Chapter 302: Pan-iberianism
The three places where the United Kingdom is willing to concede, apart from the Trucial States, are the remaining two that Carlo does not want.
In the previous conflict over Borneo, Spain has already occupied the Kutai Sultanate. If it expands further south, Spain will take over all Dutch land on Borneo.
In this way, the situation on Borneo changes from Spanish and Dutch colonial competition, with the United Kingdom staying out of it, to direct competition between the United Kingdom and Spain.
Carlo does not want to have colonial competition with the United Kingdom in such a distant place; just the time required to travel back and forth between the mainland and Borneo is already a considerable expense.
The same applies to New Guinea. The reason Carlo sent colonial teams from the Philippine Colony to join the colonization of New Guinea is to delay the speed of other great powers colonizing New Guinea.
Now Spain’s colonization of New Guinea has already been very effective. With British support, it would not be an exaggeration to take half of New Guinea.
But the problem is that New Guinea and Borneo share the same awkward situation: they are too far from the Spanish Mainland.
Moreover, with the small Spanish population, Carlo has no plans to develop these lands in the short term.
Maintaining these colonies also requires huge expenditure, so what Carlo truly values is only the United Kingdom’s third condition, the Trucial States.
However, Spain’s emphasis on the Trucial States cannot be shown directly; it needs to adopt a compromise that appears somewhat helpless to obtain this region.
If Spain actively demands this region, the British will suspect Spain’s motives. If the British discover the large oil fields on the Middle East Peninsula, Spain at this time cannot hold onto the Middle East land it has already occupied.
Only by passively accepting this land will the British not suspect the motives of the Spanish Government, allowing Spain to accumulate strength to protect this land.
As long as it can survive World War I, Spain after World War I will absolutely have the ability to hold onto this land. At that time, the European Powers that have experienced the World War will not recover their vitality in the short term; even the powerful British Empire will be unable to launch another great power-level war.
Carlo did not meet with the British Ambassador for long, only confirming that Spain and the United Kingdom should maintain rational and concessional attitudes toward the conflict over land in Southern Congo.
As for what compensation the British should pay afterward, that is something the Spanish Government should negotiate with the British.
Although Spain and the United Kingdom have reached a compromise on the ownership of land in Southern Congo, regarding Portugal, both sides tacitly did not mention it.
Do not think that the compromise between the two countries seems to indicate a trend of repairing relations; in fact, both the British Government and the Spanish Government understand that such a compromise is merely a helpless measure.
After the compromise is reached, the next step will be for both countries’ governments to pull the Portuguese Government closer as their main policy.
The British side does not want to see Portugal lean toward Spain, while Spain must seize the opportunity to continue driving a wedge between Portugal and the United Kingdom.
After long negotiations between the British Government and the Spanish Government, both sides finally reached a compromise on the issue of land in Southern Congo.
The Ruanda Kingdom and Bunda Kingdom that Portugal has already obtained still belong to Portugal, which also fulfills the proposal reached during the colonial exchange between Portugal and Spain at that time.
Spain obtains the Kuba Kingdom in the north of the Ruanda Kingdom, and Portugal obtains the Luba Kingdom in the east of the Ruanda Kingdom; this serves as another form of compensation for Portugal.
As for the most critical Barotseland Kingdom, Mwata Kazembe Kingdom, Kingdom of Malawi, and Kingdom of Yeke, they were taken by the British to build the Cairo-Cape Town Line in their plan.
To compensate Spain, the United Kingdom also needs to cede the Trucial States and allow Spanish merchants and immigrants free access to land in Southern Congo.
Of course, the same applies to the Portuguese. This also gives the Portuguese Government a bit of face, so that the Portuguese Government does not get nothing at all.
After the two countries reach a consensus, the debate at the Berlin Conference over land in Southern Congo also quickly ends.
This debate was originally caused by the competition between the United Kingdom and Spain; since the competition between the two countries no longer exists, there is naturally no need to discuss this issue.
The other great powers have not interfered at all with the compromise reached by the United Kingdom and Spain; they will not offend the United Kingdom and Spain over such a minor matter.
After the first issue ends, the Berlin Conference soon welcomes the second issue, which is the issue concerning Guinea Africa.
