Empire Rise: Spain

Chapter 87: Quickly Invite The British Government

Long before the Spanish Government declared war on Morocco, it had already received a reminder from the Italian Government.

The Italian Government stated that it would provide diplomatic support to Spain in this military action, but if it aroused the attention of other great powers, Italy would not intervene.

Primó naturally understood that the Italian Government could not possibly oppose the British for Spain. As long as they were willing to express support for Spain in the military action against Morocco, that was enough.

At 4 p.m. on September 28, 1870, two and a half hours had passed since Spain declared war on the Moroccan Government, and fourteen and a half hours had passed since the formal action of the Spanish Army.

Faced with the sudden attack of the Spanish Army, the Moroccan indigenous tribes were completely unprepared and were beaten badly, although they had no helmets or armor.

Morocco is quite special as a country in Africa. Most of Morocco’s population consists of Arabs and Berbers, belonging to the Europoid and Mediterranean races, that is, White People.

However, unlike European White countries, Morocco is an Arab country and believes in Islam.

As the most special African country, Morocco has obvious differences from those African indigenous people; they are more like the indigenous people of the Middle East region.

But indigenous people are still indigenous people after all. Compared to Spain, Morocco is undoubtedly far behind.

Moreover, Morocco is not monolithic. There are numerous tribes within Morocco, and not everyone supports the Moroccan Sultanate Government under the rule of the Alaouite dynasty. Another reason why Morocco is more suitable for localization is precisely because of these White People in Morocco. Carlo does not consider himself a racist, but his dislike of Black People is from the heart.

However, such ideas were not strange in Europe at this time. Although the abolition movements in various countries were in full swing, no White People would ever sincerely acknowledge the human rights of Black People.

In the minds of White People, Black People should just be plantation slaves—what do human rights have to do with them? Are they even human?

The colonial policies of various countries in Africa have never treated the local indigenous people as human beings, and the cumulative number of Black People massacred by European Countries is at least in the eight digits.

Of course, this is mainly due to the fact that various countries have not deeply explored Africa. Once the countries have basically partitioned Africa, the number of African indigenous people dying as a result will increase further.

As a White People country, incorporating Morocco into Spain’s sphere of influence would not tarnish Spain.

Speaking of which, the Sultan of Morocco at this time was also an old acquaintance. Muhammad IV succeeded to the throne as Sultan in Right after taking office, he faced the war between Spain and Morocco and suffered the bitter fruit of defeat.

After this defeat, Muhammad IV decided to reform Morocco, introduce powerful European industry, improve Morocco’s military power, and counter the colonial invasion of European powers.

But Muhammad IV overestimated the acceptance of advanced industrial technology by Moroccans. After great efforts, he finally had the British bring a steam engine to the royal palace in Marrakesh, only to find that the ministers were all frightened by this enormous object they had never seen before, not even daring to approach it.

Even when Muhammad IV ordered the printing of a large number of Bibles promoting the steam engine, it failed to arouse the curiosity of Moroccans.

In the end, the reform came to nothing, and Morocco still did not embark on the path of industrialization.

Seeing the failure of industrialization, Muhammad IV came up with another good idea: to strengthen Morocco’s military power.

He formed the New Army Askari Nizami and spent a great deal to equip the New Army with muskets and conduct Western-style training.

Upon learning that the Spaniards were invading Morocco on a large scale from the north, Muhammad was furious and ordered the newly formed army Askari Nizami to head north to resist the invasion of the Spanish Army.

This Sultan of Morocco, born in 1802, had great confidence in the army he had newly formed at this time.

Even at the meeting of the Moroccan Sultanate Government on that day, Muhammad IV confidently stated: “My army will easily crush the Spanish Army. The days when Morocco is invaded by European Countries are gone forever.”

But soon, reality dealt this aged Sultan a heavy blow.

Not long after dispatching his New Army, intelligence came from the south that the Spanish Army was advancing north in large numbers from Sidi Ifni, heading towards the important southern Moroccan town of Agadir.

This left Muhammad IV dumbfounded. His New Army was not large in number and clearly could not handle the Spanish armies from both north and south directions at the same time.

But if he allowed the Spanish Army to attack Agadir, Marrakesh might also be in danger.

The confidence that Muhammad IV had just ignited with the New Army instantly extinguished, and he was filled with a sense of frustration, his already aged face looking even more decrepit.

“Damn it, is Morocco destined to be unable to escape colonization?” Muhammad IV looked up at the sky, full of despair for Morocco’s situation.

At this time, the Moroccan ministers all offered their opinions.

The most unanimous opinion among them was to quickly go to the West, ah no, to quickly go to Western Europe to ask the British Government.

In the previous war between Spain and Morocco, it was the intervention of the British Government that allowed Morocco to preserve most of its territory.

Otherwise, given Morocco’s turbulent domestic situation and poor military power at the time, it was completely at the mercy of Spain.

The current Moroccan Government really had no better way; apart from asking the British Government to intervene, there seemed to be no other effective solution.

As for fighting the Spaniards, the Moroccan ministers had never even considered it.

Ten years ago, there was indeed such an idea, but they were beaten by the Spaniards to the point of not knowing directions. The situation in Spain at the time was not much better, but it was completely a gap in weapons and equipment and overall strength.

Although Morocco had now formed the New Army, the number of the New Army was only around 20,

Moreover, the Moroccan ministers themselves knew the situation of the New Army. Compared to the Moroccan Army domestically, its combat effectiveness was still quite strong.

But if compared to European Countries, it was completely incomparable.

Moroccans have a low acceptance of advanced weapons and technology, and since Morocco’s weapons and equipment all rely on purchases from European Countries, it was naturally impossible to allow the New Army soldiers to conduct prolonged target practice training.

Not exaggerating, in the few years since the New Army was formed, the total organized target practice training did not exceed ten times, and each time each person was allocated only three bullets, which basically had no effect.

Hoping that such a New Army could obstruct the Spanish Army’s attack was less reliable than hoping that the British would mercifully save them.

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