Empire Rising: Spain

As a collaborator on both sides of the Russo-Turkish War, Spain naturally received news when the war situation changed.

Although Carlo knew that the final outcome of the Russo-Turkish War was a victory for the Russians, he didn’t expect that the Russians would quickly gain a huge advantage in the early stages of the war when it was at a stalemate.

Fortunately, Spain had already signed arms trade agreements with Russia and the Ottoman Empire, so even if the war ended at this time, Spain had already earned a significant amount of money.

Since Spain’s arms trade with Russia, Spain had introduced 30,000 Russian immigrants. Half of these Russian immigrants stayed in mainland Spain, being allocated to Catalonia and the Andalusia Region, while the rest were transported to various colonies.

Among them, the Congo Territory received more than 3,000 Russian immigrants, bringing the population of the Congo Territory to over 5,000.

Of course, this was only considering the European population. If the local natives were counted, the population of the Congo Territory would be an exaggerated figure, at least in the millions.

Although Spain’s development strategy in the Congo Territory wasn’t particularly malicious, since Spain established the Congo Territory, the local native population had already decreased by more than 100,000.

A large part of the natives fell during the construction of railways by Spain, and some died in plantations.

The reduction of 100,000 people meant nothing to Spain, after all, the African Continent had an endless number of natives. The sacrifice of these 100,000 people was worthwhile, as the development of the Congo Territory was quite rapid, with plantations established upstream on the Congo River’s plateau, and the railway was basically fully operational.

Just when Carlo was regretting that he couldn’t get a large labor force from Russia, the foreign department received a request from the Austria-Hungary.

The Foreign Secretary, Marquis Everton, eagerly approached Carlo to report the news.

”Austria-Hungary is requesting our diplomatic support?” Carlo expressed his agreement without much hesitation, smiling as he said: ”Tell the Austrians, it is our duty and responsibility as allies.

But also remind them that Spain is a weak country, the economic crisis has thrown our industry and economy into chaos, and Spain is incapable of participating in the wars on the Balkan Peninsula.”

Carlo’s stance was clear: providing diplomatic support to Austria-Hungary was fine, but joining the war was absolutely out of the question.

Austria-Hungary, after all, was the strongest ally Spain could rely on at the moment, so providing diplomatic support was simple and straightforward.

But thinking about war was unnecessary—if a war really broke out between Austria-Hungary and Russia, the battlefield was not something Spain could influence.

Wars at such a national level involved armies of millions, and what could Spain do with its 150,000 troops? At most, participate in one of the battles, and any minor losses would be devastating to Spain, making it completely unprofitable to join the war.

”The Russians have won, and now the Austrians are getting anxious.” Carlo pondered for a moment and said: ”But this doesn’t quite fit Franz Joseph I’s style, unless Austria-Hungary has other dependencies.

You in the Foreign Ministry should closely monitor the actions of the United Kingdom and Austria-Hungary’s foreign ministries to see if the British have aligned with Austria-Hungary.” Carlo instructed.

If the British stood with Austria-Hungary for the safety of Constantinople, then there would be quite a show on the Balkan Peninsula.

However, this wouldn’t be bad for us; if the situation on the Balkan Peninsula grew more chaotic, it would be even less likely for us to attract the attention of other major powers.”

The Foreign Secretary, Marquis Everton, nodded, indicating he understood.

As Carlo had anticipated, not only did Austria-Hungary intend to stop the Russian advance, but the British had similar thoughts.

Just the next day, surprising news came from the Russo-Turkish War: a small-scale squadron of the British Royal Fleet had appeared in the Marmara Sea.

Although this squadron wasn’t the main force of the Royal Fleet, it did demonstrate the attitude of the British Government—to safeguard Constantinople, even if it meant going to war with the Russian Government.

At this time, there were already over 200,000 Russian troops surrounding the Plovdiv Fortress, but upon learning that the British Fleet had appeared in the Marmara Sea, the Russians ultimately slowed down their offensive.

Seeing that they couldn’t quickly capture Constantinople, Russia planned to achieve its strategic objectives through diplomatic means.

After all, the war was between Russia and the Ottoman Empire; Russia only needed to sign a treaty with the Ottoman Empire to still end this war.

This was bad news for Spain because after the Russian army slowed its offensive, the consumption of weapons and ammunition at the front line also significantly decreased.

Spain could no longer obtain large amounts of gold and mineral resources through arms trade, as neither side involved in the war intended to expand the scale of the battlefield at this time.

Seeing that the situation on the Balkan Peninsula wouldn’t become chaotic, Carlo turned his attention back to domestic issues in Spain.

As the time moved to November of 1877, the national bullfighting event organized and hosted by Carlo finally came to an end.

This grand bullfighting event attracted the attention of millions of people across Spain and promoted economic development in various regions and around Madrid.