Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 542 The United States Declares War
The two consecutive air raids by Spain officially launched the Allied Powers' final offensive against the Central Powers.

Regardless of the reactions of various European countries, the impact of these two air raids on the Allied and Central Powers forces on the front lines was enormous and clearly visible.

Following the two air raids, French troops occupied the Belgian provinces of Namur and Luxembourg, while Spanish troops occupied the province of East Flanders, pushing the war to the vicinity of Brussels and Liège.

In other words, almost half of southern Belgium is now under the control of the Allied Powers, a pace of progress that neither the Allied Powers nor the Central Powers had anticipated.

They occupied half of Belgium in just a few days, something the German army hadn't been able to do at the beginning of the war.

Because the entire army group's command structure was disrupted, the German army was not prepared for the sudden attack by the Spanish and French forces, and the flanks quickly exposed their weaknesses.

Because Spain had already occupied Ghent in East Flanders, the German troops along the line from northern Haino to Brussels were forced to retreat to the vicinity of Brussels.

Although most of the army group's main forces were concentrated along the Brussels-Liege line, this was not good news for the German army.

Because Spain's offensive was still ongoing, and their target was not Brussels and Liège, but Antwerp further north.

If the command of this German army group were still intact, it would be possible to determine from the battle reports submitted by each corps that the Spanish army's objective was to completely outflank and encircle the German forces in the Brussels and Liège regions, and annihilate the main German forces in Belgium.

If the German army had been able to react before the Spanish flanking maneuver ended, even if they couldn't disrupt the Spanish operation, they could at least have calmly withdrawn from Liège to the German mainland.

Unfortunately, the army group's command post was destroyed, resulting in heavy casualties among many of its high-ranking officers. Although attempts were made to contact troops scattered throughout the Belgian provinces, it was clear that unified command of the various units was impossible in a short period of time.

By the time the German army realized what was happening, the Spanish army had already reached Antwerp and was about to complete its flanking maneuver.

It was too late to realize this at this point. Antwerp is located directly north of Brussels. Once the Spanish army broke through Antwerp, it would be very difficult for the German army to escape the encirclement.

At this point, the German army had no choice but to abandon either Brussels or its more than 100,000 troops.

When German Chief of the General Staff Hindenburg learned of the news, the Spanish army was already close to capturing Antwerp.

Without the slightest hesitation, Hindenburg immediately sent a telegram to the German troops in Belgium, demanding that the German troops along the Brussels line immediately withdraw and reorganize their defenses at the Liège fortress in the east.

Compared to the land in Belgium, the more than 100,000 German troops in Brussels were certainly more important to Hindenburg and the German government.

The order to evacuate to the Liege fortress was a wise one for the German army, but such a large-scale retreat was bound to significantly alter the landscape of the front lines.

When the Spanish army captured Antwerp and marched south toward Brussels, most of the German army group had already retreated to the province of Liège, with only a small number of troops remaining in the provinces of Flemish Brabant and Walloon Brabant.

While it was somewhat regrettable that the German army group was not encircled and annihilated, the liberation of Brussels was of great significance to the Allied Powers and Belgium.

The day after the Allied occupation of Brussels, King Albert I of Belgium returned to the capital with the highest levels of the royal government and decided to rebuild the Belgian army with Spanish funding.

The news of the King and government's return to the capital greatly boosted the morale of the Belgian people. At this point, only the provinces of Liège and Limburg remained under German control; almost all the remaining territory was back under Belgian control.

With the active mobilization of the King and the government, the number of Belgian troops increased at a visible rate. Coupled with the friendly donations of weapons and equipment from Spain and France, Belgium regained an army of tens of thousands in just one week.

Among the tens of thousands of Belgian troops, a considerable number are former Belgian soldiers who joined the army after Belgium reclaimed its territory, which has effectively improved the combat effectiveness of the existing Belgian army.

Unfortunately, the number of veterans never exceeded half. Although Belgium resisted Germany for only a brief two weeks at the beginning of the war, the Belgian army fought very bravely, and suffered heavy casualties.

This directly increased the animosity between Belgium and Germany, and the surge in people signing up for military service was certainly good news for Belgium.

With these tens of thousands of Belgian troops, the Spanish and French armies could breathe a sigh of relief. These Belgian troops were not very useful on the main battlefield, but they were quite effective in managing the Belgian territory that had been recaptured.

During the three years of German occupation of Belgium, there were those who resolutely resisted the German invasion, and naturally there were those who submitted to German military rule.

The Belgian government's primary task now is to purge the surrender faction within the government, reintegrate Belgium's land and population, restore industrial production, and provide more supplies to the front lines.

