Chapter 300: The Berlin Conference Brought Forward

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

It would be more accurate to call it an accountability session regarding Spain's attitude from the British side, rather than communication.

Yes, accountability.

Although the British ambassador's attitude was not as arrogant as it had been when facing Portugal, he still expressed his own hardline stance.

The British ambassador spoke at great length, the general gist being that the Cairo-to-Cape Town line was the most important colonial plan for Britain in Africa, and no country would be allowed to interfere with or sabotage it.

The implication between the lines was that if Spain decided to stand on Portugal's side and sabotage Britain's colonial plan, a war between Spain and Britain was highly likely.

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

Spain now possessed the confidence to challenge other Great Powers, and no Great Power wanted to completely burn bridges with Spain.

After all, there were many Great Powers on the European continent; a war with Spain would only result in mutual exhaustion, and other Great Powers would be the ones to pick up the pieces.

Upon learning that Gao Da would not make any concessions regarding 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, Gao Da was, after all, the King of Spain; even if the other party was standing on the opposite side of the British government, the British ambassador dared not provoke Gao Da in terms of actions or words.

Monarchy and government represent different meanings in Europe. Provoking the government is only competition at the national level, but provoking the King means standing on the opposite side of the monarchy.

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

The British ambassador left the Royal Palace of Spain with a look of dissatisfaction, and the British government also received relevant news later that day.

As for Spain, Gao Da was also preparing to counter the diplomatic pressure from the British government.

Gao Da did not intend to let Spain bear such pressure alone, but rather planned to rope in Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

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

At worst, Gao Da would directly 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 Alliance, would have the opportunity to directly crush the opponent.

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, a single France could not withstand the siege of the four Great Powers.

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

As long as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, and Spain could share half of the French army, Germany would be able to enter the remaining half of the French army as if entering uninhabited territory, quickly occupying Paris with lightning speed.

This was also why Gao Da did not fear 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 the German side, which also meant that Britain could not completely fall out with Spain.

Although they would not completely fall out, there was room for negotiation. Spain had the support of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy, so it was not afraid of Britain in diplomatic negotiations.

Moreover, before the diplomatic negotiations, the goals Gao Da wanted to achieve had basically been completed. As long as the relationship between the British and Portuguese governments was alienated, as well as the Portuguese people's trust in their government and royal family, the possibility of Spain annexing Portugal in the future would increase significantly.

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

The reason why the two countries agreed to support Spain, besides wanting to rope Spain into the Triple Alliance, was also due to the respective plans of the two governments.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire had no plans to colonize Africa, but they needed to counter Russia in the future. For the Austro-Hungarian Empire, every additional ally they had meant one more point of winning odds when confronting Russia.

As for Italy, they did have plans to colonize Africa. The Tunisia colony gave Italy a good start and also 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 be.

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

These two colonies had one thing in common: they were located around British colonies.

Italy wanted to occupy these two colonies, inevitably facing pressure from the British government. This was also the reason why Umberto I chose to support Gao Da so readily, because he also needed the support of the Spanish government under similar circumstances.

For the British government, the situation suddenly became very difficult. Only one Spain would be fine; the British government was not afraid.

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

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

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

But at the same time, they could not completely fall out with Spain and the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy behind it. Originally, everyone was only supporting Spain diplomatically; if Britain fell out 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 definitely stir up trouble in Central Asia and West Asia.

The conflict between France and the British was also not small; not to mention kicking them while they were down, they would definitely seize colonies while the British were too busy to care.

Even if Britain could eventually win the war, the one who would lose the most benefits would only be Britain.

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 already stalled.

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 each country to send representatives to attend a conference held in Berlin, with the purpose of resolving the disputes among countries regarding land contradictions in the southern Congo region.

Including Britain and Spain, everyone did not intend to completely fall out.

This also led to the fact that after German Chancellor Bismarck sent the telegram invitation, countries nodded and agreed to send representatives to attend this conference, giving Chancellor Bismarck plenty of face.

At first, only the few countries with disputes planned to attend the conference, and subsequently, after discussions among various countries, it was decided to invite more European countries to participate in this conference to avoid similar contradictions 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; these 15 countries were all European countries capable of colonizing Africa.

As for the remaining countries that were not capable of colonizing Africa, they naturally had no qualifications to participate in this conference. To put it bluntly, this conference was only held by Great Powers to balance their respective contradictions.

Small countries originally had no say, but in order to avoid things like what happened to Portugal, they were allowed to participate.

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

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

Of course, Spain's colonies in Africa were also destined not to be too large. Except for the West African colony, other colonies basically would not have much expansion.

Current African colonies mainly served as production sites for raw materials and carried out some agricultural development work.

Local indigenous people basically would not buy European industrial products, and they could not afford them at all. This also led to the fact that African colonies basically had no ability to dump industrial products, which did not help much in increasing the industrial output value of Spain.

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

Although 15 countries participated in this Berlin Conference, the countries with a 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 that their existing colonial strongholds would not be snatched by 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 the backward would be beaten.

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

The British Museum, as a famous collection exhibition hall in Britain, collected collections from all over the world. These collections were not bought by the British, but snatched from countries around the world through aggression.

Among the more than 200 countries in the world in later generations, the number of countries that had not been colonized and invaded by Britain could be counted on one's fingers.

Even Spain had been invaded by Britain; this aspect could also show the nature of European countries, which had no mercy for the weak.

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

The previous Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hou Jue of Efton, retired gloriously after experiencing the terms of four cabinet governments (including the interim cabinet); he also obtained large tracts of fertile land by virtue of his accumulated merits, successfully making his family rank among the top aristocratic families in Spain.

The successor, Carell, was also a Spanish aristocrat, but his title was not as prominent as the Hou Jue of Efton.

The current Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carell, came from a small family in southern Spain; his father was a count, but due to various reasons, his title was stripped by the former Queen Isabella, becoming a baron at the bottom of the aristocracy.

This also caused Carell's family to decline from then on; if it weren't for the revolution that broke out and made Gao Da the King of Spain, I am afraid that Carell's family would have completely declined and eventually become ordinary people with only aristocratic titles.

Before Carell and William went to Berlin, Gao Da had already summoned them and instructed them on what they should do in the conference.

For Gao Da, the two most basic goals had all been achieved. The relationship between Britain and Portugal had been sabotaged, and the Portuguese people were also full of dissatisfaction and questioning toward their government.

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

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

Whenever the land in the southern Congo was mentioned, the Portuguese would think of this day, think of how the British stood on their heads, arrogantly stopped their colonial merger plan, and snatched the land that should have belonged to Portugal into their own hands.

Gao Da 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 fall out with Spain, they had to consider the consequences of Spain forcibly competing with them for colonization.

The Berlin Conference was held to resolve the contradictions and conflicts between Great Powers; the British representative could presumably also consider this point and make more concessions to Spain in other aspects.

Regarding the land in Africa, Gao Da no longer had much thought. The only thing he wanted, Morocco, the British would not be willing to give to Spain, which also meant that if Gao Da wanted land, he could only set his sights on further Asia, such as the Middle East Peninsula.

Spain had already occupied the Sultanate of Muscat, and further north were the Trucial States, which was the UAE region in later generations.

Like Oman, the UAE 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 UAE's land was all desert, which was not suitable for living.

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

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

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

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 301 =====