Chapter 366: The Threat of Britain

If the rapid progress of the two Spanish colonial divisions in the south could be explained by the insufficient deployment of Moroccan border troops, then the Spanish army's offensive in Ceuta fully demonstrated that the two sides' military forces were simply not on the same level.

Although Spain only deployed a total force of just over 8,000 men in Ceuta—consisting of two Guard infantry regiments, one Guard cavalry regiment, and one Guard artillery regiment—these Guards were clearly incomparable to ordinary troops.

The combat power of this force of over 8,000 men was not only no weaker than the firepower of an 11,500-man infantry division, but even exceeded it in terms of weaponry and equipment.

A Spanish Guard division, with its 15,000 men, was touted as being able to single-handedly take on at least three ordinary infantry divisions. The soldiers of the Guard were the most outstanding ones screened from the Royal Army, and the officers were either young officers who had performed exceptionally well in the Army or graduates with top marks from the Royal Military Academy who had the opportunity to become officers in the Guard division.

With both soldiers and officers carefully selected, it would be strange if the combat power of the Guard division were not strong.

The man responsible for commanding this Guard force was Andrew, Commander-in-Chief of the Guard and Division Commander of the Guard division.

Since the establishment of the Spanish Guard, this was the first time it had participated in large-scale combat.

Andrew attached great importance to this operation; he was determined to fight a beautiful battle, partly to repay Gao Da's trust in him, and partly to broaden his future promotion path.

Although the Commander-in-Chief of the Guard only commanded this one division, his status in the military was far above that of those ordinary infantry division commanders.

There were not many upward channels for the Commander-in-Chief of the Guard; one either became the Minister of National Defense or could only enter the General Staff, serving as Chief of the General Staff or other high-level military positions.

The previous Commander-in-Chief of the Guard, Qiao Di, had done exactly this. Because he led the army to defeat the Sokoto Caliphate and opened up over a million square kilometers of colonies for Spain, he was promoted by Gao Da to Minister of National Defense in the new cabinet government.

Andrew also had such thoughts. As the saying goes, a soldier who does not want to be a general is not a good soldier; a general who does not want to become the top brass of the military is naturally not a good general.

After arriving in Ceuta, Andrew first carefully studied the Moroccan terrain map, and then formulated the Guard's operational plan.

The operational plan was actually very simple: to advance south from Ceuta, along Morocco's Atlantic coast, and attack the Moroccan capital, Rabat.

Along this route, besides the Moroccan capital Rabat, there were also large-scale Moroccan cities such as Tangier, Larache, Kenitra, and Salé.

As long as the line from Ceuta to Rabat was occupied, it could be said that at least one-third of Morocco's population was under Spanish control.

Although this region possessed over a million Moroccans, the Guard did not need to worry about the management problems after occupying this area.

Spain would dispatch officials to carry out militarized management after the Guard occupied these cities, maintaining local order while awaiting subsequent handling of the entire Moroccan territory.

With sufficient supply of weapons and ammunition, and without any worries behind them, for Andrew, all he had to do was to turn the Guard into a sharp flying arrow, tearing through the Moroccan lines with an unstoppable posture, and forcefully piercing into the Moroccan capital, Rabat.

In the first battle of the advance to the southwest, the Guard commanded by Andrew demonstrated powerful combat effectiveness.

Tangier was an important coastal town in northern Morocco and a bridgehead for trade between this unique African white nation and European countries.

Precisely because Tangier was located in northern Morocco, it was also Andrew's first battle in the southward offensive toward Rabat.

At this time, it had been one day since Spain declared war on Morocco, and Morocco did have troop deployments in the north.

But it was clear that these Moroccan troops had no resistance at all in front of the Spanish army, and the so-called important town of Tangier only held out for less than a day before being captured under the Guard's offensive.

A single artillery regiment of the Guard possessed 140 cannons; this number of cannons was more than all the cannons Morocco could find.

More importantly, the Guard not only had a large number of cannons, but the calibers of the cannons were also varied.

