Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 373: The Contract and the Italian Farce ( words long!)
The siege of Rabat, the capital of Morocco, was definitely the most brutal battle of the war, and the one in which the largest number of soldiers were mobilized by both Morocco and Spain.

On the Moroccan side, the remaining less than 7 soldiers plus 3 militiamen temporarily organized by the Moroccan government formed a garrison of nearly 10 people. They established one defense line after another around Rabat.

Spain, as the attacking party, also deployed a large number of troops. The main force was the Guards of about 2.8 people and the Royal Army of about 4 people. There were also two colonial divisions of nearly 7.6 people, and the total number of troops could reach about .

In order to capture Rabat, the Spanish army had made sufficient preparations.

In addition to mobilizing all types and calibers of cannons, Spain also occupied almost all Moroccan cities around Rabat, leaving the large city of Rabat isolated and helpless.

The nearest city to Rabat that is still under the control of the Moroccan government is dozens of kilometers away, which means that it is basically impossible for Rabat to get assistance from other cities.

In order to defend Rabat, the Moroccan government has made up its mind.

The government formed a supervision team of up to 3,000 people, and used a tough attitude to force the 100,000-strong army to resolutely resist the attack of the Spanish army.

This also forced these Moroccan soldiers to exert all their strength to resist the Spanish army, and the price was that thousands of Moroccan soldiers died at the hands of the supervision team.

Of course, the battlefield is by no means a place for mercy.

The existence of a supervisory team is still very necessary. After all, people are instinctively afraid of death. The existence of a supervisory team can avoid the phenomenon of desertion in the face of battle as much as possible and unite the entire army as one.

The Spanish army also has a supervision team, but the Guards and the Royal Army rarely use supervision teams. Only the colonial army needs supervision teams to deter people.

Fortunately, Spain has always been in the advantageous position, and with its firepower constantly suppressing the enemy, the Spanish army suffered very few casualties.

With few casualties and sufficient logistical supplies, desertion in the Spanish army was naturally very rare.

During the first week of the siege of Rabat, Moroccan soldiers and Spanish troops fought back and forth. Although they were unable to suppress the attack of the Spanish army, they relied on their tenacious fighting spirit and the supervision of the supervision team to hold the last line of defense of Rabat.

During this week, the Moroccan army suffered more than 3 casualties, with an average of more than soldiers dying every day, which is a very exaggerated scale.

If Spain had not wanted to minimize casualties, Morocco would have suffered even greater casualties.

The main force of the siege has always been the two colonial divisions. After all, the lives of these indigenous people are definitely less valuable than those of the Guards and the Spaniards of the Royal Army.

From the second week of the siege, the Spanish army gradually started to take real action. Because Rabat had been under siege for a week, both the Moroccan government and the people of Rabat had lost confidence in the war.

This war is no longer a question of whether it can be won, but rather how much loss Morocco will have to endure and whether the current Moroccan royal family and aristocracy can continue to survive.

Starting from the eighth day of the siege, daily casualties on both sides rose to a new level.

Spain dispatched hundreds of cannons in total, and these cannons consumed tens of thousands of shells every day.

Under the continuous bombing, the Spanish army achieved obvious results. The defense lines outside Rabat had been conquered by Spain, and the Moroccan army had to retreat to the city of Rabat for defense.

The number of elite Moroccan troops has been decreasing, and the Moroccan government has had to forcibly conscript Moroccan civilians in Rabat to join the army to fill the vacancies in the army.

Although this did effectively slow down the Spanish army's offensive, after all, it was impossible for Spain to fight a street battle with the Moroccan army regardless of casualties.

But the problem is that this forced conscription of soldiers has also increased Moroccan civilians' dissatisfaction with the government.

These Moroccan civilians who were forcibly conscripted into the army not only did not receive any training, they even had to prepare their own weapons.

This also led to the fact that the weapons of the newly formed Moroccan army were extremely diverse, with cold weapons being the main ones.

On the eighth day of the siege of Rabat, the Spanish army's daily casualties had risen to nearly two thousand.

This was the day with the highest number of casualties among Spanish soldiers since the war began.

