Chapter 304: Great Military Expansion
After the Spanish Military Committee issued the order for army expansion, the Defense Department quickly produced a detailed expansion plan.
After having 3 Colonial Divisions and 35 Colonial Guard Regiments, Spain’s total troops would reach the exaggerated figure of 243,
Before the Franco-Russian Alliance was formed and before European Countries joined the arms race, such an army size was already considerable.
After all, Spain, unlike France, Germany, and Russia, had no overt enemies. France and Germany needed to guard against each other, while Russia simply required more troops to garrison its vast lands.
But if the 138,000 Colonial Army after expansion was subtracted, Spain’s actual army size would only be left with 105,
Subtracting another 15,000 from the Guard Division, the so-called Spanish Royal Army’s size would be even pathetically less than 90,
To cope with the increasingly tense European situation, it was also very necessary to expand the Spanish Mainland’s army. After internal meetings and discussions in the Ministry of Defense, a new complete expansion plan was finally confirmed.
The expansion plan for the Colonial Army remained unchanged, and Spain’s Royal Army on the mainland would expand to 12 Infantry Divisions, 5 Cavalry Divisions, 4 Artillery Divisions, and 4 Engineer Companies, totaling 177,
Adding the Guard’s 15,100, the troops stationed on the Spanish Mainland would exceed 192,800, a number that could match the continuously growing armies of the European Powers.
If the 138,000 Colonial Army was also added, Spain’s military power would reach the exaggerated 315,900, an army size already comparable to the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s army numbers.
It must be known that the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s population was approaching 40 million, while Spain’s population was only 35 million.
An army exceeding 300,000 would be enough to make Spain a European army great power. Other great powers, when competing with Spain, would also have to consider the threat posed by Spain’s massive army size.
After the Ministry of Defense issued the formal conscription notice, conscription activities immediately triggered wave after wave in Spain domestically.
Thanks to Carlo’s emphasis on the army, even an ordinary soldier’s annual income, plus various welfare benefits and subsidies, was higher than Spain’s per capita income.
Moreover, with the country growing increasingly powerful, Spaniards were not averse to fighting for their country.
From the moment the Ministry of Defense announced the conscription news, the conscription points set up by Spain in various cities were crowded with people wanting to enlist.
The conscription problem that plagued many countries did not exist in Spain. With the public eagerly signing up, the Spanish Government instead had to worry about how to select the soldier sources Spain needed from these crowds of applicants.
The city with the most conscription was Spain’s capital, Madrid. As Spain’s current largest city, Madrid had a population approaching 700,
Precisely because of this, Madrid had the most conscription quotas, and the lines at various conscription points were the longest.
For the sake of city order, Carlo did not choose to inspect the conscription signup sites in Madrid. However, the Ministry of Defense still reported the latest conscription news and Spain’s expansion progress to Carlo every day.
After this expansion, the Spanish Royal Army would have 7 more division commander positions. Adding two Colonial Division commanders, the vacancies would reach
This also meant that with this army expansion, a large number of mid- and high-level military leaders would be promoted.
The most representative among them was Camann Esposito, who came to Spain with Carlo. He had already become a colonel-ranked Artillery Regiment commander earlier. With this expansion of Artillery Divisions from two to four, he was very likely to be directly promoted to commander of the third or fourth Artillery Division.
Of course, if he could successfully be promoted to division commander, Camann would at least obtain the rank of Major General and become one of Spain’s military high-level leaders.
Andrew, who came to Spain with Carlo like Camann, was not so fortunate. Because he majored in infantry command, which was less rare than artillery.
This also made Andrew’s promotion less smooth than Camann’s. However, as Carlo’s confidant after all, after spending a year as commander of the Lanfang Military advisory group, Carlo decided to appoint him as Commander of the Guard Division and concurrently Commander-in-Chief of the Guard, taking over Giuseppe’s position.
Camann and Andrew, the two excellent graduates from the Turin Royal Military Academy, were still very capable. After coming to Spain, they had always worked diligently without complaint, and Carlo naturally was willing to promote them.
Speaking of the officers Camann and Andrew who came to Spain with Carlo, one had to mention Garibaldi’s two sons.
