Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 87: Please ask the British government (Subscribe!)

Long before the Spanish government declared war on Morocco, it had received a warning from the Italian government.

The Italian government said it would provide diplomatic support to Spain in the military operation, but would not interfere if it attracted the attention of other powers.

Primo naturally understood that the Italian government would never go against the British for Spain. It would be enough if they were willing to express their support for Spain in the military operation against Morocco.

At 1870 p.m. on September 9, 28, two and a half hours had passed since Spain declared war on the Moroccan government, and fourteen and a half hours had passed since the Spanish army officially took action.

Faced with the sudden attack of the Spanish army, the indigenous tribes of Morocco were not prepared at all and were defeated, even though they had no helmets or armor.

Morocco is a very special country in Africa. Most of the population of Morocco are Arabs and Berbers, belonging to the European and Mediterranean races, that is, Caucasians.

However, unlike the white countries in Europe, Morocco is an Arab country and believes in Islam.

As the most special African country, Morocco is obviously different from the natives of Africa. They are more like the natives of the Middle East.

But indigenous people are indigenous people after all, and Morocco is undoubtedly far behind Spain.

Moreover, Morocco is not a monolithic entity. There are many tribes in Morocco, and not all of them support the Moroccan Sultanate under the rule of the Alaouite Dynasty.

Another reason why Morocco is more suitable for localization is precisely because of the white population in Morocco. Carlo does not consider himself a racist, but Carlo's hatred for black people comes from the heart.

However, such an idea was not surprising in Europe at that time. Although the abolitionist movement in various countries was in full swing, no white person would ever sincerely recognize the human rights of black people.

In the minds of white people, black people should be slaves on plantations. What does human rights have to do with them? Are they human beings?
The colonial policies of various countries in Africa have never treated the local indigenous people as human beings. The cumulative number of black people massacred by European countries is at least in the eight digits.

Of course, this is mainly because the countries have not explored Africa deeply enough. When Africa is basically divided up by various countries, the number of African natives who die as a result will increase.

Morocco is a white country, and bringing it under Spanish rule will not turn Spain into a black country.

The Moroccan Sultan was an old acquaintance. Mohammed IV had been the Sultan since 1859. He had just come to power when he faced the war between Spain and Morocco and suffered the bitter consequences of defeat.

After this defeat, Mohammed IV decided to reform Morocco, introduce powerful European industries, and improve Morocco's military strength to deal with the colonial invasion of European powers.

But Mohammed IV overestimated the Moroccans' acceptance of advanced industrial technology. When he went to great lengths to get the British to bring the steam engine to the royal palace in Marrakech, he found that the ministers were frightened by such a huge machine that they had never seen before and dared not even get close to it.

Even if Mohammed IV ordered the printing of a large number of Bibles about promoting steam engines, it could not arouse the curiosity of Moroccans.

Ultimately, the reforms came to nothing and Morocco never industrialized.

Seeing the failure of industrialization, Mohammed IV came up with another good idea, which was to strengthen Morocco's military power.

He formed a new army, the Askani Zami, and spent a great deal of money to equip the new army with muskets and provide them with Western-style training.

Upon learning that the Spanish were invading from northern Morocco, Muhammad was furious and ordered the newly formed army of Askani Zami to march north to resist the invasion of the Spanish army.

The Moroccan sultan, who was born in 1802, had great confidence in his newly formed army. Even at a meeting of the Moroccan sultanate's government that day, Mohammed IV confidently stated: "My army will easily defeat the Spanish army. The days when Morocco was invaded by European countries are gone forever."

But soon, reality gave the old Sultan a heavy blow.

Not long after sending out their new army, intelligence came from the south that the Spanish army was marching northward from Sidi Ifni and was heading towards Agadir, a major city in southern Morocco.

This left Mehmed IV dumbfounded. His new army was not large in number and was obviously unable to deal with the Spanish troops from both the north and south at the same time.

But if the Spanish army was allowed to attack Agadir, it seemed that Marrakech would also be in danger.

Mohammed IV's confidence, which had just been ignited by the new army, was instantly extinguished. He was filled with frustration, and his already old face looked even older.

"Damn, is Morocco bound to be colonized?" Mohammed IV looked up at the sky, filled with despair about Morocco's situation.

At this time, Moroccan ministers gave their opinions one after another.

The most common opinion is that we should go to the West as soon as possible, no, go to Western Europe to ask the British government for help.

The last war between Spain and Morocco was due to the intervention of the British government, which allowed Morocco to retain most of its territory.

Otherwise, considering Morocco's turbulent domestic situation and poor military strength at the time, it would have been a plaything at the mercy of Spain.

The Moroccan government at the moment really has no better solution. Apart from asking the British government to intervene, there seems to be no other effective solution.

As for fighting a war with the Spanish, the Moroccan ministers had never thought about it.

Ten years ago, I did have such an idea, but I was beaten by the Spanish and couldn't tell east from west and south from north. The domestic situation in Spain at that time was not much better, it was all about the gap in weapons and equipment and comprehensive strength.

Although Morocco has now formed a new army, the number of troops is only about 20,000.

Moreover, the Moroccan ministers themselves are well aware of the situation of the new army. With the support of the Moroccan army in Morocco, its combat effectiveness is still quite strong.

But if compared with European countries, it is completely disproportionate.

Moroccans are not very receptive to advanced weapons and technology. In addition, Morocco's weapons and equipment are all purchased from European countries. Naturally, it is impossible to allow the soldiers of the new army to conduct long-term target practice training.

It is no exaggeration to say that in the past few years since the new army was established, the number of target practice sessions organized has not exceeded ten times in total, and each person is only given three bullets in each target practice, which basically has no effect.

It would be more reliable to expect such new troops to stop the attack of the Spanish army than to expect the British to be merciful and save their lives.

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(End of this chapter)