Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 264 Colonial Exchange (Part )
"Is there any news from the British?" Carlo looked at Prime Minister Canovas who came in a hurry and asked with a smile.

After using newspapers to release relevant information, the Spanish government has been closely monitoring the movements of the British government.

The best outcome would be that the British took the initiative to propose the exchange of the Cuban colony, so that Spain could avoid a passive situation and gain more benefits for itself.

The worst result is that the British have not taken any action. Spain can only take the initiative to propose the exchange of Cuban colonies to the British government, but it will fall into a passive situation. The British will definitely lower the price. After all, the value of the Cuban colony is not low. If the British want to exchange it at the same price, they will have to pay several colonies.

"There is news, Your Majesty." Prime Minister Canovas also smiled, and it was obvious that he was bringing good news: "British Prime Minister Gladstone has proposed the exchange of the Cuban colony at the cabinet meeting. The British government may contact us soon."

Carlo nodded, feeling relieved.

It was Carlo who pushed for the exchange of the Cuban colony, but there were some risks involved. After all, it was impossible for the British government to follow Carlo's plan.

The British government of this era was quite greedy in its colonial development policy. After all, they were the most powerful country in the world, and no country could stop the expansion of the British Empire on its own.

Although Russia can pose a threat to Britain in Central Asia and West Asia, the reason is that Britain has not invested too much energy in Central Asia and West Asia.

Britain's colonies are spread all over the world, and their colonial expansion plans are almost all over the world. Africa and Asia are of course not to be mentioned, and even America has the footprints of the British.

From this aspect, it can be seen that Britain must have great ambitions for the land of Cuba. In history, even if the United States did not seize it by force, Spain might not be able to hold on to the land of Cuba.

Of course, Spain in this world is definitely more powerful. Both Britain and the United States have lost the opportunity to seize Cuba by force.

But I believe the British government would be happy to acquire the large colony of Cuba through peaceful means.

This is also where Carlo's confidence lies. As long as the British are willing to exchange for the Cuban colony, the Spanish government's plan will not fail.

If the British had no ambitions for Cuba, Spain would have no choice but to exchange it with other European countries or sell Cuba directly to the United States.

Carlo was still quite confident about the value of the Cuban colony.

Historically, when Spain was extremely weak, the United States proposed to purchase the Cuban colony for $1.5 million in order to avoid war with Spain.

The currency exchange rate fluctuated little before World War I. 1.5 million US dollars was equivalent to 3000 million pounds and 7.8 million pesetas, which was definitely not a small sum.

What's more, the world sugar market had undergone major changes at that time. Due to the strong rise of the rubber industry, the value of the Southeast Asian colonies had been demonstrated, and the Cuban colony was no longer that important.

Under such circumstances, the Cuban colonies are worth at least 1.5 million US dollars, and the price of the Cuban colonies at this time can at least double.

If it was not worth so much money, the historical Spanish government would not have invested more than 7 million pesetas in military expenditures during the Cuban War of Independence.

The value of the Cuban colony was discussed within the Spanish government long before the colonial exchange proposal was launched.

If Spain were to exchange colonies with the British, its conditions would be the three colonies of British Gambia, British Sierra Leone and British Gold Coast, plus Spain's colonial rights to the Truce States, Muscat and the Sultanate of Oman, as well as partial mining rights in Western Australia and cash to make up the value.

It seems that the land, terms and cash that Spain obtained added up to a lot, but in fact, the lands added together are not worth much.

Needless to say, Britain's three colonies in West Africa are characterized by small scale, small population and low economic value.

Even if the truce states and Oman were taken, these two lands were mostly desert and sparsely populated.

More importantly, these two pieces of land are close to the British colony of India, and the British may not be willing to cede these two pieces of land. Although these two pieces of land are not theirs, for the British, this piece of land on the Arabian Peninsula has entered their sphere of influence and will be incorporated into the territory of the British Empire sooner or later.

As for the mining rights in Western Australia, they are even more insignificant compared to the losses of Spain. Western Australia is too far away from mainland Spain, and it is completely unrealistic to rely solely on Western Australia's mineral resources to supply the industrial development of mainland Spain.

Spain's domestic industrial development will rely more on coal and iron ore from Africa, and of course minerals from Brazil across the ocean.

Although the iron content of Brazilian iron ore is lower than that of Australia, Brazil is also among the top three countries in the world in terms of iron ore reserves. And because it is closer to Spain, Brazil is obviously more likely to become Spain's partner in mineral imports.

