Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 237: French and Spanish Cooperation Again

It has to be admitted that since the Franco-Prussian War, the development of the Germans has been accelerated.

After the unification, the German Empire became the world's second largest industrial power, and the speed of industrial development was not affected by the unification of the country.

In 1871, Germany's steel production was only 25.1 tons. But last year, Germany's annual steel production exceeded 40 tons.

Although surpassed by the equally rapidly developing United States, Germany's steel production still ranks third in the world, far exceeding France's 30 tons.

It is worth mentioning that after nearly ten years of hard work, Spain's steel production finally reached 20.1 tons.

Although this may not seem like much, it is more than the steel production of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia. Even if we look at the world, Spain's steel production ranks behind the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany and France, and is known as the world's fifth largest steel producer.

However, steel production can only represent the scale of heavy industry, not the industrial level of a country. Although Spain surpassed the Austro-Hungarian Empire in steel production, there was still a certain gap between Spain and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in terms of total industrial scale and industrial level.

All we can say is that the former Spanish colonial empire was too glorious. Even though it has been in decline for such a long time, it still has a certain foundation.

After several years of development, although Spain has not yet recovered to its heyday, its industry is not much behind the five major powers such as Austria-Hungary and Russia.

Spain's industrial scale has even surpassed Russia, but Carlo did not publicize it too much, which is why the people and governments of European countries don't know much about it.

In fact, Spain has been developing steadily in the past few years of the economic crisis, and is currently the most powerful country in Europe except for the five major powers.

Led by German officials, Carlo and Spanish officials visited several important cities in the Ruhr area.

After completing the tour, Carlo met the heads of famous German companies such as Krupp under the introduction of the German government.

In addition to being a famous arms company, Krupp is also a technologically advanced steel company.

At the 1862 London International Industrial and Art Exhibition, the Bessemer acid converter steelmaking process, which could easily smelt low-quality iron ore into high-quality steel, made its debut.

Over the next six years, more than 70 Bessemer acid converters were put into operation in Europe, most of which were built in Germany.

The Krupp company led by Alfred Krupp was not only the first steel company in Germany to adopt the Bessemer acid converter, but also became a famous high-quality steel production company in Germany.

The steel produced using the Bessemer acid converter was also known as "Krupp Steel" in Germany. Krupp became famous because of this and received strong support from the then Prussian King William I and Prime Minister Bismarck.

With the support of the government, Krupp quickly expanded its scale and began to delve into military industry and chemical industry.

The Krupp cannon produced with Krupp steel was Alfred Krupp's best reward for the trust placed in him by William I and Prime Minister Bismarck, and was also the trump card that led to the prosperity of the Krupp company.

The reason why Carlo wanted to meet Alfred Krupp was not only because he wanted to introduce Krupp's artillery technology, but also because he wanted to introduce Krupp's steelmaking technology.

Steelmaking requires the use of chemistry, and the British Empire certainly has the largest reserve of chemical talent among all countries. In fact, many famous steelmaking methods were invented by British scientists, but it was not necessarily the British government that reused these steelmaking methods.

Alfred Krupp's talent in steelmaking technology is unquestionable. He learned the Bessemer Acid Converter Steelmaking Process and the Thomas Steelmaking Process, which allowed Krupp's steelmaking technology to remain at the forefront of the world, which is also one of the reasons for Krupp's prosperity.

The strength of German artillery technology is largely due to the advanced steelmaking method. The barrel of the famous Krupp gun is made of Krupp steel. The durability of Krupp steel also makes the Krupp gun powerful and very stable.

Because Krupp was a private company, this also increased the possibility of Spain obtaining steelmaking and artillery technology from Krupp.

On the premise that the German government does not object, Carlo is very confident that he can reach a cooperation with Krupp and use the steelmaking method mastered by Krupp to increase Spain's total steel production again.

Sure enough, when Carlo met the famous Alfred Krupp, the other party was very respectful and expressed his willingness to cooperate with the Spanish government.

Because the economic crisis has not yet completely ended, Krupp, as a steel company, has also been affected. More importantly, Krupp's other major source of income, the military industry, is also short of orders at this time, and the company's finances are still relatively tight.

Although Krupp was willing to reach a cooperation with Spain, when Alfred Krupp heard that Carlo meant to purchase Krupp's artillery technology and steelmaking technology, even Alfred Krupp was shocked and hesitant.

Steelmaking technology and artillery technology are the foundation of Krupp's existence, not to mention the introduction of these two technologies at the same time.

However, considering that we are still in the stage of economic crisis, and the fact that cooperation with Spain will basically have no impact on Krupp's business in Germany, Alfred Krupp himself was somewhat hesitant.

