Chapter 242: Warship Cooperation

As Russian Foreign Minister Alexander Mikhailovich Gorchakov completely abandoned resistance, Great Britain and the Austro-Hungarian Empire officially initiated the process of revising the Treaty of San Stefano.

During the week of treaty revisions, aside from insisting on certain bottom lines, Russian Foreign Minister Alexander maintained an attitude of silence on most other aspects.

This made the progress of revising the treaty quite smooth; in just one week, a brand-new "New Treaty of San Stefano" was produced.

According to the new treaty terms, Montenegro, Serbia, and Romania would become completely independent from the Ottoman Empire. At the same time, the Austro-Hungarian Empire gained the Bosnia and Herzegovina region, and Bulgaria was granted autonomy.

Constantinople and the straits remained under the Ottoman Empire, and Black Sea nations held no special rights of passage through the Constantinople straits.

This new treaty completely blocked Russia's pace of expansion into the Balkan Peninsula; Russia gained only a few small pieces of land in the Caucasus region, with negligible benefits.

On the contrary, the Austro-Hungarian Empire became the biggest beneficiary of these peace talks. The Austro-Hungarian Empire gained Bosnia and Herzegovina; the value of the Bosnia and Herzegovina region itself was enough to be taken seriously, not to mention that it could continue to serve as a bridgehead, allowing the Austro-Hungarian Empire to reach deeper into the Balkan Peninsula.

When news of the signing of the new Treaty of San Stefano spread throughout Europe, rumors claimed that after learning the specific contents of the revised treaty, Russian Tsar Alexander II had once angrily smashed all the decorations in his office to pieces.

Foreign Minister Alexander Mikhailovich Gorchakov, who signed the treaty, was also subjected to a fierce scolding by Tsar Alexander II, and even nearly lost his official position.

But anger aside, Alexander II naturally understood that this was an unavoidable outcome. From the moment Great Britain and the Austro-Hungarian Empire announced their intervention, Russia had already fallen into a disadvantageous position in the negotiations.

It is worth mentioning that as news of the revision of the Treaty of San Stefano spread throughout Europe, the prestige of the British Empire rose once again.

In the eyes of most European citizens, Russia was already a quite powerful country in Europe, and could even be called the hegemon of Eastern Europe.

Yet even such a powerful country had to submit under the pressure of the British. This further highlighted the power of the British Empire and made every British person feel immensely proud of the British Empire's strength.

Compared to the benefits gained by Great Britain and the Austro-Hungarian Empire after these peace talks, Gao Da was actually more concerned about the direction of the Alliance of the Three Emperors.

Germany maintained a neutral role in these peace talks, which indeed avoided the deterioration of relations between Germany and its two allies.

But it cannot be denied that Germany did not support Russia when Russia needed support the most, and Russia's disappointment was certain.

Although not as severe as the Austrian Empire backstabbing Russia during the Crimean War, for a Russia that had already suffered once, how German-Russian relations would develop in the future was definitely a point worth watching.

Changes in German-Russian relations would also affect the relationship between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia. Previously, with Germany's support, the Austro-Hungarian Empire generally adopted a concessionary attitude in its decision-making regarding the Balkan Peninsula.

Without Germany's support, the Austro-Hungarian Empire would naturally no longer fear Russia. In the future, the struggle for hegemony between the two great powers, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia, on the Balkan Peninsula would be quite a spectacle, and could even involve the situation of all of Europe.

Originally, there were no overly intense conflicts among the various ethnic groups on the Balkan Peninsula, but under the competition between the two great powers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia, these affected Balkan nations would also embark on different paths.

Of course, this direction of development was a good thing for Spain. At least until now, the European situation had not yet exceeded history, and Gao Da could still rely on the experience brought by history to help Spain choose a more suitable path.

As the contradictions between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia on the Balkan Peninsula became more intense, Germany would eventually have to choose between its two allies, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia.

Once Russia was abandoned, France would fully take over Russia, and the European situation would reach a state of German-Austrian versus French-Russian confrontation.

Germany's comprehensive strength was slightly stronger than France's, and Russia's comprehensive strength was slightly stronger than the Austro-Hungarian Empire's. If one were to say that such a political situation had no secret maneuvering by the British, Gao Da would not believe it at all.

Isn't such a situation exactly the regional balance policy that the British advocate? It's just that the British overplayed their hand; Germany erupted with unimaginable strength and eventually nearly shook all of Europe with its extremely formidable military power.

Since the future historical trend was already clear, the most important thing was to figure out Spain's future alignment and how many benefits could be gained after aligning.

Of course, before that, it was necessary to improve Spain's comprehensive strength to ensure that Spain would not become fish on someone else's chopping block during the future confrontation between the two major military groups.

Since he had already strengthened ties with France through diplomatic visits, Gao Da did not intend to miss this opportunity.

Although France's comprehensive strength was already behind Germany's, it was still the world's third-largest power, second only to Great Britain and Germany.

