Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 341 The British Response
It is not just Germany and Russia that are facing difficult choices, but also the British, who have nothing to do with this war.

As early as the day when Austro-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia, the British government held an emergency meeting to discuss the pros and cons of the incident for Britain and what position Britain should take in this incident.

According to common sense, if the ultimatum of the Austro-Hungarian Empire could trigger a war between it and Russia, it would definitely be beneficial to the British.

Britain only needs to support Austria-Hungary from behind to weaken the military strength of the two major powers at the same time. In particular, weakening Russia's military strength is what the British attach the most importance to.

As long as Russia can be defeated, Russia will no longer be able to expand in East Asia and the Balkans for at least the next 10 years.

But with the Germans' relatively tough stance, the British government has to discuss what new changes will occur in the European situation.

Because the UK has always advocated a regional balance policy, the UK government's diplomatic stance has been changing. If a country becomes stronger, the UK will turn to support the weaker party.

If it was just a war between Austria-Hungary and Russia, then Britain would naturally support Austria-Hungary, which was weaker and had no major conflicts with Britain.

But what if there was a powerful German Empire behind the Austro-Hungarian Empire? In the absence of any allies in Russia, the British would rather sit back and watch the fight between Germany and Russia, and let both sides suffer losses.

But the struggle between Germany and Russia had to involve another European power, France.

Germany is a relatively important part of Britain's balancing policy. The competition between Germany and France is an important means for Britain to maintain the balance of the European continent. This also means that Germany cannot suffer too heavy losses in this war, otherwise it will be suppressed by the French again.

If France becomes the hegemon of Europe again, the threat posed by the French to Britain will be even greater than that posed by the Russians. This is something the British have to consider. How to ensure that the war will not affect the current situation in Europe after it ends is a relatively difficult problem.

At 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister's residence, British Prime Minister Robert Gascoigne-Cecil was holding private talks with several important cabinet ministers.

The content of the talks was naturally the impact of this war on the European situation and what position Britain should take to survive this war.

Let’s first talk about the current British Prime Minister Robert Gascoigne-Cecil, who is a staunch conservative and a keen advocate of Britain’s policy of glorious isolation and regional balance.

During his years as prime minister, Britain has downplayed its influence on the European continent, pursued a policy of splendid isolation, and carried out regional balancing of the situation in Europe and even the world.

It was precisely because of his glorious isolation that the British government had the energy to conquer colonies outside Europe. During his term, Britain's colonial expansion had reached millions of square kilometers, which is equivalent to the area of ​​several British mainlands.

"Everyone, tell me what you think. Currently, Austria-Hungary has declared war on Serbia. Judging from the current reactions of Germany and Russia, these two countries are also likely to join this war.

If the situation really develops in this way, just because of a small border conflict, it is possible that several major powers will eventually participate in this super war.

What position should we take in this great war? Should we join one side or continue our isolationism? "Prime Minister Robert Gascoigne-Cecil looked at several important cabinet ministers attending the meeting.

British Army Secretary William Henry Smith was the first to speak out and expressed his views without hesitation: "Mr. Prime Minister, please allow me to express the views of the Army Department."

After seeing the Prime Minister nod, Minister William continued: "If Germany and Russia join the war one after another, the scale of the war may reach its highest level in history.

Both Germany and Russia had standing armies of hundreds of thousands, and they were also able to mobilize millions of reservists to join the war.

What about us? Our domestic army has only 13 soldiers and our reserve force has less than 50 soldiers. For us, this will be a war that we cannot interfere with at all, and the direction of the war can only be determined by the investment of various countries in the war. "

What Minister William said is actually an old problem in Britain, that is, investing too much in the navy and too little in the army.

While the British Navy has always been the world's number one, the size of the British army is the smallest among the great powers, with only a little over 100,000 standing troops.

At present, Britain has the smallest standing army in the whole of Europe. The only country with a smaller standing army than Britain is the United States across the ocean.

