Chapter 300: The Berlin Conference Brought Forward

The day after the British Prime Minister Gladstone met with the Portuguese ambassador, the British ambassador to Spain urgently requested an audience with King Carlos of Spain to communicate regarding the Portuguese colony incident.

Rather than calling it communication, it would be more accurate to call it the British side holding Spain accountable for its attitude.

Yes, accountability.

Although the British ambassador's attitude was not as arrogant as it had been when facing Portugal, it still expressed a tough stance.

The British ambassador spoke at great length, the gist of which was that the Cairo-to-Cape Town connection was Britain's most important colonial plan in Africa, and it would not allow any country to interfere with or sabotage it.

The implication between the lines was that if Spain decided to stand with Portugal to sabotage Britain's colonial plan, there would very likely be a war between Spain and Britain.

Carlos, of course, did not accept the British threat. Although the British were indeed powerful, there was nothing for Spain to fear.

The current Spain already possessed the confidence to challenge other great powers, and no great power wanted to completely fall out with Spain.

After all, there were many great powers on the European continent; a war with Spain would only leave them battered and bruised, and it would be the other great powers that would pick up the pieces.

Upon learning that Carlos would not make any concessions over this matter, the British ambassador's face carried a trace of dissatisfaction and indignation.

In his view, as the British Empire was the most powerful country in the world, Spain, even as a great power, should show some respect.

However, Carlos was, after all, the King of Spain; even if the other party was already standing in opposition to the British government, the British ambassador dared not provoke Carlos in any way, whether through actions or words.

The monarchy and the government represent different things in Europe. Provoking the government is merely competition at the national level, but provoking the King means standing in opposition to the monarchy itself.

European royal families are inherently interconnected; everyone is one big family. Except in special circumstances, everyone is willing to maintain a facade of cordial relations.

The British ambassador left the Spanish Wang Gong looking dissatisfied, and the British government received the relevant news shortly thereafter.

As for Spain, Carlos was also preparing to withstand the diplomatic pressure from the British government.

Carlos did not intend to let Spain bear such pressure alone, but instead planned to pull in Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Carlos's thinking was also very simple: to see if the British actually had the guts to push Spain toward Germany.

At worst, Carlos would simply announce joining the Triple Alliance, forming a super military bloc of the four great powers: Germany, Austria, Italy, and Spain.

This powerful lineup, even when facing the Franco-Russian Entente, would have a chance to crush the opponent directly.

After all, Russia currently had too many problems; rashly participating in such a super war between multiple great powers would only cause Russia's domestic problems to explode sooner.

Without Russia, France alone could not withstand the siege of four great powers.

Germany, Italy, and Spain could attack France from three directions, while the Austro-Hungarian army could support Spain and Italy, simultaneously tying down a large number of French troops to defend the southern border.

As long as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, and Spain could tie down half of the French army, Germany would face the remaining half as if entering an empty land, quickly occupying Paris with lightning speed.

This was also why Carlos was not afraid of Britain when plotting against Portugal. Because at this time, Britain did not intend to directly interfere in the European situation; the regional balance policy led by Britain determined that Britain could not accept Spain joining Germany's side, which also meant that Britain could not completely break with Spain.

Although they would not completely break, there was room for negotiation. With the support of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy, Spain was not afraid of Britain in diplomatic negotiations.

Furthermore, before the diplomatic negotiations, the goals Carlos wanted to achieve were basically already accomplished. As long as the relationship between the British and Portuguese governments was alienated, along with the Portuguese people's trust in their government and monarchy, the possibility of Spain annexing Portugal in the future would increase significantly.

After Carlos contacted the royal families of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy in the name of the monarchy, Franz Joseph I and Umberto I both expressed their support for Carlos.

The reason the two countries agreed to support Spain, besides wanting to win Spain over to join the Triple Alliance, also involved the respective plans of the two governments.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire had no plans to colonize Africa, but they needed to contend with Russia later on. For the Austro-Hungarian Empire, every additional ally they had meant one more point of odds in their favor when confronting Russia.