As the saying goes, a lean camel is bigger than a horse; the combat effectiveness of the French Army and Navy could be considered excellent, and it was still very powerful compared to Spain.

Although Spain's shipyards had also used the strength of the entire nation to design the *Revival*-class ironclad, a quite advanced and powerful class of ironclad, in the few years since then, the Royal Guaninzo Shipyard still had no clue how to design the latest ironclad.

The ironclads designed either had no significant progress in terms of firepower, armor, and speed, or had major flaws in certain aspects; in short, there was no relatively perfect new design.

The development of the navy changed with each passing day, and the Spanish Navy absolutely could not stand still.

The *Revival*-class ironclad was indeed a very powerful design a few years ago, and even had the hope of contending for the top five in European ironclad design.

But after a few years had passed, the British Empire's ironclad series had long since been updated, and the French had also designed the latest type of ironclad; the *Revival*-class ironclad had already dropped from the top five in Europe to the top ten.

Although a top-ten design in Europe was still advanced, its ranking would only continue to drop lower in the future.

For Spain, it was very necessary to continue designing a more powerful ironclad. This could not only demonstrate Spain's strong foundation and capability in naval design but also increase the national pride of the Spanish people.

A person can only develop a strong sense of patriotism if they are proud of their own motherland. The current Spanish people were still quite passionate about their motherland, and Gao Da would absolutely not destroy the feelings between the Spanish people and their country.

Since he had already strengthened ties with France, now was naturally the time to embrace the French.

France still had relatively excellent capabilities in naval design. Although Germany's comprehensive strength had already surpassed France's, in terms of the navy, France was still the second-largest naval power in Europe, or even the world.

It is no exaggeration to say that the only navy currently capable of posing a threat to the British in terms of naval power was the French Navy.

However, the French Navy could only pose a threat; it was still far from being able to defeat the British Navy.

For the current Spain, France was indeed the only reliable partner with whom they could jointly develop more powerful ironclads.

The British had more excellent naval design capabilities, but the British were absolutely not that reliable. Furthermore, the relationship between Great Britain and Spain was not very good, and cooperation between Spain and Great Britain was almost impossible.

After making the decision, the Spanish government immediately began contacting the French ambassador to Spain to discuss the possibility of the two countries cooperating in the research and development of ironclads.

Although Spain's comprehensive strength was not strong, its naval strength still ranked in the top five in Europe. Although most of this was due to Spain's old-era foundation, top five in Europe was top five in Europe; this was undeniable.

Cooperating with Spain was not too much of a loss for France, and they could even ensure the security of their southern border by drawing closer to Spain.

Sure enough, when the French ambassador reported the Spanish government's request to Paris, the French government immediately agreed to the Spanish government's request.

Both sides contacted each other through diplomatic ambassadors and agreed to cooperate in developing a most advanced ironclad design.

Because it was a bilateral cooperation, once the ironclad design was fresh out of the oven, both France and Spain would receive the complete ironclad design data.

Subsequent improvements to the ironclad by both sides would also be fully shared, with one exception: if France or Spain completed improvements to the warship on their own.

In addition, both sides also agreed not to sell the initial version of the warship to the outside world after it was designed.

If the shipyards of the two countries wanted to sell the jointly designed warships, they should carry out a second refit of the warships to ensure that the data related to the initial version of the warships would not be leaked.

Because both sides had the willingness to cooperate, the two governments quickly reached an agreement and immediately began cooperation on warship research and development.

The French hoped to use this cooperation to once again draw closer to the Spanish government, while Spain hoped to use the French's warship design capabilities to design more powerful ironclads for Spain.

Driven by mutual interests, the Spanish shipyards also sent a large number of experts to French shipyards; for a long time to come, they would study the latest warship designs at the French shipyards and jointly discuss the reasonable and unreasonable aspects of warship design.

Before these experts went to France, Gao Da even specially met with them and encouraged them.

Many of these experts had participated in the design of the *Revival*-class ironclad; their warship design capabilities were absolutely excellent and could be considered top-tier within Spain.

This trip to France to cooperate with French warship design experts would also allow them to come into contact with mainstream French design ideas and enrich their own resource library.

Warship design is not about imagining things out of thin air, but about considering the specific needs of the two countries as well as the shortcomings and advantages of the battleships in service to design an ironclad that gathers all the advantages of the warships and can meet the needs of both countries.

This also meant that after these experts went to France, they would have the opportunity to see the design blueprints of France's active-duty ironclads, which would be an extremely valuable asset.

Although it was impossible for the French to make public the blueprints of their most advanced active-duty ironclads, as long as there was data they had not come into contact with before, these experts would certainly be able to learn some new things.

What Gao Da hoped for was that they could absorb France's valuable experience in shipbuilding and some unique design ideas, allowing Spain to take a step forward in warship design, at least reaching the level of the five great powers.

