Chapter 339: The Possibility of Surpassing Falanxi (Not asking for leave)

The British idea of preventing the Franco-Russian alliance was not just talk. In order to prevent the birth of a super force like the Franco-Russian alliance, which far exceeded the German-Austrian alliance, on February 17, 1889, British Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil expressed his views on the Balkan War in an interview with Reuters reporters.

Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil first called on the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Serbia, and Russia, who were participating in the war, to calm down and resolve the conflict on the Balkan Peninsula in a peaceful way.

Subsequently, the Prime Minister also stated that Britain would not intervene in this war and would act as a neutral party to do its best to prevent this war from expanding further.

In order to spare the people of the Balkan Peninsula and the participating countries from the trouble of war, Britain announced that it would do its best to prevent other countries from participating in this war, and called on other European countries to put an end to the expansion of this war and mediate this war as much as possible.

Although Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil only simply called on various European countries not to let the war expand in the interview, no country would underestimate the remarks of this Prime Minister.

This is the person with the greatest power in the most powerful country in the world; if they really didn't listen to the British advice and let the war expand, who would dare to guarantee that the British would continue to maintain a neutral role as they said?

The British threat was very effective; at least on the surface, the contact progress of the Franco-Russian alliance was indeed slowed down a lot.

Regardless of whether the French are afraid of the British, the Russians are really afraid of the British at this moment.

After all, the competitive relationship between Russia and Britain is well known; if they offend Britain again because of pulling in the French, and let Britain directly interfere in this war and join the German-Austrian side, then the Russians really would have no way to survive.

And for the Russians, limiting the scale of the war is not a bad thing.

If the participating countries are only Germany-Austria vs. Russia-Serbia, although Russia is at a certain disadvantage, it is not hopeless.

The Russians could indeed pull in Falanxi, but the Austro-Hungarian Empire also seemed to be able to pull in many allies. Italy, which has an unknown treaty with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Spain, which expressed support for the Austro-Hungarian Empire before the war broke out, are both power-level countries.

As the saying goes, "a chaotic punch beats a master"; although the comprehensive strength of Spain and Italy cannot compare to super powers like Falanxi and Russia, if it is a situation of many against few, the result might not be certain.

Coupled with the British's vague threats, it successfully made the Russians decide to limit the war to a certain range and did not intend to set off a super war covering the whole of Europe.

Having the same decision as Russia were Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

To be honest, the news that Russia and Falanxi were getting closer scared the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Even the German Empire, which had once defeated Falanxi, broke out in a cold sweat when hearing the news that Falanxi and Russia might unite.

Although Europeans often talk about the five major powers, in fact, what is more recognized is the saying of the four major powers. The four major powers are Britain, Falanxi, Germany, and Russia; these four countries lead other powers in terms of industry, population, economy, and military strength.

If two of the four major powers form an alliance, unless the remaining two also form an alliance, it is very difficult to resist them by relying on the strength of one super power.

The German-Austrian alliance is clearly not the opponent of the Franco-Russian alliance. Unless the Germans could also pull in Italy and Spain, perhaps they could win by relying on the situation of four against two.

Precisely because both sides of the war did not want the war to become uncontrollable, coupled with the British's open and secret threats, it ultimately led to this war really being limited to the scope of four countries.

Although only four countries participated in this war, three of them are powers. Although the scale of the war was limited to a certain range, theoretically speaking, this can also be completely counted as a large-scale war.

Since the outbreak of the war, the Austro-Hungarian Empire also contacted Spain. It was not just the Austro-Hungarian Empire government contacting the Spanish government; Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I was also contacting Gao Da, asking if Spain could join the war to help the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Originally, Gao Da adopted a "delaying tactic," intending to wait until the British expressed their stance before making a corresponding decision. Since the British government had already expressed its stance, Gao Da naturally would not drag it on anymore.

On the second day of the British government's statement, February 18, 1889, Gao Da summoned the Austro-Hungarian Empire's Ambassador to Ma Deli to express Spain's attitude toward this war.

First of all, the Spanish royal family and government support the Austro-Hungarian Empire's war against Serbia. But for various reasons, Spain cannot join this war, which naturally includes the attitude expressed by the British Prime Minister the day before.

