Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 351: Franco-Russian Secret Talks
After the peace talks between Austria-Hungary and Serbia ended, the peace talks between Germany and Russia also ended quickly.

The Germans eventually extorted 2000 million marks in reparations from Russia, a sum the Russians had to pay whether they wanted to or not.

However, there is also good news for the Russians. The French ambassador has talked with the Russian government and expressed that France is willing to provide Russia with a large loan to help Russia restore post-war order more quickly.

Although neither Germany nor Russia fought with real weapons in this war, the hundreds of thousands of troops mobilized could not be faked.

The reason for mobilizing so many troops is, on the one hand, to test the other side's investment in the war, and on the other hand, to prevent the other side from quickly mobilizing its troops and then engaging in a real fight.

It turned out that the Russians' large-scale mobilization was very effective.

If so many troops had not been mobilized, the defenders in Poland alone would not have been able to resist the attack of the German-Austrian coalition forces.

If the Germans broke through the defense line, it would be a huge disaster for Russia.

The main reason why Russia has been able to defend its territory from the Napoleonic era to the present is that Russia is too cold in winter, and other countries are simply not adapted to fighting in Eastern Europe in winter.

The Russians have long adapted to such a cold climate, and their capital, St. Petersburg, is even close to the Arctic Circle.

You should know that the northeastern region of a certain country, which was later known for its coldness, was not as northern as St. Petersburg in terms of longitude and latitude.

This also shows how cold Russia is, and it also reflects the importance of the Ukrainian Plains and the Polish Plains to Russia.

Especially the Ukrainian plains, which provide Russia with a large amount of food and are also the guarantee for Russia to maintain a population of over 100 million.

The war broke out just after winter and ended in summer. If Serbia had not been defeated too early, Russia would not have had a good time on the front battlefield.

After all, the temperature in Eastern Europe in the summer is still relatively high, and the German and Austrian armies are very adapted to fighting in such an environment. Without the severe cold environment restricting logistical supplies, the combat effectiveness of the German and Austro-Hungarian armies would not be weakened.

The peace treaty signed between Germany and Russia was not harsh. In addition to the war reparations of up to 2000 million marks, Russia did not need to pay any other price, which was why they agreed to the peace treaty.

The situation in Europe became lively after the war. The connections between the great powers attracted the attention of various countries, and everyone was waiting for the formation and confrontation of two major military groups.

Not to disappoint European countries, France and Russia soon strengthened their ties.

On June 1889, 6, the plenipotentiary ambassador representing Tsar Alexander III met with the French government in Paris. The two sides held secret talks for several days and finally signed an unknown agreement under the reports of media from various countries.

The contents of the agreement were largely confidential, but some details were leaked.

Mainly, these contents have nothing to do with military affairs. Even if economic matters are kept strictly confidential, they cannot be concealed for long.

The leaked agreement mainly includes loans from France to Russia. Although the exact amount is unknown, the total amount of the loan is at least 2 million francs, or about 1000 million pounds.

This is not a small amount, enough for Russia to form a strong navy and army. From this aspect, we can also see the strength of France's assistance to Russia. They are sincere about concluding an alliance with Russia and really want to make Russia a stronger country to help themselves distract Germany's attention.

Of course, considering the high level of corruption within the Russian government, France also made requirements on the scope of use of the loan when issuing this loan to the Russian government.

One-third of the loan will be used to purchase food and other supplies from France to reduce the agricultural crisis after Russia's food production was affected.

The other two-thirds are used for military development, including purchasing weapons and equipment, building a navy, expanding the size of the standing army, etc.

Although the war did not last long, some shortcomings of the Russian army were fully exposed.

The biggest disadvantage is that the Russian Army's weapons and equipment are relatively backward. In an era when breech-loading rifles were everywhere, some Russian troops even used muzzle-loading rifles as standard weapons.

The reasons for this problem are, on the one hand, that Russia's military industry cannot keep up with the needs of the army, and on the other hand, that Russia's finances are not sufficient to support a comprehensive replacement of the army.

Russia has an army that is much larger than that of other countries, which also earns it the title of Europe's bulldozer and makes it feared by other countries.

But a larger army size not only means a larger military budget, but also means additional military expenditure when weapons and equipment are updated.

With Spain's growing and prosperous economy, it would take more than a year to replace the weapons and equipment of its 20-strong regular army.

Not to mention Russia, whose economy is even worse. Replacing weapons and equipment for its standing army of more than 60 troops would be a death sentence for Russia's finances.

Moreover, Russia has experienced many wars in recent years, and the military expenditure has made Russia suffer.

If it weren't for the previous Russo-Turkish War, Russia's weapons and equipment would not even be as advanced as they are now. The French naturally understood the financial situation of the Russian government, and they required that at least 1000 million pounds of the 200 million pounds loan be used to replace the Russian army's equipment to prevent the Russian army's combat effectiveness from continuously decreasing.

Naturally, Russia's plenipotentiary ambassador kept nodding in agreement to the French government's request.

The money was originally paid by the French, so it is only natural for them to ask Russia how to use it. Moreover, replacing the army's weapons and equipment is also a good thing for Russia. After the replacement, Russia will be the real bulldozer of Europe.

In order to show his sincerity to his allies, this loan of up to 1000 million pounds was interest-free. This was also the reason why Tsar Alexander III sent a plenipotentiary diplomatic representative and was eager to conclude an alliance treaty with France.

There was no other way, as France was too rich at that time. Although France was not as wealthy as Britain, the British had a lot of money to invest in factories and companies in Britain, while French capital did not have too many related worries.

Compared with investing in French companies, French capital prefers to lend money to other countries and then earn interest on the loans.

