Chapter 431: Troubling Britain

With the establishment of the Portuguese Democratic Republic and Britain sending more troops to Portugal, this war between Britain and Spain has entered its second phase: a land war unfolding around the Portuguese civil war.

The British government initially announced an increase of 15, 00 troops, but later changed its plan, deciding to send an additional 35, 00 troops to Portugal to fight.

With this back-and-forth, the number of troops Britain plans to send to Portugal has already exceeded 55, 00.

Although this number of troops does not seem large, these soldiers are all mobilized from the British mainland; they are truly elite British Army troops, not the cannon fodder gathered from the colonies.

On the Spanish side, in order to help the nascent Portuguese Democratic Republic resist the pressure from Britain, Ka Luo also decided to send three infantry divisions, two cavalry divisions, and one artillery division to Portugal to fight.

The total number of these troops adds up to just over 50, 00, exactly matching the number of troops Britain has sent out.

Britain's act of increasing troops in Portugal actually facilitated Ka Luo's original plan to rotate troops to fight in Portugal. After Spain also increased its troops in Portugal, Spain had a larger number of troops available to fight there, which also meant that more soldiers would be tempered on the battlefield at the same time.

Just as Britain and Spain were mobilizing their domestic troops on a large scale, intending to have a head-on confrontation on Portuguese soil, various European countries also had their own discussions regarding this war.

The ones most concerned about the situation of this war are the major countries of the two major military blocs, the European powers led by Germany and France.

France is absolutely the most concerned about this war, because this war will, to a certain extent, affect France's situation.

This is no exaggeration; after all, of the two countries in the war, one has a blood feud with France, and the other is right to the south of France. The essence of this war is the struggle between Britain and Spain for control of the Strait of Gibraltar, and France is a Mediterranean coastal country; the Strait of Gibraltar controlled by Britain and Spain is exactly what France wants.

When the Spanish Navy defeated the British fleet twice in a row, the French government immediately held a long meeting. This meeting not only discussed why Spain was able to win in naval battles, but also discussed what impact a victorious Spain in naval warfare would have on the European situation.

The French government's conclusion on this is that they hope this war will be fought for as long as possible. Britain is France's blood enemy, and although Spain has a cooperative relationship with France, it is not France's ally.

Considering Spain's such important geographical location, France hopes that Spain and Britain will fight until both are severely damaged. This way, no one will be able to influence France during the war, and France can focus on dealing with the powerful Germany alongside its ally, Russia.

Of course, besides hoping that Britain and Spain will fight more and more intensely, the French naval department is also trying to develop a brand-new type of warship, hoping to enable the French Navy to possess more powerful combat capabilities.

One must know that before the outbreak of this war, Spain was only recognized as the world's third-largest naval power.

None of the European powers expected that the Spanish Navy could have such powerful combat capabilities and defeat two British fleets in succession.

The defeat of these two fleets also caused the British Navy to suffer heavy losses; for the first time, Britain chose to retreat in terms of naval warfare, turning instead to fighting a land war against Spain in Portugal.

This is something that European countries, including France, did not expect. They originally thought the result of this war would be the British Navy blockading Spain, with Spain trapped on its mainland, forced to fight a defensive war, then watching the British invade its colonies, and finally being forced to surrender to Britain.

But what did Spain do? Through two naval battles, it made Britain afraid to launch a final decisive battle, forcing Britain to abandon its advantage and turn to competing with Spain in its weaker area: the army.

As long as Britain cannot blockade Spain, the probability of Spain losing this war will be greatly reduced. Unless Britain can subsequently develop new warships capable of rivaling Spain's powerful warships, Spain is already in an invincible position in this war, and the British government will have to choose to concede sooner or later.

Regarding the situation of the war between Britain and Spain, the European countries see it quite clearly.

Britain and Spain each have their own advantages; Britain's strength is reflected in its navy and the recovery capability of its colonies, while Spain's strength is reflected in its army's combat effectiveness and national cohesion.

