Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 556 Three Major Problems
The Paris peace talks were in full swing, but Carlo's attention had already turned back to Spain.

Although the war is over, this does not mean the Spanish government's work is easier. On the contrary, with the war over, Spain is about to enter a difficult phase.

The most important thing is to distribute pensions and relief funds to all soldiers who were killed or wounded.

The distribution of pensions and relief funds is of paramount importance, as it concerns the morale of both the military and the people. Because Prime Minister Andrew was in Paris for talks, Carlos directly intervened in the Spanish government's distribution of pensions and relief funds, and ordered Prince Ángel Fernando to begin inspecting the distribution process in each Spanish state.

Carlo also hopes that Crown Prince Juan Fernando can further cultivate his reputation and gain public favor and support.

Although Carlos's own prestige and influence are enough to convince the public of Crown Prince Juan Fernando's abilities, such prestige cannot be passed down. The heir to the throne must earn the people's support himself for the monarchy to be preserved in the long term.

The lessons to be learned can be found in the British royal family.

Queen Victoria of Britain enjoyed unparalleled prestige in the last century, and the period when Britain was at the pinnacle of world dominance since the Industrial Revolution is also known as the Victorian era.

Queen Victoria was no longer just an ordinary monarch of Britain, but a symbol of Britain's glorious era and a great ruler in the hearts of all Britons.

Because of Queen Victoria's own prestige, her son also gained unparalleled prestige and power when he inherited the throne.

Like Queen Victoria, Edward VII wielded considerable influence within the British government.

At this time, the British royal family was not yet a mere shell. Apart from not being able to arbitrarily abolish or appoint the prime minister, the king could do whatever he wanted.

But this period of prosperity was short-lived. With the death of Edward VII, Queen Victoria's prestige was almost completely exhausted.

Although George V, who succeeded to the throne, was Queen Victoria's grandson, he could no longer influence the government through Queen Victoria's immense prestige.

Fortunately, because Britain and Germany stood together during the World War, George V did not make the historical choice to change the royal family name.

As is well known, the surname of the British royal family in later generations is Windsor. At this time, the surname of the British royal family was Saxe-Coburg-Gotha; these two surnames are actually from the same family.

The reason why George V changed the British royal family name to Windsor was because of the hostile relationship between Britain and Germany, which made the British people very dissatisfied with the royal family's German surname.

Although the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family is not part of the German royal family, this family, which originated in Germany, has a strong German heritage.

In fact, this is not a big deal for the royal families of Europe. For example, Carlo was originally a prince of Italy. When there is no heir to the throne in other countries, princes of European countries have the opportunity to be elected as kings of other countries.

This is a relatively common phenomenon in Europe, yet it shook the British throne. If George V hadn't changed the British royal family's surname to Windsor in history, the position of the British monarchy would likely not have been so stable, and there might even have been a risk of upheaval.

This alone is enough to prove that George V did not have much power in the British government.

Going further, George V and the British royal family he led did not have the support of the majority of the British people at the time.

Carlos's prestige and status in Spain also attest to this. Although Carlos was also an outsider, no one in Spain would question that.

Carlo had no intention of changing his surname; rather than creating a new surname out of thin air, he preferred to retain his own surname, Savoy.

Although the Savoy family is not considered a prominent family in Europe, it has a long history in Italy. Furthermore, with the rise of the Spanish Savoy dynasty, the Savoy family now holds a certain status in Europe, and there is no need for them to change their surname and create unnecessary trouble for themselves.

The biggest difference between the Western and Eastern aristocratic systems is that the Western aristocratic system strictly adheres to the idea of ​​bloodline as the primary factor.

It is extremely difficult for an ordinary person to become a king or emperor. Only a few exceptions, such as Napoleon, were able to rise from an ordinary person to become the king or even emperor of a country.

Only a few can achieve this. Most of the time, to become the king of a country, one must have European royal blood, and preferably from a long-established and prestigious European royal family.

