Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 488 The Immigration Wave (Seeking Monthly Tickets!)
The year 1912, which just ended, was a remarkable year for the people of Europe, but for many Germans and French, it was a year they absolutely did not want to recall.

From the outbreak of World War II on July 17, 1912, to 1913, a total of four and a half months had passed.

What changes have occurred in Europe during these four and a half months?

According to rough estimates from military observer groups around the world, in the past four and a half months, the cumulative casualties of European armies have reached 300 million, and civilian casualties have reached 150 million.

This war was not only the most devastating war in human history, but 1912 was also the year with the most casualties caused by war in human history.

According to statistics, at least 35 French soldiers died on the battlefield, at least 20 German soldiers, 15 Austro-Hungarian soldiers and 30 Russian soldiers died, bringing the total number of dead to over one million.

Such a scale of casualties is extremely alarming, and this is only data from four and a half months. Extending it to 12 months, the death toll could potentially rise to nearly 250 million.

Death and injury are completely different. Wounded soldiers can continue to fight after recovering, while dead soldiers can only be hastily buried, representing the permanent loss of these people to the country.

Based on the current casualty figures in various European countries, most European countries, except for Russia, should be in a phase of negative population growth.

The war had an enormous impact on Europe, and the wounds inflicted on the participating countries were difficult to erase in a short period of time.

However, because Britain and Spain did not join the war, Europe's overall industry and economy continued to grow.

Both Britain and Spain gained too much from this war.

By the beginning of 1913, the general mobilization of European countries was more than halfway complete.

The French army numbered an astonishing 260 million, while the German army boasted an even larger 350 million. The Russian army barely exceeded 200 million, the Austro-Hungarian army numbered 120 million, the Serbian army 30, the Bulgarian army 20, and the Montenegrin army 15.

At present, the combined army strength of the Allied and Central Powers exceeds ten million, while in reality, there are only a few major powers in Europe with a population of over ten million.

This also shows that the scale of this war was extremely large. Belgium and Luxembourg have already been destroyed, and more countries will be forced to get involved in this super war.

To prevent other countries from gaining too much benefit from the war, Carlos instructed the Spanish government to contact Britain and sign a peace and trade treaty with them.

The purpose of signing this treaty was simple: to unite Britain to monopolize all import and export trade in Europe and prevent other countries outside Europe, especially the United States, from interfering in European trade.

There are many countries that suffered from the two World Wars, and there are also countries that rose to prominence because of the two World Wars.

The United States was undoubtedly the country that benefited the most from the World Wars, and it successfully became a world hegemon through both World Wars, a fact that cannot be ignored.

Before the outbreak of the World War, even though the United States had top-notch industry and economy, it was not enough to put it in the ranks of those vying for hegemony.

The reason is simple: the United States is still relatively backward in military technology, and a large part of the rise of American industry is due to investment from European capital, which has also caused the United States to incur huge foreign debts, with European countries being the creditors.

Before the outbreak of World War I, the United States could be described by one word by all European countries: nouveau riche.

The US government is indeed very rich, but it has no other redeeming qualities besides its wealth.

At that time, the United States only had a decent navy; its army numbered a paltry tens of thousands, making it far from being a major military power.

This is also why European countries don't take the United States seriously at all. Apart from its industrial and economic scale being that of a major power, the United States is more like a non-major power in other aspects.

What truly enabled the United States to rise was the opportunity presented by the two world wars.

Because both world wars affected most of Europe, only a few European countries were spared.

This led to many Europeans fleeing war immigrating to the United States. During the two World Wars, the United States received a large number of European immigrants, which not only significantly increased its population but also solved the problem of a shortage of skilled workers.

A large number of scientists and technical experts immigrated to the United States along with these ordinary people.

This also led to the United States acquiring a large number of scientists and technical experts after the two World Wars, enabling the rapid advancement of American military technology, which is why the United States was able to be the first to develop the atomic bomb.

There are many examples of such scientists, among the most famous being Einstein, Fermi, Taylor, and Bohr, etc.

It can be said that the talent assistance from European countries was extremely important in enabling the United States to be the first to develop the atomic bomb.

If the United States had not acquired a large number of talents from Europe, it would have been quite difficult to catch up with Europe in military technology, let alone be the first to develop the atomic bomb.

Carlo wanted to unite with Britain to monopolize European trade, which was also a way to prevent the United States from gaining too much benefit from the war.

Britain and Spain, having not joined the war, were able to attract more immigrants through their own economic environments, especially scientists and skilled immigrants, who were the targets of Spain's vigorous efforts to win them over.

Carlo would rather Britain benefit than the United States.

