Empire Rising: Spain

For Afghanistan, this might be the only good thing; at least this country will still exist and won’t become a nation that exists only in name like the Khiva Khanate controlled by Russia.

The United Kingdom has gained in the Central Asia region, and Spain has similarly gained in the Southeast Asia region.

It has been previously mentioned that Spain’s Philippine Colony has two expansion directions, namely expanding on the island of Borneo and the island of New Guinea.

Between the UK and Russia, a buffer zone is needed because the British also fear the Russian army. Although the Russian army is not very effective in combat, its numbers are unrivaled across the whole of Europe.

Relying solely on indigenous forces from India is insufficient to resist Russia; mobilizing domestic troops would disrupt the balance the UK maintains in various regions.

But Spain doesn’t need this at all. Spain only has one enemy in Southeast Asia, which is the small and sparsely populated Netherlands.

The Netherlands is similar to Portugal, both once-powerful nations that have now weakened.

The comprehensive strength of the Netherlands is much stronger than Portugal, whether in industrial or economic aspects; the Netherlands ranks at the forefront among all small European countries, possibly even leading among them.

It’s unfortunate that the Netherlands faces Spain as its opponent.

Under the circumstance where both countries’ homelands are equally distant from their colonies, the comprehensive strength of the homeland becomes particularly important.

Though the Netherlands is strong, it has little resistance against Spain. Currently, the attitude acknowledged by all European countries is that Spain has regained its status as a great power and commonly ranks 6th to 7th among the world’s eight great powers.

Such a ranking is quite high indeed. After all, the positions of the traditional Five Great European Powers are hard to shake; Spain’s comprehensive strength currently seems to all European countries second only to the five, even stronger than the United States across the ocean.

According to the mainstream newspapers and some major officials in Europe, the world’s eight great powers are the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia, Austria-Hungary, Spain, the United States, and Italy.

The British Empire is undoubtedly the most powerful, followed closely by Germany, which has defeated France on the frontlines.

If there hadn’t been the Franco-Prussian War, then the seat of the world’s second strongest nation would surely be contested between France, Germany, and Russia, with the French most likely becoming the second strongest nation.

But unfortunately, in the Franco-Prussian War, Prussia defeated France on the front, causing France to naturally exit the competition for the world’s second strongest nation.

Russia is of course very strong, but Russia first suffered a decisive defeat in the Crimean War and then was extorted by the UK and Austria-Hungary in the Russian-Turkish War, thus could only rank as the world’s fourth strongest nation.

France ranked third in the world due to its heritage, while the UK, Germany, France, and Russia are seen as the first-tier nations, often jokingly referred to as the top great powers by many European newspapers and citizens.

Following Russia, Austria-Hungary earned the title of the world’s fifth strongest nation with various comprehensive advantages. But compared to the top four great powers, Austria-Hungary seemed slightly declined, hence can only rank as the second-tier great power.

There is also some controversy about the rankings among the top five nations, but the differences are not too substantial.

Further rankings are more contentious, especially regarding the placement between Spain and the United States.

But because the United States had not yet shown its strong industrial power and its navy was too weak, most European countries still placed Spain sixth in the world, with the United States seventh.

After all, Spain also has an army of hundreds of thousands plus the world’s fifth-ranked navy, ranking sixth in the world is not an exaggeration.

The nation ranked eighth, or the bottom of the great powers, is naturally Italy.

Austria-Hungary, Spain, the United States, and Italy are labeled as second-tier great powers, these four nations compared to the top tier have considerable gaps in industrial economy or military strength, and their international status and influence are far inferior to the former four.

However, second-tier great powers are still great powers, and they have immense advantages over ordinary nations.

While the Netherlands’ industry and economy are certainly excellent, due to the limitations of its land area and population, the Netherlands ultimately can only be a small country.

Without intervention from the great powers in the colonial competition between Spain and the Netherlands, Spain possesses a completely overwhelming advantage.

Taking advantage of the distraction caused by the Russian-Turkish War and the Anglo-Afghan War, Spain accelerated its colonial plan on the island of Borneo and the island of New Guinea.

In June 1878, Spanish troops stationed in the Philippines openly invaded the southern Brunei Sultanate, occupying all its territory in less than two days.

A large number of indigenous people here were captured and taken back to the Philippines for labor or traded to the west’s Lanfang Republic.

It has been mentioned before that the Lanfang Republic made its fortune through gold mining, which requires a tremendous amount of labor, making these indigenous people naturally excellent labor.

After occupying the Brunei Sultanate, Spain formally bordered the Kutai Sultanate controlled by the Netherlands.

Spain also dispatched some soldiers to station at the border but did not strictly defend it.