Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 577 Sharing the Throne
Since only his youngest son, Alexander, chose to leave Spain, Carlo naturally had nothing to worry about and could focus on laying a solid foundation for his son.

There's no need to consider the advantages of Finland and Estonia individually; simply compile information about each country and give it to Alexander, allowing him to choose.

In terms of overall national potential, Finland's potential far surpasses that of Estonia. Although large swathes of Finland's territory lies north of the Arctic line, Finland's land area is much larger than Estonia's, and its population is three times that of Estonia.

If Finland is governed properly, even if it is not enough to become a medium-sized country with a sizable industry and economy, it would be comparable to countries like Bulgaria and Belgium, ranking among the top small and medium-sized countries in Europe.

Of course, if you choose Finland, you will face a completely different situation than Estonia.

Although both Finland and Estonia were territories under the control of Tsarist Russia, Estonia was completely annexed by Tsarist Russia and had no government of its own.

Although the Grand Duchy of Finland was also under the jurisdiction of Tsarist Russia, it was a self-contained entity under Tsarist Russian rule, and the Finns never considered themselves as Russians.

Choosing to go to Estonia might mean facing fewer challenges, even if Estonia has lower development potential.

It is no exaggeration to say that, thanks to Carlo's prior planning, Alexander was able to infiltrate all aspects of the Estonian government and completely control the newly formed Estonian government.

Whether it was an absolute monarchy or a constitutional monarchy, Alexander had ample room to choose, and like Carlo, he could modify the government system at any time according to his own preferences.

However, if you go to the Grand Duchy of Finland, you won't have the same level of freedom as in Estonia.

The Grand Duchy of Finland has its own principality government, and it would be very difficult for Alexander, as a newcomer, to infiltrate the principality government.

Although under pressure from Spain and other powers in the League of Nations, Finland would not refuse the offer from the Spanish prince to become Grand Duke of Finland.

However, this does not mean that the Finns would welcome a foreigner as their Grand Duke. If Alexander could not gain the trust of the Finns in the first few years of his reign, his rule would likely not last long.

More importantly, in addition to gaining the trust of the Finns, Alexander also needs the support of the Finnish government.

Although Carlo could offer assistance to the best of his ability, he would not directly help Alexander in the power struggle within the government.

Alexander must rely on his own abilities to gain the support of the Finnish government, or find an opportunity to place his trusted confidants in the government, thereby gaining a certain degree of influence within it.

If you can't even do these things, then there's no point in going to Finland.

After all, there is an even simpler counterpart to southern Finland: Estonia, with a territory of 4.5 square kilometers and a population of over a million, which is enough for Alexander to build a country according to his own ideas.

While giving Alexander specific information about Finland and Estonia, Carlo also told Alexander about the starkly different situations in the two countries and the assistance Carlo could provide.

Regardless of Alexander's choice, Carlo will support him. But to think that one can seize government power with Carlo's support is nothing but wishful thinking.

Carlo's support for Alexander was more about ensuring his personal safety and providing him with some reliable personnel.

Of course, the Spanish government will also provide some assistance, such as economic and military cooperation.

What Alexander needed to do was use this help to prove to his people and government that he was a qualified monarch who could win the trust of the people.

The good news is that it's still early, and Alexander doesn't need to give a definitive answer in the short term.

Even though Spain, France, and Britain had already divided up the territories ceded by Russia, the establishment of a nation could not be accomplished in a short period of time.

Even Poland, which already had a complete national framework and only needed to annex territory, would need several months to fully take over the territory ceded by Russia.

During this preparation period, Alexander only needs to give Carlo a clear answer, and Carlo will then prepare the necessary coronation arrangements for him.

Of course, regardless of whether Finland or Estonia ends up being retained, Carlo will make the most of it and will not allow it to slip out of Spanish control.

After all, Spain had already clearly defined the boundaries of their respective rule with Britain and France. If Spain rashly gave up these territories, Britain and France would naturally not be so lenient.

Although Carlo only had one son willing to go to the Baltic coast, fortunately, Carlo had quite a few nephews.

Although Carlo's brother, Duke Amadeo, died young, he still had four children, all of whom were sons.

Excluding Umberto, the son of Duke Amadeo's second marriage, Carlo still had three nephews: Emanuele Filipperto, Duke of Aosta; Vittorio Emanuele, Count of Turin; and Luigi, Duke of Abruzzi.

If they were willing to go to the Baltic coast, Carlo wouldn't mind making them the monarchs of a country and making the Savoy dynasty even more glorious.

Carlos was born into the House of Savoy, a fact that cannot be changed. Although the House of Savoy lacked some of the historical depth and splendor of the Habsburgs and the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

Thanks to Carlo's diligent management, the Savoy family is now one of the most prosperous families in Europe.

If Carlo could acquire the thrones of two more European countries, the House of Savoy's glory would rival that of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, which would be quite important for him.

After making the decision, Carlo immediately informed the current King of Italy, Carlo's nephew, Vittorio Emanuele III.

King Vittorio Emanuele III of Italy, one of the four permanent members of the League of Nations, was well aware of the fact that Spain was about to take control of the thrones of two European countries.

But there was nothing he could do about it; he could only look at the map of Europe with envy and jealousy.

After all, Italy's own strength was what it was. With Britain, France, and Spain fiercely competing for the land divided by Russia, Italy could hardly even get a sip of soup, let alone eat meat.

When Vittorio Emanuele III learned that Carlo was willing to cede either the Finnish or Estonian throne to the Italian royal family, he was quite excited.

Although the throne will most likely be passed to Duke Amadeo's three sons, Duke Amadeo is, after all, a member of the Italian royal family, meaning the throne is still in the hands of the Italian royal family.