At that time, France was known as the usury empire. There were countless countries that had received loans from France. Even Spain had loan cooperation with France.

Needless to say, Spain was a golden client in the eyes of French capital at that time. Because of the rapid growth of Spain's domestic economy and industry, these French capitals poured into Spain for investment and soon made a lot of money with interest. In addition, because Spain and France were neighbors, these French capitals were not opposed to investing in Spain, and even rushed to participate in some of Spain's engineering construction.

It is no exaggeration to say that the rapid development of Spain's economy is absolutely inseparable from the help of French capital behind the scenes.

In fact, it cannot be blamed on French capital for not investing in French companies. The main reason is that the French government has changed too frequently, which has seriously affected the implementation of some of its policies.

Only when the political situation is stable can there be more prosperous economic and industrial growth. Obviously, compared with the politically unstable France, Spain is the more stable country.

The Spanish government is also paying close attention to the influx of French capital. Currently, the industries most popular with French capital are agriculture, chemical industry and machinery production, and French capital has invested hundreds of millions of francs in these three industries.

French capital's investment in agriculture is mainly concentrated in the vegetable and fruit industries, which is also a characteristic of Spain.

Currently, Spain's total vegetable production accounts for one-fifth of Europe's total production, and its total fruit production accounts for one-third of Europe's total production. It is Europe's most important exporter of vegetables and fruits.

In terms of olive and olive oil production, Spain accounts for 35% and 42% of Europe's total production respectively, and this scale is constantly growing.

It is no exaggeration to say that half of the olives and olive oil on the European market come from Spain, which is why Spain is known as the kingdom of vegetables and fruits.

In terms of citrus fruits, Spain's total production accounts for nearly half of Europe's total production. The citrus fruits produced in Spain are famous for their sweet taste and fragrant aroma, and are sold well in Europe and even America.

Pepsi and Coca-Cola, in which Carlo invested, have also launched citrus and lemon flavors. These unique-flavored sodas are also popular in Europe and even have related branches opened in America.

Spain's vegetable and fruit industry has been able to reach such a scale, on the one hand, due to the agricultural development of the West African colonies, which transformed local land from grain cultivation to vegetable and fruit cultivation; and on the other hand, due to various policy supports and subsidies from the local government, as well as the huge investment of French capital.

Because Spain's vegetable and fruit production accounts for half of Europe's total production, Spanish fruit and vegetable export companies also have a great say in the prices of vegetables and fruits.

This almost monopolistic position can earn several times more money than a non-monopolistic enterprise, which is why the French are willing to invest.

It is worth mentioning that after French capital invested in the vegetable and fruit industry in Spain, it then shipped the vegetables and fruits produced in Spain back to France for sale.

Although France has a fairly good agricultural scale, due to its larger population, it cannot compare with Spain in terms of per capita vegetable and fruit production.

Coupled with various publicity from French capital, Spanish-produced fruits have become more popular in France.

Thanks to French capital's publicity for money, Spanish wine has rapidly expanded its market in France and gradually entered the daily lives of the French people.

Carlo not only did not reject the French capital's heavy investment in Spain, but warmly welcomed it.

In fact, if the French were not also interested in Morocco, there would be a great possibility of an alliance between France and Spain.

Spain can be a strong backing for France, and France can also help Spain better build the Iberian fortress.

If France were an ally of Spain, the geographical advantage of the Iberian Peninsula where Spain is located would be infinitely enhanced, and other countries that wanted to attack Spain would only be able to do so through sea landing.

Landing at sea has never been an easy task, not to mention that Spain's army and navy construction have achieved certain results.

If you want to invade Spain from the sea, in addition to having a stronger navy than Spain, you must also have a stronger army than Spain.

The navy suppressed the Spanish navy, so the army had the opportunity to land on the coast. Every landing on the coast would cost a lot of casualties, and even Britain and Germany might not be able to complete this task 100%.

The reason why Spain has been slow to express its position is that it is actually waiting to be won over by the Franco-Russian Alliance and the German-Austrian Alliance.

As a country with a strong navy and army, Spain has room for choice. Spain can even remain neutral. As long as Spain does not want to participate in European affairs, no country can force Spain to take a stand.

If France could provide Spain with a large amount of financial and industrial technology support, and express its willingness to give up its claims on Morocco and support Spain's annexation of Morocco, Carlo would really not mind concluding a series of cooperation treaties with France.

After all, if Spain is on the side of Germany and Austria, it means that if it wants to take over Morocco, it must face the double pressure from Britain and France.

Although the main forces of Britain and France are restrained by the German-Austrian alliance, if Spain also comes to the fore, Britain and France may focus on Spain first.

As for Italy, which has gone through many twists and turns in history, Carlo does not have much hope.

Even though Carlo was born into the Italian royal family, he still did not dare to be sure that Italy would join Germany and Austria in the war. If it were the current Italian King Umberto I, perhaps Italy would still be the more determined side.

Unfortunately, Carlo's brother did not reign long and did not survive until the outbreak of World War I. His son, Carlo's nephew, was not as resolute as his father, which was why Italy repeatedly jumped back and forth during World War I.

Of course, even if Italy had not been so reckless, its role in the war would have been very limited.

When Carlo considers the two major military blocs in Europe, he generally only considers the situation between France and Russia and Germany and Austria.

Although Britain is strong, it did not contribute much in the early stages. The two countries that really contributed were actually France and Germany, which were the two most powerful land forces in the European continent.

If we look at it from a historical perspective, Spain has a good chance of winning if it joins both sides.

As the victors in history, the Allies certainly have a better chance of winning. If Spain joins France and Russia, it can drag Germany to death even if it means delaying the war.

If we join Germany, we can only defeat Russia first and then focus on France to hope of winning the war.

(End of this chapter)