Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 499 The Impact of War

As the end of 1913 approached, the fighting on the Eastern Front gradually began to subside.

It wasn't that the Germans didn't want to press their advantage; the main reason was that the Russian land was extremely cold, and the Germans were not used to such biting cold.

Even worse, although Germany had prepared thick cotton-padded clothes to cope with the cold Russian winter, these clothes would be blocked from entering Russia due to the country's poor transportation conditions.

It only takes a few days to requisition cotton-padded clothing from all over Germany, but it takes at least a week to transport these clothes from the border to the front lines.

If the weather turns bad, cars and horse-drawn carriages will be unable to function, leaving only manpower to transport supplies.

Transporting winter clothing wouldn't have been a difficult task for Germany's logistics department. However, the consumption of weapons, equipment, and various supplies at the front lines was also enormous. They couldn't just focus on transporting winter clothing to the front lines and leave weapons, ammunition, and medical supplies aside, could they?

In fact, starting from the end of September, the German army had already suspended its offensive on the Eastern Front. This gave the Russian army a sigh of relief, and even gave them time to plan a joint attack on Bulgaria with Romania.

Although the Russian government's plan was ultimately thwarted by the Ottoman Empire's entry into the war, it was generally acceptable to both France and Russia.

With the offensive temporarily halted on the Eastern Front, France and Spain no longer needed to transport large quantities of supplies to Russia.

These saved supplies naturally had to be transported to France. The Western Front was the main battlefield at present, and the Battle of Verdun was the most important and brutal battle on the Western Front.

The outcome of the Battle of Verdun was crucial to the outcome of the entire war, and both France, Russia, and Spain were closely watching the development of the battle.

Although the timing of the Battle of Verdun was completely different from that in history, the nature of the two Battles of Verdun was the same.

Both battles resulted in extremely heavy casualties, and the current Battle of Verdun can be aptly described as the Verdun meat grinder.

More importantly, the outcome of the Battle of Verdun is not yet clear. Given the importance that the Central Powers and the Allied Powers attach to the Battle of Verdun, Germany and France will likely deploy even more troops around Verdun in the future, and the battle is destined to result in even greater casualties.

The initial Battle of Verdun involved only two army groups, totaling a few hundred thousand men. However, by early 1914, both Germany and France had over a million troops around Verdun, resulting in tens of thousands of casualties daily, sometimes reaching hundreds of thousands. It was one of the most devastating battlefields of World War II.

Given the current situation, even though they know that continuing the Battle of Verdun will only increase casualties, the German and French governments have no choice but to continue sending more troops to the area around Verdun.

The French government had nowhere left to retreat; if Verdun fell, the fall of Paris was only a matter of time. This unleashed the French army's formidable fighting power, at one point achieving a one-to-one casualty ratio with the German army.

For the German government, the intense and protracted Battle of Verdun was certainly not good news.

Since the outbreak of the war, Germany has been in a stalemate on both the Western and Eastern Fronts. Although some gains have been made on both fronts, for large and powerful countries like France and Russia, the situation has not yet reached their bottom line.

On the contrary, as Germany's occupied territories expanded, its battle lines were also continuously stretched.

The Eastern and Western Fronts of Germany were more than 1600 kilometers apart, and the German government needed to constantly transport various supplies to both fronts, which greatly increased the logistical burden.

More importantly, Germany did not have many colonies, and after the outbreak of the war, it relied almost entirely on British aid for supplies.

Although the British government did provide Germany with sufficient supplies, these supplies were not free; the German government purchased them with real money.

Because the German mark had depreciated significantly after the outbreak of war, the British government required that trade with Germany be settled either in pounds sterling or in gold.

Apart from the British pound and gold being currencies recognized by the British government, the German government could only choose to use industrial resources and corporate collateral to make payments.

The consequence of this was that the German government's gold reserves continued to decrease, and the German economy continued to teeter on the brink of collapse.

The German government is quite aware of the economic situation in Germany.

The outbreak of war had an extremely serious impact on Germany, with millions of troops going to the battlefield, which meant the loss of millions of workers in the rear.

Currently, Germany has a total of 270 million troops on the Western Front and 120 million troops on the Eastern Front, with nearly 400 million active-duty army personnel, making its total strength quite staggering.

This doesn't even include soldiers who died in battle or had to leave the army due to serious injuries. If these people are included, Germany mobilized more than 500 million soldiers in this war, about ten times the size of the German standing army after the Franco-Prussian War.

Maintaining an army of millions is no easy task; the consumption of supplies and military expenditures alone are enough to give the German government a major headache.

According to data, although Germany's annual military spending was increasing before the outbreak of World War II, it did not exceed its total fiscal revenue by an exaggerated amount.

The situation is similar in other European countries, where military spending has remained at a relatively reasonable level, with the highest barely exceeding total fiscal revenue.

However, with the outbreak of world wars and the continuous expansion of military forces in European countries, military spending in various countries has also been increasing.

According to the Spanish Royal Security Intelligence Service, the annual military spending of the four major European powers currently involved in the war has increased to an astonishing level.

Germany and France saw the most rapid increases in military spending, and these two countries are also the wealthiest among the four major powers.

According to reports, the German government's military expenditure in 1912 reached £6.7 million, or 134 billion marks.

By 1913, the German government's military spending had increased to an astonishing £15.1 billion. Combined with the devaluation of the mark, the German government's total military spending reached 407.7 billion marks.

How extravagant is this military expenditure? Actually, a comparison with Germany's military expenditure before the outbreak of war makes it clear.