Although there are many monarchies in Europe, there are only a handful of royal families with long histories and high status.

Carlos no longer needs to grind reputation, but Prince Juan Fernando, the heir to the throne, still needs to grind reputation.

This will be a standard procedure for the succession to the Spanish throne, and a new heir will do the same during the next succession.

Returning to the issue of pension payments, for Spain, which mobilized approximately 420 million people and had a total of only 57 soldiers killed, the distribution of pension payments is not a major problem.

Especially since Spain had already issued a sum of compensation, it would be sufficient to issue a sum of compensation to the families of the newly killed soldiers to complete the compensation distribution.

Of course, in addition to the pensions for fallen soldiers, there are also relief funds for wounded soldiers.

Although Spain suffered only 57 dead, it was wounded by as many as 135 million, which is no small number.

Even if each person receives only 100 pesetas in relief funds, the total amount of relief funds distributed would still reach hundreds of millions of pesetas.

According to estimates by the Spanish government, the subsequent disbursement of pensions and relief funds will cost at least 7.5 million pesetas, roughly one-third of Spain's current annual fiscal revenue.

If it weren't for the certainty that Spain would receive a large sum of war reparations from Germany, the government would never have been willing to pay such substantial pensions to its soldiers.

This amounts to one-third of the total annual fiscal revenue, roughly the same as peacetime military spending. Given Spain's current industrial restructuring, such a large expenditure is a significant burden on the government.

Besides the distribution of pensions and relief funds, the Spanish government faces two major challenges: the reduction of soldiers and the transformation of the military industry.

Spain has mobilized a total of 420 million troops. After deducting those who were killed or seriously wounded and discharged from the army, Spain still has nearly 300 million soldiers still serving.

With the end of World War II, Spain clearly did not need so many soldiers. Before the outbreak of World War II, the total number of Spanish troops was only over 30, roughly one-tenth of the current active-duty military size.

If the number of troops in Spain were to be reduced based on the pre-war military size, Spain would need to reduce its military by at least 250 million.

The difficulty of disbanding such a large number of troops at once is unimaginable. Disbanding the military is not easy; it's not simply a matter of the government issuing an order and sending soldiers back to their hometowns. First and foremost, all soldiers must be paid their full salaries before any layoffs, ensuring there are no unpaid wages.

Secondly, it was necessary to tally the military achievements of all soldiers and reward them accordingly before disbanding the army. In any case, these soldiers had made significant contributions during the war.

Reducing the size of the army was inevitable, but that did not mean Spain could ignore the contributions of these soldiers in the war.

Finally, these discharged soldiers will be given a resettlement allowance to ensure their basic livelihood during their unemployment after leaving the military.

Another point is that Spain will need to provide additional care for all wounded and disabled soldiers.

Regardless of whether soldiers are demobilized, the government will provide free medical care to all soldiers wounded in the war to help them fully recover.

During their recovery, the government will also need to provide a relief fund to ensure they can continue to live even if they are unable to work.

Furthermore, for those wounded soldiers, it is not only necessary to provide them with relief funds, but also to help them find jobs as much as possible. This is to teach them how to fish, rather than just giving them fish.

The good news is that while cutting more than 200 million troops is difficult, the reduction work is relatively simple given the troops' loyalty to Carlo.

As long as the Spanish government does its job well and ensures that soldiers receive appropriate rewards for their contributions in the war, and that there are no deductions in wages or rewards, most soldiers will be able to be appeased.

Nowadays in Spain, virtually no one dares to withhold soldiers' salaries. To greatly boost morale and fighting spirit, Carlo has established veterans' relief offices in various states and municipalities, responsible for the post-retirement care of veterans and helping them find employment more quickly and effectively.

On the other hand, it also oversees the distribution of pensions and relief funds to state and municipal governments to ensure that there are no omissions in the distribution of pensions and relief funds, and that all retired and fallen soldiers receive the compensation they deserve.

