Chapter 236: Ruhr Region |
During these few days visiting the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Carlo spent more time with Crown Prince Rudolf appreciating the scenery around Vienna, and by the way, visiting the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s factories and some famous companies.
On the second day after Carlo arrived in Vienna, Spanish officials began formal talks and consultations with Austro-Hungarian Empire officials.
After about a week of negotiations, the two sides reached another cooperation agreement. This cooperation agreement was mainly about cooperation in the industrial aspect, primarily the Austro-Hungarian Empire providing industrial aid to Spain.
This was also the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s reward to Spain for supporting it diplomatically, after all, the relationship between the two countries also needed interests to maintain.
Regarding the industrial aid given by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Carlo had only one attitude: the more, the better.
Because the two sides had already reached cooperation in the military industry before, the new cooperation agreement focused more on the chemical industry and heavy industry, with the purpose of helping Spain better complete its industrial base.
After all, in the end, Spain had only less than ten years to develop industry comprehensively. Although the speed of industrial development was very fast, there were still some shortcomings in some basic industries as well as the chemical industry and heavy industry.
One part of this cooperation agreement reached was to build a large chemical plant in Spain to complete Spain’s capabilities in the chemical aspect.
Because there would still be diplomatic visits to Germany and France later, Carlo did not stay too long in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
One benefit of traveling by train all the way was that he could see with his own eyes the development and prosperity of the German region.
Germany and France had a similarity in terrain: mountains to the south and vast plains to the north.
France possessed the vast Western European plains, and Germany similarly possessed the vast Pomeranian Plain, with highly developed agriculture and animal husbandry.
This was also an advantage of Germany and France compared to Spain. Even with more population, the two countries could meet the grain needs of their domestic population relying on the vast plains.
Crossing the Sudetes Mountains, the Spanish officials shed envious tears when facing the vast Pomeranian Plain.
If Spain had a large plain area, its current development would not be so slow. However, this terrain defect was destined for Spain innately. Unless the Spanish Government abandoned development of the Spanish Mainland, it could only silently bear the various restrictions brought by Spain’s terrain.
Like with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, when coming for a diplomatic visit to Germany, the Spanish Government had already communicated with the German Government.
Although there was no alliance relationship between Spain and Germany, for such a diplomatic visit with the king coming in person, the German side naturally would not refuse.
Carlo had no too many demands for the visit to Germany, only hoping to introduce some industrial technology from Germany, or reach certain cooperation with Germany’s military industry enterprises.
Carlo was still very interested in Germany’s Krupp Company. The current Krupp Company was still controlled by its founder Alfred Krupp. Although not as famous as his grandson Little Alfred Krupp, who shared his name, turning a small factory that could barely survive by producing cutlery tableware into a renowned German arms company showed Alfred Krupp’s ability.
The famous Krupp cannon was precisely invented by this founder of the arms company. The cannons he invented played a huge role in the Franco-Prussian War and crushed the cannons equipped by the French in large numbers.
In Germany’s capital Berlin, Carlo similarly received an enthusiastic reception from the German Government.
Like the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Germany also sent its own Crown Prince Frederick to receive Carlo.
However, unlike the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Crown Prince Rudolf of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was about the same age as Carlo, while Germany’s Crown Prince Frederick was born in 1831 and was already 47 years old this year.
Even Germany’s Crown Prince Frederick was only one year younger than the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s Emperor Franz Joseph I, which also showed how long-lived the founder of the German Empire, William I, was.
William I was born on March 22, 1797, already a person born in the last century. Among the heads of state of all European countries, William I was the oldest and the only monarch born in the last century who was still alive.
This was not the most exaggerated. What was more exaggerated was that William I would live another ten years. His lifespan reached 91 years, making his son, Crown Prince Frederick, the famous Hundred Days Emperor.
Although Crown Prince Frederick died of throat cancer, he was already 57 years old when he passed away, which was not considered dying young in this era.
It could only be said that William I reigned for too long, causing the power of the German Empire to transition frequently in a short time, eventually falling into the hands of the famous German Emperor Wilhelm II.
Carlo did not have too close a relationship with Crown Prince Frederick, but their meeting was quite harmonious.
Carlo first visited German Emperor William I, then attended the welcome banquet prepared by the German Government for himself and the accompanying officials, and only then rested in the residence arranged by the German Royal Family.
The Hohenzollern Family was still quite luxurious. As one of Europe’s most renowned royal families, the residence they prepared for Carlo was not just a few rooms, but a medium-large manor located in the suburbs of Berlin.
The Spanish officials were also arranged in another manor near Carlo’s residence, which could be reached on foot in ten minutes.
Carlo was quite satisfied with the residence arranged by the German Government. But for German characteristic cuisine, Carlo was not too satisfied.
Having been in this world for such a long time, Carlo had a fairly clear understanding of European cuisine. Among the cuisines of European countries, Italian and French cuisines could rank at the forefront.