As for Italy, they did have plans to colonize Africa. The Tunisia colony had given Italy a good start and allowed the Italian government to see the benefits of colonizing Africa.

Cultivating agriculture alone could earn Italy a large income; the wealthier the government's finances, the smoother the military expansion planned by Umberto I would go.

After Tunisia, the Italian government set its sights on two more regions: Libya in North Africa and the Abyssinian Empire in East Africa.

These two colonies had one thing in common: they were located in the periphery of British colonies.

If Italy wanted to occupy these two colonies, it would inevitably face pressure from the British government. This was also the reason why Umberto I so readily chose to support Carlos, because he would also need the support of the Spanish government in a similar situation.

For the British government, the situation suddenly became very difficult. If it were only Spain, the British government would not be afraid.

But as news of meetings between the Spanish royal family and the Austro-Hungarian and Italian royal families came frequently, the British government understood that these two countries had chosen to stand behind Spain.

At this moment, Prime Minister Gladstone finally felt what the Portuguese government had felt a few days earlier: nowhere to advance, nowhere to retreat, feeling extremely uncomfortable.

These lands west of Mozambique certainly had to be occupied; it concerned Britain's Cairo-to-Cape Town connection, and Britain would never allow the plan to be sabotaged by other countries.

But at the same time, they could not completely break with Spain and the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy behind it. Originally, everyone was only supporting Spain diplomatically; if Britain were to break with them, even if the two countries were unwilling to go to war with Britain, they would have to.

Once a fight started, it would not be such a simple matter. Russia had always had a grudge against Britain; facing such a great opportunity, they would certainly stir up trouble in Central and Western Asia.

The conflict between France and the British was also not small; not to mention kicking them while they were down, they would certainly seize the opportunity to grab colonies while the British were distracted.

Even if Britain could eventually win the war, it would be the one to suffer the greatest loss of interests.

Precisely because of this, after learning that the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy had expressed their support for Spain, the negotiations between Britain and Spain had fallen into a stalemate.

On March 15, 1884, invited by the British government, German Chancellor Bismarck sent telegrams to Spain, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, Britain, Portugal, and other countries, inviting them to send representatives to attend a conference in Berlin, with the purpose of resolving the disputes among various countries regarding land in the southern Congo region.

Including Britain and Spain, no one intended to completely break things off.

This also led to the various countries nodding in agreement to send representatives to attend this conference after German Chancellor Bismarck sent the telegram, giving Chancellor Bismarck plenty of face.

At first, only the countries involved in the disputes planned to attend the conference, but after discussions among the countries, it was decided to invite more European countries to participate in the conference to avoid similar conflicts from happening.

Because the main purpose of this conference was to delineate the scope of each country's colonization of Africa, this led to the final number of participating countries becoming 15, all of which were European countries capable of colonizing Africa.

As for the remaining countries that were incapable of colonizing Africa, they naturally had no qualifications to attend this conference. To put it bluntly, this conference was held by the great powers to balance their own conflicts.

Small countries originally had no say, but to avoid things like what happened with Portugal, the participation of small countries was allowed.

Under Carlos's interference, the Berlin Conference was held several years early.

However, this was not a bad thing for Spain; by participating in the carving up of Africa earlier, Spain could also get a share of more fertile land.

Of course, Spain's colonies in Africa were destined not to be too large. Apart from the West African colonies, there would basically be no major expansion for other colonies.

The current African colonies mainly served as production sites for raw materials and for some agricultural development work.

The local indigenous people basically would not buy European industrial products, and they could not afford them at all. This also led to the African colonies having basically no ability to dump industrial goods, which was of little help to the increase in Spain's domestic industrial output.

