Chapter 363

The act of the Austro-Hungarian Empire purchasing battleships from Spain finally triggered a naval arms race that spread across Europe.

Germany and Italy also have plans to build battleships, and France and Russia naturally do not want to fall behind; they also respectively announced their own battleship construction plans.

Britain naturally does not need to say much; their speed of building battleships is the fastest, and currently, they also possess the largest number of battleships.

This naval arms race that spread across Europe did not attract Carlo's attention, because in distant South Africa, the conflict between British colonists and the Boers seems to have reached an irreconcilable point.

One has to admit that after Portugal's Pink Map plan failed, the situation of the Boers in South Africa also became much worse.

Britain's colonies suddenly expanded to the south of the Congo region, coupled with Portugal's Mozambique colony, directly surrounding the Boers, leaving only a small piece of coastal area in the east of the Transvaal Republic that can still communicate with the outside world through ports.

With the continuous expansion of British colonies, the living space of the Boers was also constantly compressed. What is even more fatal is that various precious mineral resources were constantly discovered in the Boer residential areas, which also attracted the covetousness of more British colonists.

As early as three years ago, that is, 1890, in order to deal with the constantly pouring in British colonists, the Transvaal government announced that all foreign nationals living in Johannesburg must pay full taxes.

These foreign nationals who paid full taxes could not possess the right to participate in presidential and legislative elections unless they had lived in Transvaal for 14 years and joined the nationality of the Transvaal Republic.

Additionally, all foreign nationals who had not obtained the nationality of the Transvaal Republic were not allowed to hold government public office in Transvaal. The children of nationals could not enter government-funded schools, nor could they enjoy medical subsidies issued by Transvaal, etc.

Once such a regulation was promulgated, it immediately aroused the dissatisfaction of British colonists. Because Transvaal was almost surrounded by British colonies, the colonists here were also mostly British.

To put it bluntly, the Transvaal Republic's regulations were mainly aimed at the British.

Facing such naked targeting, how could the British accept it?

In order to retaliate, British colonies headed by the Cape Colony increased tariffs on the Transvaal Republic and embargoed some resources that the Transvaal Republic was scarce in.

The Transvaal Republic also refused to make concessions; they immediately increased tariffs on British colonies and formulated high-tax and economic restriction policies specifically aimed at British nationals.

Precisely because neither side would give way, the relationship between the Boers and the British rapidly deteriorated. Although there was no outbreak of large-scale war, some small conflicts in border areas were already quite common.

European countries reported on the conflict between Britain and the Boers with great relish; they were truly too happy to see Britain suffer in the African region.

Such reports also increased Britain's hostility toward the Boers; it was precisely because of these Boers that Britain's colonial expansion in Africa suffered obstacles, finally letting the Germans snatch a piece of East African land.

Germany's East African colony is located north of Portugal's Mozambique colony, just on the Cairo-Cape Town line of Britain.

This also caused the Cairo-Cape Town line that the British had planned for a long time to directly collapse; unless they could annex Germany's East African colony or annex the Congo colonies of Portugal and Spain, there would be hope to reconnect Cairo and Cape Town.

But it is very obvious that whether it is annexing Germany's colony or setting sights on the Congo region, neither is something that can be easily achieved.

Germany has the blessing of the Triple Alliance and is itself a super power in Europe, and is also on par with Britain.

Although Spain is weaker, it is not to the point of being easily manipulated by the British. If they cannot handle Spain, getting Portugal's colony will have no effect, and it will also make the Portuguese hate Britain even more; this is obviously not worth it.

It is precisely because of this that Britain's colonial focus in Africa gradually changed from the Cairo-Cape Town line to operating at both ends.

The expansion of the Egypt colony in the north was still quite smooth, and no strong enemy obstacles were encountered during the expansion process.

As for the Cape Colony in the south, the only obstacles were Transvaal and Orange, that is, the Boers.

The dispute between Britain and the Boers in the two years after this has always been talked about with great relish by European countries.

Britain's hatred for the Boers is also getting deeper and deeper; they already cannot wait to sweep the Boers in the African region into the dustbin of history and destroy the two Boer countries of Transvaal and Orange.

Time quickly reached 1895.

In these two years, Spain also experienced relatively large changes.

The first is the smooth completion of the five-year warship building plan.

All five battleships were completed before July 1894, and the latest ones, the Philip II and the Carlos I battleships, will also complete the launching test stage next January and officially serve in the Royal Navy.

As for the earlier Ferdinand II and Isabella I, they were both completed in the first half of 1892 and served in the Royal Navy in the second half of 1893.

Currently, the one about to serve is the Carlos I battleship. This battleship officially started construction in May 1892 and was completed in December 1893, entering the launching and sea trial stage.

It is expected that around the middle of this year, Spain's Royal Navy will be able to welcome the service of the Carlos I battleship.

At that time, the Spanish Royal Navy, possessing three battleships, will also thoroughly rank in the top three in the world.

Besides Britain and France, the four major powers of Germany, Austria, Italy, and Russia all have progress in battleships that cannot catch up with Spain, which is also the reason why Spain can become the world's third-largest naval power.

