Empire Rising: Spain

And Western Australia is just a colony; whether it merges into Australia in the future or exists independently as Western Australia, it will be under the control of the British Government.

Would the British Government be willing to let Australia export a large amount of coal and iron ore to Spain every year? Of course not.

For the United Kingdom, the stronger Spain’s industry becomes, the greater the threat to the UK.

The UK does not want the Iberian Peninsula to give rise to a superpower on par with the UK, France, and Germany. This would not only disrupt the UK’s strategic planning for the western Mediterranean outlet but also affect the configuration of the European Continent.

After all, although the Iberian Peninsula where Spain is located is isolated, it is still connected to the European Continent. As long as it is connected to the European Continent, Spain can influence the European situation.

The current European situation is already quite chaotic, and the UK does not want any country’s interference to make it even more chaotic, thus completely undermining the UK’s regional balance policy.

The three most powerful countries in the world right now are the UK, France, and Germany. In the absence of active UK participation in European affairs, the fiercest confrontation on the European Continent is between France and Germany.

Meanwhile, in the Balkan Peninsula, sparks occasionally fly between Austria-Hungary and Russia. Fortunately, the contradictions between the UK and Russia are not small either, which helps obscure the conflicts between Austria-Hungary and Russia.

Among these countries, Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Germany maintain the Triple Alliance, while Russia also has intentions of befriending France, making the European situation quite complex and bewildering.

Spain is the most powerful European country outside of these countries, with marital and alliance ties with Austria-Hungary on one hand, and on the other hand, its relationship with France is not too bad, with collaborations between the two countries.

In such a circumstance, no one can make the next move in the European situation. The Triple Alliance might continue to sustain, or it might fragment due to conflicts between Austria-Hungary and Russia.

The direction of the Triple Alliance is directly related to the European situation because if it collapses, France will definitely go all out to win over Russia, aiming to free itself from isolation.

This is also what the British want to see because the current European situation is not advantageous for the British.

There is enmity between the UK and France; the isolation of France by the European Powers makes the British quite pleased. But the issue is, there is deep-seated hatred between the UK and Russia as well.

With the Triple Alliance, Russia seems to be subtly leaning towards becoming a power comparable to the UK, France, and Germany. The Russian-Turkish War also reveals the Russian desire for territorial expansion.

The UK does not wish for the Triple Alliance to continue; it would not only disrupt the balance policies established by the UK but also create a larger gap between the equally matched France and Germany.

Unless Italy and Spain lean towards France, forming an Italian-Spanish Alliance against Germany, Austria, and Russia in Europe.

Even setting aside the power disparity between them and whether the two major military groups can be successfully formed, just the harm the formation of an Italo-Spanish Military Alliance would bring to the British makes them determined to prevent this scenario.

The three major powers of Italy, Spain, and France have one commonality, and that is they are all countries along the Mediterranean coast.

If the three countries of France, Italy, and Spain form a military alliance, would the UK still have any say in the Mediterranean?

The UK is undoubtedly powerful, and France at this time is not weak at all either. With the resurgence of Spain and the strong rise of Italy, unless the UK has the help of other powers, it could only retreat in the face of this military group.

The current situation is also very clear: Spain cannot obtain land of equal value to the Cuban Colony through the exchange of colonies alone.

Fortunately, Carlo’s target is not the British colonies in West Africa but the land in the Middle East.

Whether it is the Truce States or Oman, as long as Spain can occupy a piece of land in the Middle East and establish a foothold, there is hope of gaining a large swath of oil-rich land in the future.

The good news is that there is still a long time before oil is discovered in this part of the Middle East. Even before World War I, Spain need not worry about the value of its occupied land being exposed.

After experiencing World War I, Spain’s strength will also be significantly enhanced. By that time, even if large-scale oil fields are discovered consecutively in the Middle East, Spain need not worry about being unable to hold onto this land.

And before the discovery of the oil fields, except for the Mesopotamian Plain in Iraq which is relatively fertile, the remaining land in the Middle East is mostly desert wasteland and lacks any development value.

This also means that Spain still has hope of acquiring land in the Middle East, and even if it cannot obtain all of the Truce States and Oman, acquiring any piece of land would fulfill Carlo’s plan.

Since the Spanish Government has a clear understanding of the value of the Cuban Colony, the negotiations with the British Government that follow also have a clear target.

These conditions constitute the bottom line of the Spanish Government, which is the goal that must be achieved. On this basis, the diplomatic department also needs to make more efforts, because whether it is land or capital or other clauses, the more, the better.

As Prime Minister Canovas anticipated, a few days later, the British Government initiated contact with Spain, probing Spain’s attitude towards the Cuban Colony.

The reason for the British Government to initiate the inquiry naturally stemmed from another piece of news from the Cuban Colony, which was that the rebellion was about to be pacified.