Although Britain still has hundreds of thousands of colonial troops in its colonies around the world, these colonial troops are obviously unable to be deployed to the battlefield in the Balkans.

The countries fighting in the Balkans were Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia, which had relatively strong armies. If they had used their colonial troops, they would have become cannon fodder and would not have been able to cause any waves at all.

The meaning of what Army Secretary William said was very simple. He was reminding the Prime Minister that the current British Army was unable to interfere in the war that broke out on the European continent, and the British government should also consider its own position and capabilities before making decisions.

Prime Minister Robert Gascoigne-Cecil nodded without changing his expression. He was obviously aware of Britain's shortcomings in the army.

It cannot be said to be a defect. After all, the UK is an island country outside the European continent. As long as the North Sea and the English Channel can be defended, no country can threaten the UK mainland.

This is also the reason why Britain only built up its navy and neglected its army. After all, the enemy couldn't even attack its own land, so what was the point of maintaining so many conventional armies? It would only increase the consumption of military expenditures.

In this regard, the United States, which can be said to be the son of Britain, has learned British ideas and surpassed them.

While the U.S. industry and economy were growing rapidly, its military strength had always been at the bottom of the list among the great powers. Especially in terms of the army, because there were no strong countries in the north and south, and there were two oceans in the east and west, the number of U.S. army soldiers had always been pitifully small.

That is, during the Civil War, the U.S. Army expanded to millions of people in an instant, but then quickly declined. So far, the U.S. conventional army has only a pitiful tens of thousands of people, not even a fraction of that of European countries.

Insufficient standing army numbers will result in poor combat effectiveness of the rapidly expanding army when a large-scale war breaks out, and even the military system will be quite chaotic, thus affecting the outcome of the war.

But on the other hand, with fewer troops, more manpower can be invested in industry and civilian production.

The reduced military spending can also be transferred to other government departments, or at worst invested in people's livelihood departments, increasing subsidies for various industries and enterprises and promoting industrial and economic development.

Even though the difference in the number of troops is only a few hundred thousand, the difference in military expenditure is a huge number.

Currently, Spain's annual military expenditure is as high as hundreds of millions of pesetas, which is why Spain can maintain more than 200,000 regular local troops plus a large number of colonial troops.

If the army could be reduced to the size of the United States, Spain's annual fiscal budget would be able to increase by more than 1 million pesetas, which is still a considerable amount of money. Of course, for Carlo, it is impossible to reduce the army to such a small size at any time.

Spain is not like the United States and the United Kingdom. Spain is part of the European continent, which means that Spain must guard against enemies from the European continent.

"Mr. Prime Minister, what worries me is not the scale of this war, but the fact that in this war, the Russians are already tending to side with France.

At present, it seems that Russia is still quite afraid of the German-Austrian alliance. If they ally with France to deal with the German-Austrian alliance, it will be a very bad situation for us.

In terms of comprehensive national strength, we, France, Germany and Russia are the four most powerful countries in continental Europe. Once the Franco-Russian alliance becomes a reality, our advantage over European countries will no longer exist.

Germany still has Austria-Hungary as an ally, but we don’t have any allies on the European continent (among the great powers).

This war may have nothing to do with us, but if the next war of the same scale breaks out and this war is closely related to us, what can we do? "The Secretary of State for Colonial Affairs put forward his own point of view.

This problem is actually the essence of the UK's policy of splendid isolation and regional balance, that is, the UK maintains its dominant position over other countries as the world's number one and world hegemon.

Whether it is France, Germany or Russia, they are all slightly inferior when facing Britain.

But if the Franco-Russian alliance was established, Britain's original advantages would not be so obvious when facing Germany, Austria or France and Russia.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the overall strength of Germany, Austria, France or Russia may not be weaker than that of Britain.

If they really unite, Britain's splendid isolation will be truly isolated. This is not what Britain wants. Britain's splendid isolation is to avoid being implicated while maintaining its voice in the European situation.

