Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 609 Europe Second
The other League of Nations members were also reasonable. If only Spain, a superpower, had given up its share of interest-free loans, even if the other League members had received more, it wouldn't have been by much.

After all, most of the share was destined to be divided up by Britain and France, and with Italy following Britain and France, other countries might not get much more.

If the three superpowers of Britain, France, and Spain were to all relinquish their share of interest-free loans, even with Italy as a major competitor, other countries would not be able to lose much of their share.

After all, Italy's voice and influence in the League of Nations are far less than those of the three superpowers mentioned above.

Other countries in the League of Nations dared not compete with the three superpowers for market share, but if it were Italy, other countries would dare to compete.

This is why, when the Spanish diplomatic representative proposed that Britain and France also abandon their competition for interest-free loans and instead allocate all the interest-free loans offered by the United States to small countries in need, the expressions of the other diplomatic representatives at the meeting changed instantly, as if they were all weighing the pros and cons.

British and French diplomatic representatives finally learned the hard way that they had shot themselves in the foot. If they rejected the proposal put forward by the Spanish diplomatic representative at this point, it would prove that they were applying double standards and were targeting Spain.

However, if the proposal put forward by the Spanish diplomatic representative is agreed to, the share of interest-free loans that Britain and France would give up would amount to at least tens of millions of pounds, which would be a considerable loss for Britain and France. Naturally, the diplomatic representatives of the two countries who caused this would also be held accountable.

Although there is no idiom like "riding a tiger and finding it hard to get off" in English and French, the diplomatic representatives of Britain and France were well aware of this feeling.

Seeing other foreign diplomats closely monitoring the situation, the British and French diplomats knew that without a clear response, this matter would not only damage their prestige but also reduce their influence within their respective power blocs.

After all, the reason why everyone follows different superpowers is to fight for more benefits under the leadership of those superpowers.

If the leader they've chosen can't bring them any benefits, even if Britain and France are long-established colonial empires, they won't be able to win over other European countries.

After a moment of silence, the British diplomatic representative spoke first, offering a compromise proposal.

The British diplomatic representative proposed that the share of interest-free loans provided by the United States should be divided into three parts and allocated to disaster-stricken countries in different situations.

The first two parts each account for 45%, or $4.5 million. The former is divided according to the industrial and economic scale of each country, and is provided to each country to rebuild its industry and revive its economy after the flu.

The latter allocates funds based on the extent of the disaster in each country, ensuring that countries severely affected by the flu have sufficient funds to purchase food and medical supplies for their people, enabling them to weather the crisis safely.

The final portion, only 10%, or about $1 million, will be provided to other affected countries outside the League of Nations, demonstrating the League's selflessness and compassion as an international organization.

In particular, for countries and regions in Asia and Africa that are not members of the international coalition but are also severely affected by the disaster, this funding will be used to purchase large quantities of food and medical supplies, which will be provided to local governments and people free of charge.

According to the method of dividing the interest-free loan proposed by the British representative, although superpowers such as Britain, France, and Spain would still take a share, it would not be so that the three countries would jointly divide up the majority, leaving only a tiny, diluted portion for other countries.

Countries with smaller industrial scale and economic size can also obtain loans of varying amounts depending on their specific disaster situation to cope with the ongoing flu pandemic.

In particular, the proposal to allocate a 10% interest-free loan quota specifically to other countries and regions outside the League of Nations that were more severely affected by disasters received strong support from many League of Nations member states.

Although the League of Nations was rife with factions, other non-powerful nations shared a common vision: that the League of Nations would truly consider the interests of all nations and peoples, rather than become a political tool for superpowers to dominate the world.

Seeing that his proposal had gained support from many countries, the British representative finally breathed a sigh of relief. If the issue of allocating the interest-free loan quotas couldn't be resolved, it might indeed come to pass that Britain, France, and Spain would completely relinquish their loan quotas, as the Spanish representative had suggested.

This is no small sum, and the British representative certainly doesn't want the British government to lose such a large amount of revenue with just a few words. This would not only completely erase his own contributions but also make him a sinner against Britain.

The French representatives also breathed a sigh of relief. While they were indeed targeting Spain, that didn't mean they didn't want the interest-free loan.

