Chapter 480: Comparison of the Strength of the Great Powers

For Spain, the two years from 1910 to 1911 were as normal as could be. Aside from the continuously increasing fiscal expenditure caused by large-scale naval construction, there was no major difference in other aspects compared to the previous few years.

But for other European countries, especially the member states of the two major military blocs, the two years from 1910 to 1911 felt somewhat difficult to endure.

The reason for this hardship is simple: with Britain and Spain successively declaring neutrality, the confrontation between the two major military blocs became more intense, which led the Allied Powers and the Entente Powers, led by Germany and France respectively, to continuously expand their military numbers, naturally causing the military spending of each country to rise constantly.

Intelligence data currently held by Spain leads to the conclusion that, whether it be Germany or France, military spending has at least doubled compared to ten years ago.

Doubling military spending is no joke. Taking Spain's fiscal situation as an example, Spain's military spending is basically maintained at around 30% of total government fiscal expenditure; if it were to double, the proportion would reach an exaggerated 60%.

Not all countries can withstand such huge expenditures; if this continues for a long time, European countries will basically face unimaginable fiscal burdens.

This is indeed the case; according to intelligence estimates from various sources, the fiscal situations of the member states of the two major military blocs have reached a critical threshold, with a very high probability of triggering a fiscal collapse.

Currently, the British Empire still has the highest government fiscal revenue. In addition to relying on taxes from the British mainland, Britain's overseas investments are also extremely numerous, even accounting for more than one-quarter of its national wealth.

Britain's total fiscal revenue in 1911 reached 192 million pounds, infinitely approaching the threshold of 200 million pounds, leading all great powers in the world by a wide margin.

Although revenue is relatively high, Britain's total fiscal expenditure is also on the scale of 190 million pounds, of which military spending alone has reached 65 million pounds, which is higher than Italy's total fiscal revenue.

The closest to Britain in fiscal revenue are Germany and the United States, both with fiscal revenues of 145 million pounds. Germany and the United States are quite similar; in the absence of many colonies, their fiscal revenues basically rely on the promotion of domestic industry and economy, which actually also means that the prosperity of Germany and the United States' mainlands is no longer inferior to Britain.

Although the total fiscal expenditures of Germany and the United States are also at the same level, unlike the United States, more than half of Germany's total fiscal expenditure is military spending, with total military expenditure reaching a staggering 82 million pounds; it can be said that the entire country is almost operating for the military, having reached the point of sacrificing other industries.

France's total fiscal revenue ranks fourth in the world, at approximately 132 million pounds. France also obtains a large amount of revenue from its colonies, with the wealth contributed by the colonies accounting for about one-sixth of its total revenue.

France's military spending is also extremely exaggerated, exceeding 70 million pounds; like Germany, it is constantly tilting resources toward the military.

Russia follows closely behind, with a total fiscal revenue that also reached 120 million pounds. Although Russia's economic situation is not good, because of its vast territory and huge population, the accumulation of small amounts into a large sum has allowed Russia's fiscal revenue to break through 100 million pounds.

Of course, this is not good news for Russia either. Because of its vast territory and population, Russia also needs to face a large amount of fiscal expenditure.

Do not look at Russia's total fiscal revenue as high as 120 million pounds; in reality, Russia's total annual fiscal expenditure is only more, not less, and the budget is basically in deficit every year, which is the reason they need loans and capital help from France.

Russia's military spending is not much less than France's; after all, they truly possess a standing army of over a million. If it were not for the fact that Russia's speed of building a navy is slower compared to France, I fear Russia's military spending would have exceeded France's, ranking third in the world.

Russia's total military spending is 65 million pounds, also exceeding half of its total fiscal expenditure.

Spain's total fiscal revenue ranks sixth among the great powers; in 1911, the total annual fiscal revenue reached 1. 302 billion pesetas, equivalent to 77. 1 million pounds, slightly leading the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Compared with the countries above, Spain's military spending is much lower. Spain's total military spending is only 31. 5 million pounds, or 781. million pesetas, and the overall fiscal situation can still be maintained.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire's fiscal revenue is only 69 million pounds, but their total fiscal expenditure is as high as over 80 million pounds, with the government's annual fiscal deficit reaching as high as 11 million pounds.

The reason why the Austro-Hungarian Empire's finances are so terrible is that there is one, and only one, reason: their military spending of up to 38 million pounds.

With less fiscal revenue than Spain and more military spending than Spain, under such circumstances, if the Austro-Hungarian Empire could still maintain a relatively good fiscal situation, one could only say that the Spanish government is too incompetent.

The Italian government ranks last among the great powers, with a total annual government revenue of about 40 million pounds. Like the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Italian government's fiscal expenditure is far greater than its revenue, and military spending accounts for the bulk of it.

Italy's annual fiscal deficit also reaches as high as tens of millions of pounds, and the funds invested in military spending alone have already exceeded 25 million pounds and are still constantly increasing.

Besides these eight great powers, what is worth mentioning is the fiscal level of the two countries that are relatively strong but below the great powers: the Island Nation and the Ottoman Empire.

After the Island Nation carried out the Meiji Restoration, its industry had a certain growth, and its economy improved significantly.

