Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 441 British Army Surrender
When news of the army's successful capture of Crisbón reached Madrid, it immediately drew cheers from a number of high-ranking Spanish government officials.

The war against Chris Ben is more than halfway through, and the most important thing now is the negotiation.

Unless the British government has lost its mind, in this situation where both the army and navy have suffered a complete defeat, Britain has no choice but to cut its losses as soon as possible.

Although Carlo was quite satisfied with the army's actions, he knew it was not yet time to celebrate. Only by taking advantage of the morale boost from the attack on Crispin and advancing rapidly eastward to cut off the retreat routes of all Portuguese and British troops could they completely seize the initiative at the negotiating table.

The British government wanted to retain its soldiers in Portugal, but this meant it had to make some concessions in other areas. Carlo didn't expect to bring Britain down from its pedestal through this war, but collecting some interest to solidify Spain's superpower status was still necessary.

Just as the Spanish government had predicted, when the British government learned from the already fled Portuguese Republican government that Lisbon had fallen, British Prime Minister Arthur James Balfour was so shocked that he almost couldn't stand up.

Just a few days ago, the British government was celebrating that the front lines had halted the Spanish army's offensive, and the seemingly powerful Spanish army had not advanced even a meter further for several days.

To Prime Minister Balfour's utter surprise, the Spanish army's counterattack was so fierce that it captured Lisbon before anyone could react.

At present, the important thing for the British government is no longer how to win this war, but how to save the nearly 100,000 British soldiers still fighting in Portugal.

With the fall of Lisbon, the British troops stationed at New Montmorre on the front lines will immediately find themselves in a precarious situation, attacked from both sides.

Even more critically, the British Navy could not guarantee the successful evacuation of these soldiers from Portugal. This meant that if the war did not end, the nearly 100,000 British troops stationed in Portugal would be sent to meet their maker by the Spanish.

If these British soldiers were to die in battle, that would be one thing, but such blood feuds would only increase the hatred between the British and the Spanish, making the British more supportive of the war.

However, if Spain were to capture these nearly 100,000 British soldiers, it would be bad news for the British government. Death in battle and capture are two completely different outcomes, and if these soldiers were captured by the Spanish army, the British government would be in an extremely difficult and passive position.

The British government would never willingly abandon these soldiers, after all, these nearly 100,000 soldiers represent 100,000 families and the opinions of hundreds of thousands of British people.

If the British government were to abandon these soldiers, aside from anything else, the angry families of these soldiers alone would be enough to give Prime Minister Balfour and his cabinet a headache.

However, if the British government were to take action against these soldiers, it would pay a heavy price that it could not afford. Spain, holding the prisoners, would certainly make exorbitant demands, which would mean that Gibraltar and Portugal were essentially gone from Britain, and Britain would have to pay other costs as well.

Prime Minister Balfour was certainly unwilling to face such a dilemma. He hoped to rescue the British troops before the Spanish army took any further action, or at the very least, to evacuate them to a safer location to await the British government's next move.

Although they were furious at the Portuguese Republican government's retreat without a fight, they were fortunate that the other side had notified the British government while fleeing. At least the British army had enough time to react and was not caught in a pincer movement by the Spanish army before they learned that their rear had fallen.

At this point, Prime Minister Balfour had no time to think. He could only immediately notify the British troops in Portugal, ordering them to withdraw north immediately, as far away from the Spanish army as possible.

It is worth mentioning that Prime Minister Balfour specifically requested that the British mainland army, apart from notifying a small number of white colonial troops in Canada and Australia, not notify the remaining colonial troops composed of people of color.

The purpose of this move was obvious: to use these colonial troops composed of people of color as cannon fodder to delay the Spanish army's advance, thus buying more time for the British, Australian, and Canadian colonial troops to evacuate.

The British government's plan was excellent, and the operations of troops in the UK, Australia, and Canada proceeded smoothly.

The problem was that the British government underestimated how quickly the news spread within Portugal. News reports of the Spanish army's entry into Lisbon had already spread rapidly throughout Portugal.

The spread of these news reports was fueled by Spain, with the aim of stopping the Republican army, which was still resisting in various regions of Portugal, and allowing the Iberian Party to quickly take over the entire country.

Since the news was being disseminated throughout Portugal, it was natural that the front lines would also receive it.

At first, the Portuguese army was unwilling to believe that their rear had collapsed, but when they found that they could no longer contact the Republican government in Lisbon, they had no choice but to believe it.

The result was an extremely chaotic rout at the Novo Montemor front, with a large number of Portuguese soldiers deserting in a state of extreme panic.

In any case, they were forcibly conscripted by the Portuguese Republican government and were not particularly willing to serve it. Now that the Republican government had collapsed, why should they risk their lives to continue resisting?
The Portuguese army was in disarray, and the situation wasn't much better for the British colonial army.

In order to better defend against the Spanish army's offensive, the troop deployment on the New Montmorre front was rather chaotic, with British troops, colonial troops, and Portuguese troops closely intertwined.

The news of the British army's withdrawal could not be kept from these native soldiers. When they learned that the British government had abandoned them, you can imagine their reaction.

At this point, the British colonial troops were no longer concerned with the situation on the battlefield; they were only thinking about following the British northward to save their own lives.

In that instant, the British home army, the colonial army, and the Portuguese Republican army seemed to have reached a tacit understanding, all abandoning the situation on the front lines.

Portuguese soldiers chose to completely relinquish their soldier status; once they threw away their guns, they became ordinary Portuguese civilians.