Of course, conservatively speaking, Spain also caused nearly 10,000 casualties to the Moroccan army. Moreover, most of the casualties were indigenous soldiers, so this casualty ratio was not a loss at all for the Spanish army.

Under the all-out attack of the Spanish army, Morocco finally could not bear such huge casualties.

On the 12th day of the Spanish siege of Rabat, the Moroccan government finally could not hold on any longer and surrendered to Spain with its remaining troops of less than 3.

After the Spanish army entered Rabat, it immediately took control of the Moroccan government and royal family.

The good news is that most of the Moroccan government officials still stay in Rabat, and controlling them is equivalent to controlling half of Morocco.

The bad news is that the Spanish army did not find any members of the royal family in the Moroccan palace, and the British ambassador to Morocco had long disappeared.

According to the existing clues, the Moroccan royal family should have fled with the British ambassador to Morocco a day ago, which is also the reason why the Moroccan government and army surrendered to Spain.

It was a pity to let the Moroccan royal family run away, but at least Spain had occupied Rabat and controlled most of Morocco's land.

The most important thing at the moment is not to bring back the Moroccan royal family, but to confirm Spain’s rule in Morocco as soon as possible, and then start the Moroccan localization action that the Spanish government has been looking forward to for a long time.

On June 1895, 6, the day after the capture of Rabat, the Spanish government sent diplomatic representatives to start peace negotiations with the Moroccan government.

They are called peace talks, but in reality they are just a show.

Most of Morocco's territory had been occupied by Spain, and even the government had fallen into the hands of the Spanish army. These officials could not even guarantee their own safety, so how could they go against Spain's ideas in the peace talks and make their situation worse?
The peace talks lasted for three days in total. Moroccan officials were almost submissive during the talks and agreed to all the Spanish demands without any hesitation.

On June 1895, 6, the last day of the peace talks, diplomatic representatives from the Spanish and Moroccan governments signed their names on the peace treaty in the presence of many newspapers and media.

The first item of the treaty was about the disposal of Morocco's existing territory.

The existing Morocco will be merged with Spain's southern Morocco colony and renamed the Moroccan Colony, with Ceuta in the north as its capital.

Because of the merger with the southern Moroccan colony, the area of ​​the Moroccan colony will be larger than that of the Spanish mainland, with an area of ​​at least 700,000 to 800,000 square kilometers.

This also means that the Moroccan colony is destined to be temporary. When the localization of the Moroccan colony is almost complete, Carlo will divide Morocco into appropriate pieces and establish state-level administrative divisions.

The newly established Moroccan colony had to have a garrison. After all, it was a newly occupied land, and although most Moroccans could be assimilated, there were also some Moroccans who were full of hatred towards Spain because of the war, and these people had to be guarded against.

The most important thing for the future Moroccan colony is to eliminate those Moroccans who hate Spain and then assimilate those more moderate Moroccans.

While the assimilation work in the Moroccan colony was underway, Spain would also try to bring in as many immigrants as possible from various European countries and the mainland.

On the one hand, it is to fill the population gap in Morocco, and on the other hand, it is to dilute the proportion of local Moroccans in Morocco.

Although Moroccans can be assimilated, they make up the majority of the local population in Morocco, which is never a good thing for Spain.

Only by reducing the proportion of Moroccans to about half as much as possible can we effectively ensure local stability in Morocco.

The good news is that Morocco's overall population is not large, and the task of diluting the population ratio is not as difficult as imagined.

Although the population of the merged Moroccan colonies rose to over 500 million, there were only about 450 million real Moroccans.

To reduce the Moroccan proportion to about half, Spain would only need to transport a little over 200 million Moroccans to other regions.

200 million people may seem like a lot, but it is not a difficult task for Spain.

Even if the original assimilation progress of the southern Moroccan colony is followed, it will only take less than ten years to complete the population transfer of the Moroccan colony.

This also means that Spain will have great potential before World War I. If it can gain a lot of benefits during World War I while ensuring that its homeland will not be affected by the war, Spain will have the hope of becoming an even more powerful superpower after the end of World War I.

