Chapter 423: Declaration of War

"The task force encountered the Spanish fleet in the Strait of Gibraltar and, for unknown reasons, engaged in combat with the enemy. It was subsequently surrounded by the Spanish fleet from both east and west and completely annihilated. Currently, there are no reports of surviving warships. Spain did not declare war before the outbreak of the naval battle, and no news has been transmitted back since."

Looking at this astonishing telegram before him, the current British Prime Minister, Arthur James Balfour, had a gaze filled with a trace of surprise and even more anger, his eyes turning cold.

After about a minute of silence, Prime Minister Arthur James Balfour slammed the scorching hot telegram in his hand onto the table and shouted: "Summon the cabinet! Tell them, the Spanish have attacked without a declaration of war!"

After issuing his orders, Arthur James Balfour ignored the reactions of his subordinates, took a deep breath, and leaned back in his chair with his eyes closed, as if lost in deep thought.

The members of the British cabinet acted quickly; in less than 20 minutes, the ministers of all cabinet departments had gathered together and arrived at the Prime Minister's residence, 10 Downing Street.

The cabinet ministers all wore solemn expressions; they either whispered to each other or stared at the contents of the telegram on the table, their expressions blank, wondering what they were thinking.

"Gentlemen, take a look. This is the latest news from Gibraltar. Six hours ago, our detachment fleet sent to the Mediterranean was surrounded by the Spanish Navy. Subsequently, a fierce battle broke out between the two sides. Our detachment fleet was completely annihilated, and so far, there is no news of any surviving warships.

Who can tell me how these damned Spaniards had the audacity to provoke the British Empire? They launched a surprise attack on us in a barbaric and shameless manner, without any declaration of war or prior notice!

We must respond immediately, right now! I want the Spanish to understand that there is only one consequence for angering the British Empire, and that is to be smashed to pieces!

Can the Navy be mobilized within a few hours? Since the Spanish have already attacked without a declaration of war, they will certainly launch an attack on our Gibraltar fortress.

I need the Navy to ensure the safety of the Gibraltar fortress. I will absolutely not allow the Gibraltar fortress and the Strait of Gibraltar to fall into the hands of the Spanish," Prime Minister Balfour said, word by word.

"Mr. Prime Minister, although I am also angry at the barbaric and shameless attack by the Spanish, I must remind you that our finances cannot bear the expenditure of declaring war on Spain.

To defeat Spain, in addition to dispatching the Navy, we must also dispatch hundreds of thousands or even millions of troops.

Up to now, we still have over 200, 00 troops stationed on the land of the Boers in South Africa. I truly dare not imagine how astronomical our financial expenditures would be if we were to open a battlefield against Spain in Iberia and Northwest Africa.

If we rashly declare war on Spain, it might not be Spain that collapses, but the Empire's finances," Chancellor of the Exchequer Austen Chamberlain clearly held a different view and stood up to voice his opposition.

For a long time, the position of Chancellor of the Exchequer was held concurrently by the British Prime Minister. From this, one can see how important the position of Chancellor of the Exchequer is; Austen Chamberlain also held a certain amount of influence in the British cabinet, as the financial budgets of all departments relied on the approval of the finance department.

Although he understood the importance of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Prime Minister Balfour could not care about anything else at this moment. If he did not respond to this matter extremely quickly and forcefully, what would the British public think of him as Prime Minister?

The British Empire, with the number one navy, had an entire fleet annihilated; this was not only a disgrace to the British Navy and the cabinet government, but also a disgrace to all British people.

"There are many ways to solve financial problems, but there is only one way to solve the annihilation of a detachment fleet, and that is to declare war on Spain!

If we can use the news of the detachment fleet's total annihilation in the Strait of Gibraltar to stir up the public's anger and then issue war bonds nationwide, we should be able to raise a portion of the war funds.

We must never accept the Spanish wantonly slaughtering our soldiers. For the sunken warships, for the soldiers who died in battle, and for the dignity of the Empire, we must give Spain a powerful counterattack; this is our only choice.

Additionally, diplomatic condemnation of Spain cannot be lacking. I originally thought that only a barbaric country like the island nation would use the method of attacking without a declaration of war to gain an advantage; I did not expect such scum to appear in Europe as well.

Since Spain dared to attack us without a declaration of war, they must be prepared to be condemned by the whole of Europe. The diplomatic department must take action immediately. I hope that within 48 hours, the news of Spain attacking us without a declaration of war and launching a surprise attack on our fleet will appear in all major cities across Britain and even most of Europe," Prime Minister Balfour said with an angry face.

