Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 89: The British Response (Subscribe!)
The colonial war launched by the Spanish government ended like this.

Long before the war broke out, Prime Minister Primo had considered what the purpose of this war was, that is, what Spain wanted to gain from this war.

Since the British government has agreed to Spain's occupation of the coastline near Agadir in southern Morocco and agreed to the Moroccan government's compensation to the Spanish government, the war can naturally be ended.

Unfortunately, this kind of thing is destined to never happen again. Otherwise, if it were to happen once a year, the Spanish government would have the funds it needs for industrial development.

On October 1870, 10, in the presence of the British ambassador, the Spanish and Moroccan governments began peace talks in Ceuta to end the war.

Unlike the brief meeting between British Ambassador William and Prime Minister Primo, this peace talk concerns the interests between Spain and Morocco and is bound to involve some wrangling.

The duration of the peace talks can be as short as a few days, as long as more than ten days or even a month. Only when a peace agreement acceptable to both sides is determined can the peace talks be truly concluded.

After reaching a compromise with British Ambassador William, Prime Minister Primo reported to Carlo and informed him of the peace talks and the impending end of the war.

Carlo still felt a little regretful. The war had only been going on for a few days, and Carman and Andrew had just gone to the battlefield. It was obvious that they would not get any honor.

However, as long as the Spanish government can be guaranteed to gain more land and compensation in this war, it is good news.

On October 10, peace talks in Ceuta officially began.

Spain's diplomatic representatives put forward Spain's two demands at the beginning, one was land and the other was funds.

The Spanish government demanded that all Moroccan areas south of the line from Agadir to Tata belong to the Spanish government as compensation from the Moroccan government to the Spanish government and civilians.

Secondly, the Moroccan government must pay the Spanish government 3.5 million pesetas in compensation, of which 2 million pesetas are the costs of the Spanish military operation, which should be borne by the Moroccan government.

The remaining 1.5 million pesetas were used as compensation for Spanish civilians and soldiers killed or injured in the war, as well as to cover the cost of the Spanish army's withdrawal from Moroccan territory.

There is an additional requirement, which is that the Moroccan government establishes a demilitarized zone in the triangle of Tangier, Tetouan and Ceuta, and Moroccan troops are not allowed to enter, to prevent similar conflicts from happening again.

Now the representatives of the Moroccan government were completely unable to sit still.

The three conditions are more outrageous than the other, and are simply putting the Moroccan government representatives on the spot.

Although Agadir is known as the largest city in southern Morocco, its geographical location is more towards the central part.

There is a lot of land south of the line from Agadir to Tata, which is close to one-sixth of Morocco's territory.

Although the population here is not large compared to the northern region, the Moroccan government absolutely cannot agree to cede nearly one-sixth of the land all at once.

The second is the compensation of 3.5 million pesetas.

This amount of compensation is an astronomical figure for the Moroccan government, and it is impossible to come up with it even if they sell everything they have.

Coupled with the demilitarized zone required by the last condition, the Moroccan government did not become a colony of Spain, but what is the difference between this and becoming a colony of Spain?

"No, this is simply impossible." The Moroccan government representative stood up in surprise, looked at the Spanish government representative with anger, and directly refused: "We can't agree to such a request, never." "That's easy." The Spanish government representative smiled and nodded, not caring about the Moroccan government representative at all: "Then let the war continue, and let the outcome of the war speak for itself.

But I would like to remind you that when we invest more money in this war, your country will have to pay more compensation after the defeat."

Upon hearing the threat from Spain, the Moroccan government representatives immediately turned to British Ambassador William for help.

The British naturally could not sit idly by and watch the negotiations break down. If the war really continued, the development of the situation would be beyond the control of the British.

“You two, since you have come here together, it proves that you all have the willingness to negotiate.

I propose that both sides take a step back and strive to reach a peace agreement that is acceptable to both sides.

Considering the specific economic situation of the Moroccan government, I think the compensation of 3.5 million pesetas is unreasonable and an unbearable burden for the Moroccan government. British Ambassador William stood up and tried to get the peace talks back on track:

How about this, today's negotiations end here. You two sides each draft a more reasonable peace negotiation demand, and we will discuss it tomorrow?"

The first day of peace talks ended without any progress.

The Spanish representatives still looked very relaxed. Morocco was now like a lamb to be slaughtered, and it was impossible for it to do so without paying a heavy price.

This is also the characteristic of this era. Underdeveloped countries must be prepared to be invaded and robbed by more powerful countries at any time.

The saying that those who lag behind will be beaten is very reasonable. The law of the jungle is the only truth in this era.

On the Moroccan side, after the first day of negotiations, the Moroccan representatives immediately approached British Ambassador William to seek his help.

"Dear British Ambassador, Spain's demands are totally unacceptable to Morocco. We ask for help from the powerful British government, and we are willing to pay the corresponding price." The Moroccan ambassador said straight to the point to William.

"Sir, I sympathize with your government's plight." British Ambassador William first looked helpless, and said to the Moroccan government representative with great regret: "But you know, even if the British Empire is extremely powerful, it cannot arbitrarily interfere with the decisions of other countries.

Asking Spain to give up its claim to northern Morocco is the most we can do for your country. The Spanish will never give up the idea of ​​colonizing Morocco, and we are deeply sorry for that.”

Although the British government could accept Spain's annexation of the land of southern Morocco, it did not mean that the British would not cause trouble for Spain.

The British government had long planned to use this incident to incite the Moroccans to more intense resistance against Spain.

Since Spain had the courage to wage war against Morocco and occupy Moroccan land as a colony, Spain should also bear the Moroccans' resistance to Spain and their hatred for their land being occupied.

In this way, even if Spain could gain a large colony through this war, they would be exhausted from suppressing the Moroccans' resistance for a long time, and the cost might even be greater than the benefits.

The Spanish were busy suppressing the rebellion in Morocco, so naturally they had no time to think about the British Gibraltar.

Together with the rebels in Cuba and the Philippines, the rebellions in these three colonies were enough to overwhelm the Spanish government, and might even cause Spain to spend a large amount of money, manpower and material resources for a long time, eventually making the country weaker and weaker, and completely turning it into a country that could not pose any threat to Britain.

I am not feeling well today, so I will take a day off and update once. I will continue to update 10,000 times tomorrow!
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(End of this chapter)