Empire Rising: Spain

For Germany at this moment, anything that could attract the attention of the French Government would be more than welcome.

As a neighboring country, Germany was well aware of the sentiment in France. If the French Government could not release the domestic pressures through a thrilling colonial war, it was feared that an extreme French ruler might eventually come to power, leading to a war with Germany.

This also indicated that before launching this war, France had actually gained support from the UK and Germany.

A few days later, Rufelli summoned the Secretary of State for War once again to inquire about the military’s preparations for the war.

Considering that Italy was very likely to interfere forcefully in the war, the French Ministry of the Army had made quite adequate preparations for this war.

The French Army would commit 50,000 troops to the war of invading Tunisia, with 30,000 involved in combat against Tunisia and 20,000 as reserve forces to prevent any sudden attacks from the Italian army.

In addition to deploying 50,000 troops, Rufelli also planned to mobilize the French Navy during the invasion of Tunisia to guard against any potential invasion by the Italian Navy.

Although Italians were unlikely to have the courage to start a war against France, it was still necessary to be prepared.

If by any chance Italy succeeded in a surprise attack, it would be quite problematic. Though Italian land forces were not very strong, the Italian Navy did have a certain scale.

If the French Navy lost part of its main fleet to a surprise attack, there would indeed be a question of whether it could win against Italy in a sea battle.

Rufelli was overall quite satisfied with the offensive plan proposed by the Army. Deploying 50,000 troops wasn’t too significant an investment for France; if a whole piece of Tunisia could be acquired with relatively small expenses, it would be a significant achievement for both the French Government and the military.

Regardless of Tunisia’s future, for current Prime Minister Rufelli, it was a tangible political achievement and his ace to protect himself from being impeached.

After confirming that the Ministry of the Army had completed its preparations, Rufelli sought out French Foreign Secretary Gambetta, asking the Foreign Department to find a suitable reason for France to declare war.

Even though it was a war against an indigenous country, for Europe, which already cared about appearances, a relatively suitable reason for declaring war was still important.

This could not only prove the legitimacy of waging war but also reduce the reason for other great powers to interfere in this war.

Take Italy, for example, if it wanted to interfere in the war between France and Tunisia, it also had to find a suitable reason, otherwise it would be at a disadvantage in terms of the legitimacy of the war.

Foreign Secretary Gambetta was not in a hurry to agree to Rufelli’s order but raised a new issue with Rufelli, which was whether Spain, which shared the same roots with the Italian Royal Family, would assist Italy in interfering in the war between France and Tunisia.

Spain and Italy’s royals were of the same origin, which meant the two countries had quite close relations. Even though Vittorio Emanuele II, the tie between this close relationship, had been dead for three years, it did not affect the close cooperation between Spain and Italy.

If it was just Italy’s opposition, the French side wouldn’t worry at all. But if Spain also joined the opposition to the war, the threat to France would be much greater.

Firstly, Spain’s international influence was still higher than Italy’s. Although the two countries’ overall national strength was not much different, Spain, as the world’s third-largest colonial empire, had maintained a good status in Europe.

Historically, Spain had experienced the turbulent period of moving from the Bourbon Dynasty to a republic and back to the Bourbon Dynasty, plus it lost its last two large colonies, Cuba and the Philippines, and only then fell completely from the throne of the great powers, never to be the top European nation again.

But the current Spain was different; although it lost the Cuban colony, Spain gained larger territories in Congo and several tracts in West Africa.

The colonial territory in the Philippines also saw expansion, and Spain’s colonial scale overall increased several times.

Moreover, Spain had already built several ironclads, adding strength to its navy, and with growing colonial holdings, its international influence rose naturally.

A union between Spain and Italy indeed posed a problem for France. More importantly, Spain was key to whether France could crack Germany’s isolation plan.

If, for the sake of Tunisia, Spain and Italy were pushed entirely to Germany’s side, then France might be facing a coalition blockade by Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Italy, and Spain.

Facing a blockade by five great powers, even the British Empire would suffer serious impacts. For France at this time, this could be the worst outcome.

This was also Gambetta’s worry; if Spain was indeed willing to side with Italy, this war could potentially push France into the abyss.

"That is my concern as well," Rufelli did not hide his worry about Spain’s stance but had full confidence in his carefully prepared plan:

"But let’s not forget, France is a first-tier great power, while Spain and Italy are just second-tier. As long as we achieve a quick occupation of Tunisia, establishing a Tunisian colony before Italy and Spain can react, we needn’t worry about these issues that might not even arise."

Rufelli’s action plan, in essence, was summed up in four words: a swift and decisive win.

After all, the population of Tunisia was only a few hundred thousand, and with France deploying 30,000 troops, there was great hope of capturing several key cities in Tunisia within days.

Once the situation in Tunisia was under control, neither Spain nor Italy could comment on France’s war any longer.

Because, by then, changing the outcome of the war would require being ready for a full-scale war with France.

Though France’s developments had been somewhat slower compared to the UK and Germany, this still could not stop France from becoming one of the world’s most powerful countries.

Currently, France boasted a population of over 38 million, while the combined population of Spain and Italy only exceeded France’s by about 11 million.

Was France afraid of Spain and Italy? Absolutely not. France was only concerned about Spain and Italy siding with Germany, ultimately fearing Germany, its most formidable enemy.

The French Foreign Secretary Gambetta nodded. In the absence of a better solution, a swift and decisive engagement was indeed the best way to resolve the situation.

As long as France controlled the situation in Tunisia, the war’s development was in French hands.

Subsequently, Gambetta nodded and solemnly said to Rufelli, "I will prepare a reasonable declaration of war for the military, and the Foreign Department stands by for your next orders at any time."

Finding a reason for war in this era was quite easy, entirely dependent on whether European countries wanted to wage war against indigenous people.

Since the French Government had decided to launch an invasion of Tunisia, the actions of the Foreign Department would naturally be quite swift.

Within just the next day, the French Foreign Department found a suitable reason for declaring war.

Although Tunisia was an entire region, it also comprised different indigenous tribes and nations.

Differing tribes of the same nation would conflict, let alone differing tribes of different nations with even more intense conflicts.

Indigenous people in Africa lived by hunting, which also meant that neighboring tribes often had significant conflicts over the ownership of game and land.

Unlike before, this time, the two conflicting tribes in Tunisia were located near the Algerian border, and two unlucky European whites were caught in the crossfire of these two tribes and unfortunately met their demise.

With two French nationals killed by the indigenous people, this presented the best reason for war for the French Government. If a government could not even protect its own citizens, how could people believe that it could protect the country’s land and all its citizens?

Faced with this excellent reason for war, the French Government did not hesitate at all. The Foreign Department immediately condemned the tribes in the Tunisia region where conflict broke out and demanded Tunisia hand over the murderers of the two French nationals, to be executed within 24 hours.

If Tunisia did not hand over all those responsible for killing the French nationals within 24 hours, then France would mobilize its military to avenge its citizens personally.

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