Once Britain cannot fully exert its naval advantage, this war will fall into a protracted war of attrition. Spain is indeed unable to launch a long-range landing on Britain to win, but Britain is likewise unable to occupy the Spanish mainland or cause huge damage to Spain's colonies.

If it continues to be fought this way, one side will sooner or later choose to concede. Considering the strong national cohesion within Spain, the one most likely to concede in the end will be Britain.

Once Britain loses this war, although it will not cause too much of a shock to Britain's international status, it will represent one thing: that Britain's status as the world's number one naval power is not unassailable.

This will also prompt the major European powers to frantically develop their navies to catch up with and surpass Britain's naval status. At that time, it will not be so easy for Britain to stabilize its position; after all, the reason the British Empire dominates the world is because of its powerful navy.

Once it cannot maintain its advantage over other countries in terms of the navy, Britain will actually just be a slightly powerful European country, with nothing special about it.

Because the British mainland is detached from the European continent and is composed of several islands, this also leads to the development ceiling of the British mainland being ultimately inferior compared to countries like France, Germany, and Russia.

Even for Spain, which originally had a poorer domestic environment, after localizing Morocco, its domestic development ceiling also exceeds that of the British mainland.

If it could merge with Portugal, then it goes without saying that Spain's domestic development ceiling would far exceed that of the British mainland, which is also a flaw of Britain itself.

The attitude of France's ally is similar to that of France; Tsar Nicholas II also hopes that Britain will suffer heavy losses in this war.

When Russia learned the news that the British fleet had been defeated by the Spanish Navy twice, Tsar Nicholas II even celebrated it in private.

Currently, Russia's situation is not very good. After the defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, multiple revolutions and uprisings have already broken out within Russia, and many people are disappointed with the government and the Tsar.

As the supreme ruler of Russia, Tsar Nicholas II certainly understands the current status of Russia and is also very dissatisfied and angry with Britain, the culprit behind the defeat of Russia and the backer of the island nation.

To put it bluntly, this war was launched entirely under the instigation of the British. If the island nation did not have the support of Britain, it would be impossible for them to develop so smoothly, and even more impossible to possess a fairly powerful navy in such a short time.

Germany's industry and economy are already so powerful; they have spent a long time developing their navy, and so far, they are only the world's fourth-largest naval power.

How could a small island nation become the strongest naval power under the major powers? Isn't it because Britain, as its ally, built its navy on a large scale?

Although the island nation is the real culprit that defeated Russia, Tsar Nicholas II's anger has basically been transferred to the British.

Originally, Russia and Britain had huge contradictions and hatred, and now Nicholas II's hatred for the British only increases and does not decrease.

He wishes that Britain would suffer heavy losses in this war; it would be the best news if both the navy and the army were defeated by the Spanish, and the British fell into the abyss all at once.

If it weren't for the fact that Russia's own finances and industry are not strong, Tsar Nicholas II would even want to contact the Spanish government to provide them with a batch of interest-free or low-interest loans to help them better resist the British.

Regarding the attitude toward the war between Britain and Spain, the two major military blocs have rarely maintained consistency.

It is not just France and Russia that hope Britain and Spain will fight more and more intensely; even Germany on the other side hopes that the losses of both sides in this war will be as great as possible.

At this time, Germany is quite conflicted internally. On one hand, Germany accelerated the speed of naval expansion through the Fleet Act promulgated in 1900, and after the end of the Russo-Japanese War, it successfully became the world's fourth-largest naval power, not far from the original world's third-largest naval power, Spain.

At that time, the total tonnage of the Spanish Navy was only 100, 00 tons more than Germany's, the total number of battleships was only 6 more than Germany's, and the number of cruisers was about the same.

Given a few more years, Germany has the hope of catching up with Spain and thus ranking among the world's third-largest naval powers.