Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 49: 50 billion compensation is freshly released

Under the influence of the Paris citizens' uprising, the French Defense Government quickly signed a new compensation agreement with the Germans.

This compensation clause is even more exaggerated than the previous draft, with the amount of compensation alone reaching a terrifying 50 billion francs.

In mid-April 1870, the two sides signed this new compensation clause in Frankfurt, also known as the Treaty of Frankfurt.

The treaty stipulated that France ceded Alsace and Lorraine, along with the fortress of Metz, to Prussia, and voluntarily gave up sovereignty over Alsace and Lorraine.

In the next three years, the French government will pay Germany 50 billion francs in compensation, which will be converted into 1 francs and 3 centimes according to the Prussian silver coin 50 thaler.

The reason for discounting it to Prussian silver coins was to prevent the French from paying less money by devaluing the franc.

There is no doubt that the French can definitely do it.

50 billion francs is not a small amount, and it is still as high as 2 million pounds when converted into pounds.

2 million pounds, what an exaggerated concept!
Today's main warships are ironclad ships, which generally cost between hundreds of thousands and several hundred thousand pounds.

If all this money was used to build ironclad ships, it would be enough for Prussia to have hundreds of powerful ironclad ships.

Although building a navy is not that simple, it takes a long time to train naval soldiers, familiarize them with the operation of warships and cultivate qualified combat capabilities.

But this is enough to prove the huge amount of money. For Prussia, which had just defeated France, this money was like a timely help, which could help Prussia quickly build its industry and become one of the world's top powers.

In fact, from this aspect, we can see that the French made great efforts to enable Prussia to grow into the German Empire and become the second power in the world after Britain.

Prussia did not have a strong industrial foundation, so the French sent Alsace and Lorraine, regions with quite strong industries, to it.

The Lorraine region in particular has a large amount of iron ore resources. The Germans relied on the iron ore in Lorraine and the coal mines in the Ruhr area to make the German Empire's industry surpass that of France in a short period of time.

Developing industry requires a lot of money, and the French also thoughtfully prepared 50 billion francs for the Germans.

Without the considerate help from the French, Germany might still have risen, but it would have been much slower.

However, this also shows the heritage of old colonial powers such as Britain and France in some ways.

The French needed to pay a full 50 billion francs in compensation within three years, which also meant that the Prussians believed that France had the ability to raise 50 billion francs within three years.

In this respect alone, France has surpassed most countries in the world.

At least Spain is not able to raise 50 billion francs at the moment. Not to mention three years, even if it takes ten years, it may not be able to raise it.

Although he had long known that the French would need to pay a compensation of up to 50 billion francs, after actually learning the terms of the contract signed between Prussia and France, Carlo still couldn't help but be a little surprised and envious of Prussia.

That's a full 2 million pounds.

What Spain lacks most at the moment is funds, which is also the only factor that troubles Primo's reforms.

After defeating the Carlos faction, the voices opposing reform in Spain have gradually weakened. However, due to the lack of funds, the progress of reform has been very slow, and it is impossible to realize Primo's expectations for reform.

Fortunately, Primo was still rational enough. In addition, there were frequent rebellions in Spain during this period, so the reform plan formulated by the government was not too radical, and the overall trend of Spanish reform was still steady and progressive. After Prussia received a compensation of up to 50 billion, Carlo's desire to cling to Prussia became stronger.

Today's Prussia or Germany has all the conditions to become a top power, and will be a top power in Europe for the next 40 years.

If Spain could cling to Prussia and obtain its industrial and financial support, its reforms would be smoother.

As for the support from Britain and France, Carlo had never thought about it at all.

The British did not want to see Spain rise at all, because once Spain rose, it would inevitably have the idea of ​​taking back Gibraltar.

Gibraltar is related to the British control of the Mediterranean, and it is impossible for them to give up the occupation of Gibraltar.

This also means that Britain and Spain have irreconcilable contradictions, and unless one of the countries is not among the great powers, it will be impossible for Britain and Spain to maintain peace.

France is naturally needless to say. As a neighbor of France, the weaker Spain is, the better.

No country wants to see its neighbor become very powerful, and the French naturally would not support Spain's reforms and industrial expansion.

Looking across Europe, the only countries that can support Spain's reform and industrial construction are Germany, Russia and Italy.

There is intense conflict between Germany and France, and the Germans will support Spain's reforms even if it is just to cause some trouble for the French.

Russia and the British had conflicts, so naturally they wanted to see Spain rise. But at this time, Russia was not much better than Spain, and its own reforms were not thorough, let alone providing financial support to Spain.

The remaining Italy was able to come together because Carlo came from the Italian royal family, and because Italy and Spain had a common enemy, France, in North Africa.

But the Italian royal family is originally a native family, and the only powerful country that can form an alliance with them is Germany.

However, Carlo would not force a marriage. Although there were political considerations, Carlo did not want to marry a wife he did not like.

If one could meet a marriage partner that one likes and who can be helpful to the royal family and Spain, then everyone would be happy.

A few days passed quickly and Carlo did gain some results.

The first is the situation of the Royal United Bank, a financial enterprise that Carlo attaches great importance to.

Within a week of opening, the total number of depositors exceeded 2913, with total savings reaching 5787.31 million pesetas and an average savings of pesetas per person.

Although per capita savings have dropped from 40,000 on the first day to less than 6,000 now, it is a good thing for Royal United Bank.

Because this represents an increasing number of civilian depositors, the Royal United Bank is gradually gaining credibility in the hearts of Madrid citizens.

After all, Madrid's population is not large, and the fact that it has over 5,000 depositors in a short period of time has proven the public's trust.

Although the nobles contributed more, the trust of the people was more of an encouragement to Carlo, at least proving that the Spaniards' support for the Savoy dynasty and Carlo was gradually increasing.

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(End of this chapter)