Empire Rising: Spain

When the events in the West Africa Colony were relayed back to mainland Spain, the matter of the French Fleet flaunting their power in the Spanish Colony also became known to other European citizens.

Of course, this was not due to someone in the West Africa Colony leaking information.

Mainly because the West Africa Colony was previously composed of colonies from the United Kingdom and Portugal, it is populated with a large number of European citizens, making it impossible for Spain to block the information unless forcibly controlling the internal spread within the colony.

The good news is, the time at which other European countries and citizens received the information was later than Spain. Carlo had enough time to address this unexpected event, at least time to prepare adequately.

For this public provocation by the French, Carlo did not intend to tolerate it in any manner.

This does not mean Carlo lacked rationality in such a critical moment; quite the opposite, Spain rather needed some tough attitude to express its stance.

This era is indeed one where the strong prey on the weak; retreating will only result in further intimidation and extortion from the adversary.

The best way to stop the French from such intimidation is to make them understand that Spain is not a country they can easily bully.

On the day the information was received, Carlo issued orders to numerous media outlets under his control, requiring them to extensively propagate the French Fleet’s bullying of the Spanish Colony, but without exaggerating or embellishing the facts.

Although he decided to retaliate with strong measures, this did not mean Carlo desired to ignite a war with France. Since the conflict and competition are to be confined within a local range, managing public opinion within Spain is essential.

It is necessary to have Spaniards support retaliation against the French, yet without inciting excessive hatred towards them.

If accidentally eliciting strong anger among Spaniards towards the French, the Spanish Government would only have to swallow its pride, urged by public opinion to erupt into larger scale conflict or even war with France.

Carlo’s purpose in doing this is straightforward, that is, to portray Spain as similar to the honey badger.

The honey badger is reputed as the world’s most fearless animal. Although such a title sometimes implies recklessness, on the other hand, there are times when recklessness has benefits.

It was previously mentioned, the countries standing against Spain are essentially only the United Kingdom and France.

Other countries are either too distant or have no conflicting interests with Spain, naturally not provoking Spain.

Having only the United Kingdom and France makes matters simpler.

While these countries hold significant composite strength within Europe, this does not mean they are entities Spain dare not provoke.

The United Kingdom maintains its old ways, having global colonies, and disputes with numerous countries. Chief among these are the conflicts with England and France and England and Russia, compounded by tensions between the United Kingdom as a world hegemon and Germany, a new power emerging on the European Continent, which is why Carlo is not at all concerned about the United Kingdom.

Unless Spain forcibly annexed Portugal, Morocco, or similar key countries and regions, the British would not declare war against Spain.

These regions are more like boundaries defined by the British, and are currently principles mutually agreed upon by Spain and the United Kingdom.

France, like the British, also has other adversaries on the European Continent, with the outstanding one currently being tensions with Germany, which makes it difficult for France to focus entirely on confronting Spain.

Carlo does not deny that France’s overall strength indeed surpasses Spain.

But the issue is, France cannot achieve conquering Spain in a short time, which is where Carlo’s confidence lies.

Once France and Spain go to war, after French troops are stuck in the Iberian Peninsula, Germany, who has substantial conflicts with France, will surely seize the opportunity to stir unrest at France’s rear.

Besides Germany as the biggest threat, Spain has alliances with Austria-Hungary and Italy, and if France dared to invade Spain, there’s a good chance these countries would choose to assist Spain.

The combined naval power of Spain and Italy’s navy is already sufficient to challenge France’s navy, and the combined army strength of Spain and Austria-Hungary is also enough to challenge France’s army.

From this perspective, it can be seen that Spain resembles a diminished version of France. France is balanced in naval and military strength on the European Continent, ranking top three in the world.

Although Spain is not at such an exaggerated level, both its army and navy are balanced, ranking high internationally.

Compared to Spain, Austria-Hungary and Italy appear less balanced. Due to Austria-Hungary having a shorter coastline, its army strength is significantly stronger than its navy.

Italy is somewhat the opposite, due to a long coastline, Italy’s navy is at a decent level.

As for Italy’s army, although not lacking in numbers, it is considered the weakest in combat ability among major powers, except for the United States.

The Italian military is quite notorious for its performance during colonial wars and World Wars I and II; if not for France’s quick surrender in WWII, Italian military prowess might have become more infamous.

Of course, it’s not entirely the Italians’ fault. Garibaldi’s Red Shirt Army displayed decent combat capability; it remains among Italy’s few faith-driven and combat-effective military forces.