What if...King William III of the Netherlands create his own empire in Africa instead of Leopold II of Belgium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_III_of_the_Netherlands
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_III_of_the_Netherlands
Why would he? Willem III was an idiot, but he does not seem to me the type who would go looking for some African Empire and I doubt the Dutch government would accept it. The Netherlands already has quite some good colonies. The Netherlands doesn't need the Congo. It recently sold the Dutch African colonies. And I am not certain the Netherlands wouldn't be overstretched if you add the Congo to it. And this is all ignoring the international reaction. I think the British and French would prefer a Belgian Congo.What if...King William III of the Netherlands create his own empire in Africa instead of Leopold II of Belgium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_III_of_the_Netherlands
OTL they prefered Belgium over Portugal. I think they would prefer Belgium over the Netherlands and I am not certain if they would prefer the Netherlands over Portugal (although it could be; both weren't terribly important in the 19th century).I doubt the British and the French cared that much which 2nd-tier European country got the Congo, as long as it wasn't going to be dominated by Germany/each other.
Are you sure? It took until the 20th century for the Dutch to control all of Indonesia and some parts took a lot of effort to gain, Aceh, Bali. I don't think the Dutch would be able to control such a large colony as Congo. besides that, the Dutch king was almost broke (which is why he wanted to sell luxemburg), he would be able to afford a bunch of mercenaries. Remember, the Netherlands is small, has a low population and is poor.The Dutch would probably not be overstretched - probably just a question of hiring a few mercenaries/fortune-seekers with guns to supervise the Congo mines.
Are you sure? It took until the 20th century for the Dutch to control all of Indonesia and some parts took a lot of effort to gain, Aceh, Bali. I don't think the Dutch would be able to control such a large colony as Congo.
True, but in this case they will have to do both. The Netherlands will not ignore Indonesia. It can not ignore Indonesia, so the question is: Does the Netherlands have enough resources to focus both on Indonesia and the Congo.Because Indonesia had pretty strong local Kingdoms. Congo really lacked those, they werent organised.
Also, if we are talking about the Free State of Congo, rather than the Colony of Congo, the actual Dutch government would have very little to do (in fact, barred by the Berlin Conference) with the running of the Congo. Much of the work would be done by mercs such as Henry Morton Stanley, leaving the Dutch government free to concentrate on Indonesia until at least 1908 (assuming the Dutch kings were also brutally exploitative and Conrad writes Heart of Darkness).
There are still a couple of problems. First of all, Willem III does not have the resources to do it. As I said he had serious money problems and he tried to sell Luxemburg to solve it.
Secondly Willem III does not have the intelligence to pull it off. The man was an incompetent idiot and a buffoon. His nickname was king Gorilla.
Thirdly, I don't think the Dutch government would allow it. To be fair, I am uncertain about the exact political situation in the Netherlands and if the king would be able to do it, even if the government disagreed. I know that currently in 2013 if our king wants to do something like this, he wouldn't be able to. Maybe in the late 19th century the king would. Still it would cause a political problem.
What probably turned them off was the fragility of the Portuguese state. If Portugal gets that Congo sold or conquered there goes the balance.UK really OK with Portugal getting the Congo, when doing so would kill their dreams of a Cape to Cairo empire?
There are still a couple of problems. First of all, Willem III does not have the resources to do it. As I said he had serious money problems and he tried to sell Luxemburg to solve it.
Secondly Willem III does not have the intelligence to pull it off. The man was an incompetent idiot and a buffoon. His nickname was king Gorilla.
Thirdly, I don't think the Dutch government would allow it. To be fair, I am uncertain about the exact political situation in the Netherlands and if the king would be able to do it, even if the government disagreed. I know that currently in 2013 if our king wants to do something like this, he wouldn't be able to. Maybe in the late 19th century the king would. Still it would cause a political problem.
Well for 1) he could have set up a stock company for the colonization of the Congo. Obviously, being a King his stock would be implicitly backed by the Dutch government (whether they liked it or not) so that could solve the money problems.
2) As Parma said, it's the underlings who do the work. Sure Willem III would not have the vision to create the Congo Free State by himself... but he needed money, and colonies had the potential to be profitable.
3) It would indeed cause a political problem. But if Willem III colonized the Congo under the name of a stock company, then it technically is a private venture and not a public one, so he/his underlings would argue that the Dutch parliament couldn't interfere. Of course you wouldn't be able to pull this kind of stuff in 2013 but the law wasn't so advanced back in the 19th century.
Actualy it does not need to be public owned enterprice. Leopold used thiseufemism: the Belgian "Committee for the Study of the Upper Congo" (French: Comité d'études du Haut-Congo), which was part of the Association internationale africaine
so called for humanitarian and philantropic work