Because Britain is part of Europe, it is relatively easy to deal with. Britain relies on its navy, and Spain has already overtaken it once with dreadnoughts, and will have another opportunity to widen the gap with aircraft carriers.

Furthermore, Spain has already taken the lead in developing aircraft, so even if its future navy cannot surpass that of Britain, it will be at roughly the same level as Britain, and there is no need to worry about the threat posed by Britain.

The threat from the British mainland was actually quite limited; the British relied on the wealth and resources brought by their numerous colonies.

As long as the Spanish navy was on par with the British navy, Spain could threaten British colonies, thus significantly reducing the threat to Britain itself.

But the United States is different. The United States is too far away from Spain, and once the United States develops, it will not be easy for Spain to deal with it.

Moreover, the United States possesses immense potential on its own territory alone. Even if Spain had integrated Portugal and Morocco, it would still be far inferior to the United States in terms of land area and development potential.

Therefore, for Carlo, if there is an opportunity to follow the development path of the United States, he would certainly do everything in his power to implement it.

Before that red empire was even born, the United States was Spain's biggest threat. As for Britain and Germany, their threat was not as great.

Germany would be significantly weakened after this world war, and a weakened Germany would pose little threat to Spain. Even if Germany were to develop rapidly as it has historically, their hatred would be directed at France, not Spain.

Spain could easily have blocked the German invasion simply by building numerous military fortifications on both sides of the Pyrenees Mountains.

Even if France surrenders quickly to Spain during World War II, there's no need to worry. After all, Germany will be locked in a fierce battle with that Red Empire, and Spain will still have the opportunity to watch the show.

After the outbreak of war, the British and Spanish governments largely aligned in their choices. Neither government wanted to intervene prematurely in the war, and both sought to gain more benefits from it.

Spain's main partners were France and Russia, while Britain's main partners were Germany and Austria-Hungary.

Spain would occasionally sell goods to Austria-Hungary, just as Britain would sell goods to France.

After all, it's about making money, there's nothing shameful about it. As for whether selling supplies to both the Central Powers and the Allied Powers at the same time would disrupt the situation on the European battlefield, that wasn't really that important to Spain and Britain.

Spain sold only small quantities of arms and supplies to Austria-Hungary, precisely to prevent Austria-Hungary from transferring these supplies to Germany, thereby indirectly aiding the enemy.

The supplies Britain sold to France were mostly food or medical supplies; it rarely sold arms to France, to avoid giving France a firepower advantage after receiving British arms aid.

Britain and Spain were quite in sync, with the two countries jointly dividing at least 70% of the Allied and Central Powers' trade market, while the remaining share was divided among other small and medium-sized European countries.

This meant that the United States, located in the Americas, was unable to get a share of the supplies. Although they had stockpiled a large amount of resources, the long distance made transportation time much longer, leading to their abandonment by both the Allied and Central Powers. The situation on the European front was extremely tense, and both the Allied and Central Powers needed even faster replenishment of supplies.

Britain and Spain could transport supplies to the Allied and Central Powers in just a few days.

However, if supplies are transported from the United States, it would take at least a month to reach Europe, a timeframe that European countries absolutely cannot accept.

After learning of the Spanish government's intentions, the British government discussed the matter for some time and ultimately accepted the Spanish government's request.

It was quite reasonable for Britain and Spain to reach some level of trade cooperation before they joined the Central Powers and the Allied Powers.

After all, although they had a grudge against each other, it did not prevent Britain and Spain from joining forces to make money from the Allied and Central Powers.

As for whether the Allied and Central Powers would suffer losses, that was not something that Britain and Spain should consider.

In addition to its cooperation with the UK, Spain has also reached a cooperation agreement with Italy.

Italy's long-standing reluctance to join the Central Powers proves that they still had other ideas.

Carlo still wanted to win over Italy. If Britain eventually joined the Allies, Spain would have to deal with the British navy.

While the British Navy alone may not pose a significant threat, when combined with the German navy built up in recent years, the combined Anglo-German naval fleet is still extremely large.

The Spanish and French fleets alone would find it difficult to defeat this combined fleet in naval battle. However, with the support of Italy, and the addition of the Italian navy, they might be able to put up a fight against the combined Anglo-German fleet.

For this reason, after the outbreak of war, Carlo had the Spanish government contact Italy multiple times to ensure that Italy would not side with the Central Powers.

Perhaps the French government also saw that Italy had other ideas, and they had tried to persuade Italy to join the Entente Powers, but ultimately failed.

Although the Italian government did not decisively reject the French government's overtures, they also had no intention of joining the Allied Powers.

At least for now, the Italian government has no intention of joining either the Central Powers or the Allied Powers; they prefer to remain on the sidelines and quietly await the development of the European war.