Besides light cannons of 75mm caliber and below, the Guard infantry regiments were also equipped with some cannons of larger caliber, such as the 8-inch howitzer of the same model as the cruisers, with a caliber reaching 203mm and a range exceeding 6 kilometers, mainly used to destroy the enemy's reinforced concrete defensive fortifications.

To deal with Morocco's defensive fortifications, the Guard carried 10 heavy 203mm cannons, and Gao Da personally promised Andrew that as many shells as were consumed would be transported to the front line.

Under such circumstances, Morocco's defensive fortifications simply could not block the Spanish army's offensive.

The so-called important northern defensive town of Tangier eventually ended up as a ruin under the continuous bombardment of over a hundred cannons.

While the Guard was besieging Tangier, the British government also finally received the news that Spain had declared war on Morocco.

The British Prime Minister at this time was Archibald Primrose, a Prime Minister who was not outstanding in British history.

He was the 5th Earl of Rosebery, an ordinary British aristocrat. If the Boer War had not broken out early in 1895, his term as Prime Minister might have ended that year.

As a Prime Minister without any outstanding ability, he had no resolution regarding Spain's sudden declaration of war on Morocco.

"Prime Minister, we should immediately express our attitude to Spain and avoid the Moroccan capital Rabat being captured by the Spanish.

The safety of Morocco concerns our control of the Strait of Gibraltar, which is a major event of equal importance to the Boer War.

If we lose Morocco, even if we win the war against the Boers, it will be a loss for us," the Foreign Secretary spoke eloquently at the British cabinet meeting, arguing that Britain absolutely could not abandon Morocco because Morocco's safety directly concerned whether Britain could continue to control the Strait of Gibraltar.

Furthermore, Spain had the courage to occupy Morocco; would it have the courage to recover Gibraltar in the future?

Losing Morocco would naturally significantly reduce Britain's control over the Strait of Gibraltar, not to mention that if Spain were to recover Gibraltar, Britain's control over the Mediterranean would significantly decrease, thereby affecting Britain's various strategic layouts in the Mediterranean.

Before the Prime Minister, Archibald Primrose, could answer, the British Secretary of State for War immediately stood up and refuted the Foreign Secretary's view.

"Allow me to remind you that our existing forces do not seem sufficient to support us in intervening in the war between Spain and Morocco.

The Boers have created great trouble for us, and Spain perhaps saw the difficulty of the Boers, which is why it declared war on Morocco at such a critical juncture.

Unless we are willing to conduct large-scale conscription at home and in all colonies, we simply cannot deal with two enemies: the Boers and Spain.

To be frank, the current Boers are already a huge trouble, and Spain is an even more powerful enemy than the Boers.

In a certain sense, I think we can temporarily abandon Morocco and focus on attacking the Boers. As long as we can eliminate the Boers, it will not be too late to turn back and solve this trouble of Spain."

The Secretary of State for War was very clear about the capabilities of the British Army.

Yes, there was indeed a portion of the British Army that was well-equipped and had quite good combat effectiveness.

But the problem was that the portion of the British Army with good combat effectiveness was ultimately only a small part. Most of the British Army's combat effectiveness could only be described as average; the number of home troops was not even as high as Spain's, so did they want to rely on colonial troops to defeat Spain?

Given Britain's current situation, unless the government was determined to spare no cost to protect Morocco, it would be impossible to stop Spain from annexing Morocco.

To protect Morocco, besides investing a huge amount of military expenditure, it also required the investment of at least hundreds of thousands of troops.

If it were in normal times, these could naturally be handled very easily. But Britain was currently engaged in the Boer War; for this war, Britain had already invested tens of millions of pounds in military expenditure, so it was naturally impossible to give up halfway.

If it were a two-front war, not to mention whether it could win on both sides, the huge military expenditure brought by two wars alone would be enough to drag down the finances of the British Empire.

Hearing the reminder from the Secretary of State for War, some cabinet ministers who originally intended to support pressuring Spain gave up their ideas.

