Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 401 New Century Development Plan

When the Royal Mercedes-Benz Motor Company released its future plans, they quickly attracted the attention of many newspapers and the public because they closely resembled the visions of a bright future for the 20th century that were being reported by newspapers around the world.

当看到皇家奔驰汽车公司计划在今年内将汽车成本降低到1500比塞塔以下，售价控制在2000比塞塔以内，并且在1900年到1905年的范围内将汽车成本降低到1200比塞塔以下，将汽车售价控制在1500比塞塔到1800比赛塔的区间的时候，民众们对于20世纪未来的美好想象达到了极点。

According to the goals set by the Royal Benz Motor Company, if these goals could be successfully achieved before 1905, people would be able to realize the beautiful vision of every household owning a car in the 20th century.

Aside from the extremely poor who have very low incomes or those who have no need for cars, most people can afford to buy a car through their own efforts.

If the dream of every household owning a car can be realized, will other dreams such as traveling by airship or using wireless devices for communication also come true?
While all of Europe was indulging in rosy fantasies about the new century, the Spanish government also convened a meeting to discuss development plans for the new century.

The 19th century was a pivotal century for Spain. For the first seventy years of this century, Spain was in a state of endless decline and decay, and many countries and media outlets believed that Spain was no longer what it used to be and was no longer one of the great powers of Europe.

In the latter three decades of the 19th century, with Carlos's coronation as King of Spain, everything took a dramatic turn and changed.

Spain is not only one of the top five powers in Europe, but also one of the top three colonial empires in the world.

Of course, saying it's in the top three is just for the sake of sounding good. Britain was undoubtedly the world's leading colonial empire, and the wealth of its colonies such as India, Canada, Australia, and South Africa was the envy of many European powers.

In addition to these colonies, Britain also occupied a large number of archipelagos and islands and controlled many key transportation routes, such as the Strait of Gibraltar, the Suez Canal, and the Strait of Malacca.

Below Great Britain, France was the second largest colonial empire.

Compared to its historical past, Spain's current colonies are not much different from those of France.

However, the greater prosperity of the population and economy in mainland France indirectly strengthened the influence of the French colonial empire.

Spain was undoubtedly the world's third largest colonial power, with its colonial achievements far surpassing those of other European powers.

Even the mighty German Empire could not compare to Spain in terms of colonialism. The Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy, needless to say, had a combined total of colonies that didn't even equal the size of the Moroccan colonies Spain had just conquered.

Among the many European powers, Russia was an outlier.

While other European powers expanded their colonies overseas, Russia consistently expanded eastward and southward, continuously increasing its domestic territory.

This also resulted in Russia having almost no colonies, and its mainland area was larger than the entire Europe combined. In other words, it incorporated all its colonies into its own territory.

Of course, there are reasons why Russia was able to occupy such a vast area of ​​land. At its peak, the Russian Empire covered 2200 million square kilometers, more than twice the size of the entire continent of Europe.

In reality, the true heartland of Russia consists of only two parts: the Eastern European part and the Far East part.

The vast Siberian plain in the middle is a cold region. Before the Trans-Siberian Railway was built, it was sparsely populated and Russia did not have much control over this area, which was quite chaotic.

Territorial control is highly correlated with population. Despite having the largest population in Europe, Russia possesses a staggering 2200 million square kilometers of land.

It is no exaggeration to say that even if the current population doubled, Russia would still not be able to effectively control its existing land area.

This also shows that Russia's appetite for land is too great. The existing Russian territory is beyond the capacity of its population, and further expansion will only increase internal contradictions in Russia.

The problems Russia faces are problems that European countries will never face.

This is because most European countries do not integrate their colonies into their homeland, given that the distance between a colony and the homeland is often thousands or even tens of thousands of kilometers.

Spain is the first country to propose incorporating Morocco into its own territory, which is largely due to the fact that Morocco and mainland Spain are separated by the sea.

Nearly four years have passed since Spain annexed Morocco. During the cabinet meeting's discussion on the development plan for the new century, the issue of Morocco's localization progress was also discussed.

The most pressing issue in the localization of Moroccan land is the local population.

Needless to say, the former colonies in southern Morocco were largely exiled after years of Spanish influence. The majority of the population is now European, with the Spanish making up the largest group.

In the remaining Moroccan territory, the Moroccan population remains at nearly 4 million. During the more than four years of migration efforts, nearly 1.5 million Moroccans have been relocated, averaging nearly 400,000 relocated annually.

This is because most of the time in the first year of population migration work was spent on preparation and investigation, which lowered the average number of Moroccans migrating each year.

