Empire Rising: Spain

It is evident that the Italian Government attaches unparalleled importance to Tunisia. After learning that the French Government had invaded Tunisia, the Italian Government not only did not choose to give up but also urgently deployed various means to force the French Government to back down.

The Italian Government fully mobilized public opinion.

Speaking of Italy’s unification history, it is inextricably linked with the three countries of Germany, France, and Austria on the European Continent.

Germany’s unification indirectly promoted Italy’s unification because Germany’s two biggest enemies, the Austrian Empire and France, were also the main culprits obstructing Italy’s unification.

At that time, the Austrian Empire occupied the regions of Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, and Trentino-Alto Adige, while the French Government helped the Pope State control large areas of land near Rome.

The Sardinian Kingdom hadn’t found an opportunity for Italy’s unification before Germany launched wars against Austria and France, mainly because these two powers were too strong compared to the Sardinian Kingdom.

This also led to the not-so-good relationship between Italy and France after the unification. The Tunisian incident immediately ignited Italian public opinion, with many Italians taking to the streets spontaneously, holding banners and staging marches demanding government military intervention in the Tunisian war.

The Italian Government also gained the support of Garibaldi. Even though Garibaldi was bedridden, he still forced himself to write an article on the importance of defending Tunisia and published it in the Sun Newspaper.

The newspaper founded by Carlo during his duke period, after more than ten years of management by the Italian Royal Family, had become the most important newspaper in Northern Italy, without a doubt.

Garibaldi would occasionally publish articles on Italian construction in the newspaper, which, after being reviewed by the Royal Family, were generally published in the newspaper.

Garibaldi’s immense popularity quickly turned the Sun Newspaper into Italy’s largest newspaper. The Italian Royal Family also annually garnered significant income through the expansion of the Sun Newspaper, while directly influencing Italian public opinion.

If previous actions were just spontaneous marches by the Italian public, the moment Garibaldi’s manuscript photos were published in the Sun Newspaper, the French invasion of Tunisia immediately caught the attention of the vast majority of Italians.

By this point, the Tunisian incident was no longer a small matter. If the Italian Government did not handle it properly, the public anger they had stirred might likely backfire.

While the government was responsible for stirring public emotions, Umberto I had already sent a telegram to his brother Carlo, the distant King in Spain.

When Carlo received the telegram, Garibaldi’s manuscript had already been published in the Italian Sun.

Since Italy was now aware of France’s invasion of Tunisia, this matter was no longer a dispute between the European Powers and native countries but a dispute between powers.

On the surface, Italy and France and Spain all have good cooperative relations, and France provides more financial and industrial support to Spain than Italy does.

But for Spain, it is also very necessary to consider the situation in North Africa after France occupies Tunisia.

Italy’s occupation of Tunisia doesn’t have a significant impact on Spain, but France’s occupation of Tunisia would definitely have a significant impact on Spain.

There are not many African countries on the Mediterranean coast, counting only Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt.

France has already occupied Algeria, and if they also occupy Tunisia, the balance of power in North Africa would be disrupted.

At that time, France would only have two directions for expansion: either westward to occupy Morocco, which would offend Spain, or eastward to occupy Libya, which would offend the United Kingdom.

Although the relationship between Spain and France is pretty good at this moment, Carlo himself, thinking it over, would feel that offending Spain is better than offending the United Kingdom.

According to the current European situation, whether France offends Spain or the United Kingdom, it’s ultimately two poisons.

However, from the perspective of choosing the lesser of two evils, offending the United Kingdom is certainly more deadly than offending Spain.

Therefore, considering Spain’s own interests, Carlo would surely lean more towards Italy. Furthermore, Carlo himself is from the Italian Royal Family and is the direct brother of the current Italian King Umberto I.

Given Umberto I’s direct telegram to seek help, Carlo certainly needed to provide the necessary support.

Later that day, Carlo sent a telegram to his brother, Umberto I, under his private name.

Carlo first reiterated the blood ties between the two royal families and also mentioned the alliance treaty signed during their father Vittorio Emanuele II’s reign, stating that Spain would stand by Italy in the conflict.

Receiving Carlo’s clear and supportive stance, Umberto I was immediately overjoyed and reported this good news to the government.

Carlo’s strong support let the Italian side breathe a sigh of relief, and they felt more confident in their subsequent actions.

As for the reason Carlo was willing to strongly support Italy, even at the risk of a war with France, besides the previously mentioned threat to Spain from France’s occupation of Tunisia, another consideration was the current situation of the French Government.