Chapter 262: Colony Swap
From 1869 to 1880, over these 11 years, the status of the Cuban Colony underwent earth-shaking changes.
During the Bourbon Dynasty period, Cuba was Spain’s most important colony and one of the main sources of Spain’s fiscal revenue.
The Spanish Mainland at that time was not developed, although it had a certain scale of industry and economy, most of the tax revenue was intercepted by nobles and lower-level governments.
A large number of farmers were dependent on the nobles’ land, the nobles directly levied land rent and agricultural tax from these farmers, and the church also collected an additional tithe.
The consequence of doing so not only caused the Spanish Government to be unable to obtain sufficient fiscal revenue, but also burdened the Spanish people with several mountains, their living conditions were miserable beyond description, and their living standards were terribly poor.
After Prime Minister Primó’s reforms and two five-year plans, the situation on the Spanish Mainland improved greatly, and the fiscal revenue from the Cuban Colony was no longer so important.
Some time has passed since the last proposal to exchange the Cuban Colony, and from the current reactions of government officials and parliament, this matter is not impossible to promote.
As long as the Cuban Colony can be exchanged for some land that is fairly valuable, or land with strategic value, it can appease the emotions of the public.
As for the opinions of government officials and members of parliament, they can be ignored in certain situations. After all, when Prime Minister Cánovas and King Carlo’s opinions are completely consistent, other officials and members of parliament have no right to hold other opinions.
With the popularity of electricity and the construction of trams, the Second Industrial Revolution is also in full swing. The emerging great powers led by Germany and the United States will rapidly enhance their comprehensive national strength in the Second Industrial Revolution, and the United States’ ambition for Cuba will also continue to expand.
Although Spain’s comprehensive national strength is also constantly growing, in the end, its potential is still not as good as that of the United States, a country with an area of millions of square kilometers and a population of tens of millions.
Although Carlo is not afraid of Americans’ coveting of Cuba, as the saying goes, there are only a thousand days to be a thief, but no thousand days to guard against thieves. For this hot potato of Cuba, when it’s time to let go, it should be let go.
More importantly, this is still in the early stage of European powers partitioning Africa, and there are many colonies of extremely high value in the world that have not yet been discovered for their value.
If the Cuban Colony can be exchanged at this time, Spain has hope of getting some important colonies in Africa, and also hope of getting some land in the Middle East region.
Africa is relatively close to the Spanish Mainland, and some colonies have hope of connecting with Spain’s existing South Morocco Colony, Congo Territory, and Guinea Colony into one piece, which is also a good choice for Spain.
The land in the Middle East goes without saying. As the land with the richest petroleum in the world, as long as Spain can obtain a piece of land in the Middle East region, Spain will have no troubles in petroleum in the future.
Petroleum is the most important strategic material for the next 100 or even 200 years. The more petroleum Spain holds in its hands, the more initiative Spain will have in the future international situation.
Of course, it also needs sufficient military strength to guard these lands with petroleum. After all, there is a quite famous saying in posterity: petroleum breeds the US military.
If small countries discover oil fields, it is often not a good thing. Not only will the oil fields be occupied by great powers, but even their own country’s internal affairs will be interfered with by other great powers.
If the Cuban Colony is to be exchanged, then Carlo’s target is only these two regions: Africa and the Middle East.
There are not many countries with colonies in Africa and the Middle East. The ones that can actually reach a deal with Spain are only Britain and France, the two colonial powers, plus Portugal, this already weakened colonial empire.
Although Britain has large colonies in Africa, important colonial areas like the Cape Colony, the British will absolutely not let go.
Although the Cuban Colony has certain economic value, it is obviously not worth such attention from the British. If exchanging colonies with the British, the areas that can be obtained are basically concentrated in West Africa, including the British Gambia Colony, British Sierra Leone Colony, and British Gold Coast.
Of course, what the British can offer is not only these small colonies, but also the Middle East region with equally high economic value.
Theoretically, the Middle East region is still in the hands of the Ottoman Empire, but Britain’s infiltration into the Middle East region has already taken shape.
As early as 1861, Britain signed a treaty with Bahrain in the Middle East region, and Bahrain thereby became Britain’s protectorate.
With Bahrain as a transit station, Britain can exert greater influence on the Middle East region, and has hope of fully taking over the Ottoman Empire’s sphere of influence in the Middle East after the Ottoman Empire completely weakens.
No country in the Middle East region can compete with Britain for colonies, after all, this land is not far from Britain’s core colony India.
The three countries with strength to compete with Britain, France, Germany, and Russia, are obviously out of reach; their hands cannot stretch here.
