Rebirth of the Spanish Empire.

Chapter 33 About the strategic deployment of North Africa

The next morning, in the meeting hall of the Royal Palace of Madrid, Alfonso was looking at the map of Africa on the conference table.

Nowadays, the day when the European powers will carve up Africa is getting closer, so they must launch an attack on the Kingdom of Morocco in North Africa as soon as possible.

The colonies belonging to the Kingdom of Spain should be in West Africa and North Africa.

Now the French have extended their hands to various countries in West Africa. The situation in the Kingdom of Morocco and Western Sahara in North Africa is not bad.

In North Africa, the Kingdom of Spain is now obviously more powerful than the French.

Because the French government had previously sought cooperation with the Kingdom of Spain to prevent it from falling into a three-front war with the German Empire, the Kingdom of Italy, and the Kingdom of Spain.

In terms of the colonial division of North Africa, the French government promised not to occupy the Kingdom of Morocco, but only the Algeria and Tunisia regions of the Ottoman Empire.

Regarding the West African colonies, the French government also promised to try to divide its sphere of influence with the Kingdom of Spain.

But if they want to expand further in North Africa, they will inevitably have a serious conflict with the French.

In order to avoid this situation from happening, the only solution may lie with the Ottoman Empire.

Libya in North Africa, like Algeria and Tunisia, is a strategic location in the central Mediterranean.

However, in terms of importance, Libya is still inferior to Algeria and Tunisia. Because the Libyan region is just a desert, while the Algeria and Tunisia regions have fertile land and rich resources.

So in terms of importance, Libya is really not as good as Algeria and Tunisia. For this reason, the expansion of the Kingdom of Spain in Libya will not attract much attention from the French government.

Because the essence of North Africa is now in the hands of the French, the Kingdom of Spain is expanding in Libya. The French government will only protest against this and will not take any major action.

In the original history, the Kingdom of Italy launched a war in 1912, defeated the sick man of West Asia, the Ottoman Empire, and obtained the Libyan region of North Africa.

In this regard, the French government only protested against the Kingdom of Italy and did not take any major actions.

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From the mid-19th century to the early 20th century, the Ottoman Empire was so weak that even the Kingdom of Italy could not defeat it.

After all, the Ottoman Empire was also a great empire that defeated the entire European society. Now it is so easily beaten to the ground by the European powers' crane - the Kingdom of Italy. It is simply a disgrace to the ancestors!

In the mid-19th century, Tsarist Russia launched the Crimean War against the Ottoman Empire, which is enough to illustrate all this.

In this war, the only real loser was the Ottoman Empire.

Engels once said: But in the Crimean War in the mid-19th century, the real loser was the Ottoman Empire, which was exposed as not strong in modernization reforms.

Because during this war, the Ottoman Empire did not become stronger due to the so-called modernization reforms, but instead became more decadent.

Through this war, Britain and France also recognized the nature of the Ottoman Empire and began to set off a frenzy to carve up the Ottoman Empire.

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Occupying Libya in North Africa was the only way Alfonso could think of to increase the strength of the Kingdom of Spain without arousing hostility from France.

However, the actual specific operation still needs to be discussed with the French government to reach an agreement.

"What a headache!"

Alfonso couldn't help but look to the east of the African map, because to the east of Libya is Egypt. Egypt is located at the junction of the Asian and African continents, and its geographical location is very important. Since the Suez Canal in Egypt was opened under the auspices of the French on November 17, 1869, its geographical location has become even more important.

To this end, the British Empire also conducted a series of confrontations with the French government, and Britain eventually won. Thus gaining Egypt and controlling the maritime life channels of the Eastern Mediterranean.

It can be said that the Suez Canal in Egypt is more important than the Strait of Gibraltar in the Kingdom of Spain.

Because of Egypt's important geographical location, the British Empire would never allow the loss of Egypt.

In the original history, the proposal of the Kingdom of Portugal’s “Pink Map” plan had threatened the British Empire’s strategic deployment in Africa.

In order to get the Kingdom of Portugal to give up this plan, the British Empire almost issued an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Portugal.

In the end, the Kingdom of Portugal's "Pink Map" plan was split by the British Empire, and the British Empire also seized the Rhodesia and Nyasaland regions in southern Africa.

The newly discovered Congo region of the Kingdom of Portugal was even assigned to the Kingdom of Belgium. Therefore, it is really miserable for the Kingdom of Portugal to be the younger brother of the British Empire!

Why did the Kingdom of Portugal end up like this? Why did no other country support the Kingdom of Portugal?

Because the British Empire was in its golden age of historical development from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century.

At this time, the British Empire's global dominance was at its peak, and no country in the world dared to challenge the British Empire.

Choosing to challenge the British Empire for the sake of a mere Portuguese kingdom was a foolish choice that no country would make.

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No matter how much land was now occupied, the Kingdom of Spain was bound to need a large increase in population.

Because even if you occupy a large amount of land, without a large population, you will only have empty treasure land with no way to develop it.

In this regard, Alfonso once again recognized the importance of increasing the population for the current Kingdom of Spain.

Now for the first time Alfonso felt the pressure of being King of Spain, for the fate of the ancient country rested in his hands.

After all, the future development direction of a country is like controlling a sailboat to sail on the sea. If you are not careful, you may step into the ocean current, causing the ship to fall into the abyss...

In response, Alfonso couldn't help but rub his head.

In this era of the 19th century, cooperation with the British Empire, the European bastard, was also a last resort.

Because if Alfonso did not cooperate with the British Empire, the Kingdom of Spain would only be severely targeted around the world.

The current Kingdom of Spain needs a stable development environment to promote rapid improvement in national strength.

Regarding the cooperation between the Kingdom of Spain and the French government, as long as Alfonso does not want the Kingdom of Spain to be isolated in Europe, then Alfonso will not interrupt cooperation with the French government.

Therefore, the cooperation between the Kingdom of Spain and the French government will continue until the Alliance of the Three Emperors is broken and before France and Russia reach an alliance.

Alfonso’s development plan for the current Kingdom of Spain is:

To get out of the European quagmire, while ensuring rapid domestic development, we will spare no effort to expand overseas and increase the overall strength of the Kingdom of Spain.

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(End of this chapter)