In 1911, the German government's total military expenditure for the entire year was only £5700 million, which is equivalent to only 11.4 billion marks.

This shows just how exaggerated the increase in the German government's military spending was; the military spending after the outbreak of war was several times or even dozens of times that before the outbreak of war.

Given the massive amount of money the German government invested in the war, the collapse of the German economy and the continuous devaluation of the mark were to be expected.

Generally, only a small portion of a country's total fiscal revenue can be invested in military spending, while the majority needs to be invested in areas such as national infrastructure, industrial support, education, and healthcare.

While it's understandable to concentrate most of the funds on military spending after the outbreak of war, this inevitably has extremely negative impacts on the development of other areas of the country. Since the outbreak of the war, the populations of these participating countries have been generally declining, and their fiscal revenues have been continuously decreasing.

Germany fared better, as the impact on its homeland was somewhat limited compared to France and Russia, because the battlefield was entirely shifted to the enemy country.

France was undoubtedly the country that suffered the most during the World War. From the outbreak of the war until now, the cost of the war incurred by France was no less than that of Germany.

In addition, the occupation of a significant portion of French territory by Germany has led to a substantial decrease in the French government's fiscal revenue, forcing it to essentially sell off its assets to win this war.

This alone demonstrates Spain's current importance to France. Without logistical support from Spain, the French government would not have been able to withstand the German offensive so easily.

Although the French government could also purchase supplies from Britain, the long-standing animosity between Britain and France meant that the British would not offer the French government a lower price, unlike the Spanish.

Even when the British government did business with the German government, it considered the prices after the outbreak of war.

Despite Germany and France spending dozens of times more on their military than before the war, a significant portion of that spending was actually directed at Britain and Spain.

The result was that the Spanish government's total fiscal revenue increased year by year after the outbreak of the war.

However, Carlos is also continuously increasing Spain's military spending, which has resulted in the Spanish government still being in a financial deficit to date.

With the outbreak of war, the Spanish army also ushered in a new round of expansion.

Carlo has ordered a localized war mobilization in Spain’s African and Philippine colonies, providing Spain with at least a million colonial troops.

Judging from the current trend of the war, Spain's entry into the war is not far off. Carlo hopes that Spain's entry into the war will have a more effective impact, not only demonstrating Spain's importance but also securing greater benefits and a larger share of the spoils for Spain in the event of a future victory.

Carlo had little interest in European territories. He also showed little interest in the territories of African colonies.

Spain currently controls enough of its mainland and African colonies to sustain development for a considerable period. Its Congo colony also possesses substantial uranium reserves, giving it a significant advantage in future nuclear weapons development.

Under such circumstances, what Carlo wanted was not territorial expansion, but the accumulation of highly skilled personnel and an industrial base.

Compared to the territories coveted by other European countries, Carlo was more interested in the industrial equipment, means of production, and highly skilled personnel of the defeated nations.

Based on the current choices made by Britain and Spain, if Spain were to join the war, it would most likely side with the Allied Powers.

This also means that Germany and Austria-Hungary will definitely be divided up in the future.

Carlo is quite interested in Germany.

As the largest industrial nation in Europe, Germany was able to close the industrial gap with Britain in a short period of time, thanks not only to its own efforts but also to its uniquely advantageous conditions.

The integrated German region was not only densely populated but also had a convenient transportation system, making it suitable for industrial development.

Compared to Germany's geographical environment, Spain's geographical environment presents greater limitations. Spain's population is concentrated in a few specific areas, which means that any industrial development must be carried out in densely populated regions.

Although the mountainous areas in the central and southern regions have mineral resources, they are not suitable for building industrial zones due to insufficient population.

Even if an industrial zone is successfully built in such an area, it is highly unlikely that the zone will be able to recruit enough workers in the future.

For an industrial zone to operate smoothly, in addition to being close to the mining area and having convenient transportation, it also needs a sufficient source of workers, and this is the most important factor.

Barcelona and Madrid, currently Spain's two largest industrial cities, are also among the most densely populated cities, which explains why.

Seville is Spain's third most populous city and also its third largest industrial city.

In summary, industrial development in this era, in addition to important mineral resources, also relied on population as the most fundamental element.

Without population, there is no industry; this is determined by the overall environment and is one of the reasons why Germany was able to rise rapidly.

Population is not the only factor. If population alone could drive industrial development, then Russia would undoubtedly be the most industrialized nation in Europe.

Of course, Russia's industry is not weak either, but it still lags behind the superpowers.

Before 1910, Spain's industry was on par with that of France and Russia.

After 1910, Spain's industrial development gradually surpassed that of France and Russia, and it began to catch up with Britain and Germany, aiming for even greater achievements.

Compared to France and Russia, catching up with Britain and Germany is clearly much more difficult.

Even though Spain's industry experienced rapid development after the outbreak of the war, it still lags far behind the industrial scale of Britain and Germany.

The good news is that if Spain had joined the Allied Powers and won the world war, it would have had another opportunity for industrial expansion after the war.

As a defeated nation, Germany's domestic factories, resources, and workers would inevitably be divided up among European countries.

If Russia had experienced turmoil at that time, and the French government had suffered heavy losses, it certainly would not have been able to compete with Spain.

If Spain receives a large number of factories, industrial equipment and technical data from Germany, and finds a way to attract some skilled and excellent workers, Spain's industry has the potential to surpass Britain and Germany in the future and become one of the world's top three industrial powers.

　I'm posting this today because I have a headache and dizziness; I don't know if it's because of a cold.

　　There's nothing good about writing something forced, so I won't force myself to write it. I apologize to everyone!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)