Chapter 301: Britain's Concession

The Berlin Conference was convened half a year earlier than in history, which also meant that the progress of the European powers' colonization of Africa was already vastly different from history.

After exchanging all their West African colonies, the only colonies the British had left in Africa were in South Africa and North Africa—namely, the Cape Colony and the Egypt colony.

This also made the Cairo-Cape Town link even more important than it was in history, and the British government would absolutely not choose to back down on this matter.

The result was that the Berlin Conference, which the representatives of various countries had originally thought would take less than a month to conclude, dragged on for several months without ending.

Of course, this was not bad news for Spain. The longer the Berlin Conference lasted, the more dissatisfied the European powers were with the existing plans for partitioning Africa.

The result was that countries without such formidable strength could fish in troubled waters and acquire their own colonies in corners that the great powers were not paying attention to.

The first issue the Berlin Conference had to resolve was the conflict between the great powers, led by Britain and Spain, over the lands in southern Congo.

The demand put forward by the British side was for Britain to occupy the Barotseland Kingdom, the Mwata Kazembe Kingdom, the Malawi Kingdom, and the Yeke Kingdom, to ensure that Britain's Cape Colony could connect with Egypt.

With the support of Spain and under the pressure of domestic public opinion, the Portuguese government did not abandon these lands, claiming that these were lands acquired during the colonial exchange between Portugal and Spain, and that Britain had no right to conduct a colonial operation akin to "striking across a mountain" from thousands of kilometers away.

The Portuguese government's argument was quite well-founded. The lands in southern Congo were indeed on the route of the British Cairo-Cape Town link, but the problem was that the border of the southernmost Barotseland Kingdom was over 1, 00 kilometers away from the British Cape Colony, and the northernmost Yeke Kingdom was over 1, 00 kilometers away from the Sudan colony controlled by Britain.

No matter how strong the British Empire was, it could not colonize in such a leapfrogging manner. Furthermore, Spain was the first country to establish colonies in the Congo River basin, and Spanish colonial outposts were already spread across the lands of the Congo River basin.

Originally, the sovereignty of this land belonged to Spain; since Spain had exchanged it with Portugal, the sovereignty of the land naturally belonged to Portugal and had nothing to do with Britain.

Such a high-handed demand for land from across the distance was clearly too overbearing, which was why the Portuguese government could not agree to the British government's request under any circumstances.

If they had agreed to the British government's proposal at the Berlin Conference, once the domestic public learned the details, the Prime Minister and the cabinet ministers of the Portuguese government would not have a good end.

Even Luis I could be affected by the public's anger. With the public highly focused on the Berlin Conference, it was impossible for the Portuguese government to openly concede to the British government.

After all, they could still distinguish between what was light and what was heavy. Since the colonial dispute had turned into the Berlin Conference with the participation of the great powers, unless the British government wanted to provoke public outrage, they would not launch a war against Portugal during the Berlin Conference.

Although Portugal was one of the competing parties, the Portuguese representative did not express too many opinions during the negotiations at the Berlin Conference.

The main debates were conducted by the British and Spanish representatives; countries beneath the status of great powers did not have much of a say.

At this moment, the British government finally began to take Spain, whom they had always looked down upon, seriously; Spain made them feel as difficult to deal with as the Russians.

Although they were all great powers, there were gaps between them. For example, the British government was not afraid of Italy at all.

Without Garibaldi, that final hero, the combat effectiveness of the Italian army was extremely poor. Even though the Italian King Umberto I was constantly promoting Italy's military expansion, the British government had never taken Italy seriously.

As a Mediterranean coastal country, Britain only needed to blockade the two exits of the Mediterranean, and no matter how strong the Italian navy was, it would be useless, because they could not reach the ocean at all, let alone pose a threat to the British mainland.

The army was even less worth mentioning; Italy and Britain were separated by a vast distance, and coupled with the poor combat effectiveness of the Italian army, the British government did not take two Italys seriously.

Spain was different.

Although Spain was also a Mediterranean coastal country, half of Spain's coastline was located on the east coast of the Atlantic.

