Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 552 The Price of War

Although all European countries knew that Germany's final fate was defeat, when that day actually came and they learned the news, they were still in a daze for a long time.

Although the Allied Powers won the World War, the process was far from smooth. The war lasted for more than three years, and for the first two years, the Central Powers held the upper hand.

The German Empire, which claimed to have the world's strongest army, invaded mainland France on the western front and almost captured Paris, the French capital.

The invasion of the eastern front also invaded Russian territory, indirectly leading to a rebellion within Russia and resulting in the current situation of the Russian Civil War.

The powerful German Empire should have been able to easily win the war, just like the Franco-Prussian War more than 40 years earlier.

However, things didn't go as planned. While the Central Powers had a superpower as powerful as Germany, the Allied Powers also had superpowers like France and Spain that were no less formidable than Germany.

If France could only barely hold its own against Germany, then Spain's existence was the direct cause of defeating Germany and the entire Central Powers, and the greatest contributor to the Allied victory in the war.

On this point, although France and Russia are unwilling to admit it, they cannot refute the fact that Spain was the biggest contributor.

One reason the Allied Powers were able to defeat Germany was the massive amount of supplies that Spain shipped to France and Russia, which helped them win this protracted war of attrition.

Secondly, the tanks that Spain used during the war were invincible on the battlefield and easily tore through the German defenses.

If it weren't for the thousands of tanks deployed by Spain, the German army, even in a disadvantageous position, could have held out for another year or two.

Both France and Russia are now aware of their own situations. If this drags on for another year or two, even if Germany collapses domestically, France and Russia will certainly not fare much better.

Not to mention Britain, a formidable adversary. If it weren't for the combined fleet of Spain and other Allied nations defeating the British navy, Britain might not have been so willing to withdraw from the war so easily.

Furthermore, the repeated raids launched by Spanish aircraft against Germany effectively destroyed the morale and fighting spirit of the German troops on the front lines.

If it weren't for these reasons, the outcome of this war would still be highly debated.

Compared to Spain's many contributions, even the invasions of French and Russian territories and the heavy casualties among their troops and civilians cannot match Spain's achievements.

Of course, this does not mean that France and Russia did not contribute much. However, even with the enormous sacrifices made by France and Russia, it was impossible to achieve victory in the war solely through these sacrifices.

Besides Spain's outstanding contributions to the World War, its position within the Allied Powers also makes modern-day France and Russia wary.

Although the predecessor of the Entente Powers was the Franco-Russian Entente, no Entente Power can now ignore Spain's opinion.

It is no exaggeration to say that even if France and Russia withdrew from the Entente Powers, with Spain in charge, no trouble would arise within the Entente Powers.

However, if Spain were to withdraw from the Entente Powers, even if the Franco-Russian Entente remained stable, it would be unable to maintain the Entente Powers' enormous base of support.

It should be noted that the Allied Powers included four major powers, as well as powerful European nations such as Serbia, Romania, and Belgium.

It would be impossible to maintain the dignity of the existing Entente Powers on the backs of a France that had suffered heavy losses and a Russia that was embroiled in civil war.

These non-great powers were also aware of who truly held the power in the Entente powers. After learning that Germany had surrendered to France and Spain, the Balkan states and Belgium sent diplomatic representatives to Paris, France, to participate in the peace talks.

However, most countries use Spain as a transit point before heading to Paris, France. Diplomatic delegations make a brief stop in Spain before traveling north by train to Paris.

Belgium is the closest country to France, and unlike the Balkan countries, they cannot use Spain as a transit point to reach France.

However, Belgium and Spain have a closer relationship. The current King of Belgium, Albert I, is Carlos's son-in-law, so the two countries naturally do not need to go through such a roundabout way to talk and can contact each other directly in the name of the royal family.

The Allied powers acted very quickly.

On August 26, 1915, Germany formally handed over its surrender documents to France and Spain. By early September, diplomatic representatives from a considerable number of countries had gathered in Spain.

After discussions between the Spanish and French governments, it was finally decided that on September 15, representatives of the Allied Powers and the German diplomatic representative would hold peace talks together.

During this period, both Allied and German forces should temporarily cease their offensives, prioritize the rescue of wounded soldiers at the front, and avoid further setbacks in peace negotiations.

