Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 452 The Forty Million Born

While European countries embarked on a new round of land arms race, things remained calm in Spain.

Apart from the ongoing construction of battleships, Spain had no intention of expanding its army or its navy.

Even the tens of millions of pounds in war reparations received after the war were largely not used for military spending.

As the head of the Spanish government, Carlos did not pay much attention to the military expansion of various European countries. Despite the grand scale of military expansion in Europe, a war is unlikely to break out anytime soon.

The two major European military blocs have been locked in a confrontation for so long that both Germany and France understand what war would mean.

The two military blocs either don't have much conflict, or if they do, it could be a super war that affects the whole of Europe.

To achieve final victory in a super war of this scale, the enemy must be defeated at all costs. Such a war would mean hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of casualties, which is why the two major military blocs are currently exercising relative restraint.

The outbreak of a major war can only occur when the major powers of the two military blocs are fully prepared for war, or when there is a compelling reason to join the war.

Carlo understood that it was not the right time yet. Since a major war in Europe was not going to break out, there was no need to focus too much attention on the arms race among European countries.

Taking advantage of the last Spanish military parade, all members of the Spanish royal family were able to reunite.

Princess Sofia, who had already married, returned to Spain, accompanied by her husband, Count Albert, and his two children, Leopold and Charles.

These two little ones were born in September 1901 and August 1903, respectively. The older one was only a little over three years old, and the younger one was less than two years old, still in the most adorable stage.

Based on the current situation of the Belgian royal family, Count Albert, Carlo's son-in-law, is expected to inherit his uncle's throne and become the King of Belgium in the future.

This also means that Charles's eldest grandson, Leopold, could potentially become the next king of Belgium. While Charles the Younger is unlikely to inherit the Belgian throne, he could certainly live a life of leisure as a duke.

Carlo's two sons, Juan Fernando and Martin, can be said to have both a son and a daughter.

Prince Juan Fernando and his wife, Princess Louise, had Princess Anna in April 1901, followed by Prince Christian in February 1903.

As the eldest grandson of the Spanish royal family, Prince Cristiano is quite beloved by Carlos. However, the little guy is only two years old now, so he naturally cannot yet experience the special training courses Carlos has tailored for him as the heir to the throne.

On Prince Martin's side, Prince William and Princess Maria were born in July 1903 and December 1904, respectively.

Including the two sons born to Carlo's daughter, Princess Sofia, Carlo now has six grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The happiest times for Carlo and Queen Sofia are playing with the little ones.

Currently, among Carlo's children, only his youngest son Alexander and youngest daughter Christina are still unmarried.

这两人一个在1884年的1月2日出生，另一个在1885年的7月6日出生，年龄在卡洛的子女中都是最小的。

Because he was not the heir to the throne, Carlo was not in a hurry for Alexander and Christina to marry, and only instructed them to find a royal family of equal social standing to marry into.

If he truly prefers children from commoner families, Carlo might accept it. After all, according to the current order of succession in the Spanish royal family, although Prince Alexandre is Carlo's third son, he is fifth in line to the Spanish throne, after Carlo's two grandsons, Prince Cristiano and Prince William.

This situation essentially means he has no chance of inheriting the Spanish throne. Since he is destined not to inherit the Spanish throne, there is naturally no need to be too demanding when it comes to love.

As for Princess Christina, there's even less to say. As Carlo's youngest daughter, Carlo would never force Princess Christina into marriage.

The current Spanish royal family has no need for marriage alliances to help solidify its throne. For Carlos, he would rather see his two daughters find partners they like and marry them, rather than choosing political marriages for the sake of the royal family's interests.

Princess Sofia is quite lucky. Her husband, Count Albert, is someone she likes, a member of European royalty, and will even inherit the Belgian throne in the future—a perfect example of having the best of both worlds.

Because the nobles currently enfeoffed in Spain are all new-style nobles, Carlo is quite generous to his grandsons.

Whether they were grandsons or granddaughters, they were all granted the title of duke and given a large amount of land and property to ensure that they would become wealthy nobles regardless of their connection to the throne.

Even his two grandsons, Leopold and Charles, received the title of count of Spain. Although they did not receive any land as a reward, they still acquired considerable wealth.

Carlo prepared various businesses and companies for these little ones, each worth millions of pesetas, which is no small amount of assets.

This much is already prepared for the grandchildren, not to mention the sons and daughters who are already adults.

As it turned out, Carlo's education of his sons and daughters was quite good. To cultivate their abilities, Carlo only gave them a few million pesetas each; if they wanted more, they would have to accumulate wealth through their own efforts.

