Empire Rising: Spain

Thanks to the cooperation of various departments, the Spanish Government soon gathered a fund of 50 million Pesseta.

This is not a small sum, used sparingly, it could even launch a medium-sized war.

Investing this fund into the development of the African Colony already shows how much the Spanish Government officials value the consolidation of the colonies.

Among them, the colonial affairs department will receive about 15 million Pesseta in additional budget for the consolidation and construction work of the colonies, ensuring logistical support for the army.

The remaining 35 million Pesseta will be invested into the combat against indigenous forces in Africa.

If it were only against indigenous forces, such military investment might be unnecessary. The problem is, with the convening of the Berlin Conference, European countries have increased their investment in African colonies.

For Spain to integrate existing colonies, it must face conflicts with other European Powers.

Though the United Kingdom has withdrawn from the competition in the West Africa Colony, with Germany joining in, this area in West Africa will become lively.

Let’s not forget the British nature of stirring the pot, given Spain has offended the British multiple times, they wouldn’t mind completely muddying the waters of West Africa, creating more trouble for Spain.

Investing such a large military budget also serves as a warning to the European Powers that meddling in Spain’s colonial affairs entails being prepared to enter this quagmire.

Currently, Spain has made significant progress in African colonization, with the indigenous population in the Congo Territory alone reaching tens of millions.

Forcibly arming these indigenous populations could also form armies numbering in the hundreds of thousands—even millions. If not involving mainland Europe, but only localized conflicts in parts of Africa, other European Powers might not necessarily be Spain’s match.

Of course, relying on the enormous industrial and economic disparity could also drag Spain down, but whether it’s worth a fierce struggle with Spain over a small African Colony is a question for other European Powers to ponder.

Since deploying a substantial military budget, there’s certainly a need for major expansion of the military forces in these colonies in Africa.

Currently, Spain has a Colonial Defense Division and 22 Colonial Defense Corps, totaling 70,000 indigenous troops, which is evidently inadequate amidst the increasingly intense colonial competition in Africa.

Following discussions by the Spanish Military Committee, it has been decided to expand Spain’s Colonial Division to 3 and the Colonial Defense Corps to 35, to cope with more intense colonial conflicts.

This will bring Spain’s military forces in the colonies to approximately 138,000, which should essentially maintain the security of existing colonies.

Two of the three Colonial Divisions will be deployed along the Congo Territory to Gold Coast line; these divisions will be the main force for combat against indigenous forces.

The remaining Colonial Division will be deployed in the West Africa Colony, tasked with annexing the indigenous territories between the West Africa Colony and Sierra Leone Colony.

As for the 35 Colonial Defense Corps, their main role is to guard the colonies locally, maintaining order and security there.

Therefore, these 35 Colonial Defense Corps will be scattered across all Spanish colonies, contributing to the stability of Spain’s colonies.

Military expansion is certainly a welcome move for Spain.

Firstly, expansion could increase the promotion paths for Spain’s junior officers. Although the treatment of colonial troops cannot compare with mainland forces, the officer experience within colonial troops is certainly solid.

These middle-to-high-level officers in the colonial troops are all Spaniards, which is a means to control military loyalty.

Currently, Spain’s military academy can cultivate a large number of military talents for the country annually; only with constant expansion of the Spanish Army can these talents find employment opportunities.

Secondly, expansion also means the military requires more weapons and equipment. This constitutes a major source of revenue for the Royal Military Factory and other small firms producing military equipment.

Especially smaller private arms factories which, if not for the Royal Military Factory subcontracting many less important orders to them, would hardly survive.

After all, the era of relative peace in Europe means that, while small conflicts exist, full-scale wars are absolutely impossible.

Without the threat of war, the scale of national armies remains consistently small, even for Italy’s King Umberto I who has long advocated army expansion, the Italian army’s scale is only raised to about 200,000.

The smaller the army, the lesser the wear and tear of weaponry and ammunition consumption, which is bad news for national arms factories.

Larger factories manage somehow, like Spain’s Royal Military Factory or Germany’s Krupp Company; they can find foreign buyers through their channels.

Even if they fail to find foreign buyers due to various reasons, these large factories can secure domestic government support and maintain normal operations without issue.

Small arms factories are different. Due to their smaller scale and output, they cannot attract foreign buyers.

In a better situation as with the Royal Military Factory, since its behind-the-scenes master is Carlo, the King, Carlo is indeed inclined to support these smaller factories.

In a worse scenario where large factories are also private enterprises, capitalists are unwilling to let go of orders in hand, nor transfer signed orders to those small enterprises.

Upon learning of Spain’s plans to expand the colonial army, Spain’s smaller arms factories breathed a sigh of relief.

This colonial military expansion is a rare opportunity for them to make a small profit, keeping the factories running.

The good news is, the Royal Military Factory signed an arms deal with Vietnam and the country behind it, and orders from the Spanish military’s expansion ensure the Royal Military Factory won’t lack orders during this period.

Since the Royal Military Factory is not short on orders, these small companies have hope to obtain some orders from the Royal Military Factory that it finds insignificant.

Such as producing bullets supporting rifles and parts for firearms.

Although revenue from these orders is destined to fall short of finished firearms, for small-scale factories, it’s certainly better than nothing.