Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 574 Results of Intervention
By February 1916, the peace negotiations between Britain and the United States had finally come to an end.

Ultimately, the United States suffered a bitter defeat, not only returning Cuba and the Bahamas to Britain intact but also incurring a huge war reparations, losing both its war effort and its resources.

For the United States at least, having to pay only war reparations is clearly good news.

Look at the other countries that were defeated in the world wars; without exception, they all lost large tracts of land while burdened with huge war reparations.

The United States today cannot afford such turmoil. If it were to face a situation where it is forced to cede territory, not only would the current president, Thomas Woodrow Wilson, lose all prestige, but it would also affect the existing political situation in the United States and provoke a backlash from British and German immigrants.

It's important to know that then-President Wilson, in order to push the United States to join the Allied Powers, severely oppressed British and German immigrant communities within the United States.

The United States openly supported the Irish War of Independence. While this approach garnered President Wilson significant support from Irish immigrants, it also cost him votes from British and German immigrants.

The oppression of these two major immigrant groups during the war was largely ignored by the general American public. However, with the war over, how President Wilson handled the conflicts with British and German immigrants became the biggest obstacle to his re-election.

Aside from the resentment of British and German immigrants towards President Wilson, the US government's attempt to break away from the policy of splendid isolation and to participate more in world affairs has clearly been a mistake.

This also led to a surge of voices within the United States supporting the policy of splendid isolation. These people believed that President Wilson's actions were extremely foolish, not only causing the US government to abandon its long-held policy of splendid isolation but also making the United States the biggest laughingstock in this world war.

In order to join the world war, the United States suppressed the voices of British and German immigrants domestically, while vigorously supporting the Allied Powers led by Spain and France abroad, all in order to join the Allied Powers and use their strength to fight against Britain.

Ironically, shortly after the United States joined World War II, Britain signed a peace agreement with the Allied Powers.

The United States was certainly unwilling to sign a peace agreement with Britain at such a time, as it would mean that all of America's investment in the world war would be wasted.

But what was the final result? The United States continued the war with Britain, resulting in a price even more devastating than the original peace agreement.

After learning the general contents of the peace agreement signed between the United States and Britain, Carlo finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The psychological blow to the US government from the outcome of the peace agreement was far greater than the actual losses.

President Wilson, who was trying to persuade the U.S. government to abandon its policy of splendid isolation and look to the world, also suffered a major blow to his personal prestige.

Under such circumstances, the US government is unlikely to attempt to look to the world again for the next few years or even decades, until a president with great vision emerges.

This would buy Spain nearly twenty precious years of development time. During these twenty years, Spain would have ample time to thoroughly integrate its Moroccan and West African colonies, and with the complete annexation of Portugal, Spain would not need to worry about threats from the United States in the future.

Moreover, with the flu pandemic and the economic crisis, the United States will definitely not be at peace for the next twenty years.

If Spain can minimize its losses from the pandemic and economic crisis, it will undoubtedly be much stronger twenty years from now. Conversely, the United States twenty years from now may not be much stronger than it is now.

There were two pieces of good news at the beginning of 1916. In addition to the formal signing of a peace agreement between the United States and Great Britain, the League of Nations' intervention in the Russian Civil War had now largely achieved its objectives.

During the two-and-a-half-month fighting, the international coalition forces had gradually driven the Soviet Russian troops out of Ukraine. Tsarist Russian troops had then entered the region, restoring Russian rule in Ukraine.

Today, the territory of Soviet Russia has been compressed into a large area from the outskirts of Moscow to Tsaritsyn.

Although Soviet Russia still controlled an area of ​​over a million square kilometers, the threat it posed was far less than before the intervention war.

Having been essentially driven out of Ukraine, Soviet Russia found it difficult to expand into Europe. This resolved a major concern for European countries; with Soviet Russia unable to expand into Europe, the other members of the League of Nations naturally had little interest in continuing interventionist wars.

Of course, the intervention war has now largely achieved its initial objectives. For Spain, which initiated the intervention war, there is naturally little desire to continue it.

The League of Nations has indicated that, having achieved its original objectives in the intervention war, it is unwilling to further intervene in the Russian civil war.

These messages were primarily sent to Soviet Russia, and their meaning was quite clear: they implied that Soviet Russia would send diplomatic representatives to conduct peace negotiations with representatives of the League of Nations.

Of course, Tsarist Russia would also have to participate in these peace negotiations. Since the League of Nations helped Tsarist Russia drive Soviet Russia out of Ukraine, and Tsarist Russia was unable to pay its dues, it would certainly have to compensate the League of Nations in other ways.

More importantly, the territory of Tsarist Russia is now too large, and it is necessary to divide some of its land to reduce the threat Russia poses to Europe.