After all, although Krupp's steelmaking method was advanced, it was learned and improved from the British steelmaking method.

Krupp spent almost no R&D costs. If Krupp himself, who disguised himself and entered a British factory to learn steelmaking technology, is counted, this may be the only cost for Krupp.

If these steelmaking technologies can be used to exchange for enough funds to support the company through the economic crisis, it will not be too much of a loss for Krupp.

After thinking it over again, Alfred Krupp still couldn't make up his mind. He could only apologize to Carlo and said that such a major matter still needed to be discussed with the company's internal management, and it would take some time to reply to Carlo.

Carlo had no objection. During the internal discussion of Krupp, Carlo visited some factories in the Ruhr industrial area again and asked Spanish officials to record the planning of the Ruhr area in Germany and the advantages of some factories.

Alfred Krupp did not keep Carlo waiting for long. On the second day, he invited Carlo to visit Krupp again and had a long discussion on the cooperation that the two sides wanted to reach.

Of course, the people in charge of the negotiations were the subordinates brought by Carlo. Carlo's main task was to visit Krupp's steel plants and military factories to see what was so unique about the famous Krupp company.

In order to welcome Carlo, Krupp was well prepared. Perhaps it was also to show the company's capabilities so as to obtain more funds and benefits when technology was transferred.

Krupp prepared a room of more than 300 square meters to showcase its achievements, including models of the production process of pig iron and steel foundry workshops, steel ingots, railway axles and samples of Krupp cannons.

These products represent Krupp's most advanced steelmaking and artillery technology, and are also the advanced technologies that Carlo is eager to introduce to Spain.

Although these industrial products are not advanced compared to later industrial and military products, for Carlo, these are what Spain has always dreamed of.

Carlo spent several hours touring a room of only 300 square meters, until both parties reached a certain compromise on the content of the cooperation, and then Carlo ended his tour.

After the Spanish officials and the management of the steel plant and military factory argued their case, the two sides finally reached a consensus on cooperation.

Carlo's Royal Steel Works invested 1200 million pesetas to purchase a complete set of steelmaking equipment from Krupp, which is expected to have an annual output of 1 tons of crude steel and 4 tons of pig iron.

At the same time, Krupp will send at least 30 steelmaking technical experts to Spain. These technical experts will stay in Spain for at least two years to help Spanish steel mills master Krupp's steelmaking technology.

Of course, all expenses of these experts in Spain will be borne by the Spanish side, and Krupp will not pay a penny for it.

Krupp will not sell the artillery technology directly, but it can sell 500 artillery pieces to Spain in the form of normal trade and allow Spanish military factories to dismantle these artillery pieces and learn the technology of Krupp artillery.

In order for Krupp to agree to transfer steelmaking technology, Spain would have to pay an additional 2000 million pesetas in learning fees.

Adding up all the expenses, Spain had to spend 3200 million pesetas to purchase Krupp's steelmaking technology, and it also needed to research and replicate its own artillery.

Although it did not meet his expectations, this result was acceptable to Carlo.

With Krupp's steelmaking technology, Spain's steel production can also be further increased. For a long time to come, the steel production of European countries will usher in a blowout growth, and Europe and the world will truly enter the industrial age. Carlo does not expect Spain to keep up with the development speed of the three industrial powers of Britain, Germany and the United States, but he also hopes that Spain's industrial development can be second only to France, or even surpass France in some cases.

France's overall strength is not bad, but compared to Britain and Germany, France does not pay so much attention to its own industrial development.

This also has to do with the impact of the Franco-Prussian War on France. Although France has a large population, most of the French population are farmers.

The small peasant economy has hindered the development of French industry, making France's overall industry dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises.

After the defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, France faced a large amount of reparations. These reparations also restricted the development of French industry and made it difficult for these small and medium-sized enterprises in France to use new industrial technologies and equipment.

Under such circumstances, France's industrial development speed naturally lags far behind countries like Britain, Germany, and the United States. This has led to the French private capital being unwilling to invest in domestic industrial development, but rather willing to invest in other countries to earn more profits through the faster development of other countries.

This created the glorious usury empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but at the same time it also ruined France's domestic development.

It can also be seen from historical data that France's development has stagnated since the Franco-Prussian War.

In 1875, France produced 25.6 tons of steel, while Britain produced only 71.9 tons, and Germany and the United States produced less than 40 tons each.

At this time, France's industry had not fallen far behind Germany and the United States, and it was still a powerful industrial country.

But in the following years, the scale of France's industry has not grown much.

By 1880, steel production in Britain and the United States had exceeded one million tons, and Germany's steel production reached an exaggerated 62.4 tons.