This also meant that it was difficult for Britain to completely blockade the Spanish navy in the Mediterranean, and the Spanish navy had the capability to pose a threat to the British mainland.

More importantly, the British method of blockading the Mediterranean was to control the two exits, and the exit in the western Mediterranean, the Strait of Gibraltar, had once belonged to Spain.

Once Britain and Spain went to war, Spain could recapture Gibraltar with its army at any time, thereby controlling the Strait of Gibraltar.

Once Britain lost control of the two exits of the Mediterranean, the situation along the Mediterranean coast would become even more unpredictable, which also meant that the Suez Canal, which Britain had gone to great lengths to control, would lose at least half of its strategic value.

If Britain and Spain went to war, Portugal might be the first country to be annexed.

A completely unified Iberian Peninsula would become an existence similar to Britain—both powerful and able to remain outside the European continent, unaffected by the chaotic situation on the European continent.

Coupled with the fact that it was self-contained, it was also difficult for Britain to pose a threat to the Iberian Peninsula. This also meant that a war between Britain and Spain would turn into a situation where both sides were helpless, unless Britain was willing to form an expeditionary force, but the casualties from doing so were something the British government could not bear.

Although the German and French armies were clearly more famous in terms of land forces, this was largely due to Spain's decline; before Spain's decline, the Spanish army was also quite powerful.

If Britain really formed an expeditionary force to attack the Spanish mainland, it was hard to say whether they could achieve victory. The Spaniards would turn into the strongest warriors under the buff of defending their home and country, and such a Spain was something no great power wanted to encounter.

During the Berlin Conference, all parts of the Statue of Liberty, a famous American landmark, were installed and completed, attracting the attention of many media outlets.

The United States in this era pursued isolationism; they had no interest in Europe across the ocean and only focused on the situation in the Americas.

This was also the reason why the United States, which was already a great power and whose industrial and economic growth rate no other great power could surpass, had no presence or influence in Europe.

Coupled with the fact that the rise of American industry and economy had too much help and investment from European capital, it led to Americans being considered inferior in Europe.

All the great powers participated in this conference concerning the partition of Africa, except for the United States across the ocean. On one hand, the United States was indeed not concerned about the situation in Europe and Africa; on the other hand, Germany really did not invite the United States.

Because the negotiations at the Berlin Conference were deadlocked, while the European countries were attending the conference, their own colonial expansion did not stop at all.

On the French side, their war with Vietnam broke out in full swing. France successfully annexed Cambodia, doubled the size of its colony, and had a trend of expanding northward.

On the British side, the Sudan colony was also constantly expanding southward, laying a good foundation for the Cairo-Cape Town link.

Italy was plotting for the Libya colony, and their demand in the Berlin Conference was precisely to obtain the initiative for colonizing Libya.

The good news was that although Libya was a land of vast area, because this land was entirely desert, it was not valued by the European powers.

Except for Britain expressing opposition, other European countries did not have obvious opposition to Italy occupying Libya, and Italy still had hope of obtaining this hard-won colony.

As the most powerful country on the European continent besides Britain, Germany also had its own colonial moves.

Because Germany unified late, by the time the German government launched its colonial plan, most of the world's land had already been partitioned by the great powers.

Germany could only set its sights on Africa, looking for land that other great powers had not yet set foot on.

In fact, the Germans really found such land.

Regarding this matter, one has to mention Britain's colonial policy in Africa.

Because there were many primeval forests inside the African continent, the European powers' colonization of Africa was mainly concentrated on the coast and rarely went deep into the African continent.

This also led to Britain's colonization not focusing on colonial sovereignty, but choosing to control trade in the African region, similar to a form of economic colonization.

Even though the footprints of British colonists were all over the European continent, in reality, there were vast areas of land for which Britain had not declared sovereignty.

The Germans took advantage of this loophole and found two places in Africa where Britain had arrived but had not declared sovereignty.

One of these lands was located in the northwest of the British Cape Colony, and the closest point was only a few kilometers away from the British Cape Colony.

It could also be said that the Germans established their African colony right under the eyes of the British.

Yet the British had no reason to refute it, because Britain had indeed not declared sovereignty over this land.