Since Gao Da became the King of Spain, Spain had made quite a name for itself at the international level.

Whether it was the move to respond to Britain during the colonial dispute between Portugal and Britain, or helping Italy snatch two colonies when France attacked Tunisia, it was enough to see the strength of this country, Spain. The relationship between Britain and Spain was already bad; forcefully pressuring Spain would not achieve any results, but would only further damage the relationship with Spain, and even drag itself into this war.

Since there was no high chance of winning, why would Britain make things difficult for itself and its own wallet?

Seeing that the words of the Secretary of State for War almost made the cabinet give up on pressuring Spain, the First Lord of the Admiralty could not sit still and stood up to remind them: "

Gentlemen, do not forget that we possess a powerful navy that far exceeds other countries. If Spain does not listen to advice and continues to wage war on Morocco, we can easily blockade the Strait of Gibraltar and cut off Spain's supply line from the mainland to Morocco.

In this way, the Spanish army in Morocco will lose its supplies, and it will not be so easy for them to annex Morocco.

If the Spanish government is unappreciative, their army in Morocco could be caught in a pincer attack by us and Morocco at any time.

As long as the navy is anchored in the Strait of Gibraltar, it can easily end this war, can it not?"

The words of the First Lord of the Admiralty made several cabinet ministers regain their ideas.

Indeed, for Spain to attack Morocco, the Strait of Gibraltar was extremely important.

Although it was at their doorstep, with the separation of the Strait of Gibraltar, Spain's mainland supplies could only be transported to Morocco by sea.

As long as it involved things related to the ocean, it would inevitably be inseparable from the navy. And Britain was the most powerful naval country in the world, and the gap with other countries' navies was a break in the chain.

Who said that stopping Spain's war on Morocco could only use the army? Using the navy could have the same effect, and it did not even require too much military expenditure.

"What if Spain does not retreat at all?" The Secretary of State for War asked again: "Relying solely on the navy cannot affect the Spanish mainland. If Spain is still unwilling to end the war, do you want to rely on the navy to eliminate the Spanish army in Morocco?

I still do not think this is a good time to go to war with Spain; we do not have the ability to deal with two enemies at the same time for the time being."

Amidst the arguments, the British cabinet split into two factions.

One faction believed that Britain should maintain a tough attitude and could not lose Morocco, which had extreme strategic value.

The other faction believed that Britain's focus should be on the war with the Boers, and Morocco could be temporarily abandoned.

Considering that the Strait of Gibraltar would affect Britain's control over the Mediterranean, and the Mediterranean would affect a series of great powers and Britain's strategic layout, the former eventually received more widespread support.

After the British cabinet had a slightly clearer opinion, they first let the British Ambassador to Morocco contact the Moroccan government, demanding that the Moroccan government resist firmly, and promised to provide weapons and equipment to Morocco.

Subsequently, the British Ambassador to Spain sought an audience with Gao Da to express Britain's attitude.

April 29, 1895, Ma Deli Royal Palace, Spain.

In the medium-sized reception hall of the Ma Deli Royal Palace, the British Ambassador was calm, but his words were slightly tough: "Respected King, Morocco is our ally. Your country's rash declaration of war has violated Morocco's territorial security, and we, as allies, have an obligation to protect Morocco's independence.

We hope that your country and Morocco can sit down for peace talks to avoid huge casualties caused by the war to both countries.

During this period, our fleet will be anchored around the Strait of Gibraltar to help both countries restore peace and order.

I hope Your Majesty can respect Morocco's territorial sovereignty and avoid letting this war expand, thereby affecting peace in Europe."

Hearing the secret threat from the British Ambassador, Gao Da smiled and said indifferently: "The Strait of Gibraltar does not belong exclusively to Spain. If your country is willing, it can naturally let the navy enter around the strait.

But I need to remind your country that our naval department plans to hold exercises in the near future, and the scope happens to be around the Strait of Gibraltar.

I hope your navy will not approach our coast to avoid accidental injury to your fleet by coastal defense cannons."