The option proposed by the British representative is indeed a relatively balanced one, which allows Britain, France, and Spain to obtain the majority of the loan in a reasonable manner, while also allowing other members of the League of Nations to share in the benefits. It can be considered a win-win situation.

More importantly, Spain has relatively few flu infections and deaths compared to other European countries.

This also means that Spain will likely receive a significantly smaller loan percentage compared to Britain and France, effectively achieving the original objectives of Britain and France. With Britain and France satisfied, and other League of Nations members also satisfied, the Spanish representative naturally couldn't voice any objections.

After all, compared to the original allocation method, the share of interest-free loans that Britain and France would receive would definitely be smaller, which could be considered a way to annoy Britain and France.

As for Spain receiving a smaller share than Britain and France, it doesn't really matter to Spain.

After all, Spain itself was not greatly affected by the flu, and the fact that it had fewer deaths was far more important than the small amount of interest-free loan provided by the United States.

While industrial production and economic development in other European countries have stagnated or even declined due to the flu, Spain's industry and economy are still able to grow positively, which is truly good news for the Spanish government.

Sure enough, when Carlo received two pieces of good news in the statistics on the total scale of Spanish industry and economic development at the end of 1918.

After the unification of the United Kingdom of Spain and Portugal into the Spanish Empire, the population of the Spanish Empire officially exceeded 5900 million at the end of 1918, making Spain the third most populous country in Europe after Russia and Germany.

In terms of population, Spain is no longer a country that lags far behind the old powers. In fact, the situation has reversed; compared to the populations of Britain and France, Spain's population size has significantly surpassed that of Britain and France, which is one of the reasons why Britain and France were quite wary of Spain.

With the rapid growth of Spain's total population, the scale of its industry and its economy have also developed extremely quickly.

In 1918, Spain's total fiscal revenue reached 41.624 billion pesetas, a significant increase compared to pre-World War II levels.
Although total fiscal expenditure reached 41.775 billion pesetas, in terms of economic size alone, Spain today is more than 1.5 times the size of the Spanish economy before World War II.

The fact that the fiscal deficit during the pandemic was only around 1550 million pesetas is another piece of good news for the Spanish government.

Of course, this was also inseparable from the contributions of the royal family. During the flu season, Carlos, on behalf of the royal family, unconditionally donated 5 million pesetas worth of supplies to the public. This donation greatly reduced the government's disaster relief spending and kept Spain's fiscal deficit within an acceptable range.

Spain's sound financial situation is also why it doesn't care about the share of interest-free loans from the United States. However, Spain is, after all, one of the superpowers, and even without competing, it is guaranteed to receive a share of interest-free loans of approximately $1 million.

Compared to Spain, the UK and France received larger shares, but not by much. The UK received $1.561 million in interest-free loans, and France received $1.327 million, which is indeed more than the shares received by Spain.

But these tens of millions of dollars in interest-free loans cannot change the fact that Britain and France suffered heavy losses in the flu. The gap between Britain and Spain will only narrow, while the gap between France and Spain will only widen.

After this flu season ends, Spain will firmly hold its position as the second strongest country in Europe and continue to challenge Britain's status as the strongest country in Europe.

Spain's strength is beyond doubt. In addition to its economic size, Spain's industrial scale is also sufficient to support it as a superpower comparable to Britain.

In 1918, Spain's annual steel production reached an astonishing 876.5 million tons, and its annual pig iron production reached 967.4 million tons, both ranking among the top three in the world.

Of course, before Spain, there were two industrial powers that were difficult to surpass: the United States and the United Kingdom.

Britain is in a better position, but Spain still has a chance to surpass it in the next few years if it works hard. Even with the impact of the flu, the industrial scale of the United States is still something Spain can hardly match in the short term.

In 1918, the estimated annual steel production in the United States was around 3500 to 4000 million tons. Although there were no exact figures, this annual steel production far exceeded that of Britain and Spain.

Even if you combine the annual steel production of Britain, Spain, and Germany, it still wouldn't reach the staggering scale of American steel production.

The United States produces more pig iron than steel, and the gap with European countries is even greater, which is why the United States is considered the most powerful industrial nation today.

The good news is that an economic crisis will soon follow this flu season. As long as Spain continues to cause trouble for Americans, its industrial and economic development will stagnate for a long time to come, and the gap between Spain and the United States will narrow.

(End of this chapter)