This point was raised by the German government, and Spain and France did not have much objection. Although a temporary ceasefire would give Germany a breather, the current situation on the front lines could not be changed simply by taking a break.

More importantly, Spanish and French troops had already invaded German territory, and even the Ruhr region, the industrial heart of Germany, had been occupied by Spanish troops.

Even if the German government could catch its breath during the armistice, what difference would it make? With nearly a third of its territory lost, Germany still couldn't change the outcome of its defeat.

Of course, although they agreed to a temporary ceasefire with Germany, this did not mean that the Allied Powers were completely unprepared for Germany.

The Allied forces at the front would not withdraw; in fact, during the negotiations, the Allies continued to transport large quantities of supplies to the front.

If the peace negotiations reach a stalemate or collapse, war will inevitably be used to force Germany to back down.

After a brief stop in Spain, diplomatic representatives from various countries immediately took a train to Paris, France, to participate in peace talks.

On September 15, 1915, with the arrival of the most distant Russian diplomatic representative in Paris, France, peace negotiations between the Allied Powers and Germany officially began.

Because Britain and Austria-Hungary had already signed peace agreements with the other signatories, this peace negotiation only addressed the costs that Germany should pay for the war.

Given that all the major powers participated in the World War, the peace negotiations did not require the witnessing of any neutral country, nor was any neutral country that had not participated in the World War qualified to witness the peace negotiations between Germany and the Allied Powers.

Because the French government had long ago agreed with Spain that peace talks would be held in Paris, the French had made quite thorough preparations for these talks.

All countries believed that France would not be lenient with Germany. After the Franco-Prussian War, Prussia had caused the French a great loss, and now that peace talks were being held in Paris, the French would naturally want to retaliate.

As expected, the French government made its first demand of Germany before the peace talks even began.

Because the peace negotiations were initiated by Germany, the French government demanded that Germany sign an unconditional surrender agreement with the Allied Powers before engaging in peace talks. In other words, these peace negotiations were irrelevant to Germany. Germany should unconditionally accept all reparations terms proposed by the Allied Powers; the only point of negotiation was the Allied Powers' share of the reparations owed to Germany.

Such a requirement was undeniably stringent; if the Allied Powers had unanimously agreed, Germany might not have even existed.

Although the German diplomatic representative was furious about the French government's demands, none of the Allied Powers spoke up for Germany at that time.

After all, after Prussia's victory in the Franco-Prussian War, the Germans were equally ruthless towards the French.

The Prussian king's coronation as Emperor of the German Empire in the French palace was an act that directly trampled on the glory of France.

Even ordinary French citizens cannot forget the humiliation Prussia once inflicted upon France. France is simply retaliating, and other countries have no grounds for objection.

Although German diplomatic representatives were unwilling to sign such an unconditional surrender agreement, the situation in Germany was already in a state of disarray, and the war could not continue at all.

Before coming to Paris, Hindenburg met with the diplomatic representatives and discussed the current situation in Germany. He demanded that the representatives sign a peace agreement with the Allied Powers at all costs, and that huge reparations and territorial concessions were acceptable.

The German diplomatic representative initially intended to refute, but after Hindenburg mentioned the greater good of all German people, he had nothing more to say.

Although signing the unconditional surrender agreement was a huge humiliation for Germany, the long-awaited peace also allowed all Germans to breathe a sigh of relief, which was good news.

On September 15, Germany officially signed the unconditional surrender agreement, and the news drew attention from Europe and the world.

It is worth mentioning that the unconditional surrender agreement was signed by Germany in a grove of trees outside the Palace of Versailles. A train carriage, designated 2419D, is located in this grove.

This was no ordinary train carriage; it was the private carriage of Napoleon, the French emperor, a century ago. The French demanded that Germany sign an unconditional surrender agreement in this very carriage at this location, not only for revenge but also to restore the glory of France during the Napoleonic era.

France, as a historically powerful European nation, has had countless glorious periods. But if we were to talk about the most glorious period in modern history, the French Empire during the Napoleonic era would undoubtedly be at the top of the list.