When the news of the signing of the peace treaty reached Spain, the Spanish people expressed strong approval of the government's move to expand its territory again.

Morocco is also very important to Spain, and Spain has long had its eyes on Morocco. Unfortunately, due to the interference of the British government and the fact that the French have also set their sights on this area, Spain has always coveted but has been unable to annex this land.

Carlo has done what the previous Spanish kings failed to do. After annexing Morocco, Spain has become an important presence on the European continent. In terms of local potential, it is not inferior to Britain, France, and Germany.

Now that the war is over, most of the troops in Morocco will be transferred back.

The Guards returned on transport ships on the day the peace talks began. Of the three native divisions that participated in the battle, only one infantry division would be left stationed in a city in northern Morocco, and the rest of the troops would return to mainland Spain.

The two colonial divisions will stay in Morocco for a period of time to help the Moroccan colonial government restore stable order before returning to other colonies.

Once the situation in Morocco becomes slightly more stable, the Moroccan colonial government will also form a colonial army of its own.

Because these troops are very close to the Spanish mainland, they can not only maintain stability in the Moroccan region, but also go north to the Spanish mainland when Spain needs it to help Spain defend its homeland.

By the beginning of 1895, Spain's population barely exceeded 3000 million.

If the Moroccan population who are about to be assimilated are included, Spain's population is expected to reach more than 4000 million in ten years.

It is now 1895, and ten years from now it will only be 10.

If the population could reach over 1905 million around 4000, it would not have had any impact on Spain even if World War I broke out ten years earlier.

A population of over 4000 million can easily arm an army of over 300 million. Together with the vassal armies of the Spanish colonies, it would be no problem for Spain to deploy five or six million troops in a world war.

This also means that no matter which side Spain joins in the world war, there is a great probability that it will win in the end.

Whichever side these five or six million people were deployed on would tip the balance of war towards the side Spain was on. This was also the reason why Carlo was not in a hurry to choose a camp in Europe. To a certain extent, Spain was really capable of deciding which of the two major military groups would be the winner in the end.

Spain had ended the Moroccan War decisively, while the British were still struggling with the Boers.

You have to know that the Boer population is less than one-tenth of the Moroccan population.

Even if the fighting power of the Boer soldiers was comparable to that of the armies of the European powers, they could only equip an army of 40,000 to 50,000 at most due to population limitations.

How could the great British Empire not be able to deal with 40,000 to 50,000 Boer soldiers?
This is almost a question that most European countries involuntarily ask when they pay attention to the Boer War.

True, the Boers did receive support from other European countries, including the Netherlands and Germany.

But this support is limited and is more focused on support in terms of weapons, equipment and supplies.

No European country sent out formal volunteer troops. The Netherlands sent the largest number of civilian volunteers, but at most there were only a little over a thousand people.

This level of aid should not be of much help on the battlefield. After all, compared with the Boers, Britain should have both people and money.

The good news is that the British Army was not the worst among the European powers. Italy successfully demonstrated its own limitations in the war with Ethiopia, allowing European countries to see what poor combat effectiveness meant.

The reason why Italy invaded Ethiopia is simple: there is no other territory in Europe and Africa for Italy to occupy.

Italy has very limited directions to expand in Europe. The two directions to the east and west are the Austro-Hungarian Empire and France, which are obviously not countries that Italy can afford to provoke.

Although Switzerland in the north is a small country, it is a recognized permanent neutral country. Moreover, Switzerland has no economic value. For Italy, the disadvantages of occupying Switzerland far outweigh the advantages.

The only European territory that Italy can covet is the Balkan Peninsula across the Adriatic Sea.

However, it is obvious that since the last war when Germany and Austria joined forces to defeat Russia, the Balkan Peninsula has become the sphere of influence of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Although Italy was an ally of Austria-Hungary, when it came to national interests, even as an ally, Austria-Hungary would never give in.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire was backed by Germany, which made Italy temporarily give up its covetousness for the Balkan Peninsula and turn its attention to Africa.

North Africa has almost been divided up by the great powers, leaving only Libya, where most of the land is desert and there is no clear ownership at present.

