Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 490 Gas Warfare

For Spain, the first few months of 1913 went relatively smoothly.

In February, Carlo observed flight tests of reconnaissance and fighter jets, and the aircraft factory was quickly set up and put into production within two months.

The war on both the Eastern and Western fronts was also quite intense. During this period, Spain sold a large amount of weapons, equipment, food and medical supplies, making a fortune and significantly increasing its fiscal revenue.

This has created a prosperous atmosphere in Spain, attracting many European refugees.

Carlos was relatively welcoming to these European refugees. Spain needed a large population, and compared to people from other regions, Carlos was more willing to accept these Europeans.

After all, Europeans are more educated, and many of these European refugees are scientists and technical experts, which are exactly what Spain needs right now.

Just as Spain was developing steadily, bad news suddenly came from the front lines.

On May 15, 1913, at the site of the conflict between Germany and France.

The war between Germany and France has lasted for more than half a year, with the two sides fighting back and forth. Some important high ground and defensible areas have changed hands frequently.

On a high point on the battlefield, an elite French army was stationed.

This French army had repelled several German attacks in the past few days, and although it had suffered considerable casualties, it had achieved quite good results.

Just when the French soldiers on the high ground thought the German army had no other options, the situation on the battlefield quickly changed.

An elite German army launched an attack on the northeastern slope of the hill, while the German army on the west launched a feint attack in coordination, making the offensive seem very powerful for a time.

The French troops stationed on the high ground were completely unaware that the German attack on the western front was a feint. They were exhausted from dealing with enemies on both sides and were eventually forced to abandon their positions halfway up the mountain and retreat to the summit.

The German troops quickly occupied the defensive positions halfway up the mountain and, after regrouping, launched an attack on the summit.

The French troops on the mountaintop had nowhere left to retreat, and they used all their machine guns and artillery in an attempt to stop the German advance.

The fierce resistance of the French army inflicted heavy casualties on the German army. Although a direct assault could have captured the hilltop positions, the enormous losses were not worthwhile for the German army.

Large numbers of German and French soldiers were dying every day as temperatures rose on the Franco-German front in May, and both sides needed to deal with the large number of corpses in a timely manner to prevent the spread of disease.

For this reason, the German and French armies formed a tacit agreement. After each round of attack and defense, both sides would send soldiers to deal with their respective casualties, burying the dead hastily and doing their best to treat the wounded.

For the soldiers on both sides, such a tacit agreement was excellent. It not only prevented the spread of plague but also allowed the soldiers some rest time on the battlefield.

During these rest periods, the French troops defending the high ground struggled to cope with the German offensive.

Everything was fine until one morning, when things suddenly went wrong.

As dawn approached, the German and French soldiers, who had fought fiercely all night, were quite exhausted.

According to their agreement, after a round of attack and defense, there should be at least several hours to collect the remains.

Both Germany and France pride themselves on being civilized nations, so it's highly improbable that they would attack each other's soldiers while the other is collecting the bodies.

This is why French soldiers were relatively relaxed during this period. They could take advantage of their hard-won rest time to recuperate, at least to make themselves look less tired.

While the French troops were resting, a very strange, yellowish-green smoke slowly drifted up the ground towards the higher ground.

Most of the French soldiers were already asleep, and a few were collecting the bodies of their fallen comrades. They were unaware of the smoke.

When the smoke drifted over the French positions, some of the more alert soldiers realized something was wrong.

The smoke had a very pungent smell, but it didn't smell like gunpowder, leaving the soldiers completely baffled as to what it was.

The soldiers who smelled the smoke suddenly felt a burning pain in their eyes, nose, and throat, and their eyes immediately began to tear up, so they dared not open them at all.

The French soldiers who were sleeping were awakened. Some of them had inhaled too much smoke while they were asleep. They could only roar in pain, tear their clothes with their hands, grab their throats in agony, and roll around on the battlefield.

But this struggle is futile. Shouting and rolling around only cause them to inhale more smoke, and the more smoke they inhale, the more their suffering will worsen, and they may even face suffocation and death.

The yellowish-green smoke in front of us is the poison gas bomb that Germany dropped on the French positions.

The German army was no pushover; they could use poison gas in world wars throughout history, and they could certainly use it in world wars in this world.

To ensure that the poison gas shells were used to their fullest potential, the German army carefully assessed the risks before using them to avoid any impact on friendly forces.

With the help of the wind, all the smoke drifted to the French positions, and the German troops were not harmed at all.