The wealth of the three sons and two daughters has increased significantly, and even the youngest prince, Alexander, and princess Christina have seen their wealth increase by more than half.

The most extravagant are Prince Juan Fernando and Prince Martin, whose combined wealth has exceeded ten million pesetas, even without them paying much attention to business.

As Crown Prince of Spain, Prince Juan Fernando spends most of his day assisting Carlos with Spanish political affairs and personally visiting various states throughout Spain to inspect their work.

Martin and Alexander served in the military, and they were considered Carlo's right-hand men for Prince Juan Fernando.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Martin and Alexander will continue to assist Prince Juan Fernando and subsequent Kings of Spain in handling domestic affairs and stabilizing the Spanish monarchy's position in the country, as dukes of Spain.

However, if a situation similar to the previous Spanish election arises, Carlo wouldn't mind helping them become the king of a European country, if they are willing.

Ultimately, it depends on their choices. All Carlo can do is provide assistance and help them continue to cultivate the areas they wish to pursue.

Speaking of Carlo's three sons, whether it is Prince Juan Fernando working in the government or Princes Martin and Alexander serving in the military, they have all made some achievements.

As the eldest son, Prince Juan Fernando naturally needs no introduction. As Crown Prince and Royal Senator, he helped Carlos handle various political affairs in an orderly manner, earning praise from many cabinet members and being hailed by the public as the most perfect heir to the Spanish throne.

Prince Martin and Prince Alexandre, who served in the military, also performed exceptionally well. As mentioned before, they participated in the landings of Lisbon and distinguished themselves during the campaign.

The personal involvement of Princes Martin and Alexander in the war silenced the few remaining disgruntled citizens who still harbored resentment towards the royal family, while also increasing the enthusiasm of the majority of the population to enlist in the army.

Even members of the royal family, of noble birth, fought for their country, even participating in the extremely dangerous Lisbon landings. So what right do ordinary citizens have to refuse to fight for their nation? Isn't that the greatest honor of being Spanish?

Martin, the commander of the 3rd Artillery Division, was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General in the Royal Army and was also promoted to Deputy Commander of the Royal Spanish Army, which is already a very high-ranking position in the military.

As for Alexander, the deputy captain of the Dreadnought battleship, he was not only promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral in the Royal Navy, but also became the captain of Spain's second Dreadnought-class battleship, the Courage.

Carlo would never have allowed them to reach their current high positions if they lacked sufficient ability. Because of the impending world war, Carlo placed great importance on the military. Whether royalty or ordinary citizens, anyone wishing to advance in the military, besides having sufficient seniority, had to prove their competence.

The generals that Carlo promoted after the war were mostly officers who had performed well in the war. As for those who were less capable, they had either already died on the battlefield or were excluded from Carlo's promotion list, and were only given more wealth as a reward.

Military service is actually a valuable asset for members of the royal family. Even Prince Juan Fernando, who is now involved in political affairs, served in the military for nearly two years when he was between 18 and 20 years old.

Carlo didn't want his sons to be all talk and no action. While military academies could certainly cultivate excellent theoretical knowledge, how to command troops still needed to be taught through practical experience after entering the military.

Of course, cultivating abilities is one aspect, and having as many children as possible is another.

As the head of the Spanish royal family, Carlos still hopes that the Spanish royal family can continue to expand.

Both Prince Juan Fernando and Prince Martin currently have only one son and one daughter, which poses a certain risk to the development and succession of the royal family.

Putting everything else aside, they should at least achieve what Carlos did, having three sons and two daughters, so that they can better help the Spanish royal family continue its lineage.

The good news is that both Prince Juan Fernando and Prince Martin are quite young at this time.

Prince Juan Fernando is not yet 30 years old, and Prince Martin is only in his early 25s. Under these circumstances, Carlo will be able to see his grandchildren born continuously for at least the next ten years.

In any case, the Royal Palace in Madrid, where the Spanish royal family resides, is large enough, and Carlos also has dozens of castles and estates throughout the country, so there is no need to worry about the residence of the royal family members.

In any case, as long as he can have children, Carlo hopes his children will have as many as possible. After all, the current Spanish royal family has enough resources to support more royal members; even if the number of royals increases tenfold, supporting them would be a piece of cake.

Because Carlos conveyed the concept of having many children to every Spaniard from top to bottom, not only the Spanish royal family attaches great importance to childbirth, but almost every Spaniard also attaches great importance to the issue of childbirth.

In this era, the marriage age in Europe was still quite young. Some people might start considering marriage as early as fifteen, while others would be arranging their weddings as late as seventeen or eighteen.

