Britain will not budge, and neither will China.

The undercurrents beneath the turbulent waves are even more turbulent.

The diplomatic institutions of all countries are at full capacity, and if diplomacy cannot solve the current problems, a war cannot be avoided.

Spain was thrown to the forefront at this time, all countries were putting pressure on Spain, Britain and France threatened the Spanish government to accept Leopold as king of Spain, which meant war; Germany is also pressuring Spain to make an immediate statement, fulfill their previous commitments, and express their attitude of accepting Leopold's succession to the throne as soon as possible, otherwise it will be an enemy of the German Empire.

Leopold kept urging the Spanish Parliament to ask the Spanish triumvirate to determine the Spanish throne as soon as possible.

France has canceled all the leave of absence of officers, and Germany has done the same, but no one has mobilized, because once mobilized, there is no turning back.

Countries are also working together to demand clarity from their allies. The French ambassador kept asking for a meeting with the Tsaress, hoping to get assurances from Russia that in the event of a war between Germany and France, Russia would fulfill its obligations as allies and enter the war.

But just after a war, and in this war, France did not fully fulfill its obligations as allies, and the tsaress refused to receive the French ambassador.

In fact, Russia will not be able to start a war with the outside world in the short term, a civil war has divided Russia into Eastern Europe and Ukraine, the population has dropped from 60 million to 40 million, Ukraine, an important grain producing area and coal and iron producing area, has been divided by Konstantin, the entire economy has been divided, the province has not yet returned to normal, the economic crisis is serious, and a large amount of foreign debts are still owed. But there was also a bonus, through this war, the female tsar completely purged the army of the Konstantin faction, completely seized power, and won the right to inherit the throne for her son.

Russia is unable to go to war in the short term, even if it wants to fight, it is not with Germany, the first thing to fight is the Konstantin rebels, take back Ukraine first, and before that, Russia will not start a war with foreign countries.

Germany sought the assistance of Austria-Hungary, hoping that in the event of a war, Austria-Hungary would side with Germany, but Austria-Hungary did not want to get on the German chariot. On the one hand, Austria-Hungary was very disappointed with the German-Austrian alliance because of the last war, because Germany stood by while Austria-Hungary was caught between Italy and the Balkan Empire, which eventually led to the loss of West Wallachia and Venice by Austria-Hungary.

Of course, German neutrality was in accordance with the German-Austrian Treaty of the League, because this treaty was mainly directed against Russia, stipulating that "if one of the contracting parties is attacked by Russia, the other side shall come to the aid of all its forces and shall not make peace alone", or "if one side is attacked by a third country, the other side shall adopt a neutral act of good faith; If the attacking country is supported by Russia, the two parties should fight together", Germany believed that Austria-Hungary was not attacked by Russia on its own initiative, and at the same time, Germany also said that once France attacked Austria-Hungary, Germany would enter the war, but Austria-Hungary believed that the Balkan Empire at that time was supported by Russia, so Germany's statement was not in line with the spirit of the treaty.

In fact, after the last war, the necessity of the German-Austrian alliance decreased, because the previous alliance between the two sides was mainly against the common threat of Russia, but Russia was divided, Austria-Hungary had no threat in the east, and France did not border in the west, so Austria-Hungary did not need German protection, and naturally it was not willing to go to war with Britain and France for Germany.

Neither side can pull allies, but in terms of overall strength, Germany is much stronger than France, and it still has an advantage, but France has the support of Britain to make up for this disadvantage.

In addition to putting pressure on Spain, the country concerned, in addition to forming gangs, in fact, all countries are also colluding in private.

British diplomats frequently consulted with Germany, still hoping that Leopold would give up the throne and that Germany would give up supporting Leopold. Britain and Germany were getting closer and closer to agreement, as Britain was even willing to accept the Spanish colonies to Leopold.

At least for the time being, Germany, which did not have a large navy, had some colonies overseas and posed no threat to Britain, and Britain could not afford to pay a world war because of the Spanish throne.

Britain's support for Leopold's rule of the Spanish American colonies was that Leopold gave up the Spanish throne, and Britain did not care about the changes of German power in overseas territories, even if Germany himself ruled these colonies, Britain did not care, not to mention that Leopold was only a German prince. But the German power will not be able to rule Spain, this will involve the balance of Europe, once Leopold rules Spain, Germany and Spain will become close allies, and Germany will have no checks and balances on the European continent at all.