At least compared to other countries’ cuisines, Carlo still preferred Italian and French meals. Further back, the characteristic cuisines of the Iberian Peninsula were also quite to Carlo’s liking.
Carlo would taste Spain’s characteristic seafood paella almost every once in a while, and Iberian ham was even a cuisine he often tasted.
But besides these, European cuisine was not very tasty. The more characteristic cuisines Carlo tasted in the Austro-Hungarian Empire were only fried pork cutlets and apple strudel, and it was said that the latter was a cuisine specially created by the cook for the Habsburg Family.
And Germany’s characteristic cuisines were mainly sausages, dumplings, and pork knuckle.
Fortunately, although these cuisines were not stunning, they were absolutely not unpalatable. Germany was not an absolute culinary desert either; at least compared to the United Kingdom, German food was still presentable.
Besides those more characteristic foods, the dining table also had Königsberg meatballs, cheese noodles, beef rolls, and vinegar-braised horse meat, all of which were more characteristic German cuisines.
Besides dumplings for the staple food, one could also choose mashed potatoes or potato pancakes. Side dishes included beef soup and roast chicken, and there were many desserts and cakes after the meal; overall, it was quite sumptuous.
Carlo admitted that his taste had been spoiled by the cooks hired by the royal family, but fortunately, the long journey had made Carlo and the officials somewhat hungry, so they had no disdain for the German cuisine in front of them.
After enjoying a sumptuous meal, the welcome banquet was almost over. Carlo and the Spanish officials had been traveling all the way, and the most important thing now was to seize the time to rest, and then discuss political affairs with German officials the next day.
The German Government naturally knew this reasoning too, and after the banquet ended, there was no more disturbance, giving Carlo and the Spanish officials plenty of time to rest.
A dreamless night passed, and time soon came to the next day.
Although Carlo did not plan to completely side with Germany, some cooperation in the industrial aspect could still be discussed. After all, Germany was a more powerful country, and Spain could learn a lot of experience from Germany.
Unlike the Austro-Hungarian Empire, although Germany was also willing to provide industrial support to Spain, there were preconditions.
The precondition was that Spain must join the alliance organized by Germany, and the purpose of this alliance was precisely to isolate France.
At least for now, Carlo was still unwilling to completely side with Germany. It was precisely because of this that the talks between the Spanish Government and the German Government on the alliance aspect fell into a stalemate.
But fortunately, the two sides soon stopped this topic and turned to discuss more superficial things.
Carlo knew that without an alliance relationship, Germany would not help Spain for no reason.
However, even if using funds to purchase German industrial equipment and related information, Spain would absolutely not lose out.
The German side naturally would not fall out with Spain either. Although the German officials were not as enthusiastic as when they first arrived, Crown Prince Frederick still stated that as long as Germany’s various enterprises did not oppose it, the German Government allowed Spain to reach certain cooperation with German enterprises.
Germany’s private capital was still quite powerful, and these private capitals all had one thing in common: no profit, no early action; no rabbit, no hawk release.
Although Germany did not oppose these enterprises reaching cooperation with Spain, if Spain wanted to obtain something from these German private enterprises, it would definitely have to pay more funds than the value of those things.
Precisely because of this, the German Royal Family and government, including Crown Prince Frederick, were not worried about this at all.
Even if the Spanish Government reached certain cooperation with German enterprises, in such cooperation, the German side would definitely be the one profiting.
German Chancellor Bismarck was still quite regretful that he could not achieve the purpose of completely blockading France through Spain. However, completely blockading France was indeed unrealistic, after all, France still possessed the strength of one of the five great powers, and its current comprehensive strength was only second to the United Kingdom and Germany.
If France was suppressed too harshly, it might make the United Kingdom pay attention to the situation on the European Continent again. It was better to maintain the current situation; anyway, Germany had already gained the dominance advantage on the European Continent through the Three Emperors Alliance and was not afraid of the French counterattack.
After the negotiations between Spain and the German Government fell into a stalemate, Carlo also took the opportunity to propose a new suggestion, which was to visit Germany’s Ruhr Area.
The Ruhr Area was located on both banks of the Rhine River and was an extremely important industrial base of Germany, known as Germany’s industrial heart.
Carlo’s purpose in going to the Ruhr Area, besides visiting the industrial development there and letting Spanish officials learn valuable experience in building German industrial bases, was also to reach cooperation with some factories in the Ruhr Area.
Although the Ruhr Area rose relying on the coal industry, the factories in the Ruhr Area were no longer just coal processing plants. As Germany’s largest industrial zone, the Ruhr Area had extremely large scale in the chemical industry, heavy industry, and machining, and was also one of Europe’s most famous comprehensive industrial bases.
Although Spain did not have the ability to build a large-scale industrial base like the Ruhr Area, it could make the planning and construction of Spain’s existing industrial zones more reasonable by learning the experience of industrial zone planning.