In this way, regardless of which side wins the civil war in the future, European countries will not have to worry about the enormous threat and oppression posed by a unified Russia.

The division of present-day Russia has been discussed within the League of Nations, particularly by Spain and France.

Britain was also interested in partitioning Russia. Even if Britain couldn't acquire Russian territory, weakening its former nemesis was something the British would have preferred.

Russia's neighbors, such as Romania, Poland, and Austria-Hungary, were also willing to see Russian territory divided in order to reduce the threat posed by Russia.

There's no way around it; the deterrent power of a country with a land area of ​​tens of millions of square kilometers and a population of hundreds of millions is simply too great.

Despite its technological backwardness and corrupt political system, Russia was still able to unleash astonishing fighting power, posing a significant threat to other countries in war.

Once Soviet Russia fully replaces Tsarist Russia, a completely new Russia will be able to immediately demonstrate its full potential, and in terms of both comprehensive potential and military strength, Russia will be able to reach a new level.

This is a situation that European countries do not want to see, and it is precisely for this reason that almost all European countries are willing to see Russia weakened.

The League of Nations' intention to hold peace talks was quickly picked up by Soviet Russia.

Although somewhat indignant about the League of Nations' intervention in the war, Soviet Russia was also well aware that its strength was far inferior to that of the League of Nations and that it was simply unable to contend with this enormous behemoth.

Fortunately, the League of Nations did not intend to completely destroy Soviet Russia. Although the intervention war did significantly weaken Soviet Russia, its core base from Moscow to Tsaritsyn was not lost, and Soviet Russia still had the opportunity to make a comeback.

After all, Soviet Russia's enemy was Tsarist Russia. Although Tsarist Russia was no longer the corrupt empire it was before the World War, its internal structure had not changed much, except that Tsar Nicholas II had lost power.

While the current situation in the Russian Civil War is somewhat difficult for Soviet Russia, it is not entirely hopeless.

Since the League of Nations was already considering peace negotiations, Soviet Russia naturally would not insist on continuing, after all, this intervention war had fully demonstrated the fighting power of the League of Nations forces.

With the armies dispatched by the four major powers forming the main framework, the combat effectiveness of the League of Nations forces was still worth noting.

This is also why Carlo proposed that the four major powers contribute the majority of their troops, rather than having everyone piece together a coalition force.

An international coalition with a main force and one without a main force are two completely different situations. Carlo did not want the coalition organized by Spain to be easily defeated by Soviet Russia. This would not only render Spain's proud army's fighting power a laughing stock, but would also completely allow Soviet Russia to rise, which would be detrimental to Spain's European strategy.

With Soviet Russia agreeing to peace negotiations, Tsarist Russia naturally had nothing to say about it.

If the international coalition had not forcibly intervened in the civil war, Tsarist Russia, even if it hadn't lost the civil war, would never have been able to retake Ukraine as it is now.

Even though it was clear that the League of Nations' demands would come at a heavy price, Tsarist Russia had no good solution.

After all, at this time, Tsarist Russia still needed the aid of the League of Nations to compete with Soviet Russia.

If the League of Nations were angered, Tsarist Russia's efforts alone could at best only delay the inevitable defeat in the civil war. Given the choice between paying a heavy price and total annihilation, Tsarist Russia could quickly make its decision.

Furthermore, even if Russia pays a heavy price, it won't cripple it. After all, Russia's territory is simply too vast, far exceeding that of European countries.

Russia's population is naturally enormous, and with such heavy casualties in the World Wars, wasn't Russia also engaged in a massive civil war?

If France had been forced to bear such enormous casualties as Russia, it would have collapsed long before the end of the World War, let alone fought another civil war. It would have been impossible for France to have survived to this day like Russia.

The Tsarist Russian government believed that the most important thing for Russia at present was to win this civil war.

As long as Russia can win the civil war, some territorial losses are nothing to it. As long as Russia can catch its breath, it will still be the bulldozer that dominated Europe before the World War II, and it will always have the strength and confidence to reclaim the lost territories.

With this in mind, Tsarist Russia also sent diplomatic representatives to participate in the peace negotiations together with the diplomatic representatives of Soviet Russia.

The peace talks were held in Rome, the capital of Italy and the headquarters of the League of Nations.

As the seat of the League of Nations, the League of Nations headquarters and all its major departments and agencies were located in Rome, the capital of Italy.

The League of Nations' regular meetings were also held in Rome, and all member states were required to send League of Nations representatives to Rome to attend the regular meetings held periodically.

The location of the League of Nations headquarters had such an important function that the selection of such a location had long troubled the member states of the League.