Of course, another important reason is that Brazil is an independent country and can decide its own trading partners.

Western Australia is just a colony. Whether it is merged into Australia in the future or exists as Western Australia alone, it will be under the control of the British government.

Would the British government be willing to allow Australia to export large quantities of coal and iron ore to Spain every year? Of course not.

For Britain, the stronger Spain's industry is, the greater the threat it poses to Britain.

Britain does not want the birth of a superpower on the level of Britain, France and Germany on the Iberian Peninsula, which would not only undermine Britain's strategic planning for the western outlet to the Mediterranean, but would also affect the pattern of continental Europe.

After all, although the Iberian Peninsula where Spain is located is closed, it is also connected to the European continent. As long as it is connected to the European continent, Spain can have an impact on the European situation.

The current situation in Europe is already quite chaotic. The UK does not want any country’s interference to make the European situation even more chaotic and completely undermine the UK’s regional balance policy.

Currently, the three most powerful countries in the world are Britain, France and Germany. When Britain does not actively participate in European affairs, the most intense confrontation on the European continent is between France and Germany.

In the Balkans, Austria-Hungary and Russia occasionally had some conflicts. Fortunately, the conflict between Britain and Russia was also not small, which also concealed the conflict between Austria-Hungary and Russia.

Among these countries, Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany maintained the Triple Alliance, and Russia was also interested in making friends with France. The situation in Europe was quite confusing.

Spain is the most powerful European country besides these countries. On the one hand, it has a marriage relationship with the Austro-Hungarian Empire and an alliance treaty. On the other hand, its relationship with France is not too bad, and the two countries have cooperation.

Under such circumstances, no one could make further inferences about the situation in Europe. The Triple Alliance might continue to exist, or it might split due to the conflict between Austria-Hungary and Russia.

The direction of the Triple Alliance was also directly related to the situation in Europe, because once the Triple Alliance broke down, France would certainly win over Russia at all costs and completely get out of the shadow of isolation.

This is also the step that the British want to see, because the current situation in Europe is not favorable for the British.

Britain and France have a grudge against each other, and the British are very happy that France is isolated by the European powers. But the problem is that Britain and Russia also have a deep hatred. Russia is relying on the Three Emperors' Alliance to become a power on the same level as Britain, France and Germany. The Russo-Turkish War also shows the Russians' ambition to expand their territory.

Britain did not want the Triple Alliance to continue, as this would not only undermine the regional balance policy established by Britain, but would also create a larger gap between the originally evenly matched Germany and France.

Unless Italy and Spain can side with France, Europe will establish a Franco-Italian-Spanish alliance to fight against Germany, Austria and Russia.

Putting aside the power gap between the two and whether the two major military groups can be successfully formed, the harm that the establishment of the Franco-Italian-Spanish military alliance would bring to the British made the British determined to avoid this situation.

The three great powers of France, Italy and Spain have one thing in common, that is, they are all countries along the Mediterranean coast.

Once France, Italy and Spain form a military alliance, will Britain still have a say in the Mediterranean?

Britain was powerful, but France was not weak at all in this era. In addition, Spain, which had already revived, and Italy, which was rising strongly, Britain could only retreat in the face of this military group unless it had the help of other powers.

The current situation is also very clear. Spain cannot obtain land of equal value to the Cuban colony by simply exchanging colonies.

Fortunately, Carlo’s target was not Britain’s colonies in West Africa, but the land in the Middle East.

Whether it is the truce states or Oman, as long as Spain can occupy a piece of land in the Middle East and gain a foothold, it will have the hope of obtaining a large piece of land rich in oil fields in the future.

The good news is that it was still a long time before oil was discovered in this part of the Middle East, and even before World War I, Spain did not have to worry about the value of the land it occupied being exposed.

After World War I, Spain would become even stronger. At that time, even if large-scale oil fields were discovered in the Middle East, Spain would not have to worry about not being able to defend this land.

Before the discovery of the oil fields, the land in the Middle East was mostly desert and uninhabited, except for the Mesopotamian Plain where Iraq is located, which was relatively fertile and had no value for development at all.

This also means that Spain still has hope of obtaining land in the Middle East. Even if it cannot obtain all the truce states and Oman, obtaining any piece of land will be considered as completing Carlo's plan.