If one really wanted to talk about industrial product markets, one still had to find ways in Asia and the Americas. The countries in these places were more developed, and even if they were not colonies, they could still sell industrial products.

Although 15 countries participated in this Berlin Conference, the countries with a real say were actually only the seven great powers: Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Spain.

Don't look at countries like the Netherlands, Belgium, and Portugal participating in the conference; let alone having a say, being able to ensure their existing colonial strongholds would not be snatched by the great powers was already something to be thankful for.

After all, this era was not a civilized era; it was an era of true survival of the fittest, where being backward meant being beaten.

Don't look at European countries disguising themselves as beacons of civilized and friendly humanity; when they discover huge interests, they will reveal their true nature.

The British Museum, as a famous British collection gallery, houses collections from all over the world. These collections were not bought by the British, but were forcibly snatched from countries around the world through aggression.

Among the more than 200 countries in the world in later generations, those that have not been colonized or invaded by Britain can be counted on one hand.

Even Spain had been invaded by Britain; this aspect also shows the true nature of European countries, having no mercy for the weak.

On the Spanish side, the representatives sent to attend the conference were the Minister of Colonial Affairs, William, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carrel.

The previous Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marquis of Everton, retired honorably after serving through four cabinet governments (including the interim cabinet), and he also used the merits he had accumulated to obtain large tracts of fertile land, successfully elevating his family into the ranks of Spain's top noble families.

The successor, Carrel, was also a Spanish noble, but his title was not as illustrious as the Marquis of Everton's.

The current Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carrel, came from a small family in southern Spain; his father was a count who, for various reasons, had his title stripped by the former Queen Isabella, becoming a baron at the very bottom of the nobility.

This also caused Carrel's family to fall into decline from then on; if it weren't for the revolution that made Carlos the King of Spain, I am afraid the Carrel family would have completely decayed, eventually becoming ordinary people with only noble titles.

Before Carrel and William went to Berlin, Carlos had already summoned them and instructed them on what they should do at the conference.

For Carlos, the two most basic goals had already been fully achieved. The relationship between Britain and Portugal had been destroyed, and the Portuguese people were full of dissatisfaction and doubt toward their own government.

Unless the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy were willing to go to war with Britain, it would be impossible to stop Britain from occupying the land in the southern Congo by relying on Spain alone.

However, having said that, letting the British occupy this land might not be a bad thing.

Whenever the land in the southern Congo is mentioned, the Portuguese will remember this day, remember how the British stood over them, arrogantly blocking their colonial merger plan, and snatched the land that should have belonged to Portugal into their own hands.

Carlos could make concessions on the land in the southern Congo, provided that the British were willing to pay more benefits to compensate Spain.

After all, Spain also had the ability to colonize the land in the southern Congo; as long as the British were unwilling to break with Spain, they had to consider the consequences of Spain forcibly competing with them for colonies.

The Berlin Conference was held to resolve the contradictions and conflicts between the great powers; the British representative would presumably also be able to consider this point and make more concessions to Spain in other areas.

Regarding the land in Africa, Carlos no longer had any major ideas. The only one he wanted, Morocco, the British would not be willing to give to Spain, which also meant that if Carlos wanted land, he could only set his sights on the more distant Asia, such as the Middle East peninsula.

Spain had already occupied the Sultanate of Muscat, and further north were the Trucial States, which is the region of the later United Arab Emirates.

Like Oman, the United Arab Emirates was also a desert. Oman still had a small piece of land in the north that was mountainous and plains, while the vast majority of the land in the United Arab Emirates was all desert, which was not suitable for living.

This also meant that Spain might be able to obtain the Trucial States through this conference and merge it with the Oman colony to establish a larger colony.

Although this colony did not seem to have any great use now, when the oil in the Middle East region is discovered in the future, the value of the oil alone would be enough to make Spain earn a fortune.

This was also why Carlos valued the Middle East region; after all, oil is truly profitable, and oil in this era would not breed the US military.

(End of chapter)