In fact, logically speaking, Libya is closest to Italy, and the Italian government should be able to easily add Libya to its colonial sphere.

However, due to Libya's important geographical location, with France's Tunisian colony to the west and Britain's Egyptian colony to the east, Italy has not been able to fully incorporate Libya into its colonial rule.

Another important reason was the opposition of the French. With the help of Spain, Italy forcibly seized two pieces of Tunisian land from the French, which also caused France's impression of Italy to plummet.

Although no major conflict broke out, France has always opposed Italy's colonial expansion in North Africa, which is why Italy has not been able to bring Libya into its own pocket.

Since it was unable to expand in North Africa, Italy could only turn its attention to the more distant African regions.

Although Africa is large in area, its coasts have been almost completely divided up by European powers. Italy searched carefully in Africa and finally had to turn its attention to Ethiopia, which was even more difficult to deal with.

Of course, it was not called Ethiopia at that time. The country in this area was called the Abyssinian Empire, and the empire was ruled by the Solomon Dynasty.

The Abyssinian Empire has lasted for more than 1270 years since its establishment in 600. Although it still remains within the scope of the indigenous Africans, the military strength of the Abyssinian Empire is definitely one of the best among all the indigenous African countries.

Because of its contact with European colonists, the Abyssinian Empire was aware of how powerful European colonists were.

In the early stages of Italy's invasion of the Abyssinian Empire, the Abyssinian Empire made several concessions under pressure from Italy as a great power.

This also allowed Italy to successively acquire Tigray, Adiugra, Adwa and other regions, and at one point expanded its colonial scope to the heartland of the Abyssinian Empire.

The Abyssinian Empire originally thought that such concessions would satisfy the Italians, but it did not expect that this little land would not satisfy the Italians' appetite at all. Faced with the Abyssinian Empire's step-by-step concessions, Italy made even more excessive demands, forcing the Abyssinian Empire to become a protectorate of Italy.

Naturally, the Abyssinian Empire could not accept such a request.

As for the less obedient Abyssinian Empire, Italy decided to strike first.

The Italian colony of Eritrea was established using the coastal areas occupied by the Abyssinian Empire. The governor of the colony, General Ballardelli, launched a surprise attack on the Abyssinian Empire after receiving instructions from the Italian government.

The Italian army was coming with great force. They occupied Aksum, the coronation place of the emperor of the Abyssinian Empire, and were threatening the heartland of the Abyssinian Empire.

Originally, the Italians thought that this war would end quickly, and history would only record it as an ordinary colonial war between Italy and the native Africans.

But what was unexpected was that when the Italian army was becoming complacent because of its overwhelming victory, the army of the Abyssinian Empire soon dealt a fatal blow to the Italian army.

Abyssinia organized tens of thousands of soldiers to resist the Italian colonial invasion. Among them, a force of about 3 soldiers ambushed at the Alaghi Flat Mountain near Lake Alaghi, and finally successfully ambushed the Italian army of about 1300 people.

Without any psychological preparation, the army was completely wiped out, and the army commander Major Toselli also died in the war.

1300 Italian soldiers were wiped out, which was already a rather exaggerated result.

Even a colonel-level officer died on the battlefield. Such news immediately caused a sensation in Italy and even the whole of Europe, making the news of the war between Italy and the Abyssinian Empire surpass that of the Boer War in terms of popularity.

If such news only made European countries start to pay attention to an ordinary war, then the following news made the Italian army a laughing stock among European countries.

After winning this small victory, the Abyssinian Empire was not satisfied with its achievements. Another army led by the Governor of Harar, Duke Makonnan, surrounded Makare, the capital of the Tigray Kingdom under the Abyssinian Empire, which was previously occupied by the Italian army.

Because it was an occupied area, in order to maintain the stability of the city, Italy stationed 1200 soldiers here.

The Abyssinian Empire's target was these 1200 soldiers, and it turned out that they successfully achieved their goal.

Relying on advanced weapons and equipment, these 1200 Italian soldiers were able to hold out for a long time when facing the attack of tens of thousands of Abyssinian Imperial troops.

