Chapter 243

The end of the Russian-Turkey War did not bring the world a long-term peace, but instead made the competition between Britain and Russia, the two European powers.

In addition to the fierce competitive relationship between Russia and the United Kingdom, there are also quite severe conflicts in Central Asia.

Between the Ottoman Empire and the Indian colonies, there are two countries, Afghanistan and Iran, which is also the most intense conflict between Britain and Russia.

Indigenous countries like the Shiva Khanate and the Bukhara Emir were also present further north, but they were both annexed by the Russians a few years ago.

Although these indigenous countries still exist in name only, their administrative and military powers have been controlled by the Russians. This also allowed Russia's actual control to reach the border between Afghanistan and Iran, which could be in the Ottoman Empire and India at any time

Between the colonies, a colony with a port was taken.

This is absolutely impossible for the British, because the British Indian colony is too close to this land.

If the Russians open up the sea outlets of Central Asia, they will inevitably expand on a larger scale in this area. At that time, the Indian colonies will face harassment from a giant bear. The British Empire does not want to lose its pearl. Any topic about Indian colonies is a taboo of the British Empire.

If Russia wants to expand in Central Asia, the British naturally have to stop the expansion of the Russians.

Because the indigenous countries further north have been annexed by Russia, Britain can only focus on the only two remaining countries in Central Asia, namely Iran and Afghanistan.

Because Afghanistan is closest to the Indian colony, the UK decided to control Afghanistan first and then penetrate its influence to Iran to ensure that the Russians do not obtain a sea outlet in Central Asia.

At this time, Afghanistan was just a weak indigenous country, and it was even established for only 55 years.

Britain naturally has no fear of such a weak indigenous country.

In late 1878, the British government took the lead in contacting Afghanistan, asking the Afghan government to receive a British delegation headed by British General N Chamberlain, and allow a small British army to follow the delegation to Afghanistan.

Such a request for diplomatic visit is actually blatant intimidation, and the Afghan government naturally does not want to.

Afghan Emil Hill Ali Khan directly rejected the proposal of the British government and said that British troops would not be allowed to enter their territory anyway.

The request of the British Empire was rejected by a small indigenous country, which naturally aroused anger from the British government and even the people.

The British government also took the opportunity to declare war directly on Afghanistan, and the Second British-Arab War also successfully broke out.

A war broke out in Britain and the Emirates of Afghanistan about 40 years ago. The reasons for the war broke out at that time were similar, mainly because the Afghan Emir turned to Russia. Britain had to launch a war against Afghanistan for the security of its Indian colony.

The so-called British-Arab War is not a news worth paying attention to in Europe at all. After all, the war between a powerful power and an indigenous country is a completely crushing situation.

The only thing worth noting is the possible Russia behind Afghanistan. After all, if there is no Russian support behind it, Afghan Emir would not have rejected the British government's proposal so decisively.

In the eyes of other European countries, it was Russia who instructed the Afghan Emir to quickly reject Britain's proposal in order to embarrass the British Empire that suppressed Russia in the Russian-Turkey War.

But unexpectedly, the subsequent development of things quickly exceeded the expectations of European countries.

After British troops continued to invade their territory from the Indian colonial border, Afghan Emir quickly asked Russia to help the north.

Hill Ali Khan originally thought that the Russian army would arrive soon and that his country could be preserved in the game between the two great powers.

But the Russian government's rejection was so cold that Hill Ali Khan was more mourning than death, and he soon died in anger, just like the betrayed Tsar Nicholas I.

After Shir Ali Khan died in anger, his son Yegub Khan became the new Afghan emir.

But the situation in Afghanistan was already very bad at this time. The British army had occupied a considerable portion of Afghan land. Afghanistan's own army was pitiful and could not compete with the British army in a head-on confrontation.

The British-Arab War was also the last major event in 1878. The British-Arab War was not over yet, and time soon came to 1879.

In early 1879, the British-Arab War ended with a comprehensive victory in Britain. However, it will take some time for the two sides to sign a contract. After all, the British government cannot fully annex Afghanistan, which will arouse more intense resistance from the Afghan natives and will also allow the Russians to find some opportunities to cause trouble for the UK.

The main purpose of the British is to incorporate part of Afghanistan land into India and strengthen control over Afghanistan to ensure that the Russians are blocked from Afghanistan's borders.

Afghanistan at least needs to exist, and it is more like a buffer zone of British and Russian spheres of influence.

Without Afghanistan, the sphere of influence between Britain and Russia would be directly bordered, and the armies of the two countries would also engage in more intense confrontations on the border, which the British did not want to see.

This may be the only good thing for Afghanistan. At least the country will still exist, and will not become a country that exists only in name like the Khiva Khanate controlled by Russia.

Britain has gained in Central Asia, and Spain has also gained in Southeast Asia.

As mentioned before, the Spanish colony in the Philippines has two expansion directions, namely expansion in Kalimantan and expansion in New Guinea.

