Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 445 The Importance Attached by Various Countries

When the Spanish government announced its plans for a grand military parade to be held in the port of Cádiz, Andalusia, in a month, related news reports immediately attracted a great deal of attention from Spaniards.

It wasn't just the Spanish; newspapers and media outlets across Europe also reprinted the news reports, quickly spreading the news of Spain's upcoming military parade throughout Europe.

It's clear to everyone that Spain's intention in holding this grand military parade at this time is twofold: on the one hand, to celebrate the victory brought about by the war, and on the other hand, to demonstrate Spain's military strength to Britain and other European countries, thus pressuring Britain, which is unwilling to back down in peace negotiations.

What European countries had to admit was that Spain had indeed demonstrated extremely strong military power in this war. Many countries could defeat the British Empire on land, but to defeat it twice at sea was something that no ordinary power could accomplish.

The French navy did manage to launch two surprise attacks on the British squadron, but what happened after the attacks were successful? The powerful British Home Fleet was not just for show; if the French and British navies were to engage in a direct naval battle, the French navy would be no match for the British navy.

This indirectly demonstrates that the overall strength of the Spanish Navy is absolutely top-notch, on par with the United Kingdom, and already far ahead of other European countries.

As news related to this war was continuously reported by media outlets around the world, European countries had long understood the reason for Spain's victory in the naval battle: the battleship named Fearless.

Following Spain's two consecutive naval victories, European countries dispatched numerous intelligence agents to gather information about Spain's latest warships.

Although Spain did a good job of keeping secrets, it was ultimately impossible to completely conceal all the performance data of the Dreadnought battleship.

Currently, European countries have a general understanding of the Dreadnought battleship's class designation, tonnage, number of guns, and propulsion system.

Apart from the specific layout of the internal structures of the warship, the specific caliber and deployment of the cannons, and the warship's blueprints, which are more classified data, most of the other data has actually been known to European countries.

Regarding the Dreadnought battleship, Carlo was well aware that Spain's secrecy efforts would not be very effective.

After Christmas, it was already the end of 1904, and 1905 was just around the corner.

According to the original historical schedule, Britain should be about to begin construction of the HMS Dreadnought. At least the relevant projects have been established, and naval design experts have begun to explore a completely new warship design.

With the strong pressure from the Spanish Navy, Britain will certainly invest more in its latest warships and build dreadnoughts faster.

The pressure isn't limited to the British Navy; navies across Europe, at least France and Germany, will also follow suit with plans to build dreadnoughts.

Under these circumstances, it's only a matter of time before European countries acquire dreadnoughts.

Improving secrecy surrounding the HMS Dreadnought would only delay France and Germany from acquiring Dreadnoughts, not Britain.

For this reason, Carlo decided to gradually loosen the secrecy surrounding the HMS Dreadnought, allowing France and Germany to begin developing the Dreadnought alongside Britain at the same time.

Carlo's decision was well-considered. First, with France and Germany possessing dreadnoughts, their greatest concern would certainly not be Spain, but rather Britain, which sought to maintain its naval superiority.

In other words, the development of dreadnoughts by France and Germany actually only affected Britain. This was also a way of indirectly causing trouble for the British. If the British were hoping to develop dreadnoughts to counter the Spanish Navy, they were making a big mistake.

Because at the same time that the British acquired dreadnoughts, France and Germany would also acquire dreadnoughts, which meant that Britain would no longer be able to maintain its original dual-power standard.

The so-called dual-power standard is actually a rule established within the British Navy, which requires that the total size and strength of the British Navy be greater than or equal to the total size and comprehensive strength of the world's second and third strongest navies.

No matter how fast the British built warships, they couldn't possibly match the combined speed of France and Germany. Moreover, Spain's shipbuilding industry was also developing rapidly at this time, capable of building two or even more dreadnoughts a year under extreme conditions.

While Carlo could accept allowing Germany and France to possess dreadnoughts to cause some trouble for the British, he certainly wouldn't hand over the dreadnought blueprints and related information to France and Germany unconditionally.

If Germany and France want the data on the dreadnought, they must pay a price of equal value. If the price offered by the two countries does not satisfy Carlo, he would not mind auctioning off the blueprints to either Germany or France, or even just one of them.

Even if Germany and France aren't that interested in dreadnoughts, they would likely keep raising their demands to prevent the other from acquiring them.

After Spain announced that it would hold a grand military parade in the port of Cádiz, not only were the Spanish people quite excited, but the soldiers who were about to participate in the parade were also quite excited.

With just over a month left until the parade, the infantry, cavalry, and artillery divisions quickly selected their participating troops and began intensive training.

This month-long intensive training program largely focused on the upcoming military parade in Cádiz. The parade was intended to showcase the strength of the Spanish military, so neither Carlos nor other Spanish officials could allow any mishaps to occur.

The thousands of soldiers participating in the parade need to march past the reviewing stand in an orderly manner according to the organization of their respective units. The Ministry of National Defense also designed the steps that the soldiers would take when marching past the reviewing stand multiple times. In the end, Carlo personally made the decision and chose a step similar to the goose step.

To ensure a better effect for the marching, Carlo specifically ordered the royal family's shoe factory to prepare leather boots for the more than 8,000 soldiers who would be participating in the parade.

Using leather boots to march in formation, with soldiers' steps perfectly synchronized, not only looks incredibly imposing and powerful, but the rhythmic thud of their footsteps is also invigorating, prompting one to exclaim that they are truly an elite force.

