XVI, who supported the American Revolutionary War, had already been guillotineed, and France was Napoleon. Napoleon can be said to be known to everyone in Europe, and he was promoted to brigadier general at the age of 24, which is a miracle in the entire European military history.
Napoleon Bonaparte (French: Napoléon Bonaparte), the great French military and statesman of the nineteenth century, the founder of the First French Empire. He served as First Consul of the First French Republic (1799-1804) and Emperor of the First French Empire (1804-1815).
It is reasonable to say that there is such a boss living next door, you honestly squint, Spain is good to die and have to join the anti-French alliance, and as a result, he was beaten by France and his nose was blue and his face was swollen. At this time, Spain said: "Good man spare his life, can't I exchange the land with you?" So Sifah secretly signed a Treaty of San Ildefonso.
Everyone looks at this name to know that this is not the first time to sign, but the first two times have little to do with our content today, so everyone will know it. An important clause in the "Third Treaty" was that Spain returned Louisiana to France, and didn't Louisiana have not ceded half of louisiana to England and Spain before, and now half of Britain has gone to the United States, and this half of Spain has returned to France. In exchange, Napoleon gave Spain the Tuscany region of Italy, which he had just conquered.
▲The red area in the picture is the Tuscany region of Italy
When the Americans found out, their hearts were cold. Louisiana is not easy to handle in the hands of the French, can the French still talk as well as Spain? Can I continue to sail and trade as before?
In addition, the Americans found that the French were engaged in an abolitionist movement in New Orleans, which in turn was next to the southern united States. We know that the American South practiced black slavery on the plantation, and then fought the Civil War because of this. Therefore, the Americans were afraid that the French were engaged in a rebellion, and even the black slaves on their side were also engaged in an uprising.
So Thomas Jefferson, who was the president of the United States at the time, was in a hurry to sleep, and finally he finally came up with a foolproof solution, simply paying money to buy New Orleans directly from your French, so that he would never have to worry about any changes in this place.
▲ Pictured is Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States (1801-1809), also the main drafter of the American Declaration of Independence, one of the founding fathers of the United States, together with George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, known as the founding three masters of the United States.
Without stopping, Jefferson sent a man named Robert Livingston. The livingstons took the money to Paris to negotiate land with Napoleon.
Buy land storm
At first, Napoleon was reluctant to sell it, and he did not have to make a difference as a second-rate dealer. According to his original vision, in the near future, the North American continent will fly over the French tricolor flag, where people will speak French and eat baguettes.
But soon that dream was shattered by a group of black slaves. In 1802, Napoleon sent his brother-in-law, Charles Leclerc, to lead an expeditionary force of 40,000 men to present-day Haiti to suppress a slave rebellion. When they first arrived in Haiti, the French army still had the upper hand, but soon contracted yellow fever, and more than two-thirds of the French soldiers, including Leclerc himself, were killed.
▲The picture shows the Haitian Revolution. Originally part of Spain and part of the Spanish West Indies, it was ceded to France in 1697 under the Treaty of Riswick and later known as French Saint Domingo. In 1790, an uprising broke out in Santo Domingo, France, against French colonial rule, which lasted until November 1803, when all French troops were expelled. In January 1804, Saint-Domingo declared its independence, Haiti.
Seeing that the dream of "North America and France" could not be achieved, Napoleon felt that this overseas enclave was not so fragrant. At the same time, the war between France and England is about to start, and we know what Britain relied on to conquer the world to become an empire that never sets? The navy, so If Napoleon wanted to win the war, he had to have a huge fleet, where did the money come from?
So in 1803, Napoleon finally agreed to the Americans' proposal to buy land.
At that time, the United States only wanted to buy the port of New Orleans, and the bid was two million dollars. Napoleon listened, two million is enough? Two million is not enough, you in the United States are too small to be angry, we do not retail, if you want to buy it, take it all, a price of 22.5 million US dollars to take away.
▲ Pictured is James Monroe, the fifth President of the United States and the last Founding Father of the United States to serve as president. In 1803, Monroe was appointed a special envoy by Jefferson to France to assist the Minister in France, Robert Livingston, in purchasing Louisiana from France.
The entire Louisiana area is 2.14 million square kilometers, equivalent to the area of a United States at that time, that is to say, the United States can spend more than $20 million to buy another United States, and the total square kilometer is only seven dollars, and this kind of cheap thing has no place to find with lanterns.
