[{"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-448":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},2365376,4632,"Chapter 448: European Power Dynamics","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-448",448,"\u003Cp>While the various countries of Europe were still shocked by the airships displayed by Spain, Russia, far from the center of the European continent, was anything but calm at this time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While Spain was holding its grand military parade, Russia could be said to be in a state of utter chaos. A series of widespread social unrest events, primarily aimed at opposing the government, occurred one after another, including but not limited to strikes, terrorist attacks, peasant uprisings, military mutinies, and anti-Tsarist autocracy propaganda.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These social events lacked a unified organizer and did not even have a unified goal; they were more like a simple venting of pent-up dissatisfaction with the rule of the Romanov dynasty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although Russia possessed the largest population of any European country, its population was not of a single ethnicity. The ethnic minorities oppressed by the dominant ethnic group also sought independent status, and taking advantage of this unrest that affected most of European Russia, they launched demonstrations and uprisings, seeking higher levels of autonomy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To speak of the main reason for this large-scale unrest sweeping across Russia, one must mention the bloody and violent incident that occurred in the Russian capital, Saint Petersburg, on January 22, one week before the Spanish military parade.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because of the crushing defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, the dissatisfaction of the military and the public with the government was quite intense. The public hoped that Tsar Nicholas II would continue the reforms of Alexander III, believing that only thorough reform could save Russia.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And how did the Tsarist government respond to the public's petition?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Tsarist military police in Saint Petersburg blocked these people who wanted to go to the Winter Palace, the Tsar's residence, and a large-scale conflict erupted with the petitioning crowd.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If it had only been a conflict, that would have been one thing, but these police forces, acting under the Tsar's orders, actually raised their weapons against these petitioning citizens after the conflict broke out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Facing the unarmed crowd, these Tsarist police became extremely valiant. They easily slaughtered over a thousand petitioning citizens, and thousands more were injured as a result. The scene of the suppression was truly horrific, and the continuous sound of gunfire and the wailing of the people could be heard from kilometers away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although the Tsarist government later stated that Tsar Nicholas II had not given the order for these police to open fire, and that the Tsar would absolutely never use force to suppress his own subjects.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the Russian people only believed in the current result: the police forces under the Tsar's orders had chosen to open fire on the petitioning crowd without the slightest hesitation, and they had slaughtered over a thousand people directly on the streets! This was an undeniable fact.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>People who were already dissatisfied with the Tsarist government immediately took action. On the very day the bloody incident occurred, a significant number of workers occupied the military factories and armories of Saint Petersburg, built simple street barricades, and fought against the Tsarist police forces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When this news spread throughout Russia, people opposing the government in various cities responded one after another, which is why this unrest spread across the entire country.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although these disturbances would not cause a fatal impact on Russia, under the influence of the nationwide unrest, Russia's industrial and economic development was bound to be severely affected.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Russia was France's most important ally, the French government immediately paid close attention when the domestic unrest broke out in Russia.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They first determined that this unrest would not cause a fatal impact on Russia, and only then did they transport a batch of supplies to Russia to help it resolve its domestic instability factors more quickly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although there was no immediate danger, France had lost trust in its ally, Russia, at this time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the eyes of France, Russia's value had significantly decreased. A Russia that could be defeated by a Far Eastern country, a Russia where domestic unrest constantly occurred and the public had lost trust in the government, could not be a reliable ally for France.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Russia certainly still had its uses; at the very least, millions of Russian troops could serve as effective cannon fodder to resist Germany. But if one wanted to win the war, relying solely on Russia as an ally was clearly not feasible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After much thought, the French government turned its gaze toward Spain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Currently, the only great powers that had not joined the two major military blocs were Britain, Spain, and the United States. With the United States being far from Europe and not a consideration, the only great powers France could win over were Britain and Spain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The centuries-old grievances between Britain and France were not so easily ended, and coupled with the significant conflicts between Britain and Russia, winning over Britain was even more difficult.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although Spain had not explicitly stated whether it stood with Germany or France, in the view of the French government, the difficulty of making Britain an ally was greater than making Spain an ally, and Spain's strategic value was not lower than Britain's.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the eyes of the French, there was a good opportunity to win over Spain right now, and that was the peace negotiations currently underway between Spain and Britain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Spain inviting the French to the peace negotiations seemed to prove this point; at the very least, in Spain's view, Germany might be more inclined toward Britain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Understanding this, the French government found its entry point for winning over Spain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On February 17, 1905, the French ambassador to Spain requested an audience with Carlos, hoping that Spain and France could sign a West African colonial agreement to define the scope of the two countries' African colonies and prevent any colonial conflict incidents between them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To express its sincerity, the French government stated that France's Algeria colony would not expand one step to the west, and it was willing to acknowledge that the region between Morocco and Algeria not yet under direct Spanish rule belonged to Spain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the French made such a request, Carlos immediately understood the French government's intentions. Although the French government would not lose too much by doing this, this proactive concession was already a clear attitude.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The French government was expressing a clear attitude to Spain: they had no intention of offending Spain and even wanted to maintain a long-term good relationship with Spain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, the ultimate goal of the French was certainly to form an alliance with Spain, and Carlos naturally understood this as well.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The French overtures involved a question: in the conflict between the two major military blocs, which side should Spain ultimately stand on?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Standing on the side of France meant facing the German army directly, and standing on the side of Germany meant facing the French army directly. No matter which side Spain chose to stand on, it would need to bear immense pressure and face huge casualties in the war.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Carlos did not care about the casualties caused by war, but he also did not wish to see Spain pay a heavy price in casualties without receiving sufficient returns.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Therefore, the issue of post-war benefit distribution became an important consideration for Carlos in choosing a side.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If choosing between standing with Germany or France was quite difficult, then one could change the way of thinking and consider what could be gained by defeating Germany or France.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Germany and its two allies, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy, did not have many colonies, so there was not much to be gained from defeating the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria, and Italy; after all, it was impossible for Spain to annex the homelands of these three countries.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But if France were defeated, the benefits Spain could gain would be far greater. France and Spain were neighbors, and annexing French territory was not out of the question.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if the French homeland could not be annexed, colonies like Algeria and Tunisia could be partitioned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If one only considered the benefits gained after defeating Germany or France, it was clearly more worthwhile to be enemies with France.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But if one considered the world order after defeating Germany or France, Carlos was actually more inclined to choose to be enemies with Germany.\u003C\u002Fp>",1380,"2026-06-25T09:27:15.200Z",1,"Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite","41d6d4bd625c542ffc221feb3750b8302579bc82efb13011a7fd6be0073f8be0","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-449","rise-of-the-empire-spain-chapter-447",493,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Frise-of-the-empire-spain-cover.jpg"]