If considering the benefits brought by the Middle East region, exchanging with the British is obviously the most beneficial. The British can provide more conditions, even including mining rights in Australia and so on.
Australia has extremely rich mineral resources, including coal mines, iron ore, and other metal minerals needed by industry.
Although Spain domestically also has coal and iron mines, the overall scale is not large, unable to support an industrial power with extremely high production volume.
This is also the reason why Carlo wants to continuously expand colonies, because the existing scale and potential of the Spanish Mainland cannot confront superpowers like Britain, France, and Germany.
The colonies that France can exchange with Spain are not much different in scale from Portugal, and the probability of France abandoning West African colonies is extremely low, basically impossible to reach cooperation with Spain.
This actually means that Spain has only two choices: either cooperate with the British to get land in West Africa and the Middle East, or cooperate with the Portuguese to obtain the Kingdom of Congo controlled by the Portuguese.
Although the Kingdom of Congo can connect with Spain’s Congo Territory into one piece, its actual value is definitely not as high as the British West African colonies plus Middle East land combined.
Moreover, Portugal’s comprehensive strength is even worse, which may prompt the United States to launch a war for the Cuban Colony even earlier.
If the United States rises too early, it will be even more difficult to deal with this trouble in the future. It is better to cooperate with the British, let the British get Cuba, and the United States also has to weigh whether it has the confidence to challenge the British Empire.
In the case where the United States cannot obtain the Cuban Colony, rising becomes even more difficult. Carlo is not afraid of Americans eyeing the Philippines. Although the Philippines is separated from the Spanish Mainland by tens of thousands of miles, it is also not close to the US mainland.
The Philippine Colony is about 11,000 kilometers from the US West Coast, and Borneo is also about 11,000 kilometers from the Spanish East Coast.
This is not like Cuba at America’s doorstep. If the United States wants to cross the ocean to occupy the Philippine Colony, Carlo doesn’t mind letting the Americans feel the changes in Spain since the Industrial Revolution.
Anyway, the current United States is still a soft persimmon, not posing too great a threat to European powers. After World War I, when the United States gains certain benefits, it will not be so easy to treat it as a soft persimmon.
After comprehensive consideration, Carlo is more willing to cooperate with the British to complete the colonial exchange.
From the historical development of Britain’s colonies, it can also be seen that the British’ main purpose for developing African colonies is to complete the connection between the Egypt and South African colonies.
In the end, the British did complete the connection of the northern and southern African colonies, and this vast colony does not include West Africa, which also means that in the eyes of the British, the colonies in West Africa are not that important.
Although there is a high probability of obtaining Britain’s colonies in West Africa, this does not mean there are no downsides.
Currently, the three major powers colonizing in West Africa are Britain, France, and Spain.
If Spain fully takes over Britain’s West African colonies, it also means that in the future, the colonial competition in West Africa will only be left with France and Spain.
A tripod may be relatively stable, but two countries competing will surely hurt one. If Spain wants to complete the integration of West African colonies, it must directly face the pressure brought by the French.
Historically, Britain did complete the connection from Egypt to South African colonies, but the French are not without results.
France obtained large colonies in West Africa and North Africa. Although much of the land here is desert, the total area of the colonies and the amount of mineral resources are enough to rank second among great powers except for Britain’s colonies.
It is known that during World War I, the German Empire, the world’s second strongest power, only obtained a small piece of worthless colony in the competition for African colonies.
This is enough to prove the fierceness of African colonization; a slight mistake could lead to a colonial war between Spain and France.
The good news is that before the Three Emperors Alliance breaks, France does not dare to fall out with Spain.
Once Spain is forced to lean towards the Three Emperors Alliance, what France faces will be the complete blockade of the European Continent against France.
And how long until the Three Emperors Alliance breaks? Historically, the Three Emperors Alliance broke in 1887, but in this world, it may not be so.
The Russo-Turkish War greatly damaged the relationship between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia, and the post-war peace negotiations greatly damaged the relationship between Germany and Russia.
With the signing of the alliance between Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Russia instead became an outsider in the Three Emperors Alliance.
The French naturally also saw the possibility of the Three Emperors Alliance breaking, and the French Government is constantly drawing in Russia, trying to form the Franco-Russian Alliance to confront the German-Austrian Alliance.
However, the current Russian Government obviously has not made up its mind yet. On one hand, they are contacting French capital, on the other hand, they have not broken the treaties with Germany and Austria, which also keeps the so-called Three Emperors Alliance existing, and Europe’s situation remains peaceful.
Since it has been determined to exchange colonies with the British, the next thing to do is naturally some public opinion layout before the colonial exchange.