European Countries all have their own colonial plans for Africa, and at the Berlin Conference, each country put forward its own colonial plan, many of which have conflicting aspects.
To avoid conflicts among great power countries in African colonization, German Chancellor Bismarck proposed regulations on effective occupation.
The so-called effective occupation means that when participating countries establish colonies or protectorates on African coastal land in the future, they must notify other countries participating in the conference so that other countries can raise their own demands.
At the same time, to establish colonies, countries must ensure they possess ruling strength capable of protecting the existing rights of European Countries and ensure compliance with freedom of trade and transit under specified conditions when necessary; only by following the above conditions is it considered effective occupation, that is, a so-called legitimate colony.
Such legitimate colonies will be recognized by all participating countries, and no country may sabotage other countries’ legitimate colonies or must respect other countries’ spheres of influence.
The effective occupation principle proposed by Chancellor Bismarck received support from many European Countries, but for the British Government, such a proposal has a significant impact.
It is well known that the country currently occupying the most African land is the British Empire.
While other countries’ occupation of Africa is still limited to the coast, the United Kingdom has already established the Cape Colony and Egyptian Colony and has penetrated deep into the inland Sudan of Africa.
If following the effective occupation principle proposed by Chancellor Bismarck, in fact, the United Kingdom’s existing three major African colonies do not meet the requirements of legitimate colonies.
Although no unwise country would engage in colonial competition with the United Kingdom in these three places, this nominal illegality will always restrict the British Empire.
The already occupied Egypt, South Africa, and Sudan region are fine; the United Kingdom has formed effective rule, and other countries also find it difficult to sabotage the United Kingdom’s colonies.
But in other places on the African Continent, the United Kingdom will be on the same level as other countries; everyone needs to establish legitimate colonies to confirm their ruling position.
This also means that the United Kingdom will face direct competition from the European Powers led by Germany and France, and the African coasts not yet under colonial rule will also see even more intense colonization and contention.
Even though the British representatives argue forcefully, they cannot refute the effective occupation principle supported by multiple countries.
Germany and France both see benefits in it; with the support of these two great powers, Germany and France, the United Kingdom cannot prevent the effective occupation principle from being included in the treaty unless it gains support from great powers of the same level.
But the problem is that Russia, due to conflicts with the United Kingdom in Central Asia, is impossible to support the United Kingdom.
And the Austro-Hungarian Empire is Germany’s ally; the Austro-Hungarian Empire cannot betray its ally to support the United Kingdom.
The remaining Spain and Italy are even less likely to support the United Kingdom; the former just had a colonial conflict with the United Kingdom, and it has only been a few days since the conflict was resolved. The latter has no interests linked with the United Kingdom at all, and Italy is also a powerful country in colonizing Africa.
Unknowingly, the United Kingdom has already fallen into an isolated and helpless situation at the Berlin Conference.
The final result is also obvious: the British representatives simply cannot prevent the effective occupation principle from being included in the treaty, and they can only seek more clauses favorable to the United Kingdom.
Carlo only paid slight attention to the situation at the Berlin Conference after the Spanish Government and British Government reached an agreement, and then no longer concerned himself with the conference’s negotiations.
The partition of Africa still requires long negotiations, after all, it involves multiple great powers and European Countries; no one wants the fat meat in their mouths to be snatched by others.
This conference is estimated to end at the earliest by year’s end, and if slow, it may even drag into next year before there are results.
For Carlo, he is not in a hurry to wait for the Berlin Conference to end. In this colonial conflict event, Carlo has already achieved his purpose and can be considered to have reaped a full harvest.
Regarding the Trucial States, Carlo temporarily does not plan to send troops to conquer.
Anyway, the British have already promised that Spain can colonize this land; conquering it early or late is the same, as before the discovery of petroleum, this land has no value.
Taking this land later can also let the British see Spain’s reluctance, and their defenses against Spain occupying the Trucial States will naturally lower.
According to the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau’s attention to the situation in Portugal, to date, the relationship between Portugal and the United Kingdom can be said to have been severely damaged.