Although nearly 150 million people have moved out of Morocco, the country's population has not changed much and remains above 500 million.

The main reason for this is the Spanish government's efforts in promoting immigration. In the past four years, nearly one million people have immigrated from Spain to Morocco, averaging more than 250,000 people per year.

This is also why Spain's population growth has slowed down over the past four years. After all, it's impossible for Spain's native population to grow at a rate of hundreds of thousands per year when there are 250,000 immigrants.

In addition to immigrants from Spain itself, Spain has also attracted a large number of immigrants from Europe and even South America.

The number of immigrants from Europe is also close to 30, with the largest number coming from Russia and Italy.

Unfortunately, compared to other European powers, Italian and Russian peasants lived the worst lives, naturally resulting in the largest number of immigrants.

Of course, these two countries are not the only ones experiencing a large outflow of population; the UK is also seeing a continuous loss of people.

However, the region in which Britain lost population was Ireland, mainly because the exploitative rule of the English in Ireland aroused dissatisfaction among the Irish people, leading to a large exodus of Irish people.

Compared to immigrants from Europe, South America, after four years of cobbling together, has only attracted fewer than 200,000 immigrants.

One reason for this is that Spain's contact with South America only began in recent years, and some South Americans still harbor resentment towards Spain, which has led to the limited number of immigrants.

Another aspect is that South America is too far from Morocco. Even if people in South American countries want to immigrate, they would prefer to immigrate to Spain, not Morocco, which is separated from their homeland by the Strait of Gibraltar.

Although Spain has repeatedly stated its intention to develop Morocco into a new homeland, such a homeland development project will certainly not be completed within a few years.

By the time Morocco becomes part of Spain and enjoys the same status as its own, these immigrants who went to Morocco may have already grown old.

Compared to immigrating to Morocco, immigrating directly to Spain offers a range of benefits, which is certainly more attractive than immigrating to Morocco.
Thanks to these 150 million immigrants, not only has the population of the Moroccan region remained at 500 million, but the proportion of Moroccans in the local population has also been effectively reduced.

According to the current Moroccan government's census of the entire Moroccan region, Moroccans make up less than 50% of the population of over 500 million, but they are still the largest ethnic group in Morocco.

The proportion of Spaniards and people of Hispanic descent is approaching 37%, with approximately 185 million Spaniards and people of Hispanic descent in the entire Moroccan region.

The term "Spanish" is easy to understand; "Hispanic" broadly refers to immigrants from Spain and South America, as well as their descendants. The reason these South American immigrants are also included in the category of Hispanic is twofold: firstly, most of them are descendants of Spanish immigrants to South America; secondly, they also speak Spanish and are a group easily assimilated into the larger Spanish community.

Since they could be easily assimilated into the large Spanish nation, the Spanish government naturally could not further subdivide these South American immigrants into the ethnic groups of various South American countries.

The effect of unification is definitely greater than that of division. Spain hopes that the Spaniards and people of Spanish descent in Morocco will eventually evolve into a Spanish nation. This would effectively increase the proportion of Spaniards in Morocco and enhance Spain's control over the region.

Based on current trends, Morocco's localization efforts are more than halfway complete. The next step is simply to steadily reduce the Moroccan population and increase the Spanish and other European populations to ensure continued progress in Morocco's localization.

Carlo also commented on the Moroccan colonial government's indigenization efforts. He first praised the Moroccan colonial government's progress, and then set a timeframe for Morocco's indigenization: 1905.

Over the next five and a half years, the Moroccan government needs to expedite localization and carry out Spanish-style construction in several key Moroccan cities.

For Moroccans who will continue to remain in Morocco, they will need to attend free Spanish language training courses offered by Spain. From then on, Spanish will be the only official language in Morocco, and all languages ​​used in public places will be Spanish.

If these Moroccans cannot learn Spanish in a short period of time, their future lives in Morocco will be greatly affected.

While this may be cruel to these Moroccans, for the Spanish government, a unified language is an essential part of Moroccan localization.

Not only language, but also religion and customs will gradually unify. In the future, only Catholicism will exist in Morocco, and Islam, the faith of Moroccans, will not be permitted.

Carlo is generally satisfied with the progress of the localization of the Moroccan colony.

After all, Spain occupied this land for less than four years. Even if the localization work was not completed until 1905, it actually took only about 10 years to complete the localization work.

Of course, the main reason why it only took 10 years to complete the localization work in Morocco is that the population of Morocco is relatively small.

Despite the fact that Morocco has a population of 500 million, 100 million of them belong to the southern Moroccan colony. Most of these people are immigrants from Spain and other parts of Europe, while the original Moroccans have long been transferred to other colonies.