In just half an hour, the French soldiers holding their ground had completely lost their ability to resist. Many of the more severely affected soldiers lay on the ground, barely alive.

Only a few soldiers who still retained their mobility could only run back in terror in the face of such a bizarre situation, completely disregarding their positions.

With the aid of poison gas, the German army easily captured the hill. One advantage of poison gas was that once the toxic smoke was dispersed by the wind, it had no effect on the defensive position.

The German army not only easily captured the high ground, but also effectively utilized the positions left by the French to defend against French attacks.

The French government was initially unaware of what was happening, but when the soldiers poisoned by the gas escaped back to the rear, the French army immediately realized that Germany had used poison gas.

Poison gas bombs are not unfamiliar to European countries. With the deepening of chemical research, poison gas bombs will eventually be developed; it's just a matter of time.

It's true that Germany was developing poison gas, but other European countries were also using poison gas; in fact, everyone was doing the same thing.

However, since Germany was the first to use poison gas, history books will certainly record it as Germany, not other countries.

When the French government learned that the German government had used poison gas, it did not waste the opportunity and immediately contacted domestic and foreign newspapers and media to publicize Germany's heinous act of using poison gas.

In an effort to garner international and European support, the French government even organized several soldiers who had been poisoned by chemical weapons to demonstrate the dangers of such weapons to newspapers and the media.

Due to the effects of the poison gas, most of the soldiers who managed to escape suffered very serious aftereffects.

Blindness and intellectual impairment were the two most severe consequences. The plight of these French soldiers also aroused the sympathy of many newspaper reporters, who condemned Germany for being the first to use poison gas.

In retaliation, the French government has declared that it does not rule out the use of poison gas in future wars.

If Germany continues to use poison gas, France will no longer have any reservations and will launch large-scale attacks on the German army, letting the Germans experience the harm of poison gas.

By this time, France had gained public support, and its declaration of retaliation was seen as justifiable by newspapers and media across Europe.

The German government did not respond to this, but the subsequent actions of the German military show that the German government does not care about the French government's threats at all.

After the German army first used poison gas, it used it against the French army on several more occasions in subsequent battles.

The French government could no longer tolerate this, and they also used their self-developed poison gas against the German army, engaging in a chemical war with Germany. Carlo was quite concerned about this chemical war in Europe. He did not want a chemical war to happen.

Poison gas is extremely dangerous to soldiers, and once a precedent is set, European countries will be even more reckless in using poison gas.

Carlo didn't want Spanish soldiers to suffer from poison gas. No matter how elite the army was, under the threat of poison gas, they were still just ordinary people.

In response to the poison gas attack, Carlo ordered the royal family's businesses to modify the masks, turning them into items that could withstand poison gas.

Europe has a long history of using face masks, but the masks at that time were not like those of later generations, which were just a few thin layers.

The earliest masks used in Europe can be traced back to the Black Death era. In order to prevent the Black Death, which everyone feared, Europeans developed a mask that resembled a crow's beak to protect against the virus.

Filling the crow's beak mask with herbs and wood chips did indeed provide some protection.

This allowed this type of mask to gradually spread and eventually evolve into a more convenient mask.

What Carlo wanted wasn't a face mask, but a gas mask from later generations. Ordinary face masks could block germs, but they couldn't prevent the invasion of poisonous gases.

Only more reliable gas masks can prevent poisonous gases from harming people.

Unless Spain develops a reliable gas mask that can protect against poison gas, the gas war in Europe must be stopped in some way.

It turns out that the civilization that European countries tout is entirely a facade.

After Germany and France launched their chemical warfare campaign, Germany also used chemical weapons extensively on the Eastern Front, which greatly shocked the Russian soldiers who had never seen such things before.

Without a gas mask, there is absolutely no way to defend against this toxic gas. Accidentally inhaling it can cause enormous harm, but how long can a person hold their breath?
The use of poison gas caused widespread panic on the front lines.

Many soldiers no longer had the courage to continue fighting, fearing that they might accidentally let the poison gas get close to them, as inhaling it could be fatal.

After more than a month of chemical warfare, the British were the first to take action.

Unfortunately, news reports of Germany and France's extensive use of poison gas have spread throughout the world.

Although this may seem to have no impact on the British government, the use of poison gas by France and Germany affected the reputation of the whole of Europe.

Since the Industrial Revolution, Europe has become the most developed region in the world and is also known as the most civilized region in the world.

European countries, which once acquired primitive wealth through barbaric plunder and slaughter, have all disguised themselves as civilized nations.

