Empire Rising: Spain

During the era of the battleship, which is the pre-dreadnought battleship era, the Italian Navy had built what were at the time the best battleships, and in 1890, they possessed a naval total tonnage ranking fourth in the world at 242,000 tons.

It should be noted that Italy at the time was not considered a highly powerful nation and still ranked at the bottom among the great powers.

The ability to arm an army of over 400,000 and the fourth-largest navy in the world was enough to prove Umberto’s ambition and also demonstrated the truly excellent military technology research and development capabilities of the Italians.

At least in naval terms, Spain could still learn a lot from Italy. If cooperation with Italy could be deepened, by the time of the pre-dreadnought battleship era, Spain and Italy could quickly become countries with battleships.

Although Spain and Italy alone might not appear very powerful, if the two countries joined forces, their naval strength would be enough to threaten the United Kingdom.

Of course, this could only happen if Italy continued to build its navy extensively as it did historically, and if Spain maintained its current naval status.

Considering that Spain’s comprehensive national strength was on the rise, such a situation was very likely to occur. If Spain and Italy united, the danger posed by their navy alone would be enough to make the United Kingdom take these two countries more seriously.

With both Crown Prince Umberto and Prime Minister Agostino interested in strengthening cooperation with Spain, discussions between the Spanish and Italian governments became extremely smooth.

Within just one day, both sides hammered out close cooperation on military technology, with a focus on warships.

Currently, still in the era of ironclad ships, the purpose of the cooperation between Spain and Italy was precisely to develop the next generation of more advanced ironclad ships as the main warships for both nations’ navies.

Of course, the developed products would only serve as reference templates. The two countries would then use this reference template and their own needs to make further improvements and construct derivative products of the reference template.

For instance, strengthening firepower, augmenting power, and enhancing armor protection capabilities are the most crucial three factors for warships.

On the foundation of joint ship development, Spain and Italy also signed other cooperation agreements, such as the joint development of ship cannons, the development of ship power plants, and the development of armor materials.

Armor materials remain important for warships. Good materials can make armor thinner and lighter while providing protection, thereby enhancing the warships’ power.

Even if it is merely to enhance protective capability, it would be a tremendous boost for the warships. Any improvement in firepower, speed, or protection would be a significant enhancement for warships, and if all three could be improved simultaneously, the warships could undergo a complete makeover.

The upgrade from ironclad ships to pre-dreadnought battleships and then to dreadnoughts is a process driven by technology-induced comprehensive qualitative changes, resulting in significant breakthroughs in warships’ firepower, speed, and armor protection capability.

Of course, changes in this process involve more than just technology; they also pertain to the design concepts and habits of various countries when designing warships.

The transition from ironclad ships to pre-dreadnought battleships, and then to dreadnoughts represents three completely different products, differing entirely in terms of appearance, structure, and the technology used.

Carlo does not fully understand shipbuilding, so it can only be improved through cooperation with Italy, with ship designers from Spain and Italy collaborating to make advancements.

Since Italy historically possessed the capability to design the most advanced battleships, cooperation between Spain and Italy would not be disadvantageous.

Moreover, Spain’s capability in ship design is not weak, and the combined ship design capabilities of the two countries, although possibly not surpassing the British, would not lag far behind other great nations and might even maintain a slight edge.

In addition to cooperation in military technology research and development, Spain also signed other cooperation agreements with the Italian Government.

The most notable of these is the agreement concerning the introduction of the Italian population.

As early as the last cooperation agreement signed by the two governments, the introduction of population was a significant element.

However, at that time, Spain was not as stable, and Carlo was not in a hurry to introduce a population from Italy.

In the past few years, the total Italian population introduced by Spain did not exceed 100,000, with an average of less than 10,000 Italians going to Spain each year.

With Spain’s growing population and stabilization, it is time to raise this limit.

In this cooperation agreement with Italy, the governments of both sides reached a consensus on introducing the Italian population.

Spain could independently recruit a portion of immigrants from Italy, but the number of immigrants cannot exceed 20,000 annually.

All expenses for immigration are borne by the Spanish government, and for every Italian choosing to go to Spain, the Spanish government should pay Italy 50 Pessetas as compensation.

For the Italian Government, an annual immigration of less than 20,000 people is not a burden. Due to the relatively backward Southern Italy, a large number of people choose to leave Italy each year to go to other European countries, even the United States, and more distant regions.

Rather than letting these populations go to other countries for nothing, it would be better for Spain to introduce some of them. Each Italian immigrant going to Spain makes it possible for the Italian Government to earn 50 Pessetas in compensation, which is also an additional income for the Italian Government.