Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 544 The Liberation of Belgium

When Carlo learned that Germany hoped to make contact with Spain and the Allied Powers through Austria-Hungary and to conduct peace negotiations, he was not very surprised.

Given the current state of the world war, it is inevitable that either Britain or Germany will be the first to seek peace negotiations with the Allied Powers, as it is no longer possible to win this world war as an Allied power.

Neither Britain nor Germany were fools. Knowing that victory was impossible, they would each seek greater interests for themselves, even if it meant betraying their allies.

It wasn't that Britain was unwilling to contact the Allied Powers; it was simply that Britain was currently completely preoccupied with the Irish War of Independence and the United States' declaration of war. They dared not do so, nor did they dare to reveal any intention to engage in peace negotiations with the Allied Powers.

If news were to break at this time that the British government was secretly negotiating peace with the Allied Powers, the angry British public would definitely storm the British government, demanding that the King dismiss the Prime Minister and dissolve Parliament.

The reason is simple: Britain paid a heavy price in this world war but received nothing in return. Even much of Ireland was controlled by the so-called Republic of Ireland. If the world war were to end as it stands, Britain's losses would be enormous, and it would likely lose its position as a global superpower.

This was completely unacceptable to the British, who were already accustomed to Britain being the world's hegemon.

The British could accept defeat in this war, but they absolutely could not accept a crushing defeat for Britain. It was precisely because the British government was well aware of the public's opinion that it was forced to confront Ireland and the Allied Powers.

Although Germany was willing to engage in peace negotiations with the Allied Powers, neither Spain, France, nor any other Allied member was willing to end the war at this point.

Although ending the war at this point would indeed reduce casualties, countries have already paid such a heavy price in the war, so they naturally wouldn't care if the war lasted a few more months or even a year.

What the Allied powers cared about was whether they could obtain the benefits they desired in peace negotiations. At that time, Germany still had the power to resist, so peace negotiations were, in effect, a compromise for the Allied powers.

If the two sides were evenly matched on the front lines, a country like France, which had suffered heavy losses in the war, might have considered compromise.

Now that the Allied Powers had gained the upper hand, the French government naturally wouldn't compromise. In fact, the French government had far greater ambitions; they hoped to completely dismantle Germany after the war to prevent Germany from posing a threat to Europe again in the future.

Of course, France wasn't so benevolent. Their real reason for wanting to dismember Germany was to avoid German retaliation and to increase France's influence throughout continental Europe.

With Spain far from the heart of continental Europe, Germany on the verge of defeat, and Russia embroiled in civil war, France would wield immense influence on the European continent.

If France could successfully dismember Germany and control a portion of its territory, it would not only be able to quickly recover its strength but also extend its reach into Central Europe, thus gaining greater confidence to challenge Spain and ultimately dominate the entire continent.

Although everyone knows that France's attempt to dismember Germany was driven by self-interest, the proposal has garnered support from many countries.

On the one hand, Germany was indeed very powerful. If Germany could not be completely crushed after the war, it would inevitably retaliate against the victorious powers if it were to rise again in the future.

Superpowers like France and Spain might not have been afraid of Germany, but for most of the smaller Allied nations, a Germany destined for future rise posed a significant threat.

Rather than waiting for Germany to retaliate against the victorious powers in the future, it would be better to dismember Germany directly and completely eliminate this threat.

The dismemberment of Germany would also be beneficial to the Allied powers, since Germany at that time was the most industrialized country in Europe.

After the dismemberment of Germany and the partitioning of its industrial resources, even superpowers like France and Spain were able to significantly improve their industrial levels and technology.

Not to mention the smaller countries of the Allied Powers, even a small share would be a huge boost to their industry and economy.

Such immense temptation led the Allied powers to readily accept the proposal to dismember Germany. Completely eliminating Germany would indeed greatly compensate the Allied powers for their losses in the war.

Of course, just as there were those who agreed to the dismemberment of Germany, there were also those who opposed it.

Although Spain did not explicitly oppose France's proposal to dismember Germany, it had considerable reservations about it.

What worried Carlo was not the situation in Europe after Germany was dismembered; even if Germany were dismembered, France would not be a match for Spain.

Unless Britain and France forget their hatred and unite against Spain, which is unlikely to happen unless Spain becomes powerful enough to completely overwhelm France.