The way Germany obtained sovereignty was also worth mentioning; they did not choose the traditional process of European powers establishing colonial outposts and then connecting them to declare sovereignty and establish a colony, but instead cleanly and neatly used the army to forcibly conquer the local indigenous tribes, and then signed a treaty with the local indigenous tribal chiefs that they could not understand at all.

How could these indigenous people understand the terms of a treaty written in German? Under the pressure of the steel guns and cannons of the German army, they could only inexplicably sign their names on the treaty and press their fingerprints.

Pressing fingerprints was another insurance policy imposed by Germany. After all, the Germans were new here, and they did not know if these indigenous people were actually called by such names.

The indigenous people certainly would not write in German; they all used their own languages, which the Germans also could not understand.

However, it did not matter if they could not understand; as long as the fingerprints were pressed, the fingerprints could be matched to the people later.

It was precisely with the help of such a treaty, where only one of the signing parties was aware of the contents, that Germany successfully established its first colony in Africa.

The process of establishing the German West Africa colony could be described as quite spectacular; it was basically established right under the nose of the British.

This also made the British perceive a hint of crisis. If they really followed this German method of proof, even if Britain obtained the land in southern Congo at the Berlin Conference, other lands on the Cairo-Cape Town link would also be partitioned by the European powers.

Britain could use its influence to cause colonial competition, but could it use this method every time?

After all, Britain was also a European country, and Britain's strength did not completely crush the other European powers.

Since it was a European country, it naturally had to abide by the rules that European countries had always tacitly agreed upon.

After internal deliberations, the British government decided to make certain concessions to Spain to push for a compromise on the land in southern Congo at the Berlin Conference more quickly.

Only by resolving the dispute over the land in southern Congo earlier would Britain have enough energy to complete the Cairo-Cape Town link, while also guarding against more powerful great powers like Germany quickly colonizing Africa in their own way.

Spain was, after all, a medium-sized great power, and the threat it could pose was limited.

Even if given the opportunity, just relying on Spain's 20 million-plus people, it would be impossible to colonize too much land.

But countries like Germany and France were different. Germany and France possessed larger populations, more developed industries, and more prosperous economies, which also meant that they could colonize more African land and suck more blood.

The African continent was like a big cake; although the British got the biggest share, other countries were eyeing this big cake at all times.

Only by completely eating it could they ensure that Britain became the biggest beneficiary. What Britain mainly guarded against were Germany and France, who were coming to grab food with basins.

For a great power like Spain that was holding a bowl, appropriate concessions were not a problem. After all, Spain's appetite was limited; even if the cake were given to Spain, Spain was destined to have indigestion.

Over in Berlin, the Berlin Conference was proceeding at a slow and steady pace.

And here in Madrid, the British ambassador once again found Ka Luo.

Unlike the last time he requested to see Ka Luo, this time when he requested to see Ka Luo, the British ambassador expressed a more respectful attitude, and his words were not as tough as the last time.

In the talks with Ka Luo, the British ambassador mentioned more than once the importance of the Cairo-Cape Town link to Britain, and indicated that Britain was willing to make certain concessions on lands other than the land in southern Congo.

Britain proposed three conditions for Ka Luo and the Spanish government to choose from.

The first condition was that in the Dutch East Indies colony, Britain was willing to let Spain occupy more land as compensation for the land in southern Congo.

However, Britain was unwilling to give up the core of the Dutch East Indies, Sumatra and Java, to Spain.

The second condition was regarding colonization on the island of New Guinea. The British government could tacitly approve Spain's colonial actions on the island of New Guinea and support the colonies that Spain would establish on the island of New Guinea in the future.

The third condition was in the Middle East, where Britain could allow Spain's Oman colony to expand northward to the scope of the Trucial States.

One could also feel the British attitude of concession from these three conditions.

However, the extent of Britain's concession was not that great. Whether it was the Dutch East Indies, New Guinea, or the Trucial States, the value was not that high.

The reason why Britain was willing to make concessions in these lands was actually because Britain did not have too many interests in these lands.

(End of chapter)