Empire Rising: Spain

But then again, the French Embassy is important, and not angering the Italian public is equally important.

If the Italian Government chooses to suppress the public by force, it will only incite greater outrage among the people, which is completely unnecessary.

After all, at this moment the Italians are angry about France’s invasion of Tunisia, and they do not have much dissatisfaction with their own government.

If the Italian Government actively suppresses by force, it will instead absorb all the hatred from the public onto itself. The Italian Government will not attract hatred on behalf of the French Government, at least not before the situation calms down.

After the French ambassador felt the anger of the Italians, the Italian Government also contacted the Italian ambassador to France, instructing him to question the French about the purpose of their military actions and to declare the attitude of the Italian Government and the Italian public.

When questioned by the Italian ambassador to France, French Foreign Secretary Gambetta felt quite troubled.

At this point, the development of the situation was clearly beyond France’s expectations, as the French Army had not fully occupied Tunisia before the Italian Government discovered it.

This also means that a fierce diplomatic dispute is about to unfold between France and Italy. Unless one side voluntarily backs down, this diplomatic dispute is very likely to escalate into a war.

As the French Foreign Secretary, Gambetta was naturally aware of France’s diplomatic predicament in Europe. Mishandling this issue for France is not just about a war, it might even push France’s diplomatic situation to an extreme.

There are only about seven major powers on the European Continent, and apart from the neutral United Kingdom and Russia, which France has attracted to neutrality, only Spain and Italy have yet to clearly join the isolation of France through the German Diplomatic Alliance.

If the Tunisia incident completely offends Spain and Italy, it would mean that apart from the United Kingdom and Russia, France would no longer be able to forge close cooperation with other European powers.

As for the United States across the Atlantic Ocean, it is completely outside France’s range of consideration. After all, the United States is too far from the European Continent, not to mention its comprehensive strength, the distance alone is enough to ensure that the United States cannot influence the European situation.

With a silent sigh, the French Foreign Secretary Gambetta wore a kind smile, confidently assuring the Italian ambassador to France that France has no warlike ambitions towards Tunisia, and that its military actions are merely a retaliatory response against the Tunisian Government while ensuring that French citizens residing in Algeria are protected from bandits and indigenous attacks near the Tunisian border.

When the Italian ambassador to France conveyed Gambetta’s words back to Italy, the Italian Government breathed a sigh of relief.

Gambetta’s attitude also further confirmed that France does not intend to wage war with Italy, which was certainly good news for Italy.

As long as they could sit at the negotiating table, Italy had nothing to fear from France. After all, Italy had the support of Spain, which outnumbered France.

Although it was unclear what price France had paid to gain the tacit consent of the United Kingdom and Germany regarding the invasion of Tunisia, in such negotiations, it was almost impossible for the United Kingdom and Germany to openly support France.

For Italy, getting France to the negotiating table symbolized that France could not unilaterally take control of Tunisia.

The best result would naturally be for France to abandon the invasion of Tunisia, while Italy increases its colonial investment and completely occupies the land in a few years.

An acceptable outcome would be Italy and France jointly partitioning Tunisia, which was Italy’s bottom line.

As for France occupying Tunisia alone, the Italian Government absolutely would not accept it. Italian Prime Minister Benedetto Caroli had reported to King Umberto I that if France insisted on seizing Tunisia alone, the Italian Government would have no choice but to go to war, or else enraged citizens would turn against the government.

This is the dual-sided nature of arousing public opinion. While the Italian Government would indeed gain great support in a war with France, the downside was that it would have to follow through completely without any room for regrets.

Seeing the situation develop to this point, the Spanish Government felt that it was about time to step in.

After the Italian Government sought help from the Spanish Government, Spanish Prime Minister Canovas summoned the Italian and French ambassadors to Spain, expressing Spain’s willingness to act as a mediator to help Italy and France peacefully negotiate.

The French ambassador naturally had to take Spain’s stance seriously.

The times had changed; France was weakening while Spain was growing stronger through reform.

Although Spain’s overall national strength had not overtaken France, France could not ignore Spain’s international status and influence either.

The combined strength of Spain and Italy, even if not surpassing France, could drag France into the abyss of war.

The French ambassador in Spain was quite respectful, stating that he was not authorized to decide on negotiation matters and would need to consult the French Government before making a decision.

Prime Minister Canovas nodded, as his goal was merely to exert pressure on the French Government, making it clear that Spain did not support France’s occupation of Tunisia.

As for the Italian ambassador, he readily agreed with Prime Minister Canovas’ proposal for peaceful negotiations, smiling at the first mention of it.

After all, peaceful negotiations were good news for Italy, and they had no objections.

The French ambassador did not keep Prime Minister Canovas waiting long; the very next day, he conveyed the French Government’s willingness to pursue peaceful negotiations.

The French Government certainly understood that with Spain’s support, Italy was no longer easily dealt with. If the French Government acted willfully, there was a chance the Italians might really have the guts to wage war.

The role played by the French ambassador in Italy was unknown, but evidently, the French Government, through his descriptions, vividly felt the anger of the Italians at the time, which reminded them of the terrifying anger of Parisians.