Rebirth of the Spanish Empire

October 25, 1910, is a very memorable day. On this day, King Alfonso XIII of the Kingdom of Spain, Emperor Franz Joseph I of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Sultan Mehmet V of the Ottoman Empire At the Spanish Palace in Madrid, the world officially announced that the three countries would become the European Advance and Retreat Alliance.

The conditions of the Triple Alliance are to completely mediate the disputes between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire. With the participation of Spain, the four Austro-Hungarian countries will use all the areas they currently control on the Balkan Peninsula as the demarcation line. To recognize all the territorial rights of the Ottoman Empire, such as Montenegro, Albania, Malta, Bulgaria and Bulgaria, Crete, as well as Cyprus and the Arabian Peninsula that have been leased to the United Kingdom, etc. All the territories recognized by the Ottoman Empire are now recognized by Spain. .

Sultan Mehmed V of the Ottoman Empire also publicly thanked Franz Joseph I for recognizing the Ottoman Empire's right to rule the territory. The Ottoman Empire also recognized the Austro-Hungarian Empire's rule over Bosnia and Herzegovina, Trieste (later Italy), Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, Galicia, Croatia, Slovenia, as well as Austria and Hungary. right.

Alfonso also officially announced that he recognized the territorial scope announced between the two countries, and what Spain obtained was the territory on the most complete Spanish territorial map published by Spain.

The first step in the alliance between these three countries.

Second, and most importantly, the alliance of the three countries represents their respective alliances, and does not represent other than the three countries. The respective allies need to abide by the alliance. Of course, if a war breaks out between the allies of the three countries and the allies of the three countries, then the three countries will bind their respective allies. The institutions of the three countries can mediate simultaneously.

Third, if it turns out that another country made the first provocation, as allies, after being attacked, the other two countries have the right and responsibility to send military forces to participate in the defense of the other country.

fourth. The business conditions of the Three Kingdoms need to be coordinated with the positions of allies. Therefore, the three countries have decided to initiate the signing of the Three-Country Free Trade Agreement within the next year after negotiations, subject to conditions. Strive to officially start free trade among the three countries before the end of 1912.

fifth. The three countries will grant each other most-favored-nation status in arms trade. For example, Spain will give the two countries, except Portugal, the same priority for the second batch of weapons supplies as their South American allies.

Once the alliance between the three countries was announced, it immediately caused huge waves around the world. The originally optimistic Tirpitz, Asquith, Fisher, Churchill, Armand and the rest of the world were shocked by this agreement because they had no idea about it in advance. The Ottoman Empire actually got involved. If it were just the alliance between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Spain, although they would be a little surprised, it would not worry them too much, because after all, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was in the middle of the European continent, close to the sea and already surrounded by Italy, Greece and the Ottoman Empire.

It can be said that there is a possibility of losing contact with Spain. Of course, the reason why a few people are so calm is because everyone knows that the Ottoman Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire have been quarreling over Bosnia and Herzegovina, but what is happening now? Later, the Ottoman Empire actually recognized the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s right to rule Bosnia and Herzegovina, and as compensation, the Austro-Hungarian Empire also recognized the power of the Ottoman Empire’s territories south of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In other words, now between the two countries The main causes of conflicts have been eliminated during this time. With the support of Spain and the following four covenants, as long as time passes, the three countries will truly reach the point where their interests are intertwined. At that time, they will definitely become the dominant party in Europe. alliance of the three major powers.

The emergence of such a group has caused panic among many people. On the day the Covenant was announced in Britain, George V and Asquith directly called Alfonso, the corresponding king, and Eugene, respectively. Spain's current Prime Minister.

Asked what Spain's direct intention was, Alfonso and Eugene naturally tried their best to evade, saying that they established this reason to prevent their own interests from being harmed, and they also seriously guaranteed that before Britain did not harm Spanish interests, There was absolutely no involvement of Spain in British interests in the Mediterranean.

The UK is still second, because no matter what, where is the strength of the UK? Anyone who wants to harm the interests of the UK should consider that the navy is twice as powerful as the German Empire, the second largest navy in the world. Because of the existence of the navy, Britain only reminded Spain and took no further action. Even the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire did not receive the same courtesy that George V and Asquith called at the same time. . There is only Asquith, the Prime Minister.

But at that time, the pride of China was worthy of awe from others, but other countries did not have the courage. They even wanted to come directly to ask what the intentions of these three countries were to be more clear.