There was no help for it; because of Spain's smaller population, the number of domestic talents certainly could not compare to the five great powers.

Not to mention that Spain's education situation ten years ago was still quite terrible; with the premise that the majority of the population were illiterate, excellent talents were certainly few and far between.

And the education situation in other great powers was much better, coupled with populations much larger than Spain's, which resulted in these great powers having a talent reserve that Spain could not compare to.

Especially Germany's education situation, which was definitely among the best among European countries.

Historically, a large number of excellent physicists and chemists came from the German region, including the famous Einstein and others.

After successfully reaching cooperation with the French government, Gao Da was not satisfied; he immediately reached relevant cooperation agreements with Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire one after another.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire was not prominent in terms of the navy, but it could not be said that the Austro-Hungarian Empire had no capabilities in the navy. Spain and the Austro-Hungarian Empire's warship R&D mainly focused on small and medium-sized warships, especially small warships under 3, 00 tons.

Relying on the industrial scale and naval strength of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Spain, it was completely fine to develop several types of small and medium-sized warship designs of around 3, 00 tons.

A country's navy could not be entirely ironclads, and an ironclad also needed many small and medium-sized warships to form a complete fleet.

Therefore, the role of these small and medium-sized warships was still relatively important. Whether it was cruisers capable of ocean-going combat and even contending with capital ships, or gunboats only capable of coastal defense and patrol, they were relatively scarce for Spain.

After all, Spain's colonies were spread all over the world, which also meant that Spain needed a large navy to protect its homeland and colonies.

According to Gao Da's plan, Spain would form two fleets in the future: the Homeland-Africa Fleet and the Philippine Fleet.

Spain's miscellaneous wooden warships and some relatively backward warships would all be transferred to the Philippine Fleet; these warships were also enough to ensure the security of the Philippine colony.

The Homeland-Africa Fleet, on the other hand, would be equipped with more powerful ironclads and new types of warships to significantly improve the fleet's combat effectiveness.

With the development of naval design in various countries, Spain's old sailing warships were basically of no use.

Although they could improve the paper data of the Spanish fleet, when facing the enemy's ironclads head-on, sailing warships and some wooden warships could only obediently wait for death.

Whether it was the firepower, defensive capability, or speed of the warships, there was a world of difference; this was not something that quantity could change.

But the situation in the Philippine colony was different. The Philippine colony mainly faced the Dutch fleet and some pirates, for which sailing warships were more than enough.

Although the Netherlands was once a famous European hegemon, after all, the Netherlands at this time was too small to support any large-scale fleet.

The Dutch Navy, like Spain's, had size but was actually an old fleet; new ironclads were few and far between, and it was even more impossible for the Dutch to send ironclads to be stationed in the colonies.

This also meant that these old fleets of Spain could still play an important role after arriving in the Philippines, at least ensuring that the Philippines would be relatively stable for a long time to come.

Regarding the handling of the Philippine colony, Gao Da had not yet made a decision.

The Cuban colony would definitely be sold, and it had to be sold at a high price in the short term.

The Philippine colony was also a colony far from the Spanish homeland, but the Philippine colony had already formed a scale, and the troops sent by Spain were enough to ensure the stability of the Philippines.

Under such circumstances, wanting to sell the Philippine colony became extremely difficult. The public would not accept losing the Philippine colony without any accidents, unless it could be exchanged for a larger and more prosperous colony.

But this was impossible. The great powers were not fools either; it was impossible to exchange a better colony for a worse one.

Although the Philippines also had a large indigenous population, these local indigenous people were generally relatively lazy, and the benefits the colony could create were really limited.

Looking at it this way, the Philippine colony seemed like a chicken rib: tasteless to eat, but a pity to discard.

Fortunately, Gao Da still had enough time to make a choice; whether it was Cuba or the Philippines, they were currently firmly controlled in Spain's hands.

If the cooperation with the Austro-Hungarian Empire was because he was optimistic about the Austro-Hungarian Empire's foundation, then the cooperation with Italy was purely because he was optimistic about Italy's future.

Although Italy was a newly promoted great power, it was at least a country at the level of a great power. Coupled with the reason for its poor army combat effectiveness, from the time of Gao Da's father, Vittorio Emanuele II, Italy had placed its main direction of development on the navy.

The current King of Italy was Gao Da's older brother, Umberto, who was a blatant nationalist and imperialist.

Historically, it was precisely under the leadership of King Umberto that Italy joined the arms race and expanded the scale of its army and navy.

It must also be admitted that Italy indeed had certain capabilities in naval design. In the era of pre-dreadnoughts, Italy even designed the most advanced battleships in Europe, which was definitely not something an ordinary great power could do.

At least in terms of the navy, the benefits gained from cooperating with Italy now might be even more than the benefits gained from cooperating with the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Fortunately, Gao Da was an adult and could have both. Spain could reach cooperation with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and could also reach cooperation with Italy.

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(End of chapter)