Spain cannot directly approach the British Government to discuss colonial exchange; this will surely arouse the British Government’s vigilance and suspicion.
To exchange colonies, there must be a seemingly quite reasonable reason. This not only allows the British to safely negotiate with the Spanish Government, but also appeases the Spanish people, ensuring that losing the Cuban Colony does not cause public outrage.
The best reason to prompt the Spanish Government to abandon the Cuban Colony is that rebellions in the Cuban Colony are constant, making the Spanish Government overwhelmed and actively choosing to abandon it.
Although this is a very good reason, when spreading the news, a degree must also be grasped.
Originally, Spain is actively abandoning the Cuban Colony. If the spread news is too serious, it will inevitably make the British Government sit on the ground and raise the price, leading to fewer benefits for Spain.
To ensure the smooth exchange of colonies, Carlo even actively convened a cabinet meeting, requiring close cooperation between the diplomatic department and the colonial affairs department to promote the exchange of the Cuban Colony.
Of course, before exchanging the Cuban Colony, what Spain has to do is to absorb as much population supporting Spain from the Cuban Colony as possible.
Although most people in the Cuban Colony want independence, there is still a small portion of Spanish immigrants willing to continue to submit to Spain’s rule.
Under Spain’s rule, safety in Cuba can still be guaranteed. But if independent, Cuba with a population barely over a million has no resistance against other great powers.
Spain’s colonial rule is indeed cruel, but this does not mean that colonial rule in other European countries is kind.
If complete independence of Cuba cannot be guaranteed, a considerable portion of Spanish-descended immigrants would rather continue to stay in Spain’s embrace. At least in Spain’s colonial system, they can become first-class citizens, and their interests can be sufficiently guaranteed.
Although they are all European immigrants, in different countries, different immigrants have different treatments.
Take the United States as an example. In peacetime, whether British, German, French, Russian, or Italian immigrants, everyone is white and naturally treated equally.
But in wartime, immigrants from countries at war with the United States will also face certain discrimination and targeting domestically in the United States.
German immigrants to the United States during World War I and II received such treatment, and their conditions compared to other white immigrants could be considered miserable.
Of course, no matter the period, whites’ treatment is always better than other races.
The reason some whites choose to immigrate abroad is precisely that they can enjoy first-class citizen treatment in foreign countries. This era is quite cruel for black people; even the laws of various colonies and immigrant countries basically do not protect black people’s interests.
Even black slaves who gain free status, their interests still will not be protected.
This can be seen from posterity. Even in the 21st century, white police can still shoot black people with impunity.
As long as the incident is not fermented by public opinion, white police not only will not receive any punishment, but even have hope of getting a few days of paid vacation.
But black police are completely different. As soon as an incident of a black police shooting a white person erupts, it will soon turn into a political event sweeping the entire United States.
It’s like this in posterity, let alone this chaotic era. In 1880s America, whites killing black people is very common, especially those powerful white families; killing a few black people won’t be punished.
As for black people killing whites in retaliation, that is absolutely impossible. Because at this time in the United States, the government from top to bottom enforces racial segregation policy.
Black people can only live in remote countryside and chaotic slums; black figures are rarely seen in prosperous cities.
Even if black people are seen in prosperous New York, these black people are absolutely the lowest status batch. Compared to the highest status people in the black community, slaves serving whites as oxen and horses are easier to enter big cities.
In the case where members of parliament, capitalists, and government officials in the United States are basically whites, the treatment and situation of American black people can be imagined.
After Carlo and Prime Minister Cánovas determined the policy of exchanging the Cuban Colony, none of the cabinet officials stood up to oppose.
They are not fools and know whose power they hold in their hands. If such a proposal was put forward by cabinet members, it would be fine, at least proving they are qualified to refute and debate.
But such a proposal is personally put forward by the prime minister and the king. Even if other cabinet members do not support this idea, they cannot stop it from happening.
Moreover, as early as the last discussion, the Spanish Cabinet Government maintained a quite ambiguous attitude towards exchanging the Cuban Colony.
There are indeed cabinet members who clearly oppose, but not many. More cabinet ministers maintain an ambiguous attitude. As long as they are not responsible for this matter, they don’t mind going with the flow and agreeing with the prime minister and king’s decision.
After the Spanish Government made the decision, various public opinion institutions also took action.
First, on the Cuban Government side, some Spanish opponents need to be allowed to plan resistance activities.
Of course, such resistance activities need to be kept within a certain scale, at least not affecting the Cuban Colony.
If a large-scale rebellion erupts in Cuba during this period, even if the colony can ultimately be successfully exchanged, the value of the Cuban Colony will definitely be greatly discounted.