During the week of recruitment in Belgium, Spanish and French troops also advanced their front lines to the provinces of Limburg and Liège, engaging in fierce battles with German troops stationed at Hasselt and the Liège fortress.

Although Hindenburg had promptly dispatched reinforcements to the Belgian front, the small number of reinforcements was simply insufficient to change the situation on the Belgian battlefield given the already collapsed morale of the German army.

Based on the casualties of the Allied and Allied forces on the Belgian front, the French and Spanish armies will be able to capture the Liège fortress in about a week.

Hindenburg was well aware that if the Liege fortress were allowed to fall to the Allies, it would be a huge blow to the morale of the Central Powers, especially the German army.

Germany could accept the Allied capture of the Liege fortress, but it was imperative that the Allies pay a price to recover some of the morale losses.

With morale plummeting among German troops on the Belgian front, Hindenburg hoped to secure British support to transfer some British troops to the Belgian front to help the Germans better defend themselves, while also looking for an opportunity to counterattack the Allies.

Hindenburg's plan was quite brilliant, but reality soon dealt him a heavy blow.

When Hindenburg contacted the British government as usual, the British government decisively rejected Hindenburg's request.

It's not that Britain had abandoned Germany, but rather that Britain was facing considerable trouble at the time.

Turning our attention to the British mainland, in Ireland, the Irish War of Independence had already been decided.

With the support of the Allied Powers, the Republic of Ireland experienced for the first time how easy it was to fight a war.

Of course, this was largely a result of the British army underestimating the Irish army.

From the British government's perspective, even if the so-called Republic of Ireland received the support of Spain and France, the Irish army would ultimately be no match for the British army as long as Spain and France did not send troops.

This is similar to the situation of the Boers during the Boer Wars. Although the Boers also received support from various European countries, and even had people from many countries spontaneously form volunteer armies to help them resist British colonial invasion.

But in the end, didn't the mighty British Empire emerge victorious? For Britain, Ireland, so close to home, was certainly a more exhilarating and less costly war than the Boer War.

That was the British government's thinking, but after the British troops arrived in Ireland, they quickly realized something was wrong.

The Irish army, which was initially thought to be of little fighting strength, not only possessed extremely high morale but was also filled with hatred for Britain and the British people.

The two armies clashed fiercely as soon as they met, and the Irish army quickly won the battle and occupied almost the entire Muster region.

Muster is a large region, encompassing seven counties, roughly a quarter of Ireland's territory. More importantly, the so-called Republic of Ireland could rely on Muster's coastline to receive a steady stream of supplies from Spain and France.

The involvement of the United States further complicated matters for the British government. Subsequently, British and Irish forces clashed several times in the Leinster and Connaught areas. While the British occasionally won, the Irish forces prevailed most of the time.

Due to the British army's negligence, the Republic of Ireland successively occupied counties Kilkenny, Carlow, Wexford, Leish, Offaley, and Galway, almost dividing Ireland in half with the United Kingdom. Only then did the British government realize the seriousness of the situation. Britain intensified its suppression efforts in Ireland, deploying over 300,000 troops.

As these troops continued to arrive in Ireland, the expansion of the Republic of Ireland finally came to a halt.

Britain could stop the Irish army from marching north, but it could not stop the Irish people's determination to unite.

At the call of the Republic of Ireland, people in the Irish regions still under British control launched a large-scale uprising and demonstrations.

The public is demanding that the British government respect the wishes of the Irish people and allow Ireland to hold an independence referendum.

The British government, of course, would not agree to these demands from the Irish. With the Irish in the south having already established their own independent state, the British would naturally not be lenient with the Irish in Northern Ireland either.

In response to the large-scale demonstrations organized by the Irish, the British deployed the Royal Military Police to carry out a large-scale and bloody massacre and suppression.

However, such forceful suppression did not achieve good results; instead, it aroused the Irish people's even stronger determination to resist.

Two months after the outbreak of the Irish War of Independence, armed uprisings broke out in Mayo and County Sligo in the province of Connaught.

The former was quelled by the local Royal Armed Police, while the latter, due to British negligence, defeated the Royal Police and expanded the armed uprising to several surrounding counties.

While the British army was in turmoil, the Irish Republic army immediately marched north, defeated the British troops stationed in Connaught, and occupied almost the entire province of Connaught.

While Spain launched two air raids on Germany, the Irish War of Independence had reached the line between Littlerim and Meath.

If you had a map of Ireland, you would see that the current Irish front is not much different from the border between Great Britain and Ireland in later times.

Despite having a significant advantage, Britain still lost most of Ireland, something neither the British government nor the Allied powers had anticipated.