As early as before declaring war on Morocco, Gao Da had considered whether the British Navy would blockade the Strait of Gibraltar.

But the Strait of Gibraltar was located at Spain's doorstep after all. It was not so easy for Britain to blockade the strait.

The coastal defense cannons deployed by Spain around Gibraltar were not for show. As long as the British Navy dared to approach, sinking one or two battleships would be a piece of cake.

Even for the British Empire, it took 2–3 years for a battleship from construction to service. The investment during this period was as high as millions of pounds. Gao Da did not believe that Britain would not feel heartache if it lost a few battleships.

Even if the coastal defense cannons could not cause too much damage to the British Navy, Spain's transport ships could disguise themselves as cargo ships from other countries, flying the flags of other great powers including Italy and Austria-Hungary.

If Britain dared to intercept cargo ships from all countries, then Gao Da did not need to take action; the protests from these countries would be enough to give the British a headache.

Britain was indeed powerful, but Britain was not invincible. If these British guys really wanted to stand on the opposite side of all of Europe, then Gao Da would not mind inciting Europe to have an anti-British war before World War I broke out.

Hearing Gao Da's overt and covert threats and counterattacks, the British Ambassador's face turned black. He did not expect Gao Da to fight back without hesitation after hearing his threat, not taking Britain's threat seriously at all.

This was no longer looking down on him, but looking down on the cause behind him. In the many years he had served as a British diplomat, he had rarely been looked down upon by leaders of other countries.

Britain was the most powerful country in the world; how dare a small Spain do this?

"Your Majesty, the Strait of Gibraltar is not Spain's private sea area. Even if your navy is exercising, it seems it does not have the power to prohibit the passage of fleets from other countries," the British Ambassador asked back.

"That is natural." Gao Da smiled and said words that made the British Ambassador's face look even worse: "I forgot to tell the Ambassador that this naval exercise is in cooperation with the French Navy. Because the number of warships participating in the naval exercise by both countries is too large, we had to blockade a part of the Strait of Gibraltar.

However, please rest assured that even in the strait stage, ships from all countries are allowed to pass. We will also try our best to stay away from cargo ships of all countries and avoid accidental injury as much as possible."

"Damn Frenchmen, when did they stand with these Spaniards?" The British Ambassador was surprised that France and Spain stood together, but his expression on the surface did not change much, still carrying a slight smile, and asked: "When will your naval exercise begin and when will it end?

Our navy will arrive at the Strait of Gibraltar in three days, and I hope it will not affect your exercise."

Even though France and Spain stood together, the British Ambassador still did not retreat at all. Britain's navy was invincible in the world, and even if the Spanish and French navies were added together, they were destined not to be the opponents of the British Royal Fleet.

Hearing that the British were still not giving up, Gao Da smiled again, not caring about the British Ambassador's words at all: "Our exercise with the French Navy will begin soon, and it should end in a few days.

However, the navies of Italy and Austria-Hungary have also sent us exercise requests. Perhaps after the naval exercise with France ends, we will have to conduct corresponding exercises with the navies of Italy and Austria-Hungary, which may take longer."

France's support alone could not scare away Britain, but what about adding Italy and Austria-Hungary? As long as they did not send troops, Gao Da believed that these two countries would be very happy to support Spain.

Gao Da did not believe that Britain would still insist on intervening in this war when so many great powers supported Spain. If the British were really so rigid, then Gao Da would not mind having a war with Britain.

It would be just right to take this opportunity to recover Gibraltar and drive Britain completely out of the Strait of Gibraltar.

As long as this step could be completed, even if a war with Britain broke out, the Spanish people would be very happy to fight for the country.

Spain was indeed inferior to Britain in terms of the navy, but it was impossible to win a war by relying solely on the navy. Spain's advantage in land warfare might not be smaller than Britain's advantage in naval warfare.

While vigorously transporting strategic materials to the Boers, and fighting a land war with Britain, Gao Da did not believe that such a war would be lost.

(End of chapter)