However, because the entire city was surrounded by the army of the Abyssinian Empire, the Italian army could not receive any material supplies. No matter how advanced their weapons and equipment were, they would sooner or later become scrap metal.

After holding out for a month and a half, the Italian army was almost out of ammunition and food.

When they determined that the enemy's ammunition supplies were running low, the soldiers of the Abyssinian Empire launched reckless attacks on the fortress again and again.

These African natives showed amazing courage and determination. Although they did not directly break through the city, the Italian army lost the determination to resist after running out of ammunition and food, and finally chose to surrender to the Abyssinian Empire.

In the war between Britain and the Boers, Britain ultimately had the upper hand, but in the war between Italy and the Abyssinian Empire, it currently seems that the Abyssinian Empire has the upper hand.

In just a short period of time, Italy had already lost nearly 2500 soldiers.

1300 people were wiped out, and 1200 chose to surrender after suffering heavy casualties.

This is very rare for European countries. In the past, colonies were able to defeat the enemy with only a small number of troops, so why couldn't Italy do this?
In fact, not only European countries were curious, but even Italian King Umberto I himself was very surprised.

According to the current performance of the Italian army, the combat effectiveness of the Italian Army is one level lower than that of the British Army. The British Army is one level lower than the army powers such as France, Germany and Spain. Doesn't this mean that the Italian Army is at least two levels lower than the army powers in Europe?

Umberto I could hardly believe this reality. He had always believed that Italy should be a strong military country, and he had even paid a huge amount of military expenditure for the expansion of the army.

Why was it that Spain was able to build a strong army, while the Italian army became the laughing stock of European countries?

The angry Umberto I rejected the letter of peace from Menelik II, Emperor of the Abyssinian Empire. He regarded the defeat of the Italian army in the Abyssinian Empire as a shame, and demanded that the government continue to allocate funds and send more reinforcements to the battlefield to wash away the shame for Italy and the Italian Army.

It turned out that the combat effectiveness of the Italian Army was so poor.

As military spending increased, the number of Italian troops deployed to the battlefield reached nearly 2.

Normally speaking, if 2 regular troops invaded an indigenous African country, they could win the war with just their toes.

But the Italian army was so special that they not only lost the war, but also suffered a crushing defeat. The Italian army was defeated and abandoned its weapons and armor. Only less than 2 of the 8000 troops escaped back to Eritrea, and the rest were either killed in battle or captured.

The reason why the army of the Abyssinian Empire was able to demonstrate such strong combat effectiveness was not only due to their unprecedented enthusiasm for defending the country, but also the outstanding talents demonstrated by the empire's commanders, which was also a very important part.

The Emperor Menelik II of the Abyssinian Empire and the princes and dukes who commanded the army successfully used many times a set of strategies and tactics that had been skillfully used in Abyssinia for more than 1000 years, including creating illusions, spreading false information, making a feint to the east and attacking in the west, etc.

The Italian army never expected that the army of the Abyssinian Empire could be so cunning. In addition, there were many new recruits in the Italian army, which ultimately led to this disastrous defeat.

The Abyssinian Empire seized more than 1.1 rifles and more than 50 artillery pieces, which suddenly enriched the military power of the Abyssinian Empire.

Following this trend, the Abyssinian Empire's military power will become more and more exaggerated as it fights to support wars.

The weapons and equipment that Italy put into the army will eventually only serve as a wedding dress for the Abyssinian Empire. The current Abyssinian Empire is definitely the only indigenous country in Europe equipped with more than 10,000 rifles.

With the support of tens of thousands of rifles and dozens of artillery pieces, it would be much more difficult for the Italian army to conquer the entire Abyssinian Empire.

Just as European countries were wondering whether the Abyssinian Empire would take advantage of the victory to retake the Eritrea region occupied by Italy, the Abyssinian Emperor Menelik II made a decision that surprised all European countries. That was to deploy troops on the Eritrean border and no longer launch attacks on the Italian-occupied areas.

The Italian government was also relieved that the Abyssinian Empire gave up the attack. If the Eritrea region was recaptured, Italy would lose face.

