Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 560 Interference Target
Although this intervention in the Russian Civil War was only a small-scale military operation, the coalition forces formed by more than ten countries of the League of Nations numbered only 50.

However, considering the impact of the first military operation on the prestige of the League of Nations, the four major powers—Spain, France, Great Britain, and Italy—after discussions, unanimously decided that this intervention must achieve significant results.

To achieve sufficiently significant results, there must be a relatively clear objective, and the four major powers must work together to ensure its achievement.

To determine the objective, it was essential to first understand the situation of the Russian Civil War. The good news was that, in order to secure the intervention of the League of Nations, Russia had clearly explained the current state of the civil war to the four major powers of the League, led by Spain.

Although Tsarist Russia held onto its core territory around St. Petersburg, the situation around Moscow had deteriorated, and Soviet Russia had expanded southward, nearly occupying most of Ukraine.

Ukraine remains very important to Russia, as it possesses vast black soil regions and is a major grain-producing area for the country.

For a country with a population of over 100 million, the importance of grain-producing regions goes without saying. If these regions were completely occupied by Soviet Russia, even if Tsarist Russia still possessed vast tracts of land west of Europe, it would be unable to compete with Soviet Russia, which had seized the most fertile lands.

Although St. Petersburg is the capital of Russia, it is located in the north of Russia, where the temperature is very cold and unsuitable for growing crops.

This alone is enough to determine the objective of the intervention war: to completely expel Soviet Russia from Ukraine and ensure that Russia retains control of this important grain-producing region.

If this could be achieved, the interventionist war would essentially have achieved its objective. As for the annihilation of Soviet Russia, that was something Carlo had never considered, and something the League of Nations would never do.

Although the League of Nations had the power to destroy Soviet Russia, the four major powers of the League of Nations, led by Spain, were destined to pay a heavy price for it.

It is clear that the major powers of the League of Nations, such as Spain and France, had no reason to pay such a huge price for Russia.

Moreover, a Russia embroiled in civil war is a good thing for other European countries, since once Russia has dealt with its domestic affairs, their attention will turn to foreign countries.

Once the objectives of this intervention war were determined, the rest was quite straightforward. Since the number of troops deployed by each country was relatively small, and no complicated procedures were required, the governments of each country could essentially decide on the deployment of troops.

The only slightly troublesome aspect was the assembly of troops from various countries and the preparation of logistical supplies. Since the target of this military intervention was Ukraine, and Romania was the closest country to Ukraine among the League of Nations member states, the troop rendezvous point was chosen in Romania.

Apart from some more important supplies being transported to Romania from various countries, most of the other supplies were procured locally in Romania.

Although it has been confirmed that Russia will provide all the supplies for the international coalition, it is impossible for Russia to transport the supplies to Romania in the short term.

Therefore, after discussions within the League of Nations, it was ultimately decided that the League of Nations would temporarily advance the funds needed for the army to purchase supplies, and the final accounts would be settled with Russia later.

To demonstrate the sincerity of the four major powers in this war, Spain, France, Britain, and Italy each donated a sum of money to the League of Nations, totaling tens of millions of pesetas, which was temporarily enough for the daily expenses of the League of Nations forces.

Carlo also met with the Romanian ambassador, and although he did not say it explicitly, he subtly mentioned the handling of Russian territory after the end of the intervention war.

What is certain at present is that Russia cannot maintain its current territory. The Polish territories occupied by Russia will be returned to Poland and merged with the Polish territory ceded by Germany to form a unified Polish state.

In addition, the three Baltic states, namely Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia, are also highly likely to gain independence.

There is also a very high probability that Finland, which is further north, and Ukraine, which is on the Black Sea coast, will secede from Russian territory.

Romania might not necessarily gain anything from this intervention war. Carlo's meeting with the Romanian ambassador was also intended to remind Romania to commit its full resources to the war so that it could demand compensation afterward.

No one who can serve as a diplomatic ambassador is a fool, and the Romanian ambassador to Madrid naturally understood Carlo's veiled reference to the handling of Russian territory.

The consumption of some funds and materials is obviously insignificant compared to the expansion of the land area.