Britain also had a demand to support Leopold's rule over the Spanish colonies, so that Germany would have to sign an alliance agreement with Britain to replace the Anglo-Prussian alliance. After all, today's Germany is not the Germany it used to be, and Britain needs to let the whole of Germany, not the Kingdom of Prussia, form an alliance with Britain, and the purpose of the alliance is to fight against China.

The Spanish colony was an important part of Germany's purpose, but the Spanish throne could not be parted with. Britain did everything possible to maintain the balance of the continent, because the continent has always developed unbalanced, but all the powerful countries want to give their own country an advantage, and Leopold became the king of Spain, which happened to allow Germany to establish an absolute advantage on the European continent. After that, it completely dominated the continent, and France could only choose to give in under the attack of German forces.

If you can do nothing without war, it is not bad to let the German forces get the Spanish colony, but it is not worth it in exchange for confrontation with China, Germany demands, in order for Germany to form a military alliance with Britain, Britain must support Leopold to inherit the Spanish throne. Germany believed that Britain had the sea, and after the German prince succeeded to the Spanish throne, Germany would have land, and such an Anglo-German alliance would mean a European union, which would be easier to confront China.

However, Britain must not accept the imbalance on the European continent, and it is too risky for Germany to dominate the European continent. Britain's diplomatic theory holds that once any continental country seeks hegemony on land, it will inevitably expand to Britain, so this is an issue involving Britain's own security, and it must not be compromised.

The two countries could not get along, the risk of war was getting higher and higher, the European stock market was in mourning, the prices of bonds of various countries had plummeted, Britain and France had launched a currency war against Germany, and the price of Deutsche Bank's gold reserves was about to bottom. Britain brought back a huge fleet from overseas, practiced in the English Channel, and continued to cruise in the North Sea with Germany, causing the shares of German shipping companies to plummet.

It was at this tense moment that the Spaniards, the initiators, made a choice, and the Spanish Constituent Assembly announced that they would invite Amedeo, the son of King Vittorio Emanuele II of Italy, to succeed to the Spanish throne, and Amedio actively responded to the invitation of Italy and quickly went to Madrid to ascend the throne under the escort of the Anglo-French fleet.

Under the tremendous pressure of Britain and France, under the crisis of the collapse of the German currency, and the choice made by the Spaniards, Germany was deprived of sufficient legal support, and Wilhelm I chose to concede.

After all, the German Emperor Wilhelm I was not the stunned young man of Wilhelm II, he was essentially a relatively weak person, and many times, he was not as decisive as Bismarck.

The risk of confrontation with Britain and France is too great, and even if the probability of victory is high, the price to be paid is too great. On the premise that the benefits of concession were sufficient, it was only natural for William I to choose to make concessions.

Then, after confirming that Britain still supported Leopold's rule of Spain's South American colonies, Germany declared that it respected the choice of the Spaniards, and Leopold also expressed his willingness to support the Spaniards' choice.

However, Leopold sent governors to Colombia and Venezuela, and sent a large number of Mexican troops, and also sent a Mexican navy with a few ships to land in the Spanish colony of Dominica in the Caribbean, and then proclaimed the Aztec Empire, and he ascended the throne as emperor, and his territory included Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela north of the Colorado River to the north of the Panama Canal, and Dominica in the eastern half of the island of Haiti in the Caribbean Sea.

The occupation of Dominica was significant, as it was the only island in the Caribbean that was not controlled by Britain and the United States. Previously, the United States had seized Cuba and other places, resulting in the formation of an island chain in the Caribbean Sea, and during the American Civil War, they blockaded German merchant ships. The occupation of Dominica broke the island chain, allowing German merchant ships to maintain control of the southeast of the island of Haiti and the Mona Strait between the island of Puerto Rico, a territory of the Confederate States of America, and allowing German merchant ships to safely enter and exit the Caribbean Sea from the Atlantic.

However, the Spanish government and the new king, Amedeo I, refused to recognize Leopold's seizure of the Spanish colony, but it was too late, and Britain said that they recognized the status quo, and Spain could only express its attitude by severing diplomatic relations with Mexico.

The Chinese crown prince was very dissatisfied with the German concessions, and scolded the Germans for several days for being a bad breed, and finally had to accept the status quo, and after signing a new treaty with the Aztec Emperor Leopold I, confirming the new borders, and having promised the other side the economic benefits, China also announced that it recognized Leopold I as the Aztec Empire, and upgraded the diplomatic relations between the two sides to the ambassadorial level, apparently after Mexico annexed these colonies, with a population of more than 20 million, it was already regarded as a great power.

The crisis of the Spanish throne is over, but because of the crisis of succession to the throne, the world pattern has changed, and a new crisis has begun to brew, an even greater crisis.