France's steel production is only 38.9 tons, which is about one-third of that of the United Kingdom and the United States and only two-thirds of that of Germany.

This was not the time when France was at its most backward. In 1885, Britain's steel production had reached 191.7 million tons, and the United States' steel production had reached 173.9 million tons.

Germany's development is also not weak. Its steel production has almost doubled compared to five years ago, reaching 120.2 million tons.

However, France's steel production was only 55.4 tons, which was two-thirds of Germany's a few years ago, but by 1885 it was less than half of Germany's.

It was the poor performance of the French during this period that gave Carlo hope that Spain would surpass France in industry.

Last year, Spain produced about 20 tons of steel, while France produced 30 tons. If the third phase of the Barcelona Industrial Base can be completed, Spain may really have the hope of surpassing France in steel production in the next few years.

Although steel production does not represent the overall industrial scale, it is closely related to the overall industrial scale. After all, only when the domestic industrial scale and demand are relatively large, will steel mills have enough orders to produce steel.

After signing a cooperation agreement with Krupp, Carlo’s goal in the Ruhr area was largely achieved.

The steelmaking technology possessed by other steel mills in the Ruhr area was either similar to or worse than that of Krupp, so there was no need for Carlo to make another trip.

The cooperation with Krupp has met Carlo's needs in steelmaking technology and artillery technology. For Carlo, this visit to Germany is already a pleasant surprise.

After the contract was signed, Carlo did not stay in Germany for too long.

After all, the subsequent visit to France is the highlight, and the assistance obtained from the French is what Carlo really cares about.

France's gradual transformation into a usury empire did affect France's own development, but it was actually a good thing for Spain.

Germany's private capital is not necessarily weaker than France's, but this capital needs to be invested in the country to help Germany's industry develop faster.

This also led to the fact that although Germany had a strong industry, it did not have enough funds to help Spain develop.

France is different. France has a completely selfless attitude and they have sufficient funds to help Spain develop. This is why Carlo is more willing to cooperate with France.

Regardless of how the relationship between Spain and France will develop in the future, the fact that France is currently the European country most likely to provide the largest loan to Spain is enough.

To travel to France, Carlo did not take the train like the one from Austria to Germany. Instead, he went all the way north from the Ruhr area and then took a boat from the port to the French port.

The reason for this was, of course, the competition between Germany and France. If Carlo were to openly take a train from Germany to visit France, the Germans would be embarrassed and the French would also be suspicious of Carlo's intentions.

Because France has become a republic, there will naturally be no crown prince or king to come to receive us.

After Carlo arrived in Paris, he was arranged by the French government to live in a manor in Paris.

Among the three countries visited this time, apart from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, France may be the country with the best attitude towards Carlo.

The main reason for this is that France needs Spain to break through the German blockade.

In his conversations with the French government, Carlo mentioned his desire to obtain more interest-free and low-interest loans from France, and requested more industrial and other assistance from France.

The French would naturally not refuse this, but they also put forward their own demands. After all, the French are not fools and it is impossible for them to pay for nothing.

Among all the conditions put forward by the French, the first was to prohibit Spain from reaching any diplomatic and military agreement with Germany.

The purpose of doing this was to prevent Spain from joining the alliance formed by Germany to isolate France. Carlo also knew the French's purpose, so he naturally nodded in agreement.

The second demand of the French was to establish closer trade relations with Spain.

Carlo had no objection to this. After all, the huge grain production of the French was a good choice for Spain to avoid a food crisis, and trade with France would not be a loss for Spain.

Of course, the protection of Spanish industry is also necessary. Spain has been less affected by the economic crisis, and the prices of domestic industrial products are still relatively high compared to those of European industrial products.

Due to the impact of the economic crisis, the prices of industrial products in European countries, especially steel products and mechanical processing products, have fallen to a low point. If these products are allowed to flood into the Spanish market, it will definitely have an impact on Spanish factories.

Under the premise that the quality of these industrial products is similar, people will definitely prefer to choose lower-priced products.

This also means that local factories in Spain must either lower their prices or face the problem of a shrinking market share.

Carlo did not want Spain's industry to suffer a huge impact due to the impact of foreign industrial products. Therefore, when agreeing to the French proposal to deepen trade cooperation, he also specifically mentioned that Spain would not import French industrial products for the time being.

The French government has no intention of forcing Spain to import manufactured goods. After all, their purpose in deepening trade cooperation is to influence the Spanish government at the economic level.

As long as Spain further deepens cooperation, coupled with the influx of French funds into Spain, French capital is destined to have a certain say.

This will also ensure that Spain is closer to France, which is the real purpose of the French and a carefully considered means by the French government to ensure that Spain does not turn to Germany.

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