Rebirth of the Spanish Empire

"The King's Declaration?" This was the headline on the front page of Deutsche Zeitung on April 12, 1908. "For the Spanish people, no one has more right to judge the achievements of Alfonso XIII, because they are the direct victims or beneficiaries. After detailed investigation, this newspaper finally came to the conclusion, That is, in the eyes of most Spanish people, he is a king who has the ability to revitalize the Spanish Empire. His Majesty Alfonso XIII’s open letter this time has to be said to have created a new royal initiative. What follows? How will King Edward VII of the United Kingdom respond? It is really exciting. There are also military exercises in Portugal and Spain. I believe that most reporters will not let go of such reports that directly witness the exercises, which is even more exciting. Hurry up that day of April 20th."

"The Woman Behind the King", the British "Times", "His Majesty Alfonso, who was born in 1886, is 22 years old this year. His wife is the youngest daughter of Prince Arthur, the brother of the current British King Edward VII from the British royal family. Patricia, according to sources, just yesterday, Queen Patricia rarely summoned the noble ladies in the palace and urged them to be more close to the common people, treat the poor well, and organize the Spanish Empire for the rise and fall of the Spanish Empire. More women's organizations protect women's various rights and interests. This will make the women of the empire more proud to live in Spain, and make Spain the country that respects women the most in the world." It can be seen from this that Queen Patricia did not She did not have any dissatisfaction because of His Majesty King Alfonso's credentials. She continued to advocate the establishment of the Spanish Women's Association to protect Spanish women. It seems that our queen is really a work addict. They all "I am working hard for my country." The British media was obviously avoiding the current stalemate between the two countries and playing a side ball.

"Few people dare to question the British King and Prime Minister like this. His Majesty Alfonso's courage is indeed commendable. From this letter of credence, we can easily see that His Majesty the King has grown up and he is no longer the same person as before. The 11-year-old boy who first came to power is no longer the little boy king who made up his mind to exchange land with Britain at the age of 11 and was greatly appreciated. Now he has become more tactful and sophisticated. I don’t know what our Will Nicholas II send a letter of credence to His Majesty William like this one day? Tsarist Russia had already formed an alliance with France in 1892, and now France has formed an alliance with Britain in 1904. Therefore, the current Tsarist Russia There is not much admiration for Germany. Just look at this report from "Voice of Tsarist Russia" to explain everything.

France’s Le Figaro: “The murder of the former King and Crown Prince of Portugal was suspected to be the murder of the British. Then the alliance between Spain and Portugal made the British angry and finally directly sent warships to the Bay of Biscay and Iberia. The demonstrations in Spain's coastal waters, the Strait of Gibraltar, and the Mediterranean brought public protests in Spain and Portugal to the highest level in recent years. Not to be outdone, Spain and Portugal finally decided to officially launch military exercises between the two countries on the 20th of this month. Pandora’s box, and where should France go between these three countries?”

This is not only reported by the French media, but also by media all over the world, among which the New York Times, the standard bearer of capitalist propaganda, is the most active.

"When the Queen of Spain was here, she used her petty-big mentality to finally exchange Cuba and the Philippines for the vast lands of Western Australia and New Zealand. The life of the Spaniards there is not much better than that in the mainland. I want to come to the UK now It must be a big regret. It can be seen that King Alfonso has a very long-term and accurate vision, and he is a capital master who is good at long-term investment. According to statistics, the number of iron ore mines developed in Western Australia in recent years is It is more than three times that of the Spanish mainland. If it is made into a battleship, the steel for a year must be calculated in units of at least 10. On the contrary, no large-scale iron ore has been discovered in east, south, and north Australia, which is even more surprising. Reminiscent of this, Alfonso had already asked for Western Australia when he was well prepared. Otherwise, why would he not have wanted New Victoria or Queensland, which are closer to New Zealand?"...

Everyone on earth knows about the distant war between the United States and Spain over the years.

It stands to reason that the conflict between Spain and Britain is something that the U.S. government would like to see, but the situation among the people is different. The United States used to be a British colony. Although many people there are white British people, most of them are prisoners who were exiled here. Just, would a prisoner have very strong feelings for the government that sent him into exile? You have to ask Theodore Roosevelt, the president of the United States at this time, to know, but now he probably won't answer this sensitive question.