Initially, there were indeed instances of underreporting and omissions in the distribution of pensions and relief funds. However, after the establishment of the Veterans' Relief Center and its commencement of oversight of related work, the distribution of pensions and relief funds throughout Spain was immediately and significantly improved.

It had to be improved, because Carlo attached great importance to the distribution of pensions and relief funds, and even punished several officials who did not take it seriously.

Although they weren't deliberately hiding anything, as long as there were instances of underpayment and embezzlement, Carlo wouldn't show them any leniency.

Although this greatly increases the workload for local governments, it does ensure the rights of all retired soldiers and the families of fallen soldiers.

Carlos placed great importance on the distribution of pensions and relief funds, which is also the reason why Spaniards actively and enthusiastically enlisted in the army.

Don't be fooled by the fact that Spain only mobilized 420 million troops during World War II; that's because Spain entered the war midway through and the war itself wasn't particularly intense.

If Carlos were willing, the number of troops Spain could mobilize could double at any time, and in extreme cases, it could even reach a mobilization scale of nearly ten million people.

Of course, Carlo wouldn't do that unless the world war was about to end.

After all, Spain's population is only about 55.7 million. If an army of nearly 10 million were mobilized at once, industrial and agricultural production would be devastated. Even if the war were won, the country would suffer heavy losses.

Even among the 420 million troops mobilized by Spain during the World War, nearly 200 million were auxiliary troops from various colonies.

These colonial armies bore a heavy burden of casualties for the Spanish mainland army, which is why the Spanish mainland army suffered relatively few casualties.

Carlo was relatively satisfied with this. Fewer casualties among Spanish soldiers would reduce the amount of pensions and aid Spain had to provide, and also minimize the impact of the war on Spain.

It is worth mentioning that Spain was one of the few countries with positive population growth during the World Wars.

Not only was the population growing, but Spain also received hundreds of thousands of European immigrants every year during the World Wars.

These immigrants came from all over Europe, with the majority coming from countries such as France, Italy, and Russia.

Especially with nearly a third of France occupied by Germany, a large number of French people fled south to Spain to escape the war and German aggression.

Although France recovered these territories later in the war, many of the French immigrants who went to Spain chose to settle there.

Although Spain's geographical environment is not as favorable as France's, with only a small coastal area being plains and most of the central and northern regions being mountains and plateaus.

However, Spain's relatively remote geographical location meant that the Spanish mainland rarely experienced war. These Frenchmen were truly terrified by the brutality of the World Wars. Before the outbreak of this world war, Europeans could never have imagined that a war could involve tens of millions of troops and result in a total of 900 million casualties.

Even though the world war is over, countries like France and Russia, which suffered heavy casualties, will need at least ten years to recover to their pre-war industrial and economic levels.

Especially in terms of population, it will take much longer to heal the wounds of war.

During the World War, the number of French soldiers killed reached 116 million, and the number wounded reached 340 million.

Although some of them were auxiliary troops mobilized by France from its colonies, the majority of those fighting on French soil were French. After all, the colonial army was simply no match for the German army, and France had to rely on its own people to defend its homeland.

Under such circumstances, France suffered a direct population loss of over a million during the war. Considering the massive influx of immigrants, France likely lost millions more people during the three-plus years following the outbreak of World War II.

More importantly, the soldiers who were wounded and killed on the battlefield were mostly men in their twenties and thirties.

These people are the main force in reproduction, and if they are killed or wounded in battle, France's birth rate will be affected for a long time to come.

With a sharp decline in population and a corresponding drop in birth rate, it would likely be more difficult for France to restore its population to pre-World War II levels than to restore its industrial and economic scale to pre-World War II levels.

This is also why Carlos wasn't too wary of France, because although France seemed powerful, it was actually weak inside and out, and Spain had nothing to fear.

(End of this chapter)