There is a need for a buffer zone between Britain and Russia because the British are also afraid of the Russian army. Although the Russian army is not strong in combat, its number is irreplaceable in the whole of Europe.

The indigenous army of India alone cannot resist Russia. If the domestic army is mobilized, it will destroy the balance maintained by Britain in various regions.

But Spain does not need it at all. Spain has only one enemy in Southeast Asia, that is the Netherlands with a small territory and sparse population.

The Netherlands is similar to Portugal. It is a country that has weakened and was once a powerful country.

It's just that the Netherlands's overall strength is much stronger than Portugal. Whether in terms of industry or economy, the Netherlands can rank among the top of all small European countries, and it can even be said to be one of the best small European countries.

Unfortunately, the Netherlands' opponent is Spain.

When the two countries' homelands are almost the same distance from the colonies, the comprehensive strength of the homeland becomes particularly important.

Although the Netherlands is strong, it has little resistance in front of Spain. At present, it is generally recognized by European countries that Spain has regained its status as a great power and generally ranks 6th to 7th in the ranking of the world's eight great powers.

Such a ranking is already quite high. After all, the status of the five traditional European powers is difficult to shake. In the eyes of European countries, Spain's current comprehensive strength is second only to the five European powers and is stronger than the United States across the ocean.

At present, according to the opinions of mainstream newspapers and some major officials in European countries, the eight great powers in the world are Britain, Germany, France, Russia, Austria-Hungary, Spain, the United States and Italy.

There is no doubt that the British Empire is the most powerful country, followed by Germany, which defeated France on the front battlefield.

If there had been no Franco-Prussian War, the world's second place would definitely be a contest among the three countries of France, Germany and Russia, and the French would be the most likely to become the world's second most powerful country.

But unfortunately, Prussia defeated France head-on in the Franco-Prussian War, so France naturally withdrew from the competition for the world's second most powerful country.

Russia is of course also very powerful, but Russia was first defeated in the Crimean War, and finally was blackmailed by Britain and Austria-Hungary in this Russo-Turkish War, and could only be ranked fourth in the world.

France, on the other hand, ranks third in the world with its own foundation. Britain, Germany, France and Russia are considered the first echelon, and are also nicknamed first-class powers by many European newspapers and people.

After Russia, the Austro-Hungarian Empire won the reputation of the world's fifth most powerful country with its comprehensive advantages in all aspects. However, the Austro-Hungarian Empire is slightly weaker than the four countries of the first-class powers, so the Austro-Hungarian Empire can only be ranked second.

Although there are some controversies in the ranking of the top five in the world, they are generally not much different.

The rankings after that are somewhat controversial, with the biggest controversy being the ranking between Spain and the United States.

However, because the United States had not yet demonstrated its strong industrial strength at that time, and because its navy was too weak, most European countries still ranked Spain sixth in the world, and the United States seventh in the world.

After all, Spain also has an army of more than 100,000 plus the fifth-largest navy in the world, so it is not an exaggeration to rank sixth in the world.

Ranked eighth in the world, that is, at the bottom of the powers, is naturally Italy.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire, Spain, the United States, and Italy are called second-class powers. Compared with the first four first-class powers, these four countries have a large gap in industrial economy or military strength, and their international status and influence are far inferior to those of the first four countries.

But then again, second-class powers are also powers, and they still have huge advantages over ordinary countries.

The industry and economy of the Netherlands are of course quite excellent, but due to the limitations of land area and population, the Netherlands can only be a small country after all.

As long as there is no intervention from the powers in the colonial competition between Spain and the Netherlands, Spain has a completely overwhelming advantage.

Taking advantage of the Russo-Turkish War and the Anglo-Argentine War that attracted the attention of European countries, Spain also accelerated its colonial plans on Kalimantan and New Guinea.

In June 1878, the Spanish army stationed in the Philippines openly invaded the Sultanate of Brongan in the south, and occupied all the land of the Sultanate of Brongan in less than two days.

A large number of natives here were captured and taken back to the Philippines as laborers, or transferred to the Lan Fang Republic in the west.

As mentioned before, the Lan Fang Republic made its fortune by panning for gold. Panning for gold requires a large amount of labor, and these natives happen to be natural and excellent laborers.

No mistakes, one post, one content, one 6, one 9, one book, one bar, take a look!

After occupying the Sultanate of Brongan, Spain officially bordered the Sultanate of Kutai controlled by the Netherlands.

Spain also sent some soldiers to station on the border, but did not strictly guard the border.

For the Spanish government, they even expected the Dutch to take the initiative to attack Spanish colonies. If Spain took the initiative to declare war on the Netherlands, Britain, the troublemaker, might interfere in the war.

But if the Dutch took the initiative to declare war on Spain, Spain would have enough reasons to fight a big war with the Netherlands.