Serbia is one such country. Serbia originally broke away from the Ottoman Empire. It can be said that there are grievances and grudges with the Ottoman Empire as life and death enemies. However, because of the support of Russia, the Ottoman Empire has never dared to take action against Serbia. The fear is that Russia will draw its millions of troops in Romania and Ukraine to join the war. So he didn't take action for a long time.

The same reason applies to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. However, compared to the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire is more concerned about its situation with Germany. It is afraid that if it attacks Selivia, a roadblock that prevents it from moving south, it will be attacked by other European countries. The great powers Russia, France and the United Kingdom are coercing together, and the German Empire has privately stated that if the Austro-Hungarian Empire really attacks Serbia, it will provide economic support instead of military support at most. This made Franz Joseph very angry, and it was precisely for this reason that the alliance between the two countries, which was not very strong in the first place and was forced by the current situation, began to loosen.

This is why the Austro-Hungarian Empire wanted to find another ally and did not rely on Germany.

Now that the three countries have formed an alliance, the conflict between the Ottoman Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire has been resolved. Many people are wondering whether the two countries will join forces to deal with Russia's power in the Balkans and force Russia to withdraw from this region. Will Greece, Britain's ally in the south, also be affected by the two countries in the east and north? The alliance will have serious consequences.

Italy was also affected, why, because they seemed to suddenly discover at this time that the northeast is Spain's ally the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the southeast is Spain's ally the Ottoman Empire, plus Spain's mainland Spain and the overseas territory of Libya and Spain in the south . Italy has been completely surrounded by Spanish related forces like dumplings. Spain if it wishes. Then the final result will be that Spain's entire body will be bruised and bruised, and will be hit from all directions.

This result appears. Many people exclaimed, especially those political experts, parliamentarians and students, who had already called on King Vittorio on various occasions not to change the long-term friendship with Spain but to maintain an alliance. This made King Vittorio feel very distressed. At the same time, he also felt that Alfonso was even more mysterious.

St. Petersburg. Russian Imperial Palace.

Nicholas II was also very worried about this. After convening many ministers to discuss, there was still no result. In the end, I had to meet with the French ambassador to discuss the common enemy between the two countries.

"Mr. Ambassador, you have also seen it. Now the whole world is discussing the alliance between Spain and Austria, and there are conflicts between our two countries. You said that now we, as allies, are dealing with such a What should we do when we encounter a potential enemy?”

"Dear Your Majesty, we in France are also troubled by this matter now, but please don't worry, I think we will have a solution soon."

"hope so"

After the two were polite, Nicholas hurried back to his inner palace, because there was still a meeting waiting for him to chair.

"I didn't expect Spain to develop so fast and its power to expand so exaggeratedly. Europe was originally Spain's weakness. Only Portugal and the mainland are far away from the political center of the European continent. They have always been unable to cope with the development of the situation on the European continent. , However, it is indeed different now. With the existence of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Spain's presence on the European continent will definitely be more than before." Pugliese looked at the brandy in his hand with a sense of wonder in his tone. meaning.

"Yes, who could have imagined that in just a dozen years, Spain, which was originally at the bottom of the European powers, would undergo such a dramatic change and become the third largest country in the world. Until now, I still can't react to Spain. The status of Europe has changed. More than ten years ago, Europe's ranking from strong to weak should have been the British Empire, France, the German Empire, Russia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, Spain, the Ottoman Empire, etc., but now it has become the British Empire. Empire, German Empire, Spain, France, Russia, Austria-Hungary, Italy, and the Ottoman Empire.

In terms of ranking numbers, the three countries are now third, sixth and eighth respectively. If the latter two form an alliance and add Spanish weapons, they will definitely not be weaker than all the current top five countries. If Spain, the third largest country in the world, is added, then in Europe, apart from France and Russia, even the German Empire and the United Kingdom will find it difficult to fight against them with the strength of one country. Therefore, I think we should develop a deeper alliance with France." Werther relied on the promotion of the alliance between France and Russia to become Nicholas II's confidant. At this time, his first thought was not whether Russia should The issue of easing relations with Spain is to think about how Russia should increase relations with France to counter the pressure brought by Spain's alliance.

"Prime Minister, what do you think? Should we send more troops to the Balkans? Or should we give the other side a little sweetener and let them know that we have no intention of offending them?" The words of Pobedonoschaev, Nicholas II, immediately made the two of them confused. They all looked at Stolypin, because they knew that the only people who were really in charge of Russia were Stolypin, Pobedonoschaev, and Nicholas II.

First update, three updates today, and two more to come.