Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 428 Recapture of Gibraltar
The world was shocked by the outcome of this naval battle. When people learned that the Spanish fleet had traveled thousands of miles to Malta to launch a surprise attack on the British Mediterranean fleet and had successfully sunk five British battleships and severely damaged two others, they immediately realized that the war between Britain and Spain would not develop as they had expected.

Having lost five more battleships, the British Navy was no longer as powerful, and Britain's position as the world's leading naval power was teetering on the brink of collapse.

Two consecutive naval battles caused the British Empire to lose face, resulting in the loss of ten battleships and two more that would be unable to be deployed to the war in the short term.

That makes a total of twelve battleships. For most countries in the world, twelve battleships is a naval force they could never dream of building.

It's important to know that before the Russo-Japanese War, there were only five countries in the world with more than twelve battleships. Besides the four traditional powers of Britain, France, Germany, and Russia, the only other country with more than twelve battleships was Spain.

After the Russo-Japanese War, Russia was left with only eleven battleships, which caused Russia's naval strength to plummet to fifth in the world.

I had thought that Russia had already suffered heavy losses in the Russo-Japanese War, but I never expected that there would be a country that could inflict even greater losses on Britain than Russia.

That's twelve battleships! Any country that possesses twelve battleships could instantly become one of the world's top eight naval powers.

Even the Austro-Hungarian Empire, as a major power, possessed only seven battleships. The island nation, a newly emerging power that had just defeated Russia, currently only possesses six battleships.

In this situation, the fact that Spain could inflict the direct loss of ten battleships and the indirect loss of two battleships on Britain was already a shocking achievement.

European nations immediately realized that the Spanish Navy undoubtedly possessed one or more powerful battleships. It was precisely because these battleships overwhelmed the British Mediterranean Fleet that the Spanish Navy so easily defeated it.

Now, the question for European countries is whether Britain, with its Mediterranean fleet suffering heavy losses, can still defeat Spain in the upcoming naval battles.

If Britain couldn't defeat Spain in the naval battles, how could Britain possibly win the war?
If Spain had won this war, what would have become of the world?

The war between Britain and Spain plunged Europe into a fog, and the situation became chaotic. Government leaders around the world realized that an even more critical moment might be on the horizon.

The navy took three days to launch a long-range surprise attack on Malta, while the army took three days to launch a strong offensive on Gibraltar.

Although Spain used cannons larger than 10 inches, the fortifications of Gibraltar were no joke. The two sides engaged in fierce fighting over the next three days, with the Spanish army firing hundreds of thousands of shells, costing them tens of millions of pesetas every day.

The expenditure of so many shells was not without results. Gibraltar is a narrow peninsula about 1 kilometer wide and 7 kilometers long. Currently, the front 3 kilometers of the area have been completely occupied by the Spanish army. The British army can only rely on the winding tunnels under the fortress to resist the Spanish army, but they cannot hold out for much longer.

Not long ago, Commander-in-Chief Carmen Esposito reported to Carlo on the progress of the attack on Gibraltar, confidently stating that the battle would be ended within a week.

Carlo naturally hoped to recapture Gibraltar as soon as possible, and in order to achieve this goal quickly, Carlo decided to continue to strengthen the British troops inside the Gibraltar fortress.

How do we increase the intensity? Of course, we'll deploy larger caliber artillery in greater numbers to rain down a barrage of shells on the fortress of Gibraltar.

Gibraltar's long and narrow shape makes it difficult to maneuver artillery across its front. However, this is not without solutions. Because Gibraltar is surrounded by sea on three sides, the naval threat it poses is significantly increased.

Furthermore, since Spain had already defeated the British Mediterranean fleet, it could easily withdraw some of its warships and encircle Gibraltar from all sides.

The encirclement from all sides would not only enhance the firepower for the attack on Gibraltar, but also severely damage the morale and fighting will of the British troops inside the Gibraltar fortress.

Coupled with the news of the defeat of the British Mediterranean Fleet, the morale of the British troops in Gibraltar would be greatly affected, if not shaken.

Following Carlo's orders, the Spanish navy once again sprang into action, launching an encirclement of Gibraltar.

By this time, the Spanish Navy was completely relieved; the British threat to Spain had been greatly reduced. Even if a decisive naval battle were to break out with Britain immediately, the Spanish Navy was fully confident of victory.

Previously, European countries feared Britain because Britain had held the title of the world's leading naval power for too long. In matters of the navy, there was a natural sense of fear towards Britain.

However, the two encounters between the Spanish and British navies revealed that Britain's power seemed to be only superficial.