However, because of the alliance relationship between Spain and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Spain is still willing to provide any material resources to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and it is provided at the market price before the war.

This point is still quite important. Although the war has only broken out for a few days so far, it can be certain that the price of strategic materials in the future will be higher and higher.

The most important of these are food, medical supplies, weapons and equipment, ammunition, etc.; the prices of these materials in the future will absolutely climb continuously. Spain being able to sell these materials to the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the market price before the war is actually already fulfilling the duty of an ally.

After all, during the war stage, the growth of various material prices is quite rapid. This is not a growth of a few percent as usual; the growth of material prices during the war stage is likely to be a doubling or even several times the growth, and the price gap in this is also quite huge.

Of course, Gao Da's willingness to sell materials to the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the cost price before the war is not entirely because of the alliance relationship with the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

It is mainly because there are not many powers participating in the war in Europe, and Britain and Falanxi, the two main powers, did not participate; they certainly would not let go of the good opportunity to make a fortune in the war.

In this way, although the prices of materials in the war will rise, the extent of the rise should also be limited. Spain maintaining the sale of materials at the market price before the war, although earning less, can gain the favor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Germany, which is also quite important.

Besides Gao Da's promise to sell materials to the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the market price before the war, Gao Da also let the Spanish government reach a military agreement with the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The main content of this military agreement is that the Spanish Ministry of National Defense will dispatch a military observation group to the main battlefield of the Balkan Peninsula to observe this war from the perspective of a bystander and learn from each other's war actions.

The military observation group is not an unfamiliar term, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire side did not refuse this.

Gao Da's purpose in dispatching the military observation group is also very simple, which is to let the Spanish army observe this war between European powers well and learn the relatively excellent military ideas and strategic deployments of various countries.

Although the Spanish army exerted quite excellent combat effectiveness in the process of fighting against African natives, the enemy was ultimately African natives who could not be on the stage, which is completely different from European powers.

The Spanish army cannot be proud and complacent because of this; for such a relatively good learning environment, they should dispatch an observation group.

Besides dispatching a military observation group, Spain also gifted a batch of rifles and artillery, as well as matching bullets and shells, to the Austro-Hungarian Empire for free.

The reason for gifting this batch of weapons and equipment is also very simple, which is to use the Austro-Hungarian Empire to test the practicality of this batch of equipment. Still the same sentence, the environment of the African battlefield and the environment of the European battlefield are completely different; one can be careless in fighting natives, but one must be cautious in fighting European countries.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire side naturally also understood Gao Da's idea of gifting this batch of weapons and equipment for free. But for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, such a batch of free weapons and equipment, why not take it?

After reaching relevant cooperation agreements with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Spanish government also revealed its attitude to the outside world. Similar to the British Prime Minister's attitude, the Spanish government also advocated for both sides of the war to calm down,

and not to increase casualties in vain.

Countries that have not participated in the war should maintain a neutral role, avoiding involvement in this war so as not to make the situation of the war more massive. The successive statements of Britain and Spain are actually setting a tone for this war.

Falanxi and Italy, who have not expressed their stance subsequently, are also very difficult to join this war again; after all, they have no too many excuses to join this war.

Falanxi and Russia currently do not have any alliance relationship; if Falanxi wants to join this war, it can only reach an alliance with Russia temporarily.

But doing so makes the purpose somewhat too obvious, which will not only make Falanxi lose public support in this war but also make Falanxi's diplomatic situation more awkward.

A Franco-Russian alliance will make all European powers wary; by then, it might be the Franco-Russian alliance that is isolated.

And for Italy, as long as they don't want to make the German-Austrian-Italian tripartite alliance treaty public, they have no excuse to join this war.

And Britain and Spain have both expressed their stance one after another; even if Italy wants to participate in the war, there is no way.

Inside the Ma Deli Royal Palace, after determining that only the three powers of Germany, Austria, and Russia participated in this war, Gao Da also reduced his attention to this war.

For Gao Da, the outcome of this war is already irrelevant. What Gao Da truly cares about is how long this war can be fought, and what Spain can harvest in this war.

Judging from the current European situation, once Germany and Russia fall into war, Spain will have more opportunities to surpass the four major powers.