Whether it was a local war or a colonial war, Spain had enough confidence to crush the Netherlands. If Britain wanted to interfere under the premise that the Netherlands took the initiative to declare war, the several covenants signed by Spain would not be signed in vain.

Apart from other things, France and Russia alone would be willing to trip up the British.

If Austria-Hungary and Italy were also willing to support Spain, even if Britain was the world's number one power, it would not be able to face such diplomatic pressure.

In addition to annexing the Sultanate of Burungan on Kalimantan, Spain also had colonial actions on New Guinea.

The shape of New Guinea is quite special, and it looks more like a standing dinosaur.

The area of ​​this island is larger than that of Kalimantan, and it is the second largest island in the world, second only to Greenland, where most of the land is uninhabitable.

In other words, New Guinea is the world's largest inhabitable island, and because it has a large amount of mineral resources and other natural resources, it is not surprising that it is targeted by other powers.

Currently, there are colonies from many European countries including the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Britain, France and Portugal on this dinosaur-like island.

The colonies of Spain, the Netherlands and Portugal are generally concentrated on the upper body of the dinosaur, that is, the dragon head and the upper half of the dragon.

The colonies of Britain, France and Germany are mainly concentrated on the lower body of the dinosaur, that is, the dragon tail and claws, and the small half of the dragon.

In addition, several large islands around New Guinea were also set foot on by these European countries, and for a time there was a trend of European countries dividing the New Guinea Peninsula.

However, the colonies of various countries simply established colonial outposts, and no country announced the occupation of New Guinea Island on a large scale.

This actually means that these European countries that sent colonial teams all hope to occupy this island, and at the very least, they can divide up a part of the land to establish new colonies.

It is precisely because of this that even though the colonial competition on New Guinea was quite fierce, the countries involved in the colonization did not give up, but instead increased their colonial efforts step by step.

The three countries that were most convenient for colonization on New Guinea might be Britain, Spain and the Netherlands.

Britain's Queensland colony, that is, the protruding area in the northeast corner of Australia, is very close to New Guinea, which also gives the British a great advantage in colonizing New Guinea.

The Dutch are no worse. The Dutch East Indies is only 200 kilometers away from the closest point of New Guinea. The army and indigenous population of the East Indies can quickly reach New Guinea, and the speed of establishing colonial outposts is also the fastest among these European countries.

There is also Spain.

Spain's Philippine colony is also about 1,000 kilometers away from the closest point of New Guinea, which is not much of an advantage compared to Britain and the Netherlands.

But Carlo still attached great importance to the colonization of New Guinea Island. Under Carlo's instructions, the Philippine colonial government also strengthened the colonization of New Guinea Island, which made Spain's colonization progress in New Guinea Island not inferior to that of the Netherlands and Britain.

Of course, there was also support and cooperation from the Portuguese.

Portugal also had colonies in Southeast Asia, but the scale of this colony was smaller and its name was Timor.

Yes, it was the East Timor in later generations.

In fact, the Portuguese colonists were the first to come to Timor Island to colonize, and it was these colonists who established the Portuguese Timor colony.

But the Dutch followed closely, they discovered and colonized Timor Island, and drove the Portuguese to the east of the island. This also made Portugal's Timor colony look only a small piece and very pitiful.

Although the Timor colony was small in area, Portugal also had garrisons here, after all, it was a formal colony of Portugal.

It is worth mentioning that the Timor colony is only about 800 kilometers away from the closest point of New Guinea Island, which is closer than the distance between Spain's Philippine colony and New Guinea Island.

This is also one of the reasons why Portugal joined the colonization of New Guinea. They also have the opportunity to share a piece of the pie in this colonial competition.

In addition, Carlo and King Louis of Portugal raised the issue of colonial cooperation before. Spain and Portugal joined forces and indeed established many colonial outposts on the island of New Guinea.

Although both Spain and Portugal have experienced decline, when it comes to colonization, Spain and Portugal are still the leaders in this regard.

The main reason is that the colonial history of Spain and Portugal was too glorious. These two countries together occupied most of the Americas.

Colonizing a small island of New Guinea is absolutely simple for the Iberian twins, which also makes Spain's colonial progress not weaker than the Netherlands and Britain under the premise of being farther away.

There will definitely be relevant conflicts among immigrants between European countries. It is impossible to obtain ownership of colonies by peaceful coexistence alone.

Because there is only the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal to the west of the dinosaur-shaped island of New Guinea, the Iberian double teeth have a huge advantage in the colonial competition, defeating the Dutch steadily, and even their colonial strongholds were squeezed by Spain. Pressed to a further position.

In order to ensure the security of Spain's colonial strongholds on New Guinea, the Philippine colonies sent an entire colonial garrison to New Guinea.

This also intensified the colonial conflicts in New Guinea, and the Dutch sent some troops to New Guinea without any concessions, with the purpose of preventing the Spanish.

5000 words two-in-one chapter, please support!