Admittedly, the Spanish and Italian royal families both belong to the House of Savoy, and they are closely related.

However, the two royal families represented the interests of two very different countries. Although the royal families were closely related by blood, Vittorio Emanuele III and his uncle Carlo were not so close. As King of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele III was quite ambitious.

Like his father, he longed to lead Italy to strength, just as Carlos led Spain back to the ranks of the great powers.

The problem is that Italy has not yet achieved what Carlos did in Spain.

When Umberto I was crowned King of Italy, Italy was at the bottom of the European powers. Now, even after Vittorio Emanuele III was crowned King of Italy and led the country to victory in World War II, Italy still ranks last among the great powers, only slightly better than Austria-Hungary and Germany, which had just lost the war.

Moreover, Vittorio Emanuele III knew that the current weakness of Germany and Austria-Hungary was only temporary.

Despite the significant restrictions imposed on these two countries by the Allied Powers, Germany and Austria-Hungary still possessed considerable industrial strength and economic power.

In this respect, even if Italy were given ten years to develop, it would still be far inferior to Germany and Austria-Hungary.

This also means that once Germany and Austria-Hungary gradually recover from the pain of war, the slight lead that Italy has gained will eventually be returned to Germany and Austria-Hungary.

To put it bluntly, Italy was still a bottom-tier power, only managing to advance a few places in the rankings by sheer luck during the World War.

This was an outcome that Vittorio Emanuele III absolutely did not want to see, and it was also the reason why he was somewhat envious and jealous of his own uncle Carlo, and sometimes even wished that he were the King of Spain.

Of course, despite his envy and jealousy, Vittorio Emanuele III was powerless to do anything about it.

Even on the surface, he had to pretend to be friendly and very respectful to his uncle.

After all, both the Italian royal family and the Italian government need the help of Spain and Carlos.

Without Spain's assistance, Italy could never have become one of the four permanent members of the League of Nations. Without the support of the Spanish monarchy, Vittorio Emanuele III's throne would not have been so secure, and Italy would not have received such substantial rewards during the World War.

The performance of the Italian army in the World War alone was enough to make Italy a laughing stock of all Europe.

If the Italian and Spanish royal families weren't from the same family, Italy would probably be lucky to avoid being betrayed by other Allied powers, let alone gain any benefits.

Moreover, Italy is currently facing a huge problem.

As is well known, Italy has long coveted Albania in the Balkans.

As early as the Balkan Wars, Italy attempted to annex Albania by participating in the war.

However, the Italian government at the time was blocked by several major powers, which prevented Italy from annexing Albania as it wished.

Before Italy entered the World War, the Italian government had also made demands on Albania.

Although the Allied Powers, led by Spain and France, agreed to Italy's demands, they also made a condition on the Italian government: that the Italian government must take Albania on its own.

The Italian government at the time did not take this condition seriously, since neither Albania nor neighboring countries like Serbia could possibly be a match for Italy.

After participating in World War II, Italy could easily have taken over this land it had long coveted simply by mobilizing its troops.

What was unexpected was that the situation in the Balkans underwent tremendous changes after the end of the World War.

Despite suffering heavy losses in the World Wars, Serbia was not deterred by the pain of war. Instead, it quickly annexed large swathes of Austro-Hungarian territory and rose to become one of the most powerful countries in the Balkans.

At this point, the only country that could rival Serbia was Romania, which had annexed Transylvania.

But that wasn't the end of it. Perhaps to counterbalance Italy, Serbia, with the support of Britain and France, embarked on a period of rapid expansion.

The Serbs have also almost achieved their goal of a Greater Serbia, establishing the United Kingdom of Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia.

If the name of this country is still unfamiliar, it will soon have a new name: the Kingdom of Serbia.

Mentioning Serbia immediately brings to mind its immense size at that time. In terms of both land area and population, Serbia was already nearly on par with Italy.

More importantly, compared to the poorly performing Italian army, the Serbian army is quite formidable in combat.

If it weren't for the formidable fighting power of the Serbian army, a small country like Serbia would not have been able to hold off the Austro-Hungarian army for so long during the World War.

If the Serbian army had been slightly less effective, and Austria-Hungary had been able to defeat Serbia, the situation in the Balkans would have been drastically reversed, and the Central Powers might not have lost the war.

This also demonstrates the formidable fighting power of the Serbian army. With Bulgaria defeated and Romania fearing Russian expansion, a fully integrated Serbia has become the strongest nation in the Balkans.

More importantly, Serbia had not yet achieved its ultimate expansion goals at this time. Both neighboring Montenegro and Albania, which was also part of Italy's expansion plans, were included in Serbia's expansion strategy.

This actually means that Italy is destined to have a large-scale conflict with Serbia in the future.

Even if Britain and France didn't help Serbia, Italy would find it difficult to defeat Serbia in direct competition. After all, Serbia's size is no less than Italy's, and apart from a slight disadvantage in population and industry, it is roughly on par with Italy in other aspects.

In this situation, the Italian government was extremely dependent on Spanish assistance. Even if Spain did not enter the war, but merely sold Italy arms and strategic materials, Italy could still gain certain advantages, which was extremely important.

More importantly, if Italy and Spain could unite, they would have an advantage in the international coalition.

This is of considerable significance to the competition between Italy and Yugoslavia in the Albanian region.

After all, the League of Nations had already seized absolute power. Whichever side could gain the support of the League of Nations would essentially have secured the moral high ground, which was an absolutely undeniable force in territorial competition and conflicts between nations.

(End of this chapter)