[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-rise-of-the-empire-spain":3,"chapter-rise-of-the-empire-spain-rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-416":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Rise of the Empire: Spain",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2365344,4632,"Chapter 416: The Crushing Defeat of Russia","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-416",416,"\u003Cp>At the very least, the war that erupted due to the surprise attack was like a bolt from the blue for the Eguozheng Prefecture, forcing the Eguozheng Prefecture to recognize reality all at once.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Facts have proven that comprehensive national strength cannot determine the quality of an army's combat effectiveness, nor can it determine the actual trajectory of a war.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Russia did not have sufficient preparations for this war, so their early collapse was a matter of course.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, this was a shocking collapse after all, and the poor performance of the Russian Far East army aroused the dissatisfaction of many officials and the public; Nicholas II also understood that he had to find someone with sufficient status to take the blame for the early military failures, otherwise, the blame would fall on his own head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, Nicholas II was one of the culprits behind the extreme deterioration of relations between the island nation and Russia. Tsar Nicholas II's hateful attitude toward the island nation caused the islanders to completely abandon the idea of peaceful negotiations with Russia, turning instead to the intention of achieving their goals through war.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In order to shirk his responsibility as much as possible, Tsar Nicholas II soon held the commander-in-chief of the Russian army in the Far East accountable, relieved General Stark of all his duties as commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet, and ordered General Stark to go to Shengbidebao immediately, where he would stand trial.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Succeeding the incompetent General Stark was the famous general of the Russian Empire, Makarov. Makarov, whose full name was Stepan Osipovich Makarov, was a famous Russian naval commander, military theorist, and scientist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The reason he was chosen to succeed as commander-in-chief of the Russian Pacific Fleet was, on one hand, because General Makarov's talent was indeed excellent, and on the other hand, because there were truly no other eye-catching talents within the Russian Navy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The interior of Russia was chaotic and rotten; despite the seemingly decent scale of the Russian Navy, its actual naval combat effectiveness was already a complete mess.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the time, Vice Admiral Makarov, who served as the naval commander of the Port of Kronstadt in Shengbidebao, had once submitted a letter to the Imperial Navy Force, in which he solemnly reminded the Navy Force and the Tsarist government that he believed war between the Empire and the island nation was imminent, and that it was necessary to guard against the island nation's undeclared war and surprise attacks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Vice Admiral Makarov believed that only by concentrating the majority of the Pacific Fleet's main warships in Port Arthur would there be any hope of guarding against the island nation's surprise attacks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only by gathering together could the naval forces be twisted into a single rope, and if war were to break out suddenly, this naval force could also play a vital role.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, according to common sense, General Makarov's proposal was very reasonable. Port Arthur was extremely important to the Russian Pacific Fleet; it was the only ice-free port under Russian control.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A so-called ice-free port is, in reality, a port that does not freeze in any season. Most of Russia's territory is located in the north, and although its coastline is not short, these ports near the north freeze in winter, making it impossible for ships to dock at the ports at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The reason why Russia was constantly expanding southward in Central Asia and East Asia was precisely to find a natural ice-free port like Port Arthur.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But there was no helping it; the reason General Makarov could not be reused was entirely because his overly straightforward personality had offended most of the high-ranking officials in the Russian Navy Force.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>General Makarov was like a bright pearl in the rotten Russian naval department, but this brilliance, to the other officials of the Navy Force, was like a bright lightbulb illuminating their darkness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The naval department did not need such an upright and capable general; any proposal put forward by General Makarov would be shelved by those corrupt high-ranking officials in the Navy Force.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By the time the letter Makarov submitted to the naval department became known to Nicholas II, more than half a month had passed since the Russian Pacific Fleet was ambushed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although he was very angry at the high-ranking officials of the Navy Force and the commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet, General Stark, Nicholas II still valued Vice Admiral Makarov, who had proposed the plan to guard against the island nation's surprise attack, quite highly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under the personal appointment of Nicholas II, General Makarov was appointed commander-in-chief of the Russian Pacific Fleet and was given command over all warships of the Baltic Fleet supporting the Pacific Fleet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All Russian warships appearing in the Far East would be placed under the command of Vice Admiral Makarov.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This appointment fully reflected Nicholas II's trust in Vice Admiral Makarov and also made General Makarov determined to fully demonstrate his talents and serve His Majesty Nicholas II, who trusted him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luo Lun was also paying attention to the progress of the Russo-Japanese War; after all, this was the only large-scale war that had broken out in recent years, and the military strength of both participating sides was at the level of great powers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In original history, this would be the battle that established the island nation's status as a great power. After this war, the island nation was recognized as a world power, and it was also the only great power since the Industrial Revolution whose main population was not European.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One must know that before the island nation became a great power, the populations of all the world's great powers were composed of Europeans.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although the United States' population was not purely European, the vast majority of their white population were descendants of European immigrants.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Logically speaking, if the island nation could defeat Russia on the front lines, they could indeed rank among the great powers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this world is different from history; currently, Spain has not only not continued to decline, but has instead become a member of the super great powers again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Currently, the world's eight great powers are Britain, Germany, France, Russia, Spain, Austria, the United States, and Italy; the one with the worst comprehensive national strength and military power is probably Italy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But as to whether the island nation can squeeze Italy out and become a great power itself, this matter is really hard to say.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There are many reasons why Spain could be squeezed out in history; on one hand, it was because the political situation within Spain was relatively chaotic, with the nobility and the church still holding most of Spain's political power, and no one cared about the interests of the public at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the other hand, Spain's industry and economy were relatively backward, and its population was the smallest among all the great powers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But these points do not exist in today's Italy; the difficulty for the island nation to squeeze Italy out of the great powers is definitely very high.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although Italy's industrial and economic level is at the bottom of the great powers, compared to the island nation, it is clearly still in a leading position.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Italy's population has exceeded 34 million; although it is less than the island nation's 46 million, this is clearly not enough to be the key for the island nation to squeeze Italy out of the throne of a great power.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, in the industrial field, Italy leads the island nation by more than just a little bit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As of the beginning of 1903, world steel production had reached an exaggerated 37.42 million tons, of which the steel production of the great power nations had reached 35.98 million tons, accounting for the majority of the world's total steel production.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The comparison of steel production between great power nations and non-great power nations is quite obvious; Italy is a great power nation with a relatively weak industrial scale, while the island nation is a non-great power nation with a relatively strong industrial scale, yet there is still a world of difference between the two.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Italy's steel production has exceeded 120,000 tons, and pig iron production has reached 390,000 tons. As for the island nation, its steel production is only 3,000 tons, and its pig iron production is only 52,000 tons.\u003C\u002Fp>",1393,"2026-06-25T09:27:15.200Z",1,"Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite","c31ef24e0e4dc4467745822a14815bace1832759db4ad47501c887e52f154967","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-417","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-415",493,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Frise-of-the-empire-spain-cover.jpg"]