Under these circumstances, the Spanish government only needs to address the needs of 4 million people in Morocco. 4 million is indeed not a large number for Spain at present, which is why Spain was able to relocate over 1.5 million Moroccans in just four years.

The cabinet also discussed Spain's population issue.

For a long time, Spain's population was its biggest disadvantage compared to other great powers.

Thanks to the Spanish government's tireless efforts in population control, Spain now has a population of 3386 million, which is not a large number among European powers, but it is certainly not small either.

Currently, most of the major powers have populations between 30 and 40 million, with only Russia, Germany, and the United States having populations exceeding 50 million.

Under these circumstances, Spain's population of nearly 3400 million is not small, and the population gap has been gradually closed.

Of course, for the Spanish government, the more population the better.

In its development plan for the new century, the Spanish cabinet government has also formulated relevant population development strategies.

For Spain itself, the current population is far from reaching its carrying capacity. The Spanish government has planned a carrying capacity of 5000 million people for the mainland, and 7000 million if Portugal is included.

The population carrying capacity of Morocco after it becomes part of mainland Spain is capped at 3000 million. In the Spanish government's plan, after annexing Portugal, the population carrying capacity of mainland Spain could reach 1 million. This is the source of Spain's confidence in becoming a superpower and even the hegemon of Europe.

Spain's population has not yet reached its carrying capacity, so the Spanish government maintains the attitude that the more people the better when it comes to population development in Spain.

In the first five years of the new century, the Spanish government hoped to increase the population by nearly one million per year, reaching more than 38 million by around 1905, in order to cope with the increasingly intense situation in Europe.

After the Boer War, the British turned their attention back to Europe. Tensions between France and Russia, and between Germany and Austria-Hungary, intensified. While the public speculated about a bright future for the 20th century, many newspapers also predicted a possible super war at the beginning of the century.

The current confrontation between the two major military blocs alone means that at least five major powers will be involved in this potential super war.

With Britain and Spain standing by as observers of the confrontation between the two major military blocs, this unprecedented super war could very well involve the seven major powers.

It's important to understand that these seven powers are not only the most powerful countries in the world, but their spheres of influence also cover all parts of the globe.

Britain, of course, goes without saying. If Britain were to enter the war, its various colonies would likely follow suit. The combined might of large colonies like Canada, South Africa, India, and Australia, along with other smaller colonies, would be quite formidable, adding a global dimension to the potential superpower conflict.

France and Spain had colonies all over the world, and even Germany expanded into numerous colonies, large and small.

Under such circumstances, if a super war involving seven major powers were to break out, this war could very well evolve from a European war into a world war, thus becoming the largest and most devastating war in human history.

Such news reports are not uncommon in Europe, and many people are still able to see the situation clearly.

However, for the major powers that have formed two opposing military blocs, the current situation leaves them with no choice but to back down.

The fundamental reason for the formation of the two major military blocs was that the conflict of interests among several major powers had reached its limit. These conflicts could not be resolved through peace; only war could bring temporary tranquility.

Since they cannot prevent the complete confrontation between the two major military blocs, what countries like France, Russia, Germany, and Austria can do is to expand the strength of their own military blocs as much as possible, maintain a greater chance of winning, and make the other side the loser, bearing all the consequences of defeat.

Compared to other small and medium-sized European countries, the two major military blocs preferred to court powerful nations like Britain and Spain.

Because the military strength that such powerful nations could provide was something that several small and medium-sized European countries combined could not provide.

Britain can provide the world's most powerful navy, while Spain can provide one of the world's top three navies and one of the world's top five armies.

Even if all the small and medium-sized countries in Europe were combined, they wouldn't be able to field one of the world's top five navies and armies.

It was precisely for this reason that, starting in 1899, the two major military blocs began to court Britain and Spain more and more frequently, each offering their own terms.

Although Britain is the most powerful country in Europe, the two major military blocs share a common regard for both Britain and Spain.

On the one hand, Spain's army and navy are developing in a more balanced way, and on the other hand, Spain is more advanced in exploring new technologies.

Spain was the first country to achieve success in the research and development of electricity, and it was also the first country to develop automobiles. Even the airships that are currently attracting global attention were first formally tested in Spain.

Under such circumstances, it was difficult for European countries to guarantee that Spain did not have any hidden technologies waiting to be unleashed in the event of a world war.

Rather than making Spain an enemy, it's better to make Spain an ally. Spain's current apparent strength is already attractive enough; if they have any trump cards up their sleeve, it's practically a buy-one-get-one-free deal, even more worthwhile.

(End of this chapter)