Empire Rising: Spain

Constantinople is in the hands of the Ottoman Empire, directly cutting off Russia’s connection between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.

Any country wishing to aid Russia can only transport supplies via the more northerly Baltic Sea.

However, the Baltic Sea is far from the main battlefield in the Balkans, and compared to directly transporting supplies through the Strait of Constantinople, the wasted time could even alter the situation on the battlefield.

Fortunately, Russia was meticulously prepared before launching the war, and at least in the short term, it didn’t lack weaponry.

This is also a credit to the changes brought to Russia by the reforms of Alexander II. In the last Russian-Turkish War, namely the Crimean War, Russia’s industrial foundation was extremely poor, and the war ultimately ended in failure.

Conversely, in this war, Russia has established a certain industrial foundation through reforms, which is an extremely significant change for Russia.

Although Alexander II’s reforms were not thorough, they were at least a nationwide reform for Russia, and they had a very important positive effect on the country.

One could even say that Russia was able to maintain its status as one of the five traditional European Powers after the Crimean War due to both its vast territory and population superior to the European Powers, and the industrial improvement brought by Alexander II’s reforms.

Russia’s industry can only be said to be among the weakest of the European Great Powers, but compared to the other so-called great powers and non-great powers, Russia’s industry is undoubtedly still very powerful.

Having secured arms trade with Russia, the Spanish Government turned to contact the Ottoman Empire.

Even though the Ottoman Empire had experienced famine and fiscal collapse, they had the support of the British.

It is well known that the United Kingdom is definitely one of the wealthiest countries in Europe. The support of the British is an extremely important lifeline for the Ottoman Empire, allowing this decaying empire to persist.

But no matter what, on the battlefield, the Ottoman Empire was still lacking advanced weaponry and ammunition supplies.

Spain just happened to have both of these things, which is why Spain sought out the Ottoman Empire.

In addition to scarce weaponry, the Ottoman Empire was also lacking food, which Spain currently did not lack.

Compared to talks with the Russians, negotiations with the Ottoman Empire were noticeably smoother. The main reason for this was that the Ottoman Empire’s industrial foundation was even weaker, and the weapons and ammunition consumed in the war were almost entirely from British and Austria-Hungary aid.

Being aid, it was of course limited. The Ottoman Empire’s domestic stockpile of guns and ammunition was dwindling, which also caused panic among the empire’s top officials.

At this time, the Spanish Government’s proactive contact seemed to be a glimmer of hope for the Ottoman Empire to persevere.

The Ottoman Empire was short of everything, but at present, it most lacked two things: weaponry and food.

Before this war broke out, the Ottoman Empire had already experienced a rather severe famine. This famine not only led to chaos within the Ottoman Empire but also resulted in a large number of refugees starving to death.

Being able to organize nearly 400,000 troops in war, the British aid played an absolutely crucial role. Most of the weapons and equipment for these soldiers came from British aid, with a small amount secretly transported by Austria-Hungary.

From this, one can also see the extent of British aid to the Ottoman Empire, which can be said to be a devoted effort to assist the Ottoman Empire.

In addition to weapons and equipment, British aid to the Ottoman Empire also included food and a portion of financial support.

The Ottoman Empire, during the famine, had fallen into a financial crisis. Without financial support, the Ottoman Empire would have gone bankrupt before the war ended.

Carlo was eyeing this part of the funds. British Pounds were very valuable and could be used as currency in other European countries.

Selling large amounts of weaponry to the Ottoman Empire in exchange for Pounds, and then using the Pounds to purchase industrial equipment and other technical materials from other European countries to develop Spain’s own industry, was simply a perfect plan.

The arms trade with Russia mainly consisted of orders for rifles and bullets. After all, Russia had an advantage in artillery, and the domestic production of artillery was sufficient for the consumption in this war.

However, the situation was different for the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire was at a significant disadvantage in artillery, and what they most desired was a large quantity of artillery to close the gap.

The Ottoman Empire was not lacking in rifles; after all, the British support was substantial, and Ottoman soldiers holding British-made rifles naturally had little interest in Spanish-made rifles.

After several days of negotiations, the Royal Military Factory signed an order with the Ottoman Empire.

This order included only 20,000 rifles and 10 million bullets, but the artillery ordered exceeded 580 units, along with 150,000 supporting shells.

The Ottoman Empire specifically requested that the order for rifles and bullets could be delivered later, but it would be best to fulfill the artillery order within three months.

For the well-prepared Royal Military Factory, delivering over 580 artillery pieces within three months posed no problem.

Thus, the Royal Military Factory and the Ottoman Empire happily signed an order, with the agreement that the order would be completed within three months, with payment made by the Ottoman Empire in gold, Pounds, and mineral resources.

Besides this arms order, the Ottoman Empire also signed a grain trade agreement with Spain.

In recent years of stability, Spain’s grain output has continued to grow steadily. Currently, Spain exports a large amount of grain every year, so signing a grain trade order with the Ottoman Empire wasn’t a big deal for Spain.

The signing of two consecutive orders placed the Royal Military Factory in a temporary busy period. Currently, the inventory of the Royal Military Factory was almost enough to complete most of the delivery of the two orders, with a small amount of weaponry undergoing expedited production, ensuring that the entire order would be delivered within the stipulated time.

As for the profits generated from the two arms trades, the Royal Military Factory used them for upgrading and modifying weaponry.

Although the rifles and artillery currently equipped by Spain are relatively excellent products, with the development of military technology, these rifles and artillery will eventually become outdated.

Only by continuously improving them and developing new generations of products can Spain ensure its military technology always ranks at the forefront of Europe.

Although a lot of money has to be spent on this, compared to the enhancement brought to Spain by the continuous updating and iteration of military technology, this expenditure is undoubtedly worthwhile.