However, the large-scale use of poison gas by Germany and France is undoubtedly tearing apart the pretense of European countries.

Although everyone is well aware of the barbarity in various European countries, the problem is that such things obviously cannot be discussed openly.

The British government decided to restrain Germany and France from using poison gas, at least to prevent them from doing so openly, as doing so would only embarrass all European countries.

Germany, in particular, which was the first to use poison gas, had already declared war, and the fact that it was the first to use poison gas dealt a huge blow to its reputation.

The British government did not want poison gas to be associated with European countries, so they contacted the Spanish government, hoping to join forces with Spain to intervene in the chemical war between Germany and France and continue to better disguise European civilization.

Carlo actually supported the British government's proposal to intervene in the chemical warfare.

The exchange of poison gas between Germany and France did not actually help the war effort. If Germany used poison gas to recapture a hill today, France could do the same tomorrow.

As long as the wind direction is not skewed, the soldiers will have no choice but to evacuate once the poison gas reaches the airspace above the position.

As the first country to use poison gas, Germany has also conducted research on masks that can protect against poison gas.

However, we have not yet been able to create something that can completely protect against poison gas. Existing masks cannot guarantee complete protection against poison gas; they can only provide about 70-80% protection.

German soldiers certainly wouldn't risk their lives, which led to soldiers on both sides running away at the sight of poison gas, severely disrupting battlefield order.

After Spain agreed to intervene in the chemical warfare in Europe, the British government did not hesitate and immediately contacted the French and German governments, demanding that they stop using chemical weapons and fulfill their obligations and responsibilities as civilized nations.

If it were only Britain's request, Germany and France would take it seriously, but they wouldn't necessarily obey it blindly.

But now it is a joint demand from Britain and Spain, and even Germany and France have to consider the consequences of these two countries uniting.

After several days of negotiations, France and Germany finally agreed to temporarily halt the use of poison gas on the front lines to avoid further casualties on both sides.

Of course, the war on the front lines would not be affected in any way. The agreement was also relatively lenient, only generally requiring Germany and France not to use poison gas so recklessly, as it would not be good for their reputation if word got out.

In reality, whether it's Germany, France, or even Britain and Spain, everyone knows that this treaty isn't very binding.

In the short term, Germany and France can temporarily halt the use of poison gas out of consideration for Britain and Spain.

However, once the two countries develop gas masks that can protect against poison gas, or when the war becomes more intense, poison gas will still have to be used. After all, it is currently the most lethal weapon, and we can't just have it and not use it, can we?
The British government finally breathed a sigh of relief after getting Germany and France to agree to stop using poison gas so recklessly.

The British government wasn't exactly civilized either; there was research into poison gas bombs within Britain, and they even manufactured quite a few.

The problem is that the British government does not want Germany and France's extensive use of poison gas to damage the reputation of all European countries.

Since Britain is now a neutral country, it naturally has to consider the interests of all neutral countries, with its own reputation being the most important factor.

On the surface, all countries abandoned the use of poison gas, and the world war returned to real hand-to-hand combat.

However, behind the scenes, European countries not only did not stop producing poison gas bombs, but also conducted more in-depth research and development, producing more and more powerful poison gas bombs.

Spain was no exception. Carlo knew the nature of Germany and France well. Despite their seemingly good agreement, these two countries would definitely still use poison gas and were still producing it at a frenzied pace.

Spain's mass production of poison gas bombs served two purposes: firstly, to prepare for chemical warfare, and secondly, as a trump card that could be sold to France to use against Germany in certain situations.

With the open world wars no longer involving poison gas warfare, Carlo's attention naturally returned to trade with France and Russia.

The war lasted for more than half a year. Leaving aside the casualties in France and Russia, Spain alone made a huge amount of money.

After the outbreak of war, the military budgets of Germany, France, and Russia increased several times over. Apart from mobilizing troops, most of this money was used to build warships and purchase weapons and equipment.

A significant portion of these funds ended up in Spain's hands, in exchange for large quantities of Spanish weapons, equipment, and strategic materials.

In the past six months, Spain has exported more than one million rifles, six thousand machine guns, three thousand artillery pieces, nearly five hundred million rounds of ammunition, hundreds of thousands of shells, and millions of tons of grain.

The net profit from selling these supplies was more than enough to cover Spain's military expenditures for the next two years. This also shows how much money neutral countries made in this war. Fortunately, Spain and Britain monopolized European trade; otherwise, this wealth would have flowed to the United States for nothing.

(End of this chapter)