Spain also possessed relatively rich coal and iron reserves, so developing a certain scale of industry was naturally not an issue. Carlo’s expectation for the Barcelona Industrial Base was to build it into a small Ruhr Area, turning the Barcelona Industrial Base into Spain’s own industrial heart.
The current scale of the Barcelona Industrial Base was still far behind the Ruhr Area, but for Spain itself, it was already the largest domestic industrial base.
If it could learn some German experience in the industrial aspect, Spain would go further in the construction of industrial bases.
Regarding Carlo’s request to visit the Ruhr Area, after consideration, the German side did not refuse.
To put it bluntly, the Ruhr Area was ultimately a traditional industrial base, so there was nothing to keep secret.
The strength of the Ruhr Area was not some advanced industrial production technology, but the rich coal mine resources on this land and convenient transportation.
As long as one could simultaneously possess the two innate conditions of rich mineral resources and convenient transportation, plus a certain scale of population, establishing an industrial base like the Ruhr Area was not difficult.
The rise in industrial output was of course a good thing, but it also had to be linked to the demand for industrial products. If industrial output rose too much, but domestic demand for industrial products did not grow much, an economic crisis would follow.
The current Germany had not completely escaped the influence of the economic crisis, and Germany’s industry had also suffered huge damage in the economic crisis.
As Germany’s largest industrial base, the Ruhr Area was the most severely affected. But fortunately, Germany’s rescue of Ruhr Area factories was timely; except for some small-scale factories that went bankrupt too quickly, other medium and large-scale factories had basically resumed production.
Of course, to recover to the peak scale before the economic crisis, it would still take at least a few years of recovery.
Germany had also learned a lesson in this aspect and was no longer so rapid in the expansion of industrial scale.
After obtaining permission from the German Government, Carlo naturally did not hesitate anymore and took the group of Spanish officials by train to Germany’s industrial heart, the Ruhr Area.
Berlin was located in the east of Germany, while the Ruhr Area was in the west of Germany.
To reach the Ruhr Area, one had to take the train across more than half of Germany. Fortunately, most of the way was the vast Pomeranian Plain, and it was only after traveling more than half the distance that it entered the Sudetes Mountains.
Although called mountains, they could not compare to Spain’s Meseta Central and Central System and other major mountain areas. Because he was accustomed to Spain’s high mountain areas, these small mountains in Germany were not even enough to surprise Carlo.
Along the way, Carlo spent more time appreciating the scenery, while the accompanying officials appeared quite busy.
They paid attention to the development of Germany’s inland regions on one hand, and on the other hand, recorded some places worth learning from, to implement after returning to Spain.
On this diplomatic visit, two cabinet ministers accompanied Carlo: one was Foreign Secretary Marquis of Everton, and the other was Spain’s current Deputy Prime Minister, who also served as Minister of Industry, Cánovas.
The main purpose of Marquis of Everton accompanying was to communicate with officials of these visited countries, perfect some diplomatic processes, and so on.
After all, these things were what the diplomatic department excelled at; other departments could only say they knew a little. For diplomatic visits between two countries, some diplomatic links and processes were still quite important.
Carlo did not want any mistakes to occur during the diplomatic visit process; lightly, it would lose national face, and heavily, it might destroy the relationship between the two countries.
The reason Deputy Prime Minister Cánovas accompanied Carlo was naturally his position as Minister of Industry.
The main purpose of this visit to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Germany, and France was to obtain some industrial aid and cooperation agreements from these three countries.
What exactly Spain’s industry needed and what kind of cooperation agreements to reach with these countries required Cánovas, as Minister of Industry, to decide.
Precisely because of this, Foreign Secretary Marquis of Everton and Minister of Industry Cánovas were the two busiest among all accompanying officials.
Unlike Carlo leisurely appreciating the scenery along the way, the two of them were quite busy throughout the journey, even sometimes pulling many officials together for meetings.
The trains of this era were very slow, but the width of Germany’s territory was not too exaggerated either.
From Berlin to the Ruhr Area, the straight-line distance was less than 500 kilometers. And the train speeds of this era were generally 25-30 kilometers per hour, which meant that from Berlin to the Ruhr Area, it only took about one day to arrive.
Because this train was designated as a special train by the German Government, the actual time required would be even less. The special train also had quite spacious rooms and soft beds, so at least Carlo and the Spanish officials were not too fatigued.
After arriving at the Ruhr Area, led by German Government officials and Crown Prince Frederick, Carlo and the Spanish officials began a grand tour.
The Ruhr Area was not a city, but a large industrial zone combining many cities.
Within the scope of the Ruhr Area, there existed more than 50 large and small towns, including medium-large cities such as Dortmund, Essen, and Duisburg.
Because they arrived by train, Carlo’s group went directly to Dortmund in the central part of the Ruhr Area, which was also the transportation center of the Ruhr Area.
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