The eldest son Menotti was the previous commander of the Lanfang Military advisory group and was currently elected as Spain’s Cabinet Minister of Royal Affairs.
The younger son Giuseppe’s position was taken over by Andrew, which did not mean Carlo distrusted Giuseppe. On the contrary, Carlo had a more arduous task for Giuseppe: to go to the Congo Territory as Commander-in-Chief of the garrison, with the rank of Lieutenant General, commanding the Congo Territory’s 2 Colonial Divisions and about ten Colonial Defense Regiments, responsible for operations against indigenous people in the West Africa region and promoting Spain’s colony merger plan.
Although the Commander of the Guard Division only commanded one division, because he concurrently served as Commander-in-Chief of the Guard, his rank was higher than all division commanders, at Lieutenant General.
From the perspective of domestic status, the Congo Territory garrison Commander-in-Chief that Giuseppe was about to take might not be higher in status than his previous position as Commander-in-Chief of the Guard.
But the opportunity for the Congo Territory garrison Commander-in-Chief was clearly higher than that of Commander-in-Chief of the Guard. The Guard’s main task was to protect the capital, the Royal Palace, and the king’s safety, and under normal circumstances, it would not actively participate in wars.
This also made it difficult for the Commander-in-Chief of the Guard to advance in rank through military merit and could only slowly accumulate seniority in that position.
But the Congo garrison Commander-in-Chief was different. Spain was about to launch a war against African indigenous people, and as the highest leader of Spain’s army fighting in Africa, the Congo garrison Commander-in-Chief would have plenty of opportunities for military merit.
As long as Giuseppe performed excellently in operations against African indigenous people, he would have a good chance to go further and enter Spain’s Defense Department after the war ended.
Giuseppe’s rank advancing further would basically be positions like Commander-in-Chief of the Navy and Army, Chief of Staff, Minister of Defense, and Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Defense.
After receiving Carlo’s transfer order, Giuseppe and Andrew quickly took action.
Giuseppe had to go from Madrid to the distant Congo Territory and prepare for the establishment of another Colonial Division. Currently, the Congo Territory had only one Colonial Division, which had not yet met Spain’s requirements for launching war.
Of course, accompanying Giuseppe to Africa were also a group of mid- and high-level officers prepared by the Defense Department for the new colony.
Giuseppe would work with these mid- and high-level officers to train the newly formed Colonial Division, giving it a certain scale of combat effectiveness.
Meanwhile, Andrew needed to come from the even more distant Lanfang Republic to Madrid to take over the Guard’s patrol work.
As an army that Carlo could directly command, the Guard had many tasks. The Guard’s garrison location was only a few kilometers from the Royal Palace, and it could reach the Royal Palace in as little as half an hour.
The Guard also needed to send patrol teams responsible for patrolling around the Royal Palace, and inside the Royal Palace there was a guard team composed of elite soldiers selected from the Guard. The patrol teams and guard teams together formed the defensive strength of the Spanish Royal Palace.
It was no exaggeration to say that with the existing defensive strength of the Royal Palace of Madrid, the palace could be ensured to be impregnable.
Even if experiencing another great revolution like during Queen Isabella’s reign, the Guard would be sufficient to guarantee the safety of the Royal Palace and royal family members.
Leaving aside the Guard’s 15,000 elite army, this force alone was enough to counter attacks from tens of thousands of troops.
The guard team stationed in the Royal Palace also had a scale of nearly 500, and these were the true elites in the Spanish Army.
As is well known, soldiers of the Spanish Guard were carefully selected from the Royal Army. The guard team was then selected from Guard soldiers, showing their elite level.
Every guard in the guard team had been screened through various assessments, their loyalty even higher than Guard soldiers, reaching the point of being willing to die for Carlo.
The identity of the guard team captain Brad Herrera was even more special.
As early as when Carlo had just become King of Spain, he had intentionally gathered a group of orphans who had lost their parents and families for various reasons.
This group of orphans was all raised at Carlo’s expense, and in their education, Carlo instilled a great deal of loyalty to the monarch and love for the country.
Guard Captain Brad Herrera was not only one of this group of orphans but also an outstanding one among them.