But if Britain is isolated by the united European powers, not to mention the right to speak, even the British mainland may be affected.

“Germany, Austria, France, and Russia” Prime Minister Robert Gascoigne-Cecil looked at the map of Europe hanging in the conference room, and then turned his attention to the European powers outside the scope of the discourse.

Spain? Prime Minister Robert Gascoigne-Cecil shook his head decisively.

Not to mention the bad relationship between Spain and Britain, if Britain wants to form a strategic alliance with Spain, it means that its current ally Portugal will be the abandoned party.

What does it mean for Britain to give up Portugal? It means that Spain will annex Portugal. A unified Iberian Peninsula will bring about a great threat, which is something the British do not want to see.

Moreover, although Spain has achieved rapid growth in its comprehensive national strength through reforms, it has also achieved good results in industry and economy.

But the problem is that Spain has a congenital population shortage, which is the biggest flaw for a powerful country.

Other countries have a population of tens of millions, which means that the country can mobilize millions of troops. However, Spain's population is only more than 20 million, so it can only mobilize more than 2 million troops.

Prime Minister Robert Gascoigne-Cecil shifted his focus from Spain to Italy in the middle of the Mediterranean.

But soon, Prime Minister Robert Gascoigne-Cecil shook his head again.

If the rejection of Spain was due to the poor relationship between Spain and Britain, coupled with the fact that Britain was unwilling to see the merger of the Iberian Peninsula, then the rejection of Italy was simply because Italy was not strong enough.

Even though Italy has a larger population, European countries unanimously believe that Spain is the more powerful country.

Although Italy is also a great power, it will be of no use if it really faces a super war involving multiple great powers.

Looking across Europe, Prime Minister Robert Gascoigne-Cecil was dismayed to find that Britain was indeed in a rather embarrassing position.

Britain is certainly powerful, but the problem is that other powerful countries have allies. Can Britain still be powerful without allies?

This is a question worth discussing.

"What is your opinion? Should we prevent the Franco-Russian alliance from happening in this war? But if the Franco-Russian alliance is prevented, will the Russians still be a match for the German-Austrian alliance?" Prime Minister Robert Gascoigne-Cecil turned his gaze back to the Secretary of State for Colonial Affairs who put forward this point of view and continued to ask.

"For us, we may really have to prevent the Franco-Russian alliance from happening." The Secretary of State for Colonial Affairs continued: "The combined strength of the German-Austrian alliance is not that strong, and the Germans and Austrians do not have too many conflicts and competitions with us.

But the Franco-Russian alliance is different. France and Russia are both our enemies, and both countries are quite powerful. If they unite, it will not only be the Germans who will suffer, but also us.

A united Franco-Russian alliance would certainly bring us into a greater contest in Western Europe, the Mediterranean, and Central Asia, which would distract our attention and undermine our colonial plans in Africa and other regions.

The Russians have a larger population, and France has a developed economy and industry, and the two countries combined would be deadly enemies.

Rather than letting the Franco-Russian alliance dominate Europe, it is better to let the Austrians defeat the Russians. As long as this war does not affect Russia itself, the future European competition will take place between Germany, Austria and Russia. "

In fact, such matters and related opinions should be expressed by the Foreign Secretary, but this cabinet government is somewhat special.

British Prime Minister Robert Gascoigne-Cecil did not serve as Chancellor of the Exchequer, as most prime ministers would, but instead served as another important cabinet position, Foreign Secretary.

This meant that if Prime Minister Robert Gascoigne-Cecil did not pay attention to matters related to the diplomatic service, the heads of other departments would have to bring them to his attention.

After listening to what the Colonial Secretary said, Prime Minister Robert Gascoigne-Cecil finally nodded and said, "Let's do it, and do our best to prevent the Franco-Russian alliance from happening.

As for this war, we should watch its development from a neutral perspective. I do not want any other powers to join this war besides Germany and Russia. Please express my views to other countries. "

(End of this chapter)