Of course, Spain's naval scale has not been able to widen the gap with the following few countries.

Britain's naval scale is in a class of its own, and France is in a class of its own after that. After this, the naval scales of the five countries of Spain, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Russia are at the same level.

The only standard for evaluating the naval strength of these five countries is the number of battleships; after all, battleships are the most powerful main warships at this time, and their role in naval decisive battles is incomparable to other warships.

It is worth mentioning that the three battleships Spain is building for the Austro-Hungarian Empire have also all started construction.

The first battleship officially started construction in May 1893 and was already completed at the end of last year, entering the sea trial stage.

The remaining two battleships can also enter the sea trial stage around this year, and between the end of 1896 and the beginning of 1897, these three battleships can all be delivered to the Austro-Hungarian Navy.

A powerful navy is of course a good thing for Spain, but if compared to what happened on the African continent, the latter is more exciting.

At the beginning of 1895, British mining giant Cecil Rhodes became the Governor of the British Cape Colony.

The mining company under him discovered a huge gold mine in the area around Transvaal, and this news also shocked the entire Cape Colony.

Discovering a gold mine not only represents that the mining company will make a lot of money, but also represents that the surrounding public can become gold diggers. The area around the gold mine is a place where one can make a lot of money; in the eyes of many British people, the news of discovering a gold mine represents one pound after another.

The news of the gold mine was naturally also learned by the Transvaal government.

Because the relationship between Britain and the Boers during this period was already quite bad, the Transvaal government, almost without the slightest hesitation, used the crime of Britain illegally mining minerals on Transvaal land to forcibly expel the British mining company and announced the newly discovered gold mine as the state-owned property of the Transvaal Republic.

This immediately aroused the dissatisfaction of Cecil Rhodes. As a mining giant, he naturally knows the income brought by a large gold mine.

What is more important is that at this time, Cecil Rhodes has already achieved success. As the most powerful person in the Cape Colony, he cannot tolerate the Boers' provocation toward him.

Cecil Rhodes invited his good friend, Dr. Jameson, who served as a senior staff member of the South African Mining Company, to lead more than 500 police and soldiers belonging to the mining company to return to the place where the gold mine was discovered, wanting to forcibly occupy the gold mine.

This move aroused the strong dissatisfaction of the Transvaal Republic, and they dispatched an army to engage in battle with the company-affiliated armed forces led by Dr. Jameson.

Although the South African Mining Company purchased several machine guns to arm its own military forces, in front of large-scale national military forces, it was ultimately unable to resist the latter.

More than 500 soldiers belonging to the mining company, after more than an hour of fierce fighting, paid the price of more than 100 casualties.

Other senior mining company officials, including Dr. Jameson, were all captured by the Transvaal Republic, and the battlefield around the gold mine was in a mess, and it was impossible to tell which side the remains on the ground belonged to. In order to save the captured Dr. Jameson and his party, the Foreign Reform Committee formed by British nationals launched a rebellion in Johannesburg, attempting to overthrow the Transvaal Republic's President Paul Kruger.

At this time, the Transvaal Republic already had sufficient defensive psychology toward these British nationals; after the so-called Foreign Reform Committee launched the rebellion, they quickly gathered police to suppress the rebellion.

The leader of the Foreign Reform Committee was sentenced to death by the Transvaal court and announced that the execution would be carried out publicly in one week.

This act aroused the dissatisfaction of a large number of British nationals. They protested the Transvaal Republic's act of sentencing British people to death, believing that only British courts have the right to sentence British people's crimes.

This incident immediately attracted the attention of the entire Europe, and the large number of casualties of British people in this incident also caused a huge uproar in Europe.

Standing from different positions, this matter actually possesses different natures.

In the eyes of the Boers, the minerals on the land of the Transvaal Republic naturally belong to their own country. The act of the British privately prospecting and mining minerals on Transvaal land obviously infringed on their own country's interests.

And in the eyes of the British, the minerals they worked hard to prospect were just confiscated by the Transvaal Republic like this; this is obviously a shameless act of robbery.

What is more important is that several British people have already lost their lives in this incident. The Transvaal Republic even wants to openly sentence British people to death; this is undoubtedly directly slapping the British government in the face.

The British Times reported this incident in detail and wrote in the most central headline of the newspaper: "This is the Boers' provocation to Britain!"

These newspapers and media have already publicized this incident as the Boers' provocation to British colonial hegemony. In the eyes of the proud British, a country like the Transvaal Republic that attempts to resist Britain should be eliminated and beaten into the dust of history.

Of course, European public opinion cannot be consistent.

Compared to the righteous indignation of the British toward the Boers, the public opinion of other European countries seems to be somewhat different.

The Netherlands, which has a considerable origin with the Boers, has public opinion in its country that supports the Boers. Some countries with relatively poor relationships with Britain, such as France and Russia, are also supporting the Boers.

It is worth mentioning that even Germany, which Britain thinks has a good relationship with itself, seems to have a trend of supporting the Boers.

