Chapter 300: The Premature Berlin Conference
On the day after British Prime Minister Gladstone met with the Portuguese Ambassador, the British Ambassador to Spain urgently requested an audience with King Carlo of Spain to discuss the Portuguese colony incident.
Rather than calling it a discussion, it was more like the British side holding Spain accountable for its attitude.
Yes, accountability.
Although the British Ambassador’s attitude was not as arrogant as when facing Portugal, he also expressed his tough side.
The British Ambassador said a lot, with the general meaning being that the Cairo to Cape Town Line was Britain’s most important colonial plan in Africa, and no country was allowed to interfere or sabotage it.
The underlying meaning between the lines was that if Spain decided to side with Portugal and sabotage Britain’s colonial plan, there might be a war between Spain and Britain.
Of course, Carlo did not accept the British people’s threatening attitude. Although the British were indeed very powerful, there was nothing for Spain to fear.
Spain now had the confidence to flip the table with other great powers, and no great power wanted to completely break with Spain.
After all, there were many great powers on the European Continent, and fighting Spain would only cause serious injury, with other great powers picking up the benefits.
After learning that Carlo would not make any concessions on this matter, the British Ambassador’s face also showed a trace of dissatisfaction and indignation.
In his view, as the world’s most powerful country, the British Empire deserved some face even from a great power like Spain.
However, Carlo was after all the King of Spain, and even though the other side had already stood on the opposite side of the British Government, the British Ambassador did not dare to provoke Carlo with any actions or words.
The implications of the royal family and the government in Europe were different. Provoking the government was just competition at the national level, but provoking the king would mean standing against the monarchy.
The European Royal Family itself had ties like broken bones connected by tendons; everyone was family. Except in special circumstances, everyone was willing to maintain surface harmony.
The British Ambassador left the Spanish Royal Palace with a face full of dissatisfaction, and the British Government received the relevant news shortly afterward.
On the Spanish side, Carlo was also preparing to counter the diplomatic pressure from the British Government.
Carlo did not intend to let Spain bear this pressure alone, but planned to pull in Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
What Carlo thought was very simple: to see if the British really had the guts to push Spain to Germany’s side.
At worst, Carlo could directly announce joining the Three Emperors’ Alliance, forming a super military bloc of the four great powers: Germany, Austria, Italy, and Spain.
This powerful lineup even had a chance to directly crush the Franco-Russian Alliance.
After all, Russia currently had too many problems, and rashly participating in such a super war between multiple great powers would only cause Russia’s domestic issues to explode earlier.
Without Russia, a single France could not withstand the siege of the four great powers.
Germany, Italy, and Spain could attack France from three directions, while the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s army could support Spain and Italy, while also tying down a large number of French troops to defend the southern border.
As long as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, and Spain could divert half of the French army, Germany facing the remaining half would be like entering an undefended land, swiftly occupying Paris with lightning speed.
This was also why Carlo was not afraid of Britain when planning against Portugal. Because at this time, Britain did not intend to directly intervene in the European situation, and Britain’s Regional Balance Policy meant it could not accept Spain joining Germany’s side, which also meant Britain could not completely fall out with Spain.
Although it would not completely fall out, there was room for negotiation. With the support of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy, Spain was not afraid of Britain in diplomatic negotiations.
Moreover, before the diplomatic negotiations, the goals Carlo wanted to achieve had basically been accomplished. As long as the relationship between Britain and the Portuguese Government was alienated, along with the Portuguese people’s trust in their government and royal family, the possibility of Spain annexing Portugal in the future would greatly increase.
After Carlo contacted the Austro-Hungarian Imperial Family and the Italian Royal Family in the name of the royal family, Franz Joseph I and Umberto I both expressed support for Carlo.
The reason the two countries agreed to support Spain was not only to pull Spain into the Three Emperors’ Alliance, but also their respective government plans.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire had no plans for colonizing Africa, but they would need to confront Russia later. For the Austro-Hungarian Empire, every additional ally meant one more chance of victory against Russia.
For Italy, they had plans for colonizing Africa. The Tunisia colony gave Italy a good start and let the Italian Government see the benefits of colonizing Africa.
Reclaiming agriculture alone could earn Italy a large income, and the richer the government’s finances, the smoother Umberto I’s planned military expansion would be.
After Tunisia, the Italian Government targeted two more regions: Libya in northern Africa and the Abyssinian Empire in eastern Africa.
These two colonies had one thing in common: they were located around British colonies.
If Italy wanted to occupy these two colonies, it would inevitably face pressure from the British Government. This was also why Umberto I so readily chose to support Carlo, because he also needed Spain’s government support in similar situations.
For the British Government, the situation suddenly became very difficult. Dealing with just one Spain was fine; the British Government was not afraid.
But with news of frequent meetings between the Spanish Royal Family, the Austro-Hungarian Imperial Family, and the Italian Royal Family, the British Government also understood that these two countries had chosen to stand behind Spain.
At this point, Prime Minister Gladstone finally felt what the Portuguese Government had felt a few days ago: no way forward, no way back, extremely uncomfortable.
The lands west of Mozambique definitely had to be occupied, as they concerned Britain’s Cairo-Cape Town Line, and Britain absolutely would not allow the plan to be sabotaged by other countries.
But at the same time, it could not completely break with Spain and the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy behind it. Originally, everyone was only supporting Spain diplomatically; if Britain fell out with them, the two countries would have to join in even if they did not want to go to war with Britain.
Once fighting broke out, it would not be so simple. Russia had always been at odds with Britain, and facing such a golden opportunity, it would definitely stir things up in Central Asia and Western Asia.