If the Dreadnought-class battleships had not been developed, Spain, with its existing navy, would have found it difficult to inflict two consecutive defeats on the British Navy.

However, there was no other way, as this was an era of transition between battleships and dreadnoughts. Whoever could gain control of dreadnoughts first would gain the upper hand in naval warfare.

The British lagged behind the Spanish in the development of dreadnoughts, and they had to bear the consequences.

Carlos had always been determined to recapture Gibraltar, which led the Spanish Navy to deploy a total of double-digit numbers of battleships and battlecruisers, with the intention of flattening the hills of Gibraltar, as they marched in a mighty force toward Gibraltar.

The arrival of this fleet also brought the war in Gibraltar to a swift end, because Gibraltar, with a total area of ​​less than seven square kilometers, simply could not withstand such a fierce bombardment from Spain.

On July 28, 1904, Spanish troops officially entered the core of the Gibraltar Fortress, marking the return of this land, which had been occupied by the British for more than a century, to the embrace of Spain.

On the same day, the news of Spain's successful recapture of Gibraltar instantly became a hot topic of discussion throughout Spain and even the whole of Europe, attracting high attention from the Spanish people, Europeans, and high-ranking officials of various governments.

The recapture of Gibraltar is good news for Spain, but it came at a great cost.

Firstly, regarding casualties. While artillery shells could indeed destroy the fortress of Gibraltar, the task of capturing Gibraltar still required soldiers to carry it out personally.

In the final stage of the occupation, the surviving British troops caused great trouble for the Spanish army, resulting in nearly a thousand casualties.

It was precisely because of the stubborn resistance of these British troops that the British garrison of several thousand men in the Gibraltar region was almost completely wiped out, with only a few soldiers being taken prisoner because they surrendered early on.

In fact, keeping some British soldiers as prisoners was a deliberate act by the Spanish army. This was because the British army's eventual fierce counterattack resulted in heavy casualties for Spain.

This prompted Spain to launch even fiercer reprisals against the remaining British troops; none of the hundreds of British soldiers who survived left the fortress alive.

Having acquired these prisoners, the British government naturally could not falsely accuse Spain of massacring prisoners.

In Spain, when people learned that the army had recaptured Gibraltar in just one week, they couldn't wait to gather with their family and friends to celebrate what was arguably the greatest moment in Spanish history.

As King of Spain, Carlos's name was mentioned many times by the Spanish people. From that day onward, Carlos officially became the greatest king in the hearts of the Spanish people, and the support of the Spanish people for the monarchy and the king reached its peak. No one could shake the Spanish monarchy or threaten Carlos's position.

For Spain, the war had reached a point where it was essentially the prelude to victory.

Unless the British Navy produces a similar Dreadnought-class battleship to counter the Spanish Dreadnoughts, they have no chance of turning the tide.

Let alone turning the tide, it would be quite remarkable if Britain could even keep its colonial empire from collapsing.

When news of the heavy losses suffered by the Mediterranean Fleet reached Britain, it immediately sparked shock, anger, and panic among the British public. The British people could never have imagined that their supposedly invincible Royal Fleet would suffer two consecutive defeats at the hands of the Spanish Navy, effectively handing the initiative in the war to the Spanish.

This also meant that when news of the Spanish capture of Gibraltar reached Britain, the British public was not as shocked.

The British government was also quite shocked at this point, but as shocked as they were, they were responsible for the war and naturally wanted to do everything they could to salvage the situation.

Currently, Britain can only address the issue from two angles. First, the British Navy still possesses considerable strength. Even after losing ten battleships to the Spanish Navy and severely damaging two others, the British Navy remains the undisputed world's leading naval power.

If Britain could find an opportunity to fight a naval battle with the Spanish navy and win that battle, it could still win the war.

The second aspect required focusing on Africa, which was the only place where Britain could potentially defeat Spain on land.

Although Spain's Philippine colonies were quite large, even if Britain were to occupy the entire Philippines, it wouldn't be a major blow to Spain.

On the contrary, due to Spain's long-term expansion in Africa, Spain has now become the country with the second largest number of colonies in Africa.

As for the country with the most, it is of course the United Kingdom, which owns Egypt and South Africa. The reason for starting with African colonies is that there is a border region between British and Spanish colonies, namely the Congo Territory, which was directly under the Spanish Crown.

As mentioned before, the UK's Cairo-Cape Town Link and Portugal's Pink Map project clashed in the southern part of the Congo.

Although Britain did not complete its Cairo-Cape Town link plan due to German intervention, it still occupied large swathes of northeastern and southern Congo, bordering Spanish Congo.