Frankly, even Carlo hadn't anticipated that the Irish resistance against the British would be so fierce, or that the Irish army would be so formidable.

Although a large part of the reason was due to the carelessness of the British army and government, a victory is a victory, and such an outcome is undeniable.

The situation in Ireland alarmed the British government. They could no longer heed Germany's pleas for help on the Western Front and could only focus all their attention on Ireland, hoping to repel the Irish offensive and ensure that Ireland remained under British rule.

To achieve this goal, the British government made detailed plans and deployments in both the army and navy, and decided to blockade Ireland at all costs, cutting off any country's supply and transportation to Ireland.

To achieve this goal, the first step is to blockade all ports in Ireland. Secondly, all ships heading towards Ireland must be driven away.

If necessary, the British Navy would also need to sink several transport ships bound for Ireland in order to deter countries in Europe and around the world from sending supplies to Ireland.

Fortunately, the British government has the world's most powerful navy, and given that the British government has already made a desperate gamble, blockading the ports of Ireland is not a problem.

However, the British government clearly overlooked one thing: the previous diplomatic dispute between Britain and the United States.

The US government has made a strong statement that it will continue to supply Ireland with goods. If Britain sinks an American transport ship, the US will enter a state of war with Britain.

Although such words are merely threats, if Britain were to actually sink an American transport ship, it would clearly become a pretext for the United States to declare war on Britain.

Does the United States really dare to declare war on Britain?
Given the current situation of a world war, the answer is yes.

On June 16, 1915, the British Royal Fleet imposed a complete blockade on the coast of Ireland and drove away all ships attempting to sail to Ireland.

This expulsion had a very good effect, and many ships decisively gave up continuing to sail to Irish ports, including many of the supply ships from various European countries to support Ireland.

Only a portion of the ships could choose to back down. The American-flagged transport ships did not back down at all, stating righteously that trade with the Republic of Ireland was a legal activity and that Britain had no right to interfere or order the American ships to return.

The British Navy could not tolerate the American transport ship's almost blatant provocation of British authority.

The British government was now in a difficult position; any choice it made would be detrimental to Britain. If it allowed the American transport fleet to proceed to the Irish ports, the British government's previous diplomatic disputes with the United States, as well as its current blockade of the Irish ports, would become a laughing stock.

But if American transport ships are sunk, will the United States use that as a pretext to declare war on Britain?

The British government had little time to think, as the American transport fleet was already approaching the coast of Ireland.

Ultimately, the British government issued the order to open fire, determined to maintain its prestige at all costs.

Under the attack of the British Navy, several American transport ships quickly sank to the bottom of the sea. The American fleet responsible for escorting the ships also suffered heavy losses; an old battleship and several new cruisers, after failing to escape, were all left behind in the Atlantic.

Having decided to break with the United States, the British government no longer hesitated. Rather than letting a few American warships escape and inform the US government, it was better to keep them in the Atlantic and prepare for a possible declaration of war by the United States.

The Irish War of Independence is now the most important war for Britain. If Ireland cannot be saved, then there is no point in continuing on the Western Front.

After all, without Ireland, Britain's overall national strength and prestige would be significantly reduced.

Even if Britain could still ascend to the throne of a superpower or even a world hegemon by relying on Great Britain and India, what kind of world hegemon is it if it can't even protect its own homeland? It's nothing more than a laughing stock for other European countries.

More importantly, through Ireland, Britain has clearly demonstrated its weaknesses to other European countries.

Great Britain might be difficult to conquer, but Britain also had vast overseas colonies. Any trouble caused by any of Britain's overseas colonies would be enough to give the British government a major headache.

To prevent other countries from following suit, resolving the troubles caused by the Irish War of Independence is now the most important thing for Britain.

Although the British government tried to conceal the news, the US government quickly discovered that it could no longer contact the fleet heading to Ireland.

Since the fleet's purpose in heading to Ireland was quite clear, the US government's first thought after the fleet lost contact was Britain.

After confirming that the transport and escort fleets had all lost contact, the US government immediately issued an ultimatum to Britain, demanding that Britain explain the disappearance of the US fleet. Otherwise, the US would consider it a declaration of war by Britain and be forced to retaliate by declaring war on Britain.

Britain attempted to stall for time in response to the US government's ultimatum. However, the US government was already prepared for war and was unlikely to allow Britain to continue its delaying tactics.

After 72 hours had passed and it was confirmed that the fleet heading to Ireland was still unable to be contacted, the US government immediately decided to declare war on Britain, thus joining the world war with an initiative and making its presence felt before the war ended.

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(End of this chapter)