According to intelligence gathered by Spain, the Island Nation's total fiscal revenue in 1911 was about 46 million pounds, which is slightly higher than Italy's.

Of course, because of its relatively large-scale military and the scarcity of domestic mineral resources, the Island Nation's fiscal expenditure is also far higher than its revenue, with total fiscal expenditure already exceeding 50 million pounds.

After the Ottoman Empire lost most of its European territory, its fiscal revenue was also cut in half. According to the latest data, the Ottoman Empire's total fiscal revenue for the whole of 1911 only barely exceeded 20 million pounds, and this is thanks to industrial investment from Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

In fact, from this report on the income and expenditure of the major powers, it can be clearly inferred that the world war of this world will definitely break out in advance; it is impossible for it to be delayed until 1914 as it was in history, breaking out because of an accidental incident.

The reason is also simple: whether it is the Austro-Hungarian Empire or Italy, their finances clearly cannot bear such huge military spending for a long time.

But now the military scale of the two major military blocs can only be increased, not decreased; after all, the enemy is frantically expanding its military, so one cannot go and cut the number of troops on one's own side.

The result of doing so is only one, and that is the enemy's active invasion.

The finances of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy are already extremely terrible, and the finances of Germany and France are not much better.

Germany has the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy as two dead weights, and France also has Russia as a dead weight; both need to pay large amounts of funds to help their allies maintain fiscal balance.

Although the fiscal situations of Germany and France are relatively good, they also have more funds that can be invested in military expansion.

But whether it is Germany or France, the government's fiscal budget is limited. When the annual growth in fiscal revenue can no longer satisfy the significantly increased military spending, they must find a way to solve the fiscal burden.

The war has to be fought; this is not only Gao Da's inference, but also the thinking of the German and French governments.

Besides the increasingly intense confrontation between the two major military blocs, another major reason is that the internal contradictions within European countries are also intensifying.

The situation within Russia is relatively bad, and the situations within France and Germany are not necessarily much better.

All kinds of class contradictions have led to problems of all sizes within the country, and because these problems involve too many people, they are often not so easy to solve.

Only through war, only by transferring contradictions to the outside world through war, can the various current domestic problems be effectively solved.

War can pull the public's focus back to national hatred, making them briefly forget domestic class hatred, which is relatively important for both Germany and France.

It is precisely because of this that Germany and France are frantically expanding their armaments; they are already prepared to ignite this war at some point in the future, letting the other side bear the huge military expenses for them.

Because Britain did not join the Entente Powers, the gap between the Allied Powers and the Entente Powers at this time is not large, and can even be said to be a hair's breadth.

This is the case in terms of finance, and it is the same in terms of population.

As of the end of 1911, the Allied Powers had a total population of 175 million, including 63. 7 million in Germany, 47. 2 million in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, 36. 8 million in Italy, 4. million in Bulgaria, and 22. 5 million in the Ottoman Empire.

The Entente Powers had a total population of 208. million, including 162 million in Russia, 40. 7 million in France, 4. 6 million in Serbia, and 920, 00 in Montenegro.

Although the population of the Entente Powers is larger than that of the Allied Powers, the gap is not too wide. More importantly, the population of the Entente Powers is mainly concentrated in Russia and France, especially Russia, whose population is already close to the total population of the Allied Powers.

In addition to three great-power-level combat forces, the Allied Powers have Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire—one with relatively strong army combat power, and the other with a population of over 20 million—which can still play a certain role.

As for the Entente side, the role Serbia can play is at most equivalent to Bulgaria, and Serbia is also surrounded by the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Bulgaria; how long it can hold out is a question.

As for Montenegro, there is no need to say more; a small country with a population of less than one million, it is purely there to make up the numbers.

From the population situation of the Allied Powers and the Entente Powers, one can also see a major characteristic: the Entente Powers basically rely only on France and Russia, while the Allied Powers, besides the three great powers, have other countries that also have a certain role.

It is precisely because of this that the public opinion of other neutral European countries is still relatively optimistic about the Allied Powers. Although the Allied Powers are at a disadvantage in terms of population, if they really start fighting, the role that Russia's 160 million people can play is highly likely to be inferior to Germany's 60-plus million people.

Of course, France possesses large areas of colonies, and the populations of these colonies were not counted. If the populations of these colonies are included, France's population could barely exceed 100 million.

It is just that the role these populations can play is even more limited; besides serving as cannon fodder in the war, it seems the only role is to fill in the data gaps.

Besides economy and population, in terms of coal production and total steel production, the gap between the Allied Powers and the Entente Powers is also not large.

In terms of coal production, the United States' coal production ranks first in the world, with an annual output of 474 million tons, which is close to the sum of the world's second and third largest producers.

The world's second is naturally the British Empire; relying on the coal reserves of its vast colonies, Britain's coal production in 1911 was 292 million tons.

Germany ranks third in the world, with a coal production of 251. million tons. As the leader of the Allied Powers, Germany is the first among the two major military blocs in both coal production and industrial production.

Russia ranks fourth in the world by virtue of its rich domestic coal reserves, with an annual coal production of 220 million tons. In terms of coal production, the only one the Entente Powers can put forward is Russia; France's coal production is only 39 million tons, less than one-sixth of Germany's.