For Britain, if it could mobilize its colonial troops to attack Spain's Congo territory, and then continue westward after occupying the Congo, threatening Spain's Guinea and West African colonies, it might create some trouble for Spain.

After all, Spain had invested a great deal in its African colonies over the years. It might not have been a big deal to give up one colony, but if multiple colonies were under the threat of British guns, Spain would definitely have to mobilize its troops to support Africa.

Once Spain mobilizes its troops to support Africa, Britain will have more opportunities to attack the Spanish mainland or seek a chance to fight a decisive battle with the Spanish navy.

Spain's troop deployment to Africa will definitely require the escort of a battleship fleet, which will significantly reduce the number of battleships Spain can deploy.

As a result, the number of their main warships that they could commit to the naval battle would naturally be affected, and Britain's chances of winning the naval battle would naturally be greater.

Since news of the heavy losses suffered by the Mediterranean Fleet reached London, the British high command had also learned that Spain must possess a powerful battleship.

Given the unusual development of the Spanish navy in recent years, the British quickly realized that Spain's sudden increase in naval investment must be related to the development of this powerful battleship.

The British government was quite dissatisfied with Spain's development of a more powerful battleship before it could.

Regardless of the outcome of this war, Britain will certainly increase its investment in the navy and will not allow any other country to take the lead in the field of warships.

Even on the same day that news of the heavy losses suffered by the Mediterranean Fleet reached Britain, the British Navy formulated a development plan for a new type of battleship.

The British Navy has very demanding requirements for new battleships. Simply put, the new battleships must be able to easily defeat all the older battleships, including the Duncan-class battleships that entered service in recent years.

Such requirements were extremely demanding, but when British shipyards learned that Spain had already developed such battleships, they did not hesitate and immediately devoted themselves to the development of new battleships.

After all, the British believed that if Spain could develop such battleships, they certainly could too.

Moreover, in order to incentivize shipyards to develop warships comparable to Spain's latest battleships as soon as possible, the British Navy offered a very high reward for the new battleships.

If a British shipyard can design a warship that satisfies the navy, it can receive a large sum of funding from the navy, starting at least a million pounds, which is equivalent to the cost of a battleship.

While the British were discussing how to deal with the major problem of Spain and were vigorously developing their navy in an attempt to counter Spain, Spain was already carrying out the second step of its war plan: to annex Portugal.

Regardless of how the war between Britain and Spain unfolded, the primary cause of this conflict was the Portuguese civil war.

The main competition between Britain and Spain is in Portugal. For Carlo, since he has completely broken with Britain, Portugal is definitely not an option.

Of course, even if Portugal were to be annexed, a more suitable reason would certainly be needed.

At the very least, it should not provoke opposition from European countries, nor should it incite fierce resistance from the Portuguese people.

The first step in annexing Portugal was, of course, to help the Portuguese Iberian Party win the civil war.

Frankly speaking, both the Portuguese Republican Party and the Iberian Party were bewildered at this time. They never expected that their civil war would trigger a war between the two superpowers, Britain and Spain.

Of course, the Portuguese Republican Party and the Iberian Party were quite excited after the outbreak of war between the two superpowers, Britain and Spain.

In their view, the fact that Britain and Spain were willing to wage war against each other for Portugal's sake actually fully demonstrated how much their patrons valued them.

Republicans and Iberia, among others, firmly believe that with the support of Britain/Spain, they will be the ultimate victors.

It was under such emotional stimulation that the Portuguese civil war became extremely fierce, even surpassing the scale of Spain's recapture of Gibraltar.

Of course, the main reason was that Gibraltar was simply too small to accommodate a large-scale army, while Portugal was waging a nationwide civil war, and the scale of the fighting was far greater than that of the Gibraltar War.

The Portuguese civil war has only been going on for a month now, but the fighting between the two sides is intensifying, with the total number of troops involved in the civil war exceeding 15.

Although an army of 15 may not seem like a large number, for Portugal, with a population of just over 500 million, it is considered a large-scale mobilization.

Because both Britain and Spain were supplying weapons to both sides in the civil war, both the Republicans and the Iberian Party had enough weapons to build armies, which is why both sides' armies grew larger as the fighting continued.

Of course, compared to the war between Britain and Spain, the Portuguese civil war seemed rather childish.

The Republican Party's elite troops were largely depleted in the past month, and it was precisely this delay that gave the Republican Party ample time to mobilize its forces.

Meanwhile, the Iberian Party and other opposition parties had a completely incompetent fighting force because their armies were hastily assembled.

If it weren't for Spain secretly sending some officers to help the Iberian Party with its command, the Iberians and others would really be no match for the Republicans.

(End of this chapter)