Middle mouse button (or control+click) in any browser opens a new tab (as long as you're using actual links, don't get me started on the morons who think "span with a onclick handler" is an acceptable substitute)

Forcing to open on a new tab breaks conventional behaviour, it should be left as the user's decision (either explicit every time, or a setting in their browser. This setting already exists btw, if you like more tabs you can enable it in your browser).

(Maybe a case could be made if the website is actually an application and there would be data loss if not for the new tab, but I would argue design your application so as data loss is not possible in that case)

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As for myself, the browsing history is something very useful to have, I like keeping the amount of tabs down to near one per activity, so I regularly use the history to go back to what I was reading before. Forcing new tabs means I have to reach for more advanced tools like tab trees, which are often not worth the cognitive effort.