Whether this matter could be handled well concerned whether his Prime Minister's seat could be maintained. Once it was not handled well, causing the public to be dissatisfied with him, he would have to bid farewell to his Prime Minister's seat.

The power of the British Empire's Prime Minister was still quite significant; after all, the British monarch rarely participated in government affairs, and the Prime Minister was not only the nominal leader of the government but also the actual holder of the greatest power.

Just like this meeting, as long as Prime Minister Balfour was determined to declare war on Spain, even if important officials like the Chancellor of the Exchequer opposed it, they could not stop the process of Britain declaring war on Spain.

While there was a heated discussion within Britain and a final decision to declare war on Spain, Spain also held a small meeting regarding this naval battle.

In the large conference room of the Madrid Royal Palace, Carlos summoned all cabinet members, and in his first sentence after the meeting began, he emphasized the main content of the meeting: from this moment on, Spain would be in a state of war with Britain.

Spain's containment and interception led to the outbreak of the naval battle, which seemed somewhat surprising, but upon closer reflection, it was within reason.

Although in some situations Spain's toughness could indeed make Britain back down, this was only achievable when it did not involve the bottom line.

After all, the British Empire was still the most powerful European hegemon; once the bottom line was touched, Britain would certainly spare no cost to protect its interests.

It was very clear that for Britain, Spain's repeated interference in Portuguese affairs had already touched its bottom line.

Previously, Britain did not stop Spain from annexing Morocco because Britain was in the stage of the Boer War and it was difficult to have the funds and energy to start another large-scale war.

After Spain annexed Morocco, the British government's attention to Spain had increased infinitely, and they had also made up their minds that it was absolutely impossible to let Spain annex Portugal again.

Because once Spain was allowed to annex Portugal, Spain would not only integrate the entire Iberian Peninsula but also form actual control over the Strait of Gibraltar between the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco.

The Gibraltar fortress built and operated by Britain would then become a mere display, as the land and sea around Gibraltar would almost all be under Spanish control; even if the British continued to occupy Gibraltar, the right of passage through the strait would absolutely not be decided by the British.

"I am not surprised by the outbreak of war. If Spain wants to truly achieve a revival, it is necessary to recover Gibraltar. To recover Gibraltar, one must become an enemy of the British Empire." Looking at the cabinet members with varying expressions, Carlos slowly said: "

Now, the war has broken out. We need to make full preparations and responses to ensure that there is only one winner of this war, and that is the Kingdom of Spain.

Minister Joti, tell us about the defense department's combat plan." Carlos finally looked at the current Minister of Defense, Joti, who was also the person who knew the Spanish combat plan against Britain best.

"Your Majesty, gentlemen." Upon hearing this, Minister of Defense Joti stood up and reported the defense department's combat plan to everyone present: "

Our combat plan will be divided into land and sea parts, dealing with threats from Britain on land and at sea respectively.

First, in the land combat part, we plan to use the Royal Army's 1st Infantry Division and 1st Artillery Division to storm Gibraltar and capture it as much as possible before the British reinforcements arrive, increasing public support for this war.

To deal with the landing operations that the British might launch, we plan to dispatch the 2nd Infantry Division, 3rd Infantry Division, 4th Infantry Division, 1st Cavalry Division, and 2nd Artillery Division to the North Coast to protect our long Atlantic coastline.

The 5th Infantry Division, 6th Infantry Division, 7th Infantry Division, 2nd Cavalry Division, 3rd Artillery Division, and 4th Artillery Division are deployed on the Portuguese border to guard against the possibility of British troops landing from the Portuguese region and launching a surprise attack on our domestic hinterland.

Other troops should also be prepared for war; once the front line falls into crisis, the other troops should support the front line at the first opportunity.

In terms of the Navy, our Dreadnought battleship achieved an unexpected effect, and coupled with the reason that the two fleets surrounded them from east and west, we only paid the price of one armored cruiser and two light cruisers being heavily damaged while completely annihilating the British detachment fleet.

Currently, our home navy can still mobilize 20 battleships and 40 cruisers. On the premise that Britain does not draw other naval forces from outside Europe, we are fully capable of contending with the British Navy.

Additionally, our Dreadnought battleship has not been exposed so far. If we can continue to achieve unexpected effects at the critical moment of the battle like this naval battle, it can also make the British suffer a big loss.

Unless the British are already developing powerful battleships of the same level as the Dreadnought-class battleship in advance, Britain will have no means of resisting our Dreadnought-class battleship within the next two years.

Even if we encounter a large-scale British fleet, the Dreadnought battleship can choose to run if it cannot win; the speed of the vast majority of British warships cannot compare to the Dreadnought battleship, which is also our greatest advantage."