The Romanian government was also aware of this. After the ambassador to Madrid reported the relevant information to the Romanian government, Romania quickly agreed to the League of Nations' proposal and stated that it would do its utmost to provide supplies to the coalition forces and fully fulfill its obligations as a member state of the League of Nations.

As European armies began to mobilize, Carlo found himself with absolutely no time to spare.

With Prime Minister Andreu presiding over the Paris Peace Conference, preparations for the domestic investiture and medal-awarding ceremonies are proceeding smoothly between the government and the Ministry of Defense.

Carlo only needs to wait for the investiture ceremony and medal-awarding ceremony to begin in two months; otherwise, there's nothing else to do. After a long period of reform, the Spanish government has entered a relatively stable operational phase. Barring any major unforeseen events, the government can function smoothly, and Carlo doesn't need to interfere too much in government affairs.

For a monarch of Carlo's caliber, this situation was undoubtedly good news. The king's reluctance to interfere excessively in government affairs meant he wouldn't become a scapegoat.

Any achievements in government reforms and decrees will certainly include the king's share. In this situation, the king's position is not threatened, making it a relatively effective and reasonable government operating structure.

The only concern is that future rulers will not have the same prestige as Carlo, and if they do not intervene in government affairs for a long time, their power may be undermined by the government.

Carlo had considered this for a long time. Fortunately, the Spanish royal family is not without support. In addition to the enormous wealth controlled by the royal family, it also has a large base of support composed of both old and new nobles.

Even if the Spanish monarchy's power is now largely usurped by the government, the government cannot easily abolish the monarchy. Even if the Spanish king agrees, a large portion of the nobility would never allow Spain to become a republic.

Of course, there is an even more important point, which is the employees hired by the numerous companies owned by the Spanish royal family.

At that time, the Royal Arms Factory and the Royal Guanizzo Shipyard alone employed nearly 100,000 people.

Adding in the workers from other royal factories and businesses, the number of employees easily surpasses one million. It is well known that the benefits and compensation for workers in royal businesses and factories are significantly higher than those for workers in ordinary businesses and factories.

Under such circumstances, even the workers would not agree to the government's desire to abolish the monarchy.

This was the gift Carlo left to his son and future rulers. A king who had won over the nobility, peasants, and working class—his position, if not unshakeable, was at least deeply entrenched.

The new Spanish Catholic Church also had to depend on the monarchy for its existence. Under such circumstances, the only threats to the monarchy were capitalists and radical republicans.

As long as no major problems arise in Spain and the people have enough to eat, the radical Republicans pose little threat to Spain.

As for capitalists, given that the Spanish monarchy itself is the largest source of capital, the power of capital is always limited.

With nothing major to attend to, Carlo began preparing for his future retirement.

Seven years have passed since the birth of sound films. Although film technology is not as advanced as it is in later years, the films produced are still watchable.

Compared to later film technology, modern films still have many problems. First of all, the picture quality is poor; it's not only black and white, but also very blurry. Simply put, the picture quality is very bad.

This will not change much in the next few years; at most, it will only be slightly clearer than current movies.

Fortunately, it was a sound film; if it had been a silent film, Carlo wouldn't have been interested at all.

Since the advent of sound films, Carlo's two film companies have attempted to produce nearly ten films, and have already achieved some success.

Because most of the films produced are related to Spanish history, and the purpose of these films is not to make a profit, but to serve as a means of cultural and public opinion propaganda to help Spaniards better understand Spanish history, and incidentally to promote the legitimacy of the Carlo and Savoy families.

Of course, it was also to consolidate Spain's legitimate rule on the Iberian Peninsula, weaken the differences between the various ethnic groups in Spain, and unify everyone into a single Spanish nation.

For this reason, most of these films are shown on a public service basis, without charging viewers any fees.

Many Spanish people are interested in this novel entertainment activity that requires no expense.

The two film companies subsequently screened these films in squares across various Spanish cities. According to interviews with many viewers, the public was quite satisfied with the film technology and the films produced in Spain.

Although neither film company has seen any hope of breaking even so far, if we only consider cultural promotion and public opinion guidance, the film companies have actually accomplished their mission. The benefits beyond revenue are actually more important than the actual income.

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(End of this chapter)