Since the Spanish government has a clear understanding of the value of the Cuban colony, the subsequent negotiations with the British government will have a very clear goal.

Such conditions are the bottom line of the Spanish government, which is the goal that must be achieved. On this basis, the diplomatic department also needs to make more efforts. After all, whether it is land, funds or other terms, the more the better.

As Prime Minister Canovas expected, a few days later, the British government took the initiative to contact Spain to test Spain's attitude towards the Cuban colony.

The reason why the British government took the initiative to inquire was naturally another piece of news released by the Cuban colony, which was that the rebellion was about to be put down.

If Spain puts down the rebellion again, it will definitely not give up the Cuban colony so easily. The British can only seize this opportunity. If Spain is really unwilling to give up the Cuban colony, they can only secretly cause greater problems for the Cuban colony, forcing the Spanish government to give up.

The person who approached the British ambassador was Prime Minister Canovas. After hearing the British probing, Prime Minister Canovas was not anxious, but expressed his unwillingness to give up the Cuban colony.

However, Prime Minister Canovas' attitude was not so firm, and he gave the British ambassador a hint of hope.

The British government did not have too many doubts because they had communicated with the British government long ago. The British ambassador thought that Spain had already considered giving up its Cuban colony but was unwilling to do so because it was afraid of public opposition.

Since Spain has already thought of giving up its Cuban colony, the next thing is easy, which is to persuade Spanish Prime Minister Canovas to agree to give up its Cuban colony and start colonial exchange negotiations between the British and Spanish governments.

Spain is different from those small and medium-sized countries or indigenous countries. Because Spain has re-entered the ranks of great powers through reforms, we still have to respect Spain's strength.

The British government had no intention of using threats to force Spain to give up its Cuban colony, as this might backfire, making Spain determined to defend its Cuban colony and seriously damaging relations with Spain.

If he offended a powerful country right after taking office, it would not be good news for Gladstone. His anti-war and anti-aggression policies would also be completely overturned. After all, even the former Prime Minister Disraeli did not dare to easily stir up disputes with powerful countries.

Prime Minister Canovas saw the British government's step-by-step probing and was delighted.

For Spain, the more proactive the British are in exchanging colonies, the more initiative Spain will have.

Although Spain was the one that wanted to exchange colonies, it was not in a hurry under such circumstances.

After all, the current situation of the Cuban colony is relatively stable. As long as no major problems break out, the Cuban colony will not depreciate.

Even as Cuba's sugar industry develops and its population grows, the value of the Cuban colony will increase.

If the British government is unwilling to pay a high price, they will definitely choose to quickly replace the colony during the period when the value of the Cuban colony is damaged, that is, when the situation in the Cuban colony is chaotic due to small-scale rebellions in the near future.

The British ambassador was testing the waters step by step, and Prime Minister Canovas was also giving in step by step. After all, Spain also wanted to exchange colonies. If they didn't give in, what would happen if the British government gave up?

With the voluntary cooperation of both parties, the Spanish government and the British government reached an agreement that British Prime Minister Gladstone and some government officials will pay a diplomatic visit to Spain in early September, and the two sides will reach negotiations on colonial exchanges during the meeting in early September.

Of course, before the final negotiations are completed, both parties agreed that no news would be released to prevent any external factors from disrupting the negotiations between the two parties.

After officially reaching an agreement with the British government, Prime Minister Canovas and Carlo breathed a sigh of relief.

All that is left now is to wait for formal negotiations with the British government to achieve the goal of colonial exchange.

The hot potato of the Cuban colony was finally given away. Although on the surface Spain would suffer a loss, after all, the land obtained was of little value, the actual loss was not as serious as imagined.

The benefits that the Cuban colony brought to Spain were also constantly decreasing. If the annual military expenditure invested in Cuba was taken into account, Cuba's income would be reduced by another level.

Although the income of these exchanged colonies cannot compare to that of Cuba, their strategic value may not be less important than that of Cuba.

Especially the land in the Middle East, whether it is the truce states or Oman, is no less valuable than the Cuban colony.

If Spain could acquire these two colonies at the same time, it would definitely make a fortune. Although the apparent benefits were losses, the reputation that the Spanish reforms brought to the government could ensure that the people would not be too dissatisfied.

After all, the government has already developed a Congolese territory covering millions of square kilometers. What difference would it make if it lost a small Cuba?
(End of this chapter)