After all, Britain and France were enemies in this world war, and British troops were mostly deployed on the Western Front. Multiple rounds of fighting fueled the growing animosity between the British and French armies, effectively damaging relations between them.

This was also the situation Carlo desired. Carlo didn't want Britain and France to reconcile after the World War; ideally, the two countries would fight each other while Spain remained a bystander. The biggest change brought about by the dismemberment of Germany was that Carlo would completely lose his prophetic ability to predict future history.

A fragmented Germany was destined to be incapable of launching World War II, so will there be a World War II in the future? And which countries will be the main protagonists in World War II?
Carlo didn't know the answers to these questions, which was why he had some reservations about the plan to dismember Germany.

However, Carlo is not opposed to dismantling Germany if it would benefit Spain. After all, Carlo's plans in Spain have been in place for decades.

Moreover, history has changed far beyond this. Even if Germany were truly dismembered, Carlo was confident he could lead Spain to victory in the next world war.

Putting aside everything else, Spain's deployment of tanks and aircraft alone is enough for other European countries to catch up with for a long time.

Carlo's next plan was to develop aircraft carriers. Once Spain could also take the lead in the field of aircraft carriers and be the first to develop the atomic bomb, then regardless of whether World War II would happen or which countries would stand against Spain, Spain would be the victor in the future war.

With this in mind, Carlo's worries about the future lessened.

This world war has taught Carlo a lesson: the timeline of history is not immutable.

As long as the changes are beneficial to Spain, even if they completely alter the original history, Carlo has no reason to refuse to do so.

Because the Allied Powers were not united on the idea of ​​peace negotiations, the first contact between Germany and the Allies ended in failure.

The peace terms offered by the Allied Powers were absolutely unacceptable to Germany, and the reparations offered by Germany were far from satisfying the appetites of the Allied nations.

Since peace negotiations have failed, the only option left is to prove ourselves on the battlefield and use military means to force one side to back down.

On June 25, after nearly ten days of fierce fighting, the Spanish army captured the Liège fortress and drove out all German troops from Belgium.

This war of liberation of Belgian territory undoubtedly ended in a resounding Allied victory. If Spain hadn't used two air raids to break the morale of the German army, the war would likely not have gone so smoothly, and Spanish losses would have been much greater.

Even so, Spain paid an extremely heavy price to reclaim Belgian territory.

The Spanish army suffered a total of 16.8 casualties, including nearly 5 dead and nearly 2 seriously wounded, a devastating loss.

Germany also suffered nearly 15 casualties. Being on the defensive, Germany effectively reduced its own losses thanks to the help of the Brussels and Liège fortresses.

In the early stages of the war, German casualties were far fewer than those of the Spanish army. This was partly because the Spanish army was on the offensive, making heavy casualties unavoidable.

On the other hand, nearly half of the Spanish army consisted of colonial troops, many of whom were natives who served as cannon fodder, meant to draw enemy fire, so casualties were naturally high.

It wasn't until Spain launched an air raid, forcing the German army to evacuate the Brussels fortress, that German casualties were effectively increased.

Despite suffering nearly 15 casualties, at least a third of them were caused by the Spanish pursuit during the escape to the Liege fortress.

The liberation of Belgium not only boosted the morale of the Allied forces, but also made the situation of the German army on the Western Front even worse.

Because not far to the east of Belgium lies the very famous Rhine River. On both banks of the Rhine River lies a very important industrial region in Germany called the Ruhr region.

Large numbers of Spanish troops could use Belgium as a springboard to launch a reckless attack on the Ruhr region, the industrial heart of Germany.

The fall of the Ruhr region would not only severely damage Germany's industrial production, but would also make Germany's situation even more difficult.

It is no exaggeration to say that without the Ruhr region, Germany would no longer have the confidence or strength to confront the Allied Powers.

Even if the Ruhr region did not fall, Belgium, as a salient, would allow the Spanish army to outflank the German forces in Alsace and Lorraine from the southeast.

This situation was absolutely hellish for the German army on the Western Front. No one could underestimate the Spanish army's ability to flank and outflank, not only because the Spanish army itself was extremely powerful, but also because of the tanks they repeatedly used.

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(End of this chapter)