Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 271 French Action

The death of Tsar Alexander II proved to have a huge impact on Russia.

In the month of Alexander II's death, several decrees related to reform were revoked. In particular, the Russian government launched extremely strict censorship in the publication of literary works and newspapers, and closed down several large newspapers in a short period of time.

Newspapers dared not report the news, and Russian people kept their mouths shut for fear of causing trouble. This led to an extremely depressing atmosphere in Russia since the funeral of Alexander II.

It is worth mentioning that starting from March 1881, the number of Russian immigrants willing to come to Spain increased sharply.

In the past, only 50,000 immigrants could be collected in a year, and after selection, only 20,000 to 30,000 people were left. However, in just four months this year, the cumulative number of immigrants who registered has exceeded 40,000, and is still increasing.

The rapid increase in the number of Russian immigrants was not a good thing for Spain, and the immigration department quickly reported to the cabinet government, asking how to deal with these extra immigrants.

Carlo naturally learned the news and asked the government how to deal with it. Overall, Carlo was quite satisfied with the approach chosen by Prime Minister Canovas.

Although Spain did not need too many immigrants, its colonies still needed a large number of immigrants, especially the three West African colonies that had just been acquired from Britain. These colonies already had a large number of immigrants, and adding more Russian immigrants would not have any impact at all.

It can even reduce Britain's influence in these areas by reducing the number of local British immigrants, allowing the Spanish government to strengthen its control over these areas.

Especially the Gambia colony, as an overseas granary that Spain focused on developing, the Gambia colony needed a large number of farmers to grow food.

Russian farmers are obviously good at agriculture, and their strong ability to withstand pressure and their ability to work hard make it perfect for them to go to the Gambia colony.

The only concern was whether these Russians, who were used to living in cold regions, could adapt to life in the African colonies. Spain's African colonies were generally close to the equator, and the temperature was quite hot.

The sudden change from a cold region to a hot region is likely to cause these Russian immigrants to be unable to adapt to the local climate. The related difficulties can only be overcome by these Russians themselves, and Spain has no better solution for this.

In order to speed up the agricultural development of the Gambia colony, these Russian immigrants had to adapt themselves. Even if some people contracted diseases due to acclimatization, it was completely acceptable to Spain.

While Spain was racking its brains over its development plan in West Africa, its northern neighbor, France, was also engaged in a fierce debate at home.

The initiator of the quarrel, Jules François Camille-Ferry, better known as Jules Ferry, raised a controversial issue at a French cabinet meeting, that France should send troops to bring Tunisia under French colonial protection.

Tunisia is located in North Africa, just east of French-controlled Algeria and across the sea from the Italian island of Sicily.

Rouféry certainly knew that colonizing Tunisia would cause conflicts with Italy, but for France at that time, France had to find some compensation for its defeat ten years ago through colonization so that the French government would be trusted by the people again.

The Franco-Prussian War ten years ago was equivalent to the Germans giving all French people a hard slap in the face, which all French people will remember.

To what extent do the French hold a grudge? No matter what level of government officials or parliamentarians, if they dare to propose not to take revenge on Germany, they will be attacked by the angry people.

Revenge on Germany has become politically correct in France. No matter what politicians think, they have to support the people's views on the surface.

Jou Ferry can be said to be one of the representative French politicians of this era. As a politician who holds the position of Prime Minister, Jou Ferry certainly understands the strength of Germany.

Although France's overall strength is not weak, it will definitely lead to its own destruction if it attempts to take revenge on Germany without the support of any allies.

But the public's hatred for Germany is real, and this is something the French government cannot ignore. Therefore, the French government must find other ways to divert the public's hatred, or at least attract the public's attention and avoid the public's dissatisfaction due to its inaction.

In this era of great colonialism, what attracted the most attention of the French people was naturally the expansion of the country's territory and the establishment of new colonies.