Among the remaining European countries, the only one that might surpass Spain in terms of development speed and economic prosperity is Britain; the development speed of the French has lagged too much since the Franco-Prussian War.

Currently, there is already a slogan within the Spanish government to surpass the four major powers, and even the most exaggerated one is the slogan to surpass England.

It's just that what is most recognized by government officials is the slogan "Surpass Falanxi in five years, look at Germany in ten years."

As for surpassing the British, for the current Spain, it is indeed just a fantasy.

Not to mention whether looking at Germany can be realized, surpassing Falanxi is indeed not just a slogan for the current Spain.

First look at the steel production, which is relatively important for measuring industrial scale.

Throughout 1888, Spain's annual steel production could reach about 500,000 tons; this level is already in the first tier in Europe.

The only ones in the world that can surpass Spain in steel production are the four countries of Britain, the United States, Germany, and Falanxi, among which the only ones with a large gap with Spain are Britain, the United States, and Germany.

Although Falanxi's steel production exceeds Spain's, it is only 600,000-plus tons, which is 100,000 tons more than Spain.

According to the growth rate of Falanxi's industry in recent years, five years later, even if Spain's industry cannot surpass Falanxi, it can basically maintain the same level as Falanxi, which is a gap within 50,000 tons.

Of course, in terms of pig iron production, Falanxi is still slightly ahead of Spain. It's just that Falanxi's lead relies on more population and colonies, and this lead is also constantly being narrowed by Spain.

In the chemical industry and other industries, Falanxi also maintains a slight lead. But in the Second Industrial Revolution, the French have clearly lagged behind Spain.

Spain did not have too much industrial foundation in the First Industrial Revolution, but this is not entirely a bad thing. After all, the First Industrial Revolution was biased toward the foundation; as long as one can catch up with the Second Industrial Revolution, one can make up for the shortcomings of the First Industrial Revolution.

Judging from the current situation, Spain can no longer be said to be catching up with the Second Industrial Revolution, but is one of the leading countries of the Second Industrial Revolution.

Especially in terms of electricity, the "City of Never-Sleeping" was pioneered by Spain, and large-scale power generation equipment was also transmitted from Spain to various European countries.

Although various European countries can be considered to have blossomed everywhere in terms of power generation and electrical application, as a former founding country, Spain's achievements in electricity can also be considered top-notch in Europe.

Even if Spain's population is not as good as other European countries, in terms of power generation and per capita electricity consumption, Spain is currently still at the forefront of Europe.

Currently in Ma Deli and Barcelona, more than 60% of factories and more than 50% of factories use electrical equipment respectively.

These two cities with the most developed industry in Spain can actually represent the current application situation of electricity in Spain's industrial industry.

Compared to the industrial electricity situation, the civil electricity situation is worse.

Even in Spain's two most developed cities, the number of households that can access electricity is currently only about one-third of the total number of the two cities.

This is an achievement obtained only after the power generation equipment was continuously updated and the cost of electricity was reduced following the continuous growth of power generation.

Compared with Spain, the electricity situation in other countries is even worse. Even in the capitals of European powers, few countries can achieve an electricity penetration rate of more than one-third.

Currently, there are two cities with the lowest electricity penetration rate in European capitals; the first city is Russia's capital, Shengbidebao, and the second city is Falanxi's capital, Paris.

It is normal for Shengbidebao's electricity penetration rate to be low; after all, the Russian government does not have much money to build electricity, and the current electricity does not support Russia's vast territory.

There is also a reason for Paris's lower electricity penetration rate. Compared to Berlin, Vienna, and Rome, Paris has more people, which also makes the electricity penetration rate more difficult.

Even if many Parisian wealthy merchants and capitalists have enjoyed electricity, there are still a large number of civilians and middle class who cannot come into contact with this new type of energy in the short term.

Coupled with the fact that the French government is investing less and less in the industrial revolution, French factories are also unwilling to connect to electricity to increase their costs.

This led to Falanxi, despite being one of the four major European powers, lagging behind many European powers in the use and popularization of electricity.

Sprayed some medicine and can still hold on; not asking for leave today, thank you all for your support.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 340 =====