Knowing that it was already at a disadvantage, the Italian government did not insist too much. After a period of negotiations, it finally signed the Treaty of Addis Ababa with the Abyssinian Empire.

The treaty stipulated that Italy would respect the independence of the Abyssinian Empire, assume responsibility for starting the war, and pay 1000 million lire in compensation to the victorious Abyssinian Empire.

The Abyssinian Empire gave up the Eritrea region that had been occupied by Italy, and the two sides reached a consensus on the land issue.

The Abyssinian Empire no longer moved north to threaten Italy, and Italy no longer moved south to covet the heartland of the Abyssinian Empire.

It turned out that Menelik II was quite smart.

As the war progressed, it was already the end of October.

If the war continued, the planting season in Ethiopia would soon arrive, and for the sake of agricultural harvest, the empire's soldiers would have to go home to sow and cultivate sooner or later.

If these soldiers were forced to stay in the army, it would inevitably cause dissatisfaction among them. After all, even if the war was won, the impact on agriculture would be irreversible.

There were still many states in the southern part of the Abyssinian Empire that were outside the rule of the empire. Menelik II believed that the most important thing was to incorporate these states and other lands into the rule of the empire.

There was no need to recover Eritrea, which had already been lost in the north. After all, this was the coast of the Abyssinian Empire and the richest and most prosperous land in the entire empire.

If they had to take back Eritrea, it would inevitably provoke a more intense counterattack from the Italians. If the war lasted for several years like the war between Britain and the Boers, it would not be worthwhile.

After all, the war was fought in the heartland of the Abyssinian Empire and did not have much impact on agriculture and industry in mainland Italy.

As long as the homeland is not affected, Italy can fight a protracted war. However, the hinterland of the Abyssinian Empire will be affected by the war, and the longer the war drags on, the less profitable it will be for Abyssinia.

The Abyssinian Empire's concession did not surprise European countries. Although the Abyssinian Empire gained a short-term advantage, the huge gap in power between the countries was doomed. As long as the war continued, the Italians would be able to regain the advantage sooner or later.

What really surprised and intrigued European countries was the Italian government's sudden concession.

Logically speaking, even if the Italian government lost the war, it should have been thinking about how to fight back.

But unexpectedly, after the Abyssinian Empire again proposed peace talks, Italy actually agreed to the Abyssinian Empire's request for peace talks and finally signed such a treaty.

Although the Abyssinian Empire eventually recognized Italy's ruling power over the Eritrea region, Italy was also forced to recognize the independence of the Abyssinian Empire and pay it a compensation of 1000 million lire.

Although the compensation was not much, it confirmed Italy's status as a defeated country. A great power became a defeated country in the face of an indigenous person. This story is funny no matter how you look at it.

If the Italian government had been tougher, it would not have become a laughing stock in Europe so easily. After all, Britain, the most powerful country at present, was in a similar situation. They could not defeat the Boers in a short period of time, and could only slowly wear out the Boers' potential through consumption, and then end the war.

For Britain, Italy's poor performance was a relief. If the British army's performance was just bad, then the Italian army's performance could be described as poor or even very poor.

With such a poor performance of the Italian army attracting firepower, at least the noble British government will not lose face. After all, compared with the performance of the Italian government, the British government is obviously much more decent.

In fact, when Italy started this war, Carlo knew that Italy had a high probability of not winning.

After all, Carlo is also Italian, so he is quite clear about the combat effectiveness of the Italian Army. In the period when Italy was just unified, the combat effectiveness of the Italian Army was still certain.

At that time, the combat effectiveness of the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia was definitely above the passing line, and the combat effectiveness of the Red Shirts formed by Garibaldi was even more powerful. They destroyed the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies at that time through an expedition.

Unfortunately, with the death of Carlo's father, Vittorio Emanuele II, and Garibaldi, who formed the Red Shirts, the combat effectiveness of the Italian army has plummeted.

All in all, the Italian army has not experienced a large-scale war for more than 20 years.

Twenty years is enough time for the army to replace soldiers one after another. Under such circumstances, it would be strange if the Italian army could maintain its combat effectiveness.