British soldiers did not have this option. Although the British and Portuguese were both European whites, the differences between them were still quite significant.

More importantly, the British didn't speak Portuguese at all, making it completely impossible for them to disguise themselves as ordinary Portuguese citizens.

Needless to say, the British colonial army was in a different situation. These people of color could not possibly disguise themselves as Portuguese, so they could only follow behind the British mainland army, trying to retreat northward in search of a way out.

On the third day after the Spanish army officially entered Lisbon, the situation at the Nouvelle-Montemor front completely collapsed. The Spanish army at Évora encountered almost no resistance and easily breached the Nouvelle-Montemor defenses that had held them back for so long. At this time, there were still many Portuguese and British soldiers near the front who had not had time to evacuate, and these soldiers naturally became prisoners of the Spanish army.

Subsequently, the Spanish army on the main battlefield split into two routes. One route continued westward, attacking the important cities of Barrerou and Setúbal south of Lisbon, and completely occupying the southern part of Portugal.

The other army continued north, pursuing the British troops who had already withdrawn.

On the very day the Spanish army occupied Lisbon, it dispatched two divisions to advance along the highway toward Abrantes.

Abrantes is located just tens of kilometers north of the New Montmore front, which would have been an effective way to block the retreating British troops.

If British troops wanted to reach Coimbra, Alambutsh was almost a necessary stop. Unless they risked advancing along the road, this strategic location blocking the north bank of the Tagus River was a route they had to take.

Because the Spanish army was advancing along the road, although the journey was longer, they would definitely arrive earlier than the British army.

After all, there was no decent road for the British troops to move quickly from New Montmore to Abrantes.

The route also crosses several rivers, the largest of which is the Tagus. The terrain is quite complex, which will likely slow down the British troops' retreat northward.

Under these circumstances, it was clearly unlikely that the British army could cross the Tagus River before the Spanish army arrived.

After all, the British army numbers over 100,000, and evacuating over such a long distance is not an easy task.

As Spain had predicted, the British army did not cross the Tagus River before the Spanish army reached Abrantes, and they were ultimately blocked by the Spanish army south of the Tagus.

To the north lay a well-prepared Spanish army, while to the south, a large Spanish force was also in pursuit. To the west, they returned to Lisbon along the Tagus River, while to the east, they either entered Spanish territory or were blocked by the Tagus River all the way to the Alvito Reservoir.

For the British army, they were almost in a desperate situation. The Tagus River, which was particularly important to Portugal, acted as an insurmountable barrier, completely blocking the British army's route of retreat to the north.

Regardless of which direction they retreated, they would need to cross the Tagus River. A large-scale troop crossing could not be kept secret from the Spanish army, and the British army would have little chance of launching a counterattack against the Spanish army during the crossing.

This also means that once the British army began crossing the river, they were essentially exposing their most vulnerable side to the Spanish army.

Moreover, this river is not so easy to cross. The Tagus River, also known as the Tagus River, is an important river in the Iberian Peninsula.

This river is called the Tagus in Portugal and the Tagus in Spain. It is over a thousand kilometers long, and its narrowest point is tens of meters wide, while its widest point reaches nearly two kilometers.

Especially in the lower reaches of the river in Portugal, the width of the entire river never falls below 100 meters. Most sections are hundreds of meters wide, making it completely impossible to cross by manpower.

The British army alone numbered nearly 100,000 men, and they would need to collect a large number of boats along the riverbanks to cross the river.

However, collecting ships will take a long time, and time is currently the biggest shortage for the British military.

Faced with such a difficult situation, the British commanders knew that the tide had turned. The British tried to fight back, but as time went on, the Spanish army, which was pursuing them from the south, had already reached a short distance to the south of the British forces.

After several failed attempts to break out, the British commanders ultimately chose to surrender to Spain in order to save their heavily damaged British troops.

Nearly 100,000 British soldiers were taken prisoner by the Spanish army, along with tens of thousands of colonial troops who evacuated with the British.

When news of the British surrender reached Spain, it immediately sparked jubilation within the Spanish government. With the British surrender, the Portuguese civil war was essentially over.

The main task at the next step was to clean up the battlefield and eliminate the remaining British troops, eliminate the negative impact of the Portuguese Republican government on Spain, and declare that the Portuguese Democratic Republic had taken full control of the entire territory of Portugal and officially become the sole legitimate government of Portugal.

On December 15, 1904, the Democratic Republic of Portugal officially announced the relocation of its capital to Lisbon, stating that the Portuguese civil war was essentially over and that, with the support of the people, the Iberian Party had driven the Republican Party, the traitors of Portugal, out of the country.

The news of Britain's defeat in Portugal once again became a hot topic in Europe, causing the British to lose face once more.

Clearly, Britain had lost face in this war with Spain. They had been defeated by the Spanish in both the navy and the army, proving not only that Britain's power was somewhat bloated, but also that Spain's power was genuine.

Both Germany and France have increased their attention to Spain. Even Italy and Austria-Hungary, which have close ties with Spain, sent congratulatory messages to the Spanish royal family in their royal capacities. After all, who wouldn't want their ally to possess formidable fighting power?

Judging from the combat capabilities demonstrated by the Spanish army and navy in this war, it is no exaggeration to say that Spain deserves great attention.

A superpower with both its army and navy ranking among the world's best poses a far greater threat than a superpower like Britain, which is only good at one area.

This means that Spain can pose a threat not only to European countries at sea, but also to some European countries on land.

(End of this chapter)