Empire Rising: Spain

For Portugal at this moment, the greater the current expectation, the greater the disappointment after the British shatter that expectation in the future.

Not only will they be enraged and humiliated by the British who crushed their dreams, but they will also be disappointed in the weak Portuguese Government and Royal Family.

The disappointed Portuguese people will naturally compare their government and royal family with the neighboring Spain, and the strong stance Carlo has demonstrated will now bear fruit.

The conflict over the colonial territories in Tunisia between Italy and France alone is enough to let the Portuguese feel the difference in diplomatic attitudes between Spain and Portugal.

The reason Italy was able to snatch two territories from France was due to the indispensable support from Spain.

Compared to the Portuguese Government abandoning colonies under British interference, Spain’s fearless performance against powerful countries is even more commendable.

Adding some propaganda influence at that time, it is hard to say how the situation within Portugal will develop.

As long as the public opinion in Portugal can be guided to develop in a direction that is hostile towards the United Kingdom, this kind of plot is worthwhile for Carlo.

If Portuguese people can become completely disappointed with the government and royal family to the point where they overthrow them and, like Spain, opt for a revolutionary regime change, that would be optimal.

If Carlo cannot become the King of Portugal through election, then he can only rely on war or other means to forcibly annex Portugal.

However, this is ultimately the worst plan. As long as Portugal can be annexed through peaceful means, Carlo will absolutely not consider using force.

After all, the use of force to annex will only damage the relationship between the Portuguese and Spaniards, thereby exacerbating the difficulty in assimilating the Portuguese.

After annexing the Runda Kingdom, Portugal did not choose the Mwata Kazembe Kingdom, which is connected to the Lunda Kingdom and Mozambique Colony but instead chose the Bwonda Kingdom in southern Lunda.

Although conquering the Mwata Kazembe Kingdom could directly link Portugal’s colonies in West Africa and Mozambique, such connection is not stable.

The Mwata Kazembe Kingdom is located in the eastern part of the whole Congo Region, surrounded by numerous small indigenous countries and powerhouses besides Portuguese Mozambique Colony.

Occupying here would indeed forcibly connect East Africa and West Africa colonies for Portugal, but it would also unite several surrounding indigenous countries to resist Portugal’s colonial actions.

Portugal is different from Spain. Spain has a population of over 20 million, with the capability of forming an army of millions from the mainland.

This gives Spain the confidence to counter other powers, at least not fear tearing face with other major powers.

But Portugal is different. The mainland population of Portugal hasn’t exceeded 5 million until now, the maximum mobilization capacity of its army is around 20 to 30 thousand people.

More importantly, Portugal’s colonies do not have a large population, the combined population of the West Africa and Mozambique colonies is not even as much as the mainland Portugal.

This also prevents Portugal from forming large-scale colonial armies like Spain, the local Congolese and Mozambicans aren’t that obedient under Portuguese rule.

If Portugal blindly forms a large colonial army, it will only trigger disturbances from these indigenous-composed colonial armies, making its colonies more dangerous.

Since it cannot rely heavily on indigenous manpower, Portugal can only conquer lands with an army formed by its own people.

But the local Portuguese population is not large, which forms a vicious cycle. Although these indigenous people may not pose a significant threat to Portugal’s colonial plans, if surrounding indigenous forces unite, it’s certainly going to cost Portugal notable casualties for achieving those lands.

For a country with a population of less than 5 million, any avoidable casualty must be avoided, sometimes it’s more important than expanding territory.

Portugal’s capabilities in mobilizing armies are limited, if there’s a loss of troops from colonial efforts in Southern Congo, how could it guard against other major powers’ coveting of mainland Portugal?

Though Portugal and Spain achieved their goals through colonial exchanges, it doesn’t mean the relationship between the two Iberian neighboring countries has become friendly and harmonious.

The notion of re-annexing Portugal never died within Spain, while Portugal has been consistently on guard against Spain coveting it.

For Portugal now, it must carefully consider how to conquer land in Southern Congo without losing too much manpower.

Any military action that may cause significant losses should be avoided as far as possible, after all, there’s no permanent good relationship between nations, military strength is vitally important.

For all these reasons, Portugal finally gave up on the colonial plan for the Mwata Kazembe Kingdom, choosing the Bwonda Kingdom closer to the West Africa Colony.

When Carlo learned that the Portuguese colonial plan selected the Bwonda Kingdom, he shook his head regretfully.

Because if the Portuguese chose to conquer the Mwata Kazembe Kingdom to connect their two colonies, surely the British would intervene forcibly soon.

But the Portuguese chose the Bwonda Kingdom, even if it catches the attention of the British Government, the British Government may not necessarily intervene forcibly at this moment.

After all, between the Bwonda Kingdom and Mozambique Colony, there still lies large unexplored territories.

Until the colonial plans of Portugal and the United Kingdom fully conflict, the British would not forcibly intervene in Portugal’s colony.

This kind of action that damages national interests might inadvertently push Portugal towards Spain’s fold.

If due to this, Portugal’s government leans towards Spain’s government and forms an Iberian Alliance, the joke would be quite big.