To coincide with the government's upcoming military parade, the port of Cádiz will undergo temporary renovations over the next month, freeing up a large area for the parade.

In the future, this area will not only be used to review army troops of up to 8,000 men, but also to review naval and air force units, showcasing the prowess of the Spanish military to the world.

For this reason, the government has undertaken a large-scale renovation of the port area, striving to showcase the best of Spain.

In San Fernando, south of the port of Cádiz, eight thousand soldiers are undergoing rigorous parade training. Having witnessed many impressive parades before, Carlo has high expectations for this grand Spanish military parade.

To satisfy Carlo, Defense Minister Jorti personally took charge of the parade, imposing extremely strict requirements on the military posture and marching training of the 8,000 soldiers.

Although the special training was extremely rigorous, not a single soldier chose to back down. The soldiers knew that this parade was a rare opportunity for them, and their families would be proud of them.

More importantly, these soldiers participating in the parade will be personally reviewed by His Majesty King Juan Carlos of Spain during the parade, an honor that no other unit can enjoy.

This alone was enough to motivate these soldiers to dedicate themselves fully to training. In addition, the Spanish government provided these soldiers with incredibly luxurious logistical support. They could eat unlimited amounts of meat and fruit, soft and sweet white bread, ice-cold cola and various fruit-flavored sodas, mellow and sweet red wine, and even Spanish-made cigarettes and candy were provided free of charge to all the soldiers participating in the parade, allowing them to enjoy a life of luxury.

While these soldiers underwent rigorous training, Carlo was also discussing the procedures for the military parade with high-ranking government officials and generals from the Ministry of Defense.

The most important part of the process is the display and review of the troops. The army, navy, and air force will pass by a temporary reviewing stand in turn, where Carlo will review the troops.

Following this, Carlo and a group of high-ranking generals from the Ministry of Defense will ride on horseback to inspect all the army units, which are the two most important parts of the parade.

As for the other procedures, they won't waste as much time. For example, playing the Spanish national anthem and raising the Spanish flag before the parade will only take a few minutes.

During the two weeks from Christmas 1904 to mid-January 1905, Carlo observed the training of the troops twice and highly praised the training results of the generals of the Ministry of Defense.

After Carlo put forward some ideas about the goose step, the generals of the Ministry of Defense quickly understood Carlo's intentions and promoted this goose step in the parade troops.

The soldiers' training is progressing well. Although they have only been training for about half a month, they are already marching in formation quite well.

The sight of thousands of people marching in perfect unison was quite awe-inspiring. Carlo even felt an urge to exclaim, "This is my army!" but ultimately suppressed the thought.

Compared to the army units participating in the parade, the navy and air force units did not have such complicated training.

The air force, needless to say, only has a few airships. As long as they don't collide during the parade, they will be able to complete the parade mission successfully.

The naval parade was quite simple: several warships would sail past the port in turn, showcasing Spain's great achievements in battleships to other countries.

Carlo couldn't possibly bring the top officials from various countries aboard the Dreadnought battleship in person; he could just take a look from a distance, and if they wanted to see it again, they would have to pay.

This also resulted in the air force and navy units participating in the parade being quite relaxed. As they were also part of the parade forces, they naturally enjoyed the same luxurious supply packages as the army.

The army soldiers had no complaints about this, because they were already exhausted from training and didn't have time to think about anything else. After training, all they wanted to do was go to sleep as soon as possible.

As January 25, 1905 approached, the new uniforms and boots produced by the factory were gradually distributed to the soldiers participating in the parade.

The soldiers, dressed in new uniforms and boots, achieved a significant improvement in their marching. Carlo also conducted a final inspection of the army's training results on January 27th, and then waited patiently for the grand military parade on January 31st.

As January 30th approached, high-ranking officials from various European governments gradually arrived in Spain, invited by the Spanish government to participate in the Cádiz military parade.

It is worth mentioning that although the British government accepted the invitation from the Spanish government, it did not send a high-ranking diplomatic representative, but instead sent the Foreign Secretary to Spain to participate in the parade.

Apart from Britain, other European countries were quite respectful. The other major European powers, including the three superpowers Germany, France, and Russia, sent either their prime ministers or presidents—mostly national or governmental leaders.

The reason these countries attach such importance to Spain's military parade is actually because of the formidable strength Spain demonstrated in this war.

European countries understood that after this war, Spain could no longer be regarded as an ordinary great power.

Going forward, Spain's threat to European countries will be equivalent to that of the four superpowers: Britain, France, Germany, and Russia. This also means that there will be five superpowers in Europe in the future.

It is no exaggeration to say that Spain poses a greater threat to most European countries than Russia.

After all, Russia's army was more powerful, and its navy had fallen several places in the rankings after the Russo-Japanese War. The Black Sea Fleet was also firmly blockaded by Britain within the Black Sea. What threat could the Black Sea Fleet, which could not leave the Mediterranean, pose?

On the contrary, after controlling the Strait of Gibraltar, Spain has gained extremely strong influence in both Europe and North Africa.

Spain's army is among the best in Europe, and its navy is one of the strongest in the continent. Under these circumstances, every European country has to give Spain face.

Representatives from various European countries ranged from high-ranking government officials to kings or royal representatives. Spain also selected different individuals to host these representatives depending on their status.

If it were high-ranking officials from various European governments, the person in charge of receiving them would either be Deputy Prime Minister Count Menotti or Prime Minister Orcajo.

If the guests are members of royal families from various European countries, the person in charge of receiving them would be Prince Juan Fernando of Spain.

(End of this chapter)