After Carlo expressed the idea of having him apply to a military academy, Brad Herrera unhesitatingly strove for it and successfully entered the Madrid Royal Military Academy.
After his smooth graduation, Carlo had him train in the Guard for two years, then appointed him as guard team captain, commanding the Royal Guard team of up to 500 people.
The Royal Guard team’s task was simple: to protect the safety of royal family members at all costs.
Any royal family member’s travel in Spain required bringing guards, at least several to a dozen guards to ensure safety.
Carlo’s outings had an even larger entourage, often starting with over a hundred guards, even bringing several hundred Guard for protection.
Although this seemed somewhat cautious, for his and his family’s personal safety, the necessary protective forces still had to be in place.
Carlo did not dare trust this era’s medical standards. Even if an assassination failed, as long as wounded, there was a risk of dying from infection.
Not to mention if the enemy got lucky and hit a vital spot, it would be instant death.
Spain’s current development all relied on Carlo leading the direction, and the few young ones had not yet grown up. In such a situation, Carlo absolutely would not allow any accidents.
This would not only destroy Carlo’s more than ten years of efforts in Spain but also extinguish the light that Spain had finally welcomed, plunging the country back into turmoil.
In September 1884, before Giuseppe and a group of officers were about to head to the Congo Territory, Carlo summoned them in the Royal Palace of Madrid and encouraged everyone.
In conversations with these officers, Carlo reiterated the importance of the colony merger plan to Spain and stated that operations against African indigenous people could only succeed and not fail.
Under the premise of no war in Europe, Spain could only demonstrate its combat effectiveness through operations against indigenous people.
Do not underestimate these local indigenous people in Africa. Although they were backward in weapons and equipment compared to Spain, united indigenous people could also form a strong resistance force.
Carlo did not want his carefully built army to capsize in the gutter and become a laughingstock for other countries.
Being laughed at would be one thing, but if other countries mistakenly thought Spain’s army combat effectiveness was weak, then Spain’s international influence in the future would drop significantly.
Just like Italy, which through operations against African indigenous people successfully showed its army’s poor combat effectiveness, after which the Italian Army was also looked down upon by European Countries and became a joke among soldiers of various countries in their leisure time.
Originally, these officers did not attach much importance to going to the African Colonial Army for gilding, but after Carlo personally emphasized the importance of operations against African indigenous people, these officers all took it seriously one by one.
As the saying goes, a soldier who does not want to be a general is not a good soldier. These young officers who had just graduated from the Royal Military Academy naturally also wanted to show their abilities to their king.
After hearing that great powers like France and Germany might also intervene in Spain’s operations against indigenous people, the relaxed smiles vanished from these officers’ faces, and they all looked at their king with serious expressions, listening very attentively to Carlo’s instructions.
After all the conversations ended, under Giuseppe’s lead, the officers respectfully and fanatically saluted Carlo militarily, then grandly took cars to the Train Station.
They would take the train to the port, then board ships from the port to the African Colony.
Because the soldiers of the Colonial Army were all composed of local indigenous people, what Spain could provide was only these officers.
However, the good news was that Spain had immigrated large numbers of Filipinos, Lanfang People, and Moroccans to the Congo Territory. These people could also enlist in the Colonial Army, forming a check on the local indigenous people.
This actually also conformed to Spain’s colonial policy. Excluding the unacknowledged black people group, Spain’s colonial population had two major categories: whites from Europe and Morocco, and yellow-skinned people from Asia.
Because these whites were not Spaniards, Spain actually treated these whites and yellow-skinned people equally.
Carlo preferred to balance the two groups, letting them check each other to ensure the stability of Spain’s colonies.
This was also like the United Kingdom’s regional balance policy established in various regions. Whichever group’s power was stronger, Spain would choose to help the weaker side.
Conflicts between the two groups would not affect Spain; even if they hated, they hated the side that had enmity against them.
To ensure their survival status was not exploited by the other side, both sides could only desperately align with Spain to obtain the colony’s support and ensure their living space.
Spain had earliest implemented such a policy in the Philippines and Lanfang Republic, and so far it had been very successful.
The Colonial Government only needed to control the conflicts between the two groups to effectively utilize their strength for its own use.
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