Tunisia is a relatively important region. Not only is it connected to Algeria, which is already controlled by France, but it is also the northernmost region in Africa, which is very helpful for France to exert influence on the Mediterranean coast.

Of course, controlling Tunisia can also help France continue to expand eastwards to North Africa. Southeast of Tunisia is Libya, and east of Libya is Egypt, where the Suez Canal is located.

Needless to say how important the Suez Canal is. Even though Britain has used various means to acquire most of the shares of the Suez Canal, France has never given up its attention to the Suez Canal.

If Britain completely controls the Suez Canal, the French fleet in the Mediterranean will be blocked in the Mediterranean. The French naturally understand this truth. They have always opposed Britain's complete control of the Suez Canal, and from time to time they will jump out to question the current situation of Britain's control of most of the shares of the Suez Canal.

Back to Tunisia. Currently, Tunisia nominally belongs to the Ottoman Empire, but in reality, the Ottoman Empire no longer has control over this place.

The reason for this, of course, is that the failure of the last Russo-Turkish War exposed the full strength of the Ottoman Empire.

As a superpower that once spanned the three continents of Europe, Asia and Africa, the Ottoman Empire was still a powerful country, even though a lean camel was bigger than a horse for most countries.

But for France, which dominated Europe ten years ago, the Ottoman Empire was like fat meat on the chopping board and could only be slaughtered by France.

However, because Tunisia is closer to Italy, Italy is also very interested in this land. Considering that the occupation of Tunisia will inevitably attract the attention of Italians and may even cause Italian intervention, before provoking a war against Tunisia, the current French Prime Minister Jouffry still asked several important officials and senior generals of the French cabinet.

The first person to be questioned was naturally the important member of the French cabinet, the current Foreign Minister Gambetta.

As Foreign Minister, Gambetta was well aware of the situation in Europe, and upon learning that the Prime Minister intended to invade Tunisia, Gambetta immediately asked his first question, which was how to deal with Italy.

Times have changed, and Italy is no longer the Kingdom of Sardinia that was once controlled by France. Although the unified Italy is not as abnormal as Germany, it is also a country at the level of a great power.

If it were France in its heyday, it would naturally not consider the Italians' views too much. But at this time, France was in a situation of diplomatic isolation by Germany. If it offended Italy again, it would only make Germany's policy of isolating France more aggressive.

In response to the question from Foreign Minister Gambetta, Ruferi thought for a long time and gave his attitude, which is to respond to possible Italian interference with tough measures.

Although the Franco-Prussian War caused France to lose Alsace and Lorraine, France remained the overlord of Western Europe and one of the top three powers in the world.

France wanted to expand its colonies, and it was not something that a small country like Italy could stop. Moreover, Italy did not necessarily have enough courage to stop France from invading Tunisia.

Italy was lagging behind France in terms of industry, economy and population, and its army was far behind France in combat effectiveness. Even if a war really broke out, France was not afraid of Italy at all. If Italy did not obey, France could attack Rome and let the Papal States regain control of Rome.

After learning of the Prime Minister's attitude, Foreign Minister Gambetta nodded and no longer had any questions.

He and the Prime Minister are from the same party, so he must stand on the Prime Minister's side on such a major issue. Moreover, the invasion of Tunisia is not a big deal for France, so there is naturally no need to sing a different tune from the Prime Minister.

In addition to consulting Foreign Minister Gambetta, French Prime Minister Jouffry also asked the French Army Minister for his opinion.

But there is nothing to ask. It's just an attack on an indigenous country, and the Minister of War will definitely not refuse.

Not only will this allow the military to gain a lot of credit for nothing, it will also be a war that will never be lost, which is equivalent to giving away credit for free.

As for the attitudes of other powers, that is not something the military should consider. The military is only responsible for winning the war, and which countries will be annoyed is something that the government and diplomatic departments should consider.

After obtaining the support of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of War, Rouféry was full of confidence and put forward a proposal to invade Tunisia at a French cabinet meeting.

It is worth mentioning that Ru Ferry also played some tricks before making the proposal.

