The Sun Never Sets In Spain

After Garcia left, the navy's blockade of the Western Mediterranean was quickly stopped.

Two acts of releasing goodwill have been made one after another, and the signs of peace in Western Italy have been quite obvious.

This result is generally in the interest of all parties, including the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which is not dissatisfied. After all, Spain has played a lot of assists from the side and fulfilled its obligations as a quasi-ally.

Coupled with the fact that they regained Venecia in a short time, victory is a certainty.

At this time, Austria-Hungary is more worried about the distribution after the war. Spain's early withdrawal is quite in line with their wishes.

Although further expansion of Northern Italy may not be allowed, it is still possible to change the bias of the Italian government after the war.

The only request Austria-Hungary made to Spain was to borrow the seaports of Sardinia and Sicily in order to take over the blockade of Italy.

Obviously, everyone has found that this method is very effective for resource-poor countries.

It is said that France is increasing the size of its blockade fleet to prevent Prussia from reaching the sea.

However, Alfonso is not very optimistic about the final result of this plan. Even if the French blockade is stronger than before, it is unlikely to have any impact on the huge North Germany in a short period of time.

Moreover, the German region is not barren. After occupying a part of the north of France, there is no shortage of coal and iron.

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The reason why the Austro-Hungarian Empire wanted to lease the port was because their navy had to set off from the Adriatic Sea for missions, and the blockade of the west coast was extremely inefficient.

The main routes and important ports of Italy are on the west coast, and there are only a few ships from Egypt and Ottoman on the right.

Since Italy sank the Ottoman merchant ship, these few ships have been declining.

For this request, Alfonso could not find a reason for rejection.

He is not disgusted with the expansion of Austro-Hungary. The Austro-Hungarian Empire has no shortage of population and territory. The main problem is the mixture of ethnic groups and internal corruption.

The annexation of tens of millions of Italians will not only not increase the strength of the empire, but will weaken it.

Moreover, if you set a target for the Italian nationalists, the work in Spain will be easier to carry out.

So Spain happily agreed to the request of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and planned to lease 4 ports to Austro-Hungary at market prices.

Counting the existing ports in Austria-Hungary, a giant airtight net has just formed, enclosing Italy.

However, Theo hadn't signed the contract yet, and somehow leaked the news. Italy immediately sent a diplomatic protest, accusing Spain of renting the port as a continuation of the war.

And solemnly declare that unless Spain stops leasing the port to Austria-Hungary, otherwise Italy will never sign the peace agreement.

Generally speaking, this matter was occupied by Italy. The lease of ports by neutral countries to other countries for military purposes is in itself an act deemed to be a declaration of war.

Not to mention that Spain’s current work is only to blockade the Western Mediterranean. There are still selective blockades.

If signing a peace treaty would result in a more cruel Austro-Hungarian Empire, it would be better not to sign it.

The final solution was to take a step back. Spain only leased the port of Messina on Sicily, which is far away from the core area of ​​Northern Italy. Italy can barely accept it.

After these survival-related issues are resolved, nothing can stop the pace of peace in Western Italy. Finally, on November 12, Spain and Italy signed a peace treaty in Rome.

In addition to ceding Sardinia and Sicily to Spain, Italy also returned part of the territory of the Papal State, probably centered on the city of Rome, extending a distance of 8 kilometers to the periphery.

On the territory, the Papal States suffered a little. They still have not recovered to the territory before the Second Italian War of Independence in 1859.

In exchange, Italy announced that it would abandon its claim to the city of Rome, recognizing Rome as the seat of the church, and the pope as the undisputed secular lord of Rome.

The capital of Italy also moved directly back to Turin from Rome, which surprised many observers who believed that Italy would be the capital of Florence.

Turin’s economy is not weaker than Florence, but it is too remote as the capital of a unified kingdom of Italy.

It can only be said that Italy's ambitions suffered a tragic blow in this war.

In addition to the territorial changes, considering that Italy has no money to repay the war reparations, Alfonso graciously abandoned this request.

Instead, Italy must not restrict Spain’s private activities and promises to give Spain the most-favored-nation status.

In the future, Italy's tariffs on Spain will also need to be negotiated between the two parties.

Simply put, in the future, Spain will not only get tax cuts and concessions for doing business, but all businessmen will also be able to move freely in Italy.

Including but not limited to recruiting workers, running newspapers, setting up companies... Italy is not allowed to interfere. Even if Italians want to immigrate to Spain, only Spain can refuse, but Italy can't.

This clause is equivalent to turning Italy into its own reserve manpower pool. If there is a shortage of labor, it is better to recruit directly in Italy.

If there is a shortage of people to join the army, you can also transfer the other party under the name of recruiting, and then join the army.

It is not a political puppet state, but an economic puppet state. It is difficult to find such harsh terms in wars throughout Europe.

But no way, who makes them too many enemies.

The war between Spain and Italy ended in Spain's complete victory.

After this battle, Spain has added nearly 50,000 square kilometers of land, and the total land area has reached a full 550,000 square kilometers, which is equivalent to France. (European territory is local by default)

The population also skyrocketed from 16.4 million to 19.9 million, an increase of 21%.

However, the shortcomings brought about by rapid expansion are also very obvious. The most important thing is how to deal with the extra Italians.

Fortunately, Sardinia is not densely populated. There are only 700,000 people on an area of ​​24,000 square kilometers.

Sicily is a big problem, with a population of 2.8 million in the top four in Spain.

This is too much in an autonomous region far from the mainland.

With the unanimous approval of the senior leaders of the Progressive Party, Sicily was divided into two administrative divisions, the Autonomous Region of Messina and the Autonomous Region of Palermo, with a population of 1.3 million and 1.5 million, respectively, so that the autonomous region would not be too strong.

In fact, Alfonso is considering abolishing the autonomous region model. Although such a loose model can reduce management costs, it is too easy to breed corruption and is also detrimental to the stability of the country.

This is a major event, which will be carried out with the education reform after the end of the war with Prussia.

However, in Sicily and Sardinia, Alfonso has no plans to reform them for the time being. This matter must be carried out slowly so as not to arouse public outrage.