For the four major powers, each country wanted the headquarters of the League of Nations to be located within its own territory. The country whose territory the League of Nations headquarters was located would naturally gain a certain degree of influence within the League.

If a country is a powerful superpower, then it can implicitly become the primary voice of the League of Nations.

This is why the three major powers—Spain, Britain, and France—had differing opinions on the choice of the League of Nations headquarters.

The arguments raged on, and neither side could convince the other to agree with their opinion. This led to Italy becoming the lucky winner in the end, a case of the snipe and the clam fighting while a fisherman reaped the benefits. This is also why Rome became the headquarters of the League of Nations.

Of course, Spain also played a role in this.

Even when the location of the League of Nations headquarters was still under discussion, Carlo already knew that the League of Nations headquarters could not be located in Spain.

Firstly, there are objective reasons. Spain is located at the westernmost edge of Europe, which is too far from the heart of Central and Western Europe.

The League of Nations headquarters served as akin to the capital of a country, and its location in such a remote area was not good news for the League of Nations.

Secondly, there was the fear that Britain and France harbored towards Spain. Demanding that the headquarters of the League of Nations be located in Spain would certainly be met with joint opposition from Britain and France.

Spain was unwilling to have the League of Nations headquarters located in Britain and France, so rather than continue arguing, it was better to let Italy benefit.

The fact that the League of Nations headquarters is located in Italy is actually beneficial to Spain.

First and foremost, Italy is a Mediterranean country, and the Alps in the north block its connections with other countries.

Under such circumstances, it is difficult for other countries to extend their influence into Italy. Britain, in particular, has no advantage in Italy and its influence is even less than that of France.

Secondly, Italy's own strength was also at a just-right level. This prevented other powers from coveting its power while also ensuring that Italy's influence over the League of Nations wouldn't be too high, thus avoiding any negative consequences.

Thirdly, the good relationship between Spain and Italy will further enhance Spain's influence within international alliances.

Furthermore, Spain controls the Strait of Gibraltar, the closest Mediterranean outlet to Italy. Therefore, for Spain, there is not much difference between having its headquarters in Rome and having it located in Spain itself.

Besides Italy, Spain also had another option regarding the location of the League of Nations headquarters: Belgium.

The European Union, in later generations, was actually headquartered in Belgium.

With Russia excluded from the EU, Belgium's geographical location is indeed close to a Europe without Russia.

However, establishing the headquarters of the League of Nations in Belgium was not actually the best choice for Spain.

Although King Albert I of Belgium was Carlo's son-in-law, relations between the two countries did indeed strengthen significantly with Spain's assistance in the restoration of Belgium.

However, Belgium and Spain are separated by France, and Belgium is also separated from Britain by the sea. Belgium is destined to be infiltrated by Britain and France, and it is impossible for Belgium to be highly biased towards Spain.

By establishing the League of Nations headquarters in Belgium, Spain would have virtually no advantage over Britain and France.

This is also why, after much consideration, Carlo ultimately decided to establish the headquarters of the League of Nations in Rome, Italy.

In any case, the current international alliance is just a transitional one for Carlos and Spain, and the location of its headquarters is not really important.

Without World War II thoroughly instilling a fear of war in European countries, the conflicts between them could not have been resolved.

Even though the League of Nations was similar to the United Nations in later times, it was ultimately unable to play the role of the United Nations.

It would take another world war for the League of Nations, or the United Nations, to play its proper role.

During World War II, the League of Nations was bound to dissolve. After all, the relationship had shifted from cooperation to hostility, and the League of Nations, unable to mediate the war, naturally had no reason to exist.

It's not too late to consider moving the headquarters when the League of Nations is reorganized in the future.

Moreover, for Carlos and Spain, the European Union was actually more important than the League of Nations and later the United Nations.

The world is too vast; even if Spain had won World War II, it would have been impossible for it to have complete control over the global situation.

However, if we look at the whole of Europe, Spain still has a chance to stabilize the situation and control Europe with the help of the European Union.

This is precisely why the future layout of the EU and the choice of the future EU headquarters are of utmost importance to Spain.

By this time, countries such as Italy, the Austrian Empire, and Belgium, with whom Spain had already established good relations, would be reliable allies in the future in forming the European Union.

While these countries possess considerable strength, they do not pose a significant threat to Spain's position in the EU's discourse, a crucial point for Spain.

After all, if the EU wants to function effectively, it will need to include dozens of European countries. While most of them will become smaller countries, the UK, France, and Germany will still maintain a certain size.

Only with the help of these powerful but not particularly threatening countries can Spain better suppress countries like Britain, France, and Germany, completely control the European Union, and use the EU to contend for world domination.

(End of this chapter)