What politicians care about most is their reputation. Before making the proposal, Rouféry had already asked several newspapers to report that he would push the country to start a war and help France acquire a new colony.

Although it was not the recovery of Alsace and Lorraine, the expansion of territory was also a great achievement.

More importantly, compared to Rouféry, who confidently launched a war soon after taking office, his 11 predecessors did almost nothing as prime minister.

Yes, since the establishment of the Republic after the Franco-Prussian War, France has replaced eleven prime ministers in the past ten years. This speed can be said to be quite exaggerated.

Although France has two positions, the president and the prime minister, in the French Third Republic, the prime minister has more actual power than the president.

The head of state is of course the President of France, but the President of France is only responsible for diplomacy and military affairs, while the executive power lies in the hands of the Prime Minister of France.

With an average of one new prime minister every year, one can imagine how chaotic the French political situation has been during this period.

At this time, the French president is elected by the people, and the French prime minister is appointed by the party that wins the parliamentary election. The frequent changes of prime ministers also represent one thing, that is, the contradictions and disputes between French political parties are also very deep.

The reason why the French Third Republic weakened the power of the president was also a lesson learned from Napoleon III.

Before becoming Emperor of France, Napoleon III was elected President of France, a position at which the French president had enormous power, which laid the foundation for his later military dictatorship and the re-establishment of the French Empire.

The French Third Republic weakened the power of the president precisely to prevent events like the restoration of Napoleon III.

Diplomatic and military powers are in the hands of the president, which is actually the reason why Ruferry asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of the Army.

As long as the two cabinet ministers support Ruferi, Ruferi will have a way to deal with it even if the president opposes it.

After all, French public opinion at that time supported the war. After the humiliating Franco-Prussian War, the French also needed many victories in wars to wash away their shame.

If the French president dared to directly reject Jouffry's proposal at this time, I am afraid that the first people who would be dissatisfied would be the French people who elected him.

As expected, because the news had already reported such news, after Ruferi mentioned the proposal to invade Tunisia at the cabinet meeting, no cabinet minister dared to refute such a proposal.

French public opinion is no joke. No matter how angry and dissatisfied the people in other countries are, most of the time they just hold relevant demonstrations.

The French people are no joke. War is rejected on the first day, and demonstrations will break out on the same day. As for the second day, it will of course be related to revolution and uprising.

The French people, especially the Parisians, are already very experienced in this. They are very familiar with the location of the Paris City Hall and the French government, and they are also quite familiar with the location of the arsenal in the Paris urban area.

Even the King of France could be sent to the gallows, not to mention the president who was elected by popular vote. As long as you are not stupid, you will never refuse the relevant war proposal.

Unless the French people do not support such a war, which is almost impossible for the French people at this time.

The humiliation brought to the French people by the Franco-Prussian War was too great, and they urgently needed a thorough war to vent their anger.

French government officials naturally understand this logic. Both the cabinet government and the French Parliament fully agree with this.

With unanimous approval, the French government immediately began preparing for war.

Ru Ferry was not stupid. Although France was not afraid of Italy, it would be best if it could colonize without Italy's knowledge.

By the time France completely occupied Tunisia, even if the Italians found out, they would have no way to change the situation in Tunisia.

Although Italy unified relatively late, it is worth mentioning that the Italians had their eyes on Tunisia even earlier than it was unified.

As early as the period of the Kingdom of Sardinia, a large amount of Italian capital and individuals went to Tunisia across the sea to carry out related colonial and business activities.

As the industry and economy of the Kingdom of Sardinia developed, the government also took part in the infiltration of Tunisia.

Although located in Africa, Tunisia is a relatively fertile land. Tunisia covers an area of ​​16 square kilometers, which is more than half the size of Italy.

This is also the reason why Italy has set its sights on Tunisia. The land is fertile, there is a lot of arable land and it is very close to the mainland. Isn’t this a natural colony?

(End of this chapter)