Empire Rising: Spain

The dispute between France and Italy over Tunisia eventually returned to the negotiation table. Prime Minister Rufelli of France never expected that the Italians would withstand the pressure from France and secretly send troops to seize part of Tunisia’s territory.

Although France occupied most of Tunisia’s land, in terms of the topography of the occupied land, the Italians were not necessarily at a disadvantage.

The regions occupied by Italy, including Kairouan, Sousse, and Sfax, are coastal plain areas with immense development value.

Although the southern lands occupied by Italy have mountainous and desert terrain, the coastal areas also possess the vast Jifala Plain.

On the other hand, in the Tunisian areas occupied by France, although they cover nearly 70% of all of Tunisia, the Tunis Mountain occupies a considerable part of this area.

To the south, there are the Jered Salt Marsh and parts of the desert region, and the land that can actually be cultivated into arable land or used for pasture is not much different from the area within the lands occupied by Italy that can be cultivated and grazed.

It should be noted that it was France that started the war. Compared to Italy, France’s investment in this war was greater, yet it did not gain much benefit, which alone is enough to make the French public doubt Prime Minister Rufelli’s abilities.

"Your Excellency, the Spanish ambassador has once again expressed Spain’s willingness to mediate the colonial conflict between us and Italy over Tunisia as a neutral country. They hope that we can send representatives to Madrid to participate in peace talks to ensure that there will be no further conflict between us and Italy." Foreign Secretary Gambetta entered the room to respectfully report to Rufelli.

Gambetta and Rufelli belong to the same party, which means that their objectives on the Tunisian issue are aligned.

Rufelli first stared blankly at the map of the Tunisian military operations hanging in the Prime Minister’s office before turning his gaze to Foreign Secretary Gambetta and responded, "Minister, who do you think we should send to this peace conference?"

"Your Excellency, this peace negotiation is very important, and an ordinary diplomatic ambassador would not be able to make proper decisions. If you do not intend to appear personally, I am willing to represent France in negotiations with Italy." said Foreign Secretary Gambetta, word by word.

Rufelli nodded; the Foreign Secretary is indeed a more suitable choice. Compared to ordinary diplomatic ambassadors, the Foreign Secretary has more power and can demonstrate the importance placed on this peace negotiation.

Compared to the Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary does not hold such a high position, preventing France from lowering its status.

After all, the role of the Prime Minister corresponds to that of the Prime Ministers of Spain and Italy. Since Italy did not appoint its Prime Minister for the negotiations, naturally, France also does not need to send its Prime Minister.

Participating hastily in such a meeting will not only prevent Prime Minister Rufelli from gaining any authority in the meeting but will also lower his status and be looked down upon.

"Then you shall represent France at this meeting. Minister Gambetta, this conference must at least ensure that the land already occupied by France remains French, and it would be best to reclaim more than half of the land occupied by the Italians.

Tunisia is an important part of our colonial expansion plan, and our colonial plan must not falter here in Tunisia." Rufelli decided, looking towards Gambetta.

"At your command, Your Excellency." Gambetta nodded, taking on this rather arduous task.

Meanwhile, the Italian Government is also determining the candidate for the peace talks.

It is worth mentioning that the Italian Government has also chosen the Foreign Secretary as their representative for the peace meeting, which might be a tacit understanding among the European countries.

As Spain is the neutral mediating country, Prime Minister Canovas will personally host the meeting.

After all, being the host, if they were to send a Foreign Secretary to receive the representatives of the two countries, it would inevitably be somewhat lacking in dignity.

The meeting will be held in Madrid, and apart from discussing the situation in Tunisia, there will also be some exploration of the colonial activities of Spain, France, and Italy in North Africa to avoid such colonial conflicts among the three countries in the future.

After Spain invited the two countries for peace talks, within a few days, the representatives of the two countries successively arrived in the Spanish capital, Madrid.

When arriving in Madrid, there was nothing particularly emotional for the French Foreign Secretary Gambetta. Though Madrid has become quite prosperous after more than ten years of development, it still falls behind Paris, the capital of France.

Despite Madrid having built trams and many streetlights, becoming the world’s first City of No Sleep.

But France has since followed suit with projects on trams and streetlights. For Gambetta, these are too common to be remarkable.

But for the Italian Foreign Secretary, everything he saw in Madrid was so novel.

Italy has certainly involved itself in the field of electricity, but Italy’s finances are not as extravagant as those of the UK, France, and Germany.

This has also led to Italy never building a City of No Sleep like Madrid, and Italy’s capital Rome, along with the capitals Vienna of Austria-Hungary and St. Petersburg of Tsarist Russia, are referred to as the three dark cities of Europe.

Of course, this title is a playful commentary by European media, primarily due to the slow development of electricity in these three countries.