35- New Imperialism IV (Spain, Portugal, Italy, Byzantium)
Despite having vast a colonial empire in the Age of Discovery, Spain was reduced to just a small coastal stretch of the Saharan desert after the Japanese and the Americans stripped away what little they had left. Spain probably wouldn't even have that slice of the Sahara if it hadn’t joined when France took over Morocco. The total decline of their once glorious colonial empire, along with nearly a century of virtual anarchy, spawned the Venganza Movement, which was a radical right-wing movement aimed at reclaiming Spain’s glory. Winning over the populace, Spanish general Sebastian Valens took control of the country in 1907, after ousting the last King of Spain. He rapidly crushed all dissent, and nationalized almost every industry, while greatly strengthening the military. He undertook a genocide of Berber peoples living in Spanish Morocco, planning on colonizing it with a supposedly superior Spanish Race. He was careful to present himself to the people in the best light, emphasizing on the order and (relative) prosperity he had brought after the time of anarchy. Valens soon changed his party name to the Partido Legionario, named for the ancient conquerors of Spain, the Roman Legionaries. Despite forming the Republic of Spain after his takeover, the country was mostly referred to as Valencian Spain, as Valens moved the capital from Madrid to Valencia.
Portugal was a different story. Despite losing Brazil in 1822 to a bloodless war of independence, Portugal still had colonial holdings in the world. Angola, Guinea, Goa, Mozambique, Cape Verde Islands, the Azores, and East Timor all still constituted the Portuguese Colonial Empire. And yet, everywhere the Portuguese went, they were blocked. Guinea was left hugging the coast when the French took over the interior. Angola and Mozambique were left disjointed when the British demanded they give up claims. Goa was surrounded by British India, and only East Timor managed to expand much, when the Netherlands sold the rest of Timor to Portugal. However, the close relationship with Britain helped the Portuguese, as it allowed for almost free trade to exist in southern Africa, and many merchants grew rich taxing the goods flowing through Luanda and Beira. Unlike the chaos in Spain, Portugal was relatively calm, with the country transitioning into a constitutional monarchy much like Britain.
Italy, on the other hand, felt cheated. While Venetia had been brought into the country in the Treaty of Paris at the end of the Cretan War, many opportunities had been lost. The French and British effectively controlled North Africa and the Levant, with the Turkish remnants in Anatolia hardly enough to look at. Nice, Savoy, and Corsica were held directly by the French, and South Tyrol, Trieste, and Dalmatia were held by the Triple Monarchy. Although Italy did have some Aegean Islands, they were being looked at hungrily by the Byzantines. As time went on, the urge of nationalists and imperialists in the ear of the King of Italy grew stronger. Finally, he gave in, and chartered an expedition to Somaliland, to see if that territory was suitable for a colony. However, as soon as the ships arrived in Mogadishu, they found the flags of Britain and France waving proudly. Instead, they landed in Eritrea, founding a small colony in what little land hadn’t been claimed already. Yet as they tried to push inland, they found a new obstacle: the Ethiopians. At the time the Ethiopian Empire had been slowly shrinking, as it tried to fend off ever increasing raids by the French and British, who had long given up the thought of conquering and subduing the mountainous country. So, the Italians began to trade with the Ethiopians, flooding in European arms and materiel in exchange for precious metals and food for Eritrea. So, when the French and British attacked again, they were met with accurate volleys of rifle and cannon fire. Italian weapons were instrumental in maintaining Ethiopia’s independence, as well as fueling the Venganza Movement in Spain. Italian merchants even tried to purchase the island of Formosa from the Chinese, but the deal fell through,
Byzantium was poor. Arable farmland was hard to come by, especially after thousands of years of cultivation. Any and all natural resources had been long exploited. Yet with the liberation of Constantinople, people of all ages and professions lined the streets to watch and cheer as military units marched by, headed by the new Emperor, Georgios I. And with the people proudly behind him, Georgios set his sights on the next area for Byzantine expansion: Anatolia. A series of wars with the Turkish Sultanate saw the Byzantines gradually absorb western Anatolia. Yet Byzantine diplomats had to play an dangerous game, juggling the interests of Italy, with whom the state eventually grew close to, and Russia, who wanted the Bosporus open at all costs. However, when Russia began preoccupied with Asia and the northern Balkans, Byzantium formed the Mediterranean League with Italy and Valencian Spain, which aimed to restore the true glory of Rome: the Mare Nostrum. Russia reacted and formed the Dual Alliance with Prussia, commonly referred to as the Central Powers.