Chapter 400 Circum-Mediterranean Treaty Organization

[A small more chapter, to show the storage zài ......]

The huge profits of the Suez Canal have attracted the attention of various countries, especially the Ottoman Turkish Empire. Knowing that there would be such a huge profit, the Turkish government estimated that it would dig the canal by itself.

However, there is no regret medicine in the world, and the afterthought is useless.

The Chinese Empire took advantage of the loophole in the contract to station more than 100,000 troops in the Suez Canal Zone, which seriously violated the sovereignty of the Turkish Empire and threatened the national security of the Turkish Empire.

From the day the Suez Canal was dug successfully, it was the dividing line between Asia and Africa. The Turkish Empire had several colonies in North Africa, and the Chinese Empire stationed troops in the Suez Canal, which divided the Turkish Empire into two and influenced the implementation of government decrees and military movements of the Turkish Empire.

In addition, during the Russo-Turkish War, the Chinese Empire had been exporting advanced weapons to Russia and giving loan support, so that the Russian Empire, which was not very powerful, became the number one rival of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, and seriously threatened the security of Turkey's homeland.

Although the Turkish Empire's top brass has chosen to remain silent, many officials and generals below will inevitably make some small moves, and they will continue to create some trouble and friction near the Suez Canal, hoping that the Chinese Empire will go to war with the Turkish Empire.

Previously, most friction would have been deliberately suppressed by the top levels of the two governments. The Turkish government was overwhelmed by the power of the court, and the regents of the harem were fighting with the recalcitrant ministers, so that they had no intention of provoking the powerful enemy of the Chinese Empire. In turn, the Chinese Empire's strategic deployment around the globe required it to exercise restraint. The outbreak of war would affect the huge profits of the Suez Canal, which was not in the vested interests of the Chinese Empire.

The two sides exercised restraint, but some bureaucrats in Turkey have expanded the friction and provoked other foreign forces to intervene in an attempt to internationalize the Suez issue.

The huge economic profits and military value of the Suez Canal have always been coveted by nearby countries. In the neighboring countries of Asia, Africa and Europe, they were not willing to be swallowed up by the Chinese Empire. The European powers long wanted to open the Suez Canal so that they could direct the spearhead of aggression from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean and even the Far East.

The Chinese Empire believed too much in its powerful deterrent power and thought that the presence of a large army in Suez would deter the peeps around it. But businessmen can take risks for profiteering and do anything. In the same way, the huge profits of East-West trade can drive any country into a frenzy.

The Dutch had suffered the most damage on the Suez Canal, and although a massive naval build-up had begun, it could not offset the powerful military deterrent from the Chinese Empire for several years. Therefore, the Dutch businessmen agitated the Dutch parliament to increase the contradictions between China and the Netherlands and accumulate resentment. On the one hand, he secretly supported the rebels in Tunisia, northern Algeria, southern Egypt, eastern Sudan and other places in the North African territory of the Turkish Empire, and cultivated forces to confront the Turkish government.

Due to the fact that the Turkish Empire had consumed too much of it with the Russian Empire in World War I, and because the Chinese Empire controlled the Suez Canal, Constantinople was not well connected with the territories of North Africa, and the local government forces in North Africa were somewhat unable to deal with the rebels.

The Chinese Empire was annoyed that the Dutch were playing tricks in North Africa to influence the Empire's plans to colonize Africa in the future. However, for the sake of overall strategic considerations, the Chinese Empire hoped that Britain and the Netherlands would fight first, so that they could gain greater benefits.

But the Dutch seemed to see through the aims of the Chinese Empire and stepped up its actions in North Africa. The Netherlands supported several rebel forces in North Africa, attacked the Turkish government forces everywhere, and even sent warships to directly help the rebels transport troops and military supplies. This almost public action immediately angered the Turkish government.

In July of the 13th year of Shenwu, Turkey transferred a patrol fleet from the Aegean Sea and deployed it to the Mediterranean Sea near Tunisia to block the Dutch Navy's assistance to the Tunisian rebels.

At this time, the Dutch-backed Roja rebel army was storming Tunisia, and the Turkish army was fighting very hard, and the war was at a critical juncture.

The arrival of the Turkish patrol fleet blocked the nearby seas, the Dutch were unable to deliver supplies in time, the Roja rebel offensive slowed down, the Turkish defenders were able to breathe, and the battle was in a stalemate.

The Dutch aim was very clear, first to support the rebels to occupy Tunisia, to form a Tunisian government to secede from Turkey, and then the Netherlands could invade Tunisia and occupy Tunisia in a grand manner.

This was only the first step in the strategy of the Dutch, who would then continue to raise up the rebels and occupy Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Sudan and other Turkish territories.

But the Dutch's ultimate goal was to get on the Suez Canal, which was where the Dutch wanted most. It's just that the Dutch didn't dare to clash head-on with the Chinese Empire, so the Dutch parliament thought that if they could occupy Egypt as a colony, they would have an excuse to negotiate with the Chinese Empire, and even if they could not get the Suez Canal, they would at least be able to force the Chinese Empire to give part of its shares to the Netherlands, and even achieve the goal of joint control of the Suez Canal.

Of course, the Dutch like to make bold