Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 545 Cuban Landing
Following the United States' declaration of war against Great Britain on June 19, 1915, the Allied Powers reported a series of victories.

First, the Spanish army successfully liberated the entire territory of Belgium after suffering heavy losses. Then, the United States landed in Cuba, an important British American colony, and successfully occupied Havana, the capital of Cuba.

The fact that the US military's operation went so smoothly did not mean that the US military was powerful; rather, it meant that Britain at that time was indeed powerless to intervene in the distant Cuba.

Was the Cuban colony unimportant?
Of course not. Cuba, as a significant sugar-producing region in the Americas, exported large quantities of its sugar cane to North America and Europe, generating substantial revenue for present-day Britain and formerly Spain.

Even though Carlos has tried to grow sugarcane on a large scale in Africa to replace Cuba's role, he cannot reduce Cuba's influence in the sugar industry.

The importance of Cuba can also be seen from the original situation of Spain. When Juan Carlos was first crowned King of Spain, Cuba was the only Spanish colony that was generating positive revenue.

British colonies were certainly not in such a bad state, but Cuba was indeed a very important source of revenue for Britain.

Despite its importance, the British military presence in Cuba remained limited due to its small population and relatively small land area.

In the years leading up to the exchange of Cuban colonies with Spain, the British military presence in Cuba remained at around 10,000 troops.

As the Cuban colony gradually stabilized, the number of Cuban troops stationed there gradually decreased to around 5,000, and nearly half of them were local Cubans.

Cuba repeatedly waged wars of independence for two reasons: firstly, Cubans recognized Spain's decline, and secondly, Spain's exploitation of Cuba was too severe.

After Britain took control of the Cuban colony, the Cubans dared not resist Britain. After all, the British Royal Fleet was the best in the world, and its overall strength was far superior to that of a minor power like Spain at the time.

Of course, this is also largely due to Britain's reduction of taxes on local white immigrants.

Because Cuba gradually stabilized, the number of troops stationed there remained at several thousand and did not increase with the outbreak of a world war.

Compared to the United Kingdom, which is thousands of miles away from Cuba, the United States is right next to Cuba. In other words, Cuba is on the doorstep of the United States, making it much easier for the United States to take action.

Knowing that the Cuban colony only had a few thousand troops, the United States immediately began to mobilize troops to attack Cuba after declaring war on Britain.

While it's often said that the United States' military strength is lacking, that must be considered in comparison to the major European powers.

Cuba is not Britain after all, and even if it used all the power of its colonies to resist the United States, it would never be a match for the United States.

More importantly, the land of Cuba is somewhat like a slanted Chinese character '一' (one). It is long and narrow, and completely surrounded by the sea on all sides.

With the main British naval force having to be deployed in Europe to defend the homeland, the US Navy could practically roam freely throughout the Americas.

The war in which the United States landed in Cuba proceeded in a very simple manner. Several transport ships approached the port of Havana under the protection of the navy, and then the US fleet began to suppress the coastal defense batteries of the port of Havana.

After gaining firepower suppression, the US troops began a massive landing and quickly occupied Havana, the capital of Cuba.

The subsequent actions are self-evident. After taking control of Havana, the capital of Cuba, the United States immediately split its forces into two groups: one group moved westward to occupy Vinal de Rio, while the majority of the troops continued eastward, occupying large swathes of Cuban territory east of Havana.

Although the U.S. military is not very strong, the U.S. has been preparing for this war for far too long.

The number of U.S. troops involved in the invasion of Cuba was nearly 30,000. With a numerical disadvantage of almost six times, even if they commanded blindly, they could only achieve one victory after another.

After all, these US Army troops who landed in Cuba also had the support of the Navy. Faced with fortresses and strongholds that could not be conquered, all they had to do was send naval warships to the coast and fire a couple of shells.

When the British government received the news, the United States had already occupied most of Cuba and was planning a landing in the northern Bahamas.

At this point, it was clearly too late to send reinforcements to the Cuban colonies and the Bahamas.

If troops were to be moved from the British mainland, by the time they arrived in Cuba, the US government's victory celebration would probably be long over.

Instead of focusing on land that is destined to be lost, it is better to strengthen the land that is currently under our control and ensure that more important areas are not lost.

What land was more important? It was the Canadian colonies, which bordered the United States, of course.