Marrying in their early twenties, like members of the royal family, is considered late for ordinary people in Europe. Fortunately, the royal family's example of having many children has effectively boosted the birth rate in Spain.

Spain's population has experienced rapid growth in recent years.

By the beginning of 1903, Spain's population had already reached 3791 million. By the beginning of 1904, Spain's population had grown to 3887 million, almost reaching the 4000 million mark.

As the year drew to a close in early 1905, based on the previous year's population figures and statistics on newborns and deaths, the Spanish government estimated that the national population had reached an astonishing 3979 million, and that it would officially surpass 40 million around April.

With the arrival of April 1905, Spain's population officially surpassed 40 million and began moving toward its next goal of 50 million.

The good news is that Spain's population now far exceeds that of Italy, which is no small feat.

When Carlos was first crowned King of Spain, the population gap between Spain and Italy was enormous. Spain had only 1660 million people, while Italy already had over 2600 million.

Spain took 35 years to surpass Italy's population by nearly 500 million. This not only reflects the population explosion caused by Spain's rapid economic and industrial development during this period, but also shows that Italy's development during this period was really slow.

In reality, Italy's birth rate is not low. However, the problem is that along with the large number of newborns, Italy also loses a significant number of immigrants every year.

These immigrants mainly came from southern Italy, a purely agricultural region with almost no large-scale industry.

While the population of southern Italy has been growing, agricultural output in the region has barely increased. This is one reason why many Italians choose to emigrate; after all, farmers rely on growing crops for their income, and an increase in population without a corresponding increase in crop production means that Italian farmers' actual income is decreasing.

In fact, it wasn't just Italy; many European countries, including Britain, France, and Germany, lost tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of immigrants every year during this era.

Most of the immigrants lost in Europe went to the Americas, which is why the United States experienced rapid population growth during this period.

在1870年左右，美国的人口也只是刚刚突破4000万人。35年后的1905年，美国的人口已经达到了7000万人以上，这35年间的人口净增长超过3000万人，平均每年的人口净增长接近100万。

Even Spain, which has experienced a population explosion over the past 35 years, cannot match the population growth rate of the United States. This also demonstrates the severity of population loss in Europe and the attractiveness of the United States to European immigrants.

Even though Spain experienced rapid economic and industrial growth during this period, it could not match the allure of a prosperous United States.

The good news is that Spain, as one of the westernmost countries in continental Europe, has intercepted some European immigrants who wanted to go to the United States.

In this era, there was only one way to travel from Europe to America: by taking an ocean liner, buying an expensive ticket, and traveling from a European port to an American port.

Spain and the Americas maintained certain connections, and shipping routes between the Americas and Spain were quite prosperous. Many Europeans chose to first travel by ship to Spain, and then purchase ocean tickets there to travel to the Americas.

After arriving in Spain, these people were attracted by the relevant policies of the Spanish immigration authorities. In addition, Spain's industry and economy were indeed booming at that time, which ultimately led them to choose to stay in Spain, which was closer to home, rather than cross the ocean to the Americas.

Staying in Spain might eventually allow one to return to their homeland, but if they go to the Americas, they will likely never have the chance to go back.

Firstly, ocean-going ship tickets are indeed expensive, and these immigrants who have spent a lot of money to buy ocean-going ship tickets are unlikely to be able to afford to buy return tickets.

On the other hand, there were the inconveniences of long-distance ocean voyages. Although Europe and the Americas are not far apart, long-distance ocean voyages still took several weeks.

There are still many uncertainties involved; shipwrecks and loss of life are common occurrences, and many people cannot afford to take such risks again.

It is precisely for this reason that many immigrants who came to Spain eventually gave up ocean voyages and chose Spain, which is similar to the United States but safer.

Of course, only a minority give up going to the United States. Even if Spain tries its best, it can only retain a portion of the immigrants who are willing to stay.

As for the majority of the remaining people who still choose to go to the United States, Spain cannot forcibly stop them.

Of course, Carlos could not simply allow the rapid growth of the American population to continue unchecked. During this period, Spain also secretly sent a large number of Black people and radical white extremists to the United States.

Even if these people arrive in the United States, they are unlikely to settle down. Since the United States has enjoyed the benefits of the population explosion brought about by immigration, it must also bear the instability brought about by a large influx of immigrants.

The conflicts between Black and White people in the United States alone are enough to give the US government a headache, not to mention that White people in the United States are further divided into various European ethnic groups, and there are also different groups among White people, and these groups also have conflicts.

Once the contradictions between various groups in the United States have accumulated to a certain extent, and external forces are applied to ignite these contradictions, the United States will explode like a beautiful firework at a certain moment.

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(End of this chapter)