As the French emperor who single-handedly led France to dominate Europe, Napoleon has always been revered by the French people. Napoleon III's rise to the throne was largely due to the lingering influence of Napoleon's legacy.

Although Napoleon's end was not good, it is undeniable that France during Napoleon's era was indeed an unstoppable European hegemon.

Compared to Germany, a newly emerging superpower with a relatively short history, the French have a rich and legendary past.

After this minor incident, peace negotiations between Germany and the Allied Powers officially began.

To extract as much value as possible from Germany while ensuring the world's acceptance of that extraction, the Allied Powers' contributions during the war must be considered, since there is no gain without pain.

The good news is that, because Germany fought so fiercely in the early stages of the war, both France and Russia, among the Allied powers, suffered heavy losses in this world war.

The combined casualties among so many Allied countries were astronomical. At such a huge cost, Germany was desperately squeezed for its value, and other countries had absolutely no grounds for complaint.

Although this world war was not as devastating as some historical wars, it was still the war in human history with the largest number of troops mobilized, the highest number of deaths, the largest number of participating countries, and the greatest economic losses.

On the Allied side, France mobilized nearly 700 million soldiers, with approximately 116 million soldiers killed and about 340 million wounded, suffering considerable losses.

However, even this enormous loss did not compare to that of Russia. Tsarist Russia mobilized nearly 1500 million soldiers, with nearly 200 million killed and approximately 600 million wounded.

The reason why Russia's troop mobilization and casualties are round numbers is that the exact number of Russian casualties is impossible to count, but it is basically more or less.

Italy mobilized approximately 420 million troops in this world war, with about 72 soldiers killed and 148 million wounded, clearly suffering significant losses as well.

Spain and Italy both mobilized approximately 420 million troops, with about 57 soldiers killed and about 135 million wounded. However, since half of them were colonial troops, the losses were not actually too severe.

Subsequently, Serbia, Romania, Belgium, and other countries mobilized hundreds of thousands of people, with casualties approaching half of them.

The Balkan countries, in particular, suffered relatively high casualty rates among soldiers compared to the entire Allied powers, due to the brutality of the Balkan Wars.

Serbia fought against Austria-Hungary to the point of near exhaustion. This is why Serbia reaped the greatest rewards after Austria-Hungary's surrender; the country that paid the highest price couldn't be left empty-handed.

The total number of soldiers mobilized by the Allied Powers was close to 3300 million, with nearly 500 million killed and nearly 1400 million wounded. The cost was undeniably devastating.

The Central Powers fared somewhat better than the Allied Powers, but they still paid a heavy price for this world war.

Germany alone mobilized nearly 1100 million troops. Fighting on two fronts, Germany was in a bad situation, with 162 million German soldiers killed and another 410 million wounded.

Even though Austria-Hungary withdrew from the war in time, its casualties were still considerable. During the World War, Austria-Hungary mobilized a total of 670 million troops, of whom approximately 138 million died and 395 million were wounded.

As one of the three major Central Powers, Britain mobilized 340 million troops for this world war, with approximately 40 deaths and nearly one million wounded.

Other Allied nations, including the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria, also mobilized hundreds of thousands to millions of troops, suffering heavy casualties in the process.

The Allied forces mobilized around 2200 million troops, with nearly 400 million soldiers killed and about 970 million wounded – all enormous numbers.

It wasn't until the casualty figures from each country were tallied up during peace negotiations that European nations truly understood the extent of the damage this world war had inflicted on Europe.

The combined number of soldiers mobilized by the Allied and Central Powers reached 5500 million, with over 900 million soldiers losing their lives and nearly 2400 million wounded.

The painful cost these figures have brought to Europe can be understood by looking at the population of various European countries.

Before the outbreak of the World Wars, there were only a handful of countries with a population exceeding 5500 million. Even fewer countries had a population exceeding 2400 million; only a few of these were European powers.

The once-powerful Ottoman Empire has seen its population plummet to just over 2000 million following the independence of the Balkan states. Other relatively powerful small and medium-sized European countries also have populations far below 2000 million.

Even the death toll of 900 million is a level that most European countries still haven't reached. European countries with populations exceeding 900 million, while far less powerful than the major European powers, are certainly among the strongest of the smaller European nations.

(End of this chapter)