Italy's neutrality at this time is good news for Carlo, since the European competition is now more balanced and Italy is no longer needed as an add-on.

The Italian navy will only be needed in the future when dealing with the British navy. As long as Italy does not join the Central Powers, it has no impact on Spain now.

At the government work report meeting at the beginning of 1913, Carlo first inquired about the production situation of the Spanish military factories, and then paid attention to the population growth in Spain in the past six months.

After the outbreak of the war, Spain conducted extensive immigration campaigns, attracting a large number of European immigrants.

Historically, Spain did not attract immigrants for one reason: the political environment in Spain at the time was relatively chaotic, and many Europeans were unwilling to go to Spain.

On the other hand, Spain's industry and economy were underdeveloped. Historically, Spain was extremely weak at this time, and after the Spanish-American War, it lost its status as a great power, not much better off than the present-day Ottoman Empire. Naturally, it could not attract many immigrants.

It's important to know that historically, Spain and Portugal were among the two most tragic countries in all of Europe.

During this period, the economies and industries of Spain and Portugal were very underdeveloped, and their per capita annual income was among the lowest in Europe. Forget about a large influx of immigrants; even a slight population loss was considered good news.

Unlike Spain in history, Spain at this time was not only a superpower, but also had a relatively developed economy and industry.

With a more peaceful and stable political environment and a developed industrial and economic base, Spain's attractiveness to immigrants has increased significantly.

This also led to Spain attracting a large number of immigrants, with many Europeans who did not want to be affected by the war choosing to seek refuge in Spain in various ways.

Comparatively speaking, Spain offers a better refuge environment than the UK.

With the outbreak of war between Germany and France, the English Channel and the North Sea also became battlegrounds for the two navies.

The Baltic Sea to North Sea shipping route was reduced by half in order to avoid being affected by naval battles.

Under these circumstances, traveling by boat from the Mediterranean becomes a safer option.

The Central Powers' naval strength in the Mediterranean was far less than that of the Allied Powers. In addition, Spain and Great Britain, two powerful naval nations, each controlled one of the two outlets to the Mediterranean, effectively ensuring peace and stability in the Mediterranean region.

Spain also transported goods to Russia via the Mediterranean Sea to the Black Sea, where they were unloaded at Russian ports on the Black Sea.

At this time, the Baltic Sea was blockaded by the German Navy. Although the main targets were French cargo ships bound for Russia, cargo ships from other countries were also questioned.

In 1912, Spain's net population growth exceeded 138 million, setting a new record in Spanish history.

As a result, the total population of the United Kingdom of Spain and Portugal has officially exceeded 5300 million, reaching a new high of 5312 million.

Of the net population increase of 138 million, the local population increased by 86 and the immigrant population increased by 52, both of which are relatively high levels recorded by the Spanish government.

This doesn't even include the laborers brought in from Russia. If those laborers are included, the number of immigrants alone is close to 80, which is comparable to the population growth of mainland Spain.

In 1912, Spain saw 107 million births and 21 deaths, resulting in a net population increase of 86.

Compared to the exaggerated number of immigrants due to war, net domestic growth is the most important factor for Spain.

Of the total population of 5312 million, the majority of the population, Spaniards, make up an astonishing 90.3%, with a total population of over 4800 million.

The stability of Spain can be seen from the proportion of its majority ethnic group; even after annexing Portugal, it still failed to reduce the majority ethnic group to below 90%.

It is worth mentioning that, over a long period of time, the assimilation of Moroccans by Spain has been largely completed.

Those Moroccans were either sent to other Spanish colonies or included in Spanish statistics.

According to a follow-up investigation by the Spanish government's immigration department, these Moroccans have become fluent in Spanish and have fully converted to Catholicism, making them essentially no different from ordinary Spaniards.

Apart from some differences in food culture, they seem to be no different from the Spanish in other aspects.

Speaking Spanish and converting to Catholicism are only the first steps in assimilation. Further ideological education and cultural propaganda will follow to convince them and their descendants that they are true Spaniards.

As for the Portuguese in the Portuguese region, the Spanish government is employing a population assimilation strategy while simultaneously trying every means to reduce their numbers.

According to statistics from the governments of the four Portuguese states, the current population of Portugal has exceeded 650 million, of which nearly 300 million are Spanish and only about 350 million are Portuguese.

In a few years, the number of Spaniards in Portugal will exceed the number of Portuguese, and Spaniards will become the dominant ethnic group in Portugal.

Around the end of World War I, Spain was able to completely control the Portuguese region.

Then Carlo's next plan could be implemented: abolish the Spanish and Portuguese governments and establish a completely unified, centralized imperial government to prevent Spain from ending up like the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which ultimately split apart.

(End of this chapter)