The conflicts between France and the British were not small either; even without kicking them while down, they would certainly seize colonies while Britain was preoccupied.
Even if Britain ultimately won the war, it would suffer the greatest loss of interests.
Precisely because of this, after learning that the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy had both expressed support for Spain’s attitude, the negotiations between Britain and Spain had already stalled.
On March 15, 1884, at the invitation of the British Government, German Chancellor Bismarck sent telegrams to Spain, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, Britain, Portugal, and other countries, inviting them to send representatives to a conference in Berlin to resolve the disputes over land conflicts in the Southern Congo Region among the countries.
Including Britain and Spain, no one intended to completely break relations.
This also led to all countries quickly agreeing to send representatives to the conference after Chancellor Bismarck issued the telegram invitation, giving him full face.
Initially, only the countries involved in the dispute planned to attend the conference, but after discussions among the countries, it was decided to invite more European countries to participate in this conference to avoid similar conflicts.
Because the main purpose of this conference was to delineate the scopes of each country’s colonizing Africa, it ultimately resulted in 15 countries attending, all of which were European countries capable of colonizing Africa.
As for the remaining countries without the ability to colonize Africa, they naturally had no qualification to attend this conference. In plain terms, this conference was convened by great power countries to balance their own conflicts.
Small countries originally had no right to speak, but to avoid incidents like Portugal’s, small countries were allowed to participate.
Under Carlo’s intervention, the Berlin Conference was held several years ahead of schedule.
However, this was not necessarily a bad thing for Spain; participating early in the partition of Africa would allow Spain to get more fertile land.
Of course, Spain’s colonies in Africa were destined not to be too large. Apart from the West African Colony, other colonies would basically not expand much.
The current African colonies mainly served as production bases for materials and carried out some agricultural development work.
The local indigenous people basically did not purchase European industrial products; they could not afford them at all. This also meant African colonies basically had no ability to dump industrial products, providing little help to the improvement of Spain’s domestic industrial output value.
If talking about markets for industrial products, solutions still needed to be found in Asia and America. The countries in these places were more developed; even if not colonies, industrial product sales could be conducted.
Although this Berlin Conference had 15 countries participating, the ones with real right to speak were actually only the seven great powers: Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Spain.
Do not think that countries like the Netherlands, Belgium, and Portugal participating in the conference had any right to speak; for them, ensuring their existing colonial outposts were not seized by great powers would already require burning incense.
After all, this era was not a civilized one; it was truly the law of the jungle, where the backward were beaten.
Do not think European countries pretended to be beacons of civilized and friendly humanity; when they discovered huge interests, they would reveal their true nature.
The British Museum, as Britain’s famous collection exhibition hall, housed collections from various places around the world. These collections were not bought by the British, but forcibly robbed from countries around the world through invasion.
Among more than 200 countries in posterity worldwide, the number of countries not colonized or invaded by Britain could be counted on one’s fingers.
Even Spain had been invaded by Britain, which showed the nature of European countries: no mercy for the weak.
On the Spanish side, the representatives sent to attend the conference were Minister of Colonial Affairs William and Foreign Secretary Karel.
The previous Foreign Secretary, Marquis of Everton, after serving through four terms of cabinet governments（including the interim cabinet）, honorably retired, and with the merits he accumulated, obtained vast fertile lands, successfully elevating his family to the ranks of Spain’s top noble families.
The successor Karel was also a Spanish noble, but his nobility title was not as prominent as that of the Marquis of Everton.
The current Foreign Secretary Karel came from a small family in southern Spain; his father was a count whose title was stripped by the former Queen Isabella for various reasons, reducing him to the lowest rank of nobility, a baron.
This also caused Karel’s family to decline from then on; if not for the revolution that made Carlo the King of Spain, Karel’s family would likely have completely decayed, eventually becoming ordinary people with only a noble title.
Before Karel and William went to Berlin, Carlo had already summoned them and instructed them on what to do at the conference.
For Carlo, the two most basic goals had now all been achieved. The relationship between Britain and the Portuguese Government had been destroyed, and the Portuguese people were filled with dissatisfaction and doubt toward their own government.
Unless the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy were willing to go to war with Britain, Spain alone could not stop Britain from occupying the lands in southern Congo.
However, letting the British occupy this land might not necessarily be a bad thing.
Whenever the Portuguese thought of the lands in southern Congo, they would remember this day, how the British stood over them arrogantly, blocking their colony merger plan and seizing land that should have belonged to Portugal.
Carlo could concede on the lands in southern Congo, provided the British were willing to pay more benefits to compensate Spain.
After all, Spain also had the ability to colonize the lands in southern Congo; as long as the British did not want to break with Spain, they would have to consider the consequences of Spain forcibly competing with them in colonization.
The Berlin Conference was to resolve conflicts and disputes between great powers, so the British representatives would surely consider this and make more concessions to Spain in other aspects.
Carlo no longer had much ambition for land in Africa. The only Morocco he wanted, the British would not be willing to give to Spain, which meant Carlo could only turn his gaze to farther Asia for land, such as the Middle East Peninsula.
Spain had already occupied the Sultanate of Muscat; further north was the Trucial States, which was the UAE region in posterity.
Like Oman, the UAE was also a desert. Oman had a small area of mountainous area and plain in the north, but the vast majority of the UAE’s land was desert, unsuitable for habitation.
This also meant Spain might obtain the Trucial States through this conference, merge it with the Oman Colony, and establish a larger colony.
Although this colony did not seem to have much role now, once petroleum in the Middle East region was discovered in the future, the value of petroleum alone would make Spain rich beyond measure.
This was also why Carlo valued the Middle East region; after all, petroleum really made money, and the petroleum of this era would not breed the US military.