The good news is that Canada is a vast country, and it wouldn't be so easy for the United States to annex it.

If Canada can hold out for a few months until autumn and winter, when most of Canada will be covered in snow and ice, the war will naturally be unable to continue.

Furthermore, Canada has a large population, and having Canadians spontaneously organize an army to resist an American invasion would greatly reduce the pressure on Britain. Britain only needs to send a small number of troops to Canada to help hold it off for at least several months.

With these few months, the war in Europe would be nearing its end. The British government did not expect a German victory; it only hoped that in these few months it could eliminate the Irish Republican Brotherhood and regain control of Ireland.

After occupying the entire territory of Cuba, the United States quickly contacted the Allied Powers, led by Spain, to declare its contribution to the war.

The United States has no choice but to be anxious, mainly because the war on the European continent is clearly nearing its conclusion. If the United States does not make some contribution quickly, future peace negotiations will have little to do with it.

While the U.S. government's thinking was clear, some of the achievements the U.S. made were also helpful to the Allied Powers.

If the Allied Powers didn't speak up, Britain certainly wouldn't voluntarily acknowledge that Cuba had been occupied by the United States. Consequently, the European public would naturally be unaware of Britain's situation in the Americas.

However, if the Allied powers were to proactively disclose information, it would increase the United States' contribution to the war to some extent, but it would only be better than nothing.

Such news had a huge impact on the European theater. At least for the British government and the British people, the fall of the Cuban colony was definitely not good news; it was a complete bolt from the blue.

The loss of the Cuban colony represented a complete collapse of the situation in the Americas for the British government.

Can the British government continue to delay in this situation? It's likely that the British government is even more anxious than Germany at this moment.

Carlo knew that the fall of the Cuban colony was the final straw that broke Britain's back, but he dared not be careless in the slightest before achieving final victory.

After sharing this good news with the other Allied members, Carlos then ordered the government to contact the French side to try to facilitate the independence of the entire territory of Ireland.

Regardless of when the Irish War of Independence broke out in history, although the war forced Britain to back down, Britain did not lose the whole of Ireland.

Several counties in northern Ireland remain under British control, which is why the official name of the United Kingdom still includes Northern Ireland, and its full name is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Now that he was at odds with Britain, Carlo naturally wanted to do everything he could to weaken Britain.

Even after losing Ireland, Britain remained a superpower, and with its several important colonies, it still had enough power to influence the situation on the European continent.

Carlo hoped for a peaceful yet chaotic Europe after the end of the World War.

Peace is easy to understand; avoiding large-scale wars in the short term would help the development of Spain's economy and industry.

With most European countries severely weakened, Spain is poised for a golden period of development. If it can capitalize on this opportunity, Carlo is confident that within ten or twenty years, Spain's industry and economy will rank among the top in Europe and even the world.

As for the chaos, it's mainly because Carlo didn't want European countries to be too unified.

Spain revealed its trump cards, such as tanks, during the World War, and it also used aircraft, so it was inevitable that other European countries would discover its secrets.

Although during the World War, the Allied powers, such as France and Italy, still hoped that Spain would become as strong as possible.

However, with the end of the war, the alliance between Spain and countries such as France was destined to dissipate.

Just as Spain doesn't want its allies to become too powerful, countries like France and Italy naturally don't want Spain to become too powerful either.

With Spain already possessing aircraft and tanks, it is clear that European countries will not be able to catch up with Spain's achievements in the short term.

To counter Spain, they would have no choice but to unite, which is something Carlo doesn't want to see.

This is precisely why the situation in Europe after the end of the World War must have been chaotic.

With the Franco-German conflict gone, the Anglo-French conflict must be created to sustain the chaos. They could even spread the threat of a Soviet government under a workers' union, thus preventing European countries from having the time and energy to devise an anti-Spanish alliance.

With this arrangement in place, Spain can remain on the sidelines and develop its industry and economy in peace, without worrying about being targeted by a coalition of European countries.

In some cases, it may even be necessary to unite with several weaker countries in order to maintain a balance in the European situation.

In short, it meant becoming Britain after defeating it, and continuing its regional balancing policy. While this policy wasn't good for Europe, it bought Spain valuable time for development, making it clearly the most suitable option.

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(End of this chapter)