My Italy

"How could this William send such a telegram?"

The joy of signing a shipbuilding contract with Spain had not lasted for a few days when Carlo felt a headache from reading the newspaper in front of him.

What Carlo saw in front of him was a Times newspaper, which published the full text of a telegram from Wilhelm II, which he sent to President Kruger of the Transvaal in South Africa. In this telegram, Wilhelm II praised Transvaal President Kruger.

"I would like to express my sincerest congratulations to you and your people for single-handedly repelling the invading armed elements who undermined the peace without the help of any friendly forces. You have maintained the peace of the country and defended the independence of the country."

Such a telegram was an affront to the British Empire, which had always regarded the two Boer states as client states. Therefore, the Times published an article saying, "England will never back down in the face of threats, and will never yield to insults!"

Not only that, the windows of German shops in London were smashed, and German sailors were frequently attacked in British ports. It can be said that because of this telegram, the Germans in the UK were not having a good time.

Of course, as to why Emperor William would send such a telegram to the little-known Transvaal President Kruger. This leads to another question, where is Transvaal?

The Transvaal is located in the northeast of South Africa. It was originally a country of Boers mainly based on livestock farming.

However, in 1884, prospecting experts discovered the world's largest Witwatersrand gold mine (Rand for short) on a remote pasture between Pretoria and the Vaal River in the Transvaal Republic. gold mine) on which Johannesburg was subsequently founded. By the way, the Transvaal held 40% of the world's gold reserves at this time.

Now you understand, money moves people's hearts. Faced with 40% of the world's gold reserves, it doesn't seem to matter if the Kaiser sends a congratulatory message.

But unfortunately, this congratulatory message was intercepted by the British, which caused trouble, and it was big trouble.

So how could the British not be angry when the Kaiser was peeping at what was considered their own gold. Especially in recent years, factory owners who have lost a lot of their share to Germany have taken this opportunity to stir up everyone's emotions.

Speaking of which, the British's perception of Germany has been rapidly deteriorating in recent years, because Germany's rapid rise has taken too much of Britain's share. We can see this from the data.

Take steel as an example. In 1875, Britain produced 47% of the world's pig iron and 38% of its steel. Compared with Germany, Britain's pig iron and steel production had about twice the advantage. However, 18 years later, in 1893, Germany's steel output surpassed that of Britain.

The British's more intuitive experience of the growth of German industry at that time came from the large-scale replacement of British domestic and overseas products by German exports. A best-selling book in the UK this year, "Made in Germany", warned that "a huge commercial country is rapidly rising at the expense of our country's prosperity and competing with our country for the status of world trade hegemony."

One British newspaper even made the following remarks: "If Germany disappeared tomorrow, all the British people in the world would be a little richer. Nations have fought for years at war over a city or an inheritance. Wouldn't they? Going to war over a trade worth hundreds of millions of pounds a year? The expansion of the German fleet will only hit the British harder and their ships will soon be sunk or towed to British harbors."

These naked remarks illustrate Britain's uneasiness about the rise of Germany. Its trade and market share are being occupied by Germany, and the British Empire's dissatisfaction with it is intensifying. The Kaiser's telegram was more like a trigger, causing the British who were dissatisfied and whose interests had been damaged to explode.

William II's approach is really speechless. One more thing, the Kaiser had previously proposed an idea in parliament. He believed that Germany should declare itself a protectorate of the Transvaal and then send troops there. Upon hearing this, Prime Minister Hohenloe opposed this approach on the grounds that "it was tantamount to declaring war with Britain." The Kaiser bluntly replied: "Yes, but this is only fighting on land."

Well, no one can blame this. It was the growth of the German economy that gave the Kaiser the confidence to propose world policies. Germany needed colonies to provide raw material bases, product dumping sites, and capital export markets. This would inevitably conflict with Britain and France, which had a large number of colonies. .

This move by the Kaiser only gave the British Empire room to develop.

Carlo saw clearly the dispute between Britain and Germany. Of course, this is not the path Italy may take in the future. Italy's industrialization in recent years has also produced a large amount of goods. If Carlo hadn't led Italy to seize several colonies and a huge share of the Far East, this industrialization would not have been so smooth.

Of course, Italy cannot yet threaten the status of Britain and France, so it cannot be the main target for the time being. But in the future, this is bound to be the case.

"By the way, is there any news from Berlin?"

Benefitting from the good relations between Italy and Germany, Germany has always taken its actions very seriously. If anything happens, we will send a telegram to China as soon as possible.

"Hearing the news from Berlin, the Kaiser felt a little regretful. He probably didn't expect the British to react so strongly."

Foreign Minister Bacona reported to Carlo the news from Berlin.

"It's a pity that it's too late. The relationship between Britain and Germany cannot return to the past. The trade and economic conflict between the two countries is destined to lead to a dispute."

Carlo is now commenting on the relationship between Britain and Germany with high spirits. Because there is no one else, he is not afraid of spreading the news outside.

Of course, he didn't make any nonsense. The relationship between the two countries will only go further and further in the future.

As for Italy, it's simple. Carlo will work hard to improve the naval level of Germany and Austria. In the army, Carlo can't help much, but in the navy, it's okay to help. After all, judging from the current Three Emperors Alliance, the Italian Navy can defeat Germany and Austria in every aspect. Therefore, listening more to Big Brother will be of great benefit to their yet-to-be-formed navy.

Besides, how could Carlo harm them? As long as he develops it himself, he will definitely use it for his allies. We must let Germany and Austria feel Italy's sincerity. At least the navies of Germany and Austria must be better than in history, and preferably be able to reach a level that threatens the British Empire. Only then could Italy's importance become apparent.

When Italy becomes the one who can influence the outcome of the war, then the two parties will offer a sufficient price, and it is reasonable for Italy to wait for the price.

Don’t think there’s anything wrong with what Carlo did, this is politics!