German Emperor Wilhelm II sent a historically quite famous telegram to the Transvaal Republic's President Paul Kruger, expressing congratulations on the Transvaal Republic's victory in the telegram and praising the Boers for carrying out a just struggle.

This telegram from German Emperor Wilhelm II severely damaged the relationship between Britain and Germany and also let the British government see a fact, which is that the Boers seem to have Germany's support behind them.

This news not only did not make Britain retreat, but instead made Britain firm in its determination to conquer the Boers.

If the trouble of the Boers cannot be solved, the Transvaal Republic will sooner or later cause bigger problems for Britain.

Of course, what made the British government make the decision was also the public opinion that was already surging in the country.

For Carlo, he is of course happy to see the outbreak of the Boer War. The Boer War is a quite important node for Spain; currently, Spain's preparations are quite sufficient, and perhaps it can also win the support of allies, so naturally, it is hoping for the outbreak of war.

Under Carlo's special arrangement, British newspapers constantly publicized the hatred between Britain and the Boers, portraying the Boers as the image of robbers who snatch and plunder.

Although Britain is also such an image in the eyes of other countries, in the eyes of the British, Britain snatching others is a matter of course. But if others dare to snatch Britain's property, that is barbaric and shameless and must be firmly eliminated.

Under the publicity of these public opinions, the British public is quite supportive of launching a war. Those capitalists who have shares in mining companies in Africa are also impatiently hoping that the government will launch a war, thereby obtaining shares in the Transvaal Republic's minerals.

What these minerals represent is money; for capitalists, nothing is more attractive than making money.

Because of the support of British public opinion at this time, the then Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain sent a telegram to the Governor of the Cape Colony, Cecil Rhodes.

The content of this telegram is a lot, but summarized, it is actually one sentence, which is to let Cecil Rhodes not have any worries and go ahead and do it with confidence.

Since Joseph Chamberlain has already hinted at himself blatantly, Cecil Rhodes also completely let go of his worries.

He is the largest shareholder of the South African Mining Company; if he can snatch the Boers' gold mine, the one who obtains huge benefits will naturally be him.

Cecil Rhodes, in the name of the Cape Colony, proposed negotiations to the Transvaal Republic, demanding that the Transvaal side immediately pardon British nationals and release all prisoners captured by Transvaal.

In order to make his statement look more just, Cecil Rhodes also added another demand in the last paragraph of the negotiation, which is to demand that all British nationals in the Transvaal Republic obtain the right to vote and be voted for.

Such a demand, in the eyes of the Boers, is simply a fantasy.

You, Britain, planned the attack on the Transvaal Republic and even let the so-called Foreign Reform Committee plan a rebellion to overthrow the regime. Now the plan has failed, and you shamelessly demand that we release all prisoners and grant all British nationals the right to vote and be voted for; isn't this funny?

If the British side's demands were agreed to, wouldn't that mean the Transvaal Republic has already admitted that all the faults in this incident were caused by itself?

The Boers are not soft persimmons; they naturally will not fear Britain, even if Britain is much more powerful than the Transvaal Republic.

The Transvaal government decisively rejected the Cape Colony's demands and stated that it would invite European powers to enter Transvaal to investigate, judge who was at fault in this incident, and resolve the dispute with Britain.

As for those captured prisoners and the British national rebels who planned to overthrow the government, their criminal acts are solid, and the Transvaal Republic will not have any forgiveness.

Don't say, the Transvaal side really invited European countries to form a so-called investigation team.

They invited all European powers except Britain, and Spain was naturally among them.

After receiving the Transvaal Republic's request, the Spanish side quickly dispatched representatives to join the investigation team and stated that it would impartially investigate the cause of this incident and resolve the dispute between Britain and Transvaal.

At the same time, other powers also expressed their stance.

France and Russia naturally would not let go of the opportunity to find trouble for Britain; the relationship between Germany and Transvaal was still quite good, and the remaining Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy were purely here to eat melons.

Will the British side agree to the so-called international investigation team of Transvaal?

Of course not.

Just kidding, although Britain kept calling the Boers robbers, the British actually knew quite clearly in their hearts that the ones who were truly reasonable in this incident were the Boers.

Although the gold mine was prospected by a British mining company, the place where the gold mine is located is within the control range of the Transvaal Republic.

Britain prospected a gold mine in someone else's house; they couldn't just occupy someone else's gold mine, could they? The subsequent act of sending military forces to forcibly occupy the gold mine is the true robbery.

As for the rebellion launched by the Foreign Reform Committee, that also had no reason or basis. British nationals do not possess the nationality of the Transvaal Republic; a group of foreigners launching a rebellion to overthrow the regime in Transvaal looks simply like a fantasy.

Looking at it this way, the responsibility for the incident seems to be all on the British side; it would be a ghost if the British government agreed to let this international investigation team enter the Transvaal Republic to investigate.

Since things have reached this point, the British side naturally cannot retreat just like this.

Before the international investigation team arrived in Transvaal, the army of the Cape Colony had already taken the lead in launching a sneak attack in the border area.

5,200 words first update, asking for monthly tickets!

There is another update today, totaling 10,000 words update.

(End of chapter)