There is another person who is very reluctant to see this situation. He is Armand Fallier, the current president of France. Since France is a country with a five-year presidential system, the first Armand Fallier was elected in 1906. Egypt is now full of energy and has good political vision. On the issue of France-Russia alliance against Germany, when he was just the French Minister of Justice, he had already urged the then president to bring Russia over. Because he discovered that at that time, Germany and Russia were originally allies. Due to the competition between the German Junker nobles and Tsarist Russia for the German agricultural products market, Tsarist Russia was finally blocked by Germany from entering its own market. Apart from this issue, he found an opportunity to take advantage of it. , so he suggested that France should seize this opportunity to come over to France. Fortunately, the president at the time, Jean Casimir Perrier, finally listened to this proposal and finally led to an alliance.

His attitude towards the alliance between France and Britain was even more resolute, and in 1899 he was elected President of the Senate with all his strength. At this time, he had become one of the three giants in France and even made the then President Emile Four François Loubet had to consult with him in everything.

It was he who proposed the alliance with Britain, and the official signature in 1904 further enhanced his reputation in France. So much so that when he ran for president in 1906, he defeated his opponent Paul Dume by a high vote of 449:371. . The combative diplomacy between the United Kingdom and Spain has attracted the attention of many countries. Among them, the one that deserves the most attention is France, which is sandwiched between the three countries.

Originally, as France is now an ally of Britain, it should speak on the side of Britain. However, anyone familiar with geography knows that if France does this, the consequences may be serious. France is surrounded by Spain and the United Kingdom on three sides, and borders Germany on the north. This is very difficult for France, which is doing everything possible to surround Germany and attract allies everywhere. Why? Because Spain is in the south of France, Germany is in the north, and Britain is across the sea in the west. And because of the alliance, if Britain and Spain fight, France will help or not. If it does, then France has always been The safest southern zone will be broken by him in an instant. Not to mention the people, even if the House of Representatives and the Senate believe it, few people agree, because if there is an enmity with Spain, then if Spain and Germany also come to a mutual defense law, Then France's political and security environment will undergo a major crisis, and the fate of France under attack from the south and the north will be very tragic.

So if you don't ask, it won't work, because if you lose control of the situation like this, you will eventually get angry. It seems that France should conduct more diplomatic shuttles with the two countries. But before they took action, the Germans were one step faster than them.

On April 15, 1908, there were still five days left before the joint military exercises between Spain and Portugal. On this day, Madrid welcomed a distinguished guest. He was Marshal of the German Empire, a confidant of Kaiser Wilhelm II. , Alfred von Tirpitz, later known as the father of the German Ocean Navy. A legendary figure.

His biggest dream, which he has loved since he was a child, is to one day build a world-class navy like the United Kingdom, and then sail across the world's oceans. Although this dream did not come true in the end, he persisted and made it the second-largest navy in the world. of navy. Moreover, in World War I, he defeated the navy of the largest naval power, which shows that his ability is not limited. Originally visiting as equals, the person to receive him this time should be Navy Minister Cervera, or Chief of General Staff Jack Stern, or Defense Secretary Lexton and other senior military generals. . However, Tirpitz's identity this time was still the special envoy of the Kaiser of the German Empire. This identity suddenly elevated his status and became the Kaiser's clone. In other words, his words were the words of the Kaiser, and he no longer represented just a naval marshal, but the Kaiser, the supreme ruler of Germany. So Alfonso received him personally. ….

"I have admired the name of Marshal Tirpitz for a long time, but it is such a pity that I have not met him for so many years." Alfonso was sitting on the main seat, with three people sitting on the left and right below, one of whom was Prime Minister You. King, and below him is Lexton, the Empire's Minister of Defense. Opposite them was Marshal Tirpitz of the German Empire who was visiting this time. He is nearly sixty years old and has a long, white sheep-tailed, lush curly beard. Although he is already sixty years old, looking at his straight waist, you can tell that he is really a warrior, even though he is at sea. Below him is Jaxon.

"Your Majesty, thank you. I have admired your Majesty for a long time. His Majesty the Kaiser of the Empire even said that he should come to visit Madrid earlier. Unfortunately, he was supposed to come in person this time, but because of some situation in the country , so he sent me as a special envoy to greet you on his behalf."

The two of them didn't have many polite words. In fact, they both knew what the other was thinking, but they just didn't want to bring up this topic first. However, if they didn't mention it, they didn't know when it would start. As Tirpitz came from afar, As an old German soldier, of course he understands the principle of haste and waste. But he understands better the principle of quick victory. Many people like quick and decisive battles, and it is also easier for people to gain the trust of others in this way, instead of continuing to keep talking. So he proposed it first.

Today’s first update, the previous one was always around 11pm and didn’t get many clicks, so I decided it would be better to update during the day in the future. Do that again after changing the time. Please give me a vote.

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