The Berlin Conference has been going on for several months, and Portugal still sees outbreaks of public parades from time to time. Portuguese people hold banners saying “Resist British colonial extortion” and march grandly through the streets and alleys of Portugal.
Such parades have gained support from many Portuguese, and even overnight, many opposition parties against the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance have emerged in Portugal.
These Portuguese believe that the so-called Anglo-Portuguese Alliance seriously damages the relationship that should have been united between Portugal and Spain; this is the United Kingdom’s forcible intervention in the Iberian Peninsula.
Before the United Kingdom seized Portugal’s Southern Congo colony, the United Kingdom had already forcibly taken Spain’s Gibraltar; it has a precedent.
The Portuguese Government cannot trust the United Kingdom anymore and should keep its distance from the British Government to prevent Portugal’s colonies from being further annexed by the United Kingdom.
In this conflict event, Carlo, as King of Spain, publicly supported Portugal’s attitude, winning the favor of many Portuguese, which has also led many Portuguese to begin supporting Iberianism, the so-called Iberian union idea.
Iberianism, also known as Pan-Iberianism, previously mainly existed in Spain and is now widely spread in Portugal.
Iberianism was first proposed by Spanish hawkish nationalists, with the purpose of unifying the Iberian Peninsula and incorporating Portugal into Spain’s sphere of influence.
After entering Portugal, Portuguese intellectuals made certain modifications to its ideas, but it is roughly the idea of Portugal and Spain uniting to form a federation.
Portuguese scholars supporting Iberianism believe that relying solely on Portugal’s strength makes it hard to contend with great powers like the United Kingdom. Only by Spain and Portugal uniting to form a powerful Iberian Federation can they counter external interference factors like the United Kingdom.
These scholars have high cultural levels; they do not speak without basis but provide a lot of data proving the power of the Iberian Federation.
If Spain and Portugal really form a federation, this federation will have a population exceeding 27 million and will almost exclusively occupy the entire Iberian Peninsula.
This new country will have the world’s fifth-largest army, the world’s fifth-largest navy, and the world’s second-largest colonies, with industry and economy levels also in the world’s top five.
In this way, the traditional Five Great Powers of Europe will become the six great powers of Europe, and even the comprehensive strength of this Iberian Federation will surpass the Austro-Hungarian Empire, becoming a true first-class power.
The various data proposed by Iberianists in Portugal are quite reasonable, and the strength displayed by this so-called Iberian Federation is even quite exaggerated.
Precisely because of this, Iberianism has instantly become a highly regarded ideology in Portugal. Many famous literati have expressed support for this ism, and under the background of the Portuguese Government and Royal Family being weak and incompetent, supporting Iberianism seems to have become a trend.
Under such a major background, Portugal has newly established many parties related to Iberianism.
Among these parties, two have already developed to a certain scale: the Greater Iberian Party and the Federal Party.
The Greater Iberian Party was founded by those Portuguese literati supporting Iberianism and has currently gained support from the Portuguese literary world.
The Federal Party was established by opposition parties in the Portuguese political arena; their desire to establish a Portugal-Spain federation is not that strong, more like riding this wave to pull in more Portuguese public support for themselves.
The rising Iberianism in the country gives the Portuguese Government a great headache. Upon hearing the news, Louis I’s face turned ashen; he suspects that the intellectuals continuously emerging in Portugal supporting the federation might be funded by Spain.
But the problem is, without any evidence, he cannot arbitrarily hold the Spanish Government accountable.
At most, he can only have the government arrest these supporters of Iberianism, but doing so sometimes only brews greater trouble.
Currently, the wave of parades in Portugal has not cooled down; if it is revealed that the Portuguese Government forcibly arrests Iberianists, it will only reignite the public’s parade wave.
The public’s disappointment with the government and Royal Family in this event is already overflowing; if Louis I does something foolish again, it is really uncertain whether radicalists among the public will forcibly push a revolution to promote the formation of the federation.
Do not think those intellectuals keep shouting about the benefits of forming a federation; Louis I understands that as long as Spain and Portugal form a federation, the Portuguese Government will lose all right to speak.
King Carlo of Spain is still very capable; if he annexes Portugal, Portugal may not be able to find an opportunity to become independent again like the last time it was annexed.