Some people say that Napoleon is not stupid? So a large piece of land is so cheap to sell? Although Napoleon had the strongest army in All of Europe at that time, Britain was not a vegetarian, and once Britain and France went to war, they did not expect the United States to contain Britain, at least to remain neutral.
After some haggling, Napoleon finally agreed to a $15 million (equivalent to 80 million francs) deal, leaving the money to be taken.
▲The picture shows the original of Louisiana's land purchase treaty. (Image from Baidu Encyclopedia)
Although before leaving, the president specifically explained that it could not exceed $10 million at most, and if it was more, it would not be reported. However, in the face of "such a big pie in the world", the representative of the United States still decided to cut it first and play it later, and signed it on the spot.
The history of this event is called the Louisiana Purchase.
Buyer shows and seller shows
Because Napoleon was in a hurry to use the money, he demanded that the U.S. government must pay it off as soon as possible. But with the financial resources of the United States at that time, even 15 million could not be taken out. Go to Paris to come back with 15 million debts, many "people of insight" in China began to pick up their "keyboard" to type, if there was the Internet at that time, I am afraid that the Internet fees in the United States will increase in price.
▲The picture is $10. The figure printed on it is Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of the United States, who was killed for buying Louisiana to duel with political enemies.
Some say that buying land will only anger Spain and bring disaster to the United States; others say that the United States should be friendly with Britain rather than pay the French for military expenses.
In any case, there is no regret medicine in the world, the words have been signed, and it is too late to regret it. In desperation, the US federal government can only lend to two European banks with an interest rate of 6%. In the end, the United States paid france the full amount on two separate occasions, and the United States did not pay it off until 1823.
Since then, the territory of the United States has doubled, and its territory has extended from the Atlantic coast to the west to the Rocky Mountains and south to the Gulf of Mexico, basically laying the map of the modern United States.
The picture shows the United States after the purchase of Louisiana, and its territory has doubled.
France was also more well-funded, and in the years that followed Napoleon defeated Austria and Then Prussia and became the hegemon of Europe.
Who is the enemy? Who are the friends?
Looking back now, the United States was able to become independent and today's achievements, all of which were leaks from the Anglo-French War. In particular, France, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is the "founding hero" of the United States, France has given so much help to the United States, how did the United States repay France?
The Americans turned around and dug a big hole in The French. After the independence of the United States, in 1794 it signed a Jay's Treaty with Britain, which was also a sworn enemy of France, although it was an unequal treaty, but also restored trade with Britain to some extent.
John Jay is an American politician, revolutionary, diplomat, and jurist. In 1794, the United States and Britain signed the Treaty of Jay, named after the Representative of the United States, John Jay.
In 1789, the French Revolution broke out, the Bourbon Dynasty that had ruled France for many centuries collapsed, and the United States relied on all the debts it had incurred during the War of Independence on the grounds that France had become a republic, and vigorously criticized the French Revolution as an extreme and radical act.
▲ The picture shows the classic scene of the French Revolution - Louis XVI on the guillotine
France has paid and sent people to help you become independent, and now France has difficulties, and the first reaction of the United States is to be an old lai, which makes the relations between France and the United States further deteriorate, and the United States and France were once close to the brink of war. But France is really too busy, Napoleon has spare time to take care of the United States, you count a 6, I am busy with the anti-French alliance every day and what. In the end, the two countries talked a few times and they did not end it.
▲The picture shows the oil painting of "Battle of the Three Emperors". Because the monarchs of the three sides of the war - the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, the Russian Emperor Alexander I, the Holy Roman Emperor Franz II were personally present on the battlefield, the royal conquest, so it is called the "Battle of the Three Emperors", which is a famous battle in the history of world war.
Since then, neither Britain nor France has been able to sit on the throne of the world's boss for a long time, but the United States has continued to catch up and become the world's largest power.
The United States' crossing of the river and the demolition of bridges should be despised. But if you think about it, who is a friend and who is an enemy, does it really need to be so clear for a big country that needs time to rise and develop?
The story of the United States has not been told here, and the territory at this time is still far from their "fourth largest in the world". After taking louisiana, the United States still did not stop expanding its territory.
A few years later, their eyes were on the southeast coast of the North American continent, a place with golden sandy beaches and cozy heat waves, and a beautiful Spanish name called "Florida."