Empire Rising: Spain

Compared to the transition between colonies, the 5 million Pounds used as compensation was obviously the easiest to pay.

In fact, this was indeed the case. To express its sincerity, the British Government paid the Spanish Government 5 million Pounds on the day the treaty was signed. Since the Pound is currently the most valuable currency in the world, Spain did not refuse the British Government’s proposal to pay in Pounds.

million Pounds may not seem like much, but in reality, it is worth 130 million Pesseta, which is not a small amount for any country.

Within the Spanish Government, there was a fierce debate over the use of this 5 million Pounds. Ultimately, it was Carlo who made the decision to invest this 5 million Pounds in the development of the Spanish Navy.

Of course, the so-called naval development is not simply about building warships, but about developing a more advanced and powerful warship system to keep the Spanish naval warships at the forefront of the world in terms of combat capability.

If it were just for building warships, 5 million Pounds would be enough for Spain to build 10 Rejuvenation-class Ironclads. Combined with Spain’s existing naval scale, it could be said that, excluding the navies of England and France, it would virtually be in contention for the position of the world’s third strongest navy.

But doing so obviously treats the symptoms rather than the root causes. More importantly, the era of battleships, or the pre-dreadnought era, is about to arrive.

Carlo wishes more for Spain to gain sufficient advantage in the pre-dreadnought era and seize the chance to establish the Spanish Navy as one of the top three strong forces in the world.

After the pre-dreadnought, there is also the dreadnought era. If Spain can seize the transition opportunities in these two major warship eras, becoming a naval power second only to the British Empire is not impossible.

For a relatively closed country like Spain, naval power is more important than army strength. The Pyrenees Mountains are already a natural barrier, and as long as a few fortresses are built to stabilize the defenses on both sides of the Pyrenees, European countries would be unable to launch an attack on Spain from the continent.

In this way, Portugal will become the only country on land that poses a threat to Spain. Considering the vast power gap between Portugal and Spain, it would be very difficult, if not impossible, for Portugal to defeat Spain in a land war.

This also means that if Spain could build a powerful navy, it would have the hope of seizing more interests and would no longer fear superpowers like the UK, France, and Germany.

Take the United Kingdom, for instance. Although it is the world’s number one, its threat to Spain is not that strong.

As long as Spain can seize the opportunities of the two naval transitions and greatly enhance its naval capabilities, it has the hope of reclaiming Gibraltar and even fully occupying Morocco when the UK is too occupied to spare attention.

If ambitions grow larger, Spain might withstand the pressure and directly annex Portugal. After successively annexing both Portugal and Morocco, Spain would officially become a superpower on par with the UK, France, and Germany, never having to fear the British threat again.

The 5 million Pounds will be split into two parts. 2 million Pounds will be used to build three ironclads and dozens of medium and small-scale warships to strengthen Spain’s existing military, securing its position as the world’s fifth strongest navy.

The remaining 3 million Pounds will be fully invested in several of Spain’s existing shipyards. Through the joint efforts of these major shipyards, more advanced ironclads and even strategic ships will be designed.

Once the battleships are designed, it will be time for Spain’s large-scale naval expansion. By then, Spain will have already significantly boosted its industrial and economic development through electricity. Even if a naval arms race begins, Spain will be qualified to laugh until the end.

After reaching an agreement with the British, Spain is also fully preparing to abandon the Cuban Colony.

The Cuban Colony government is already in the process of transferring, and the population relocation has long started.

Except for the black population, all residents of the Cuban Colony can apply to the colonial government for relocation to mainland Spain or other colonies. The Spanish Government will treat these people equally, exempting them from the assessment period in Spain’s immigration policy and directly granting them Spanish citizenship.

After all, Cuba still has a population of over a million. Although a considerable part of the whites and blacks are dissatisfied with Spanish rule, there are still some who recognize the Spanish colonial government.

After all, no matter how cruel Spanish colonial rule is said to be, it never extends the knife to its own people.

Under Spanish colonial rule, the only ones whose lives are truly in danger are the black population, while whites are at most exploited from some income.

If the black population in the Cuban Colony is truly dissatisfied with Spanish colonial rule, then the majority of whites are only dissatisfied with the colonial government’s harsh exploitation of them; they are not opposed to Spain in the true sense.

Of course, none of this matters to Spain anymore. Once the colonial transition is completed, Cuba will have no further relations with Spain.

Officials from the Cuban Colonial government will be arranged to go to mainland Spain or other colonies. Anyway, the number of Spanish colonies is theoretically increasing, so the officials need not worry about having no place to go.

As for the population willing to relocate to mainland Spain and other colonies, a part of them will be arranged into the three British colonies in West Africa.