Although Italy was able to snatch two colonies in Tunisia from France, the main reason was that the Italian army did not encounter the French army, but only fought the Tunisian army.

Whenever the Italian army met the French army, it would not last long. At that time, because Italy had the support of Spain, France finally chose to give in, which also prevented the actual combat effectiveness of the Italian army from being demonstrated.

At this time, a long time had passed since Italy occupied the Tunisian colony, and the Italian soldiers who had participated in the war at that time had almost all retired from the army.

Although the total number of Italian troops is still quite good, most of these soldiers are new recruits and have little combat effectiveness.

Italy was reluctant to deploy its truly combat-capable army into the battlefield of the Abyssinian Empire, which led to the Italian army's very poor performance in this war in the Abyssinian Empire, setting a new record for the worst performance among European powers.

The poor performance of the Italian army in the Abyssinian Empire made the people quite dissatisfied, and the people's dissatisfaction with the government meant that someone had to stand up and take the blame.

King Umberto I certainly cannot be made to take the blame, which also means that there is only one person who can take the blame, and that is the current Italian Prime Minister Francesco Crispi.

Shortly after the peace talks ended, Umberto I dismissed Prime Minister Francesco Crispi with lightning speed and appointed right-wing Prime Minister Antonio Staraba as the new Prime Minister of the Italian government.

Although letting the prime minister take the blame quickly calmed the anger of the Italian people, the impact of the war on Italy was not eliminated.

A powerful country lost the battle to an indigenous African country, which was a huge blow to the morale of the Italian army and the people.

The original Italian Army claimed to be a powerful army in Europe and even dared to compare itself with the French and German armies.

But now, since losing the war with the Abyssinian Empire, the Italian Army has been hailed as the worst army among the great powers, let alone comparing itself to a powerful European army. Some small and medium-sized European countries also feel that it will be no problem for their armies to defeat the Italian Army head-on.

The biggest impact of this change in thinking on the Italian Army was that it caused them to completely lose confidence.

Confidence is very important in the army. If the soldiers themselves do not believe that they can defeat the enemy, then it will be impossible to defeat the enemy on the front battlefield.

Italy's defeat in the African battlefield made Germany and Austria-Hungary feel the urgency.

Although the current confrontation between the two major military groups in Europe is two powers against three powers, in fact, the two powers that have the upper hand are France and Russia.

There is no way, the individual strength of France and Russia is too strong. Whether it is France or Russia, their military strength is comparable to Germany.

Originally, Austria-Hungary and Italy could barely fight against the remaining one. With the dramatic performance of the Italian army in Africa, Germany and Austria-Hungary no longer believed that Italy could help them fight against superpowers such as France and Russia.

Under such circumstances, it becomes necessary to win over an ally with stronger military strength.

There are not many options in Europe at the moment, just the UK and Spain.

In fact, Germany would rather form an alliance with Britain. After all, Britain's naval power is stronger, which is something Germany cannot do.

If Germany and Britain formed an alliance, this alliance would have both the most powerful navy and the most powerful army in the world, which would be the most wonderful situation.

But unfortunately, German Emperor Wilhelm II's public statement of siding with the Boers damaged the relationship between Germany and Britain to a certain extent.

In addition, Britain's attention was all focused on the Boer War, which made the British government have no interest in forming an alliance with Germany.

If an alliance is formed with Germany, France and Russia, two countries that have hatred towards Britain, will inevitably interfere forcefully in the Boer War.

This is something the British do not want to see, and it is also the reason why they temporarily remain neutral in the confrontation between the two major military blocs in Europe.

There is no way. After all, Britain has made too many enemies. When choosing a military alliance, in addition to considering whether its allies are strong, it also has to consider whether it will be the first to be besieged by the other side.

Although Germany and France have many grievances, if Britain really joins the German-Austrian alliance, Britain will be the most hated enemy of France and Russia.

To ally with Germany at this time would be to make themselves a target for the Germans. The British are not stupid. They would not take sides so easily unless there are irresistible benefits.

My cold is a little better today, and the four-day daily work week has officially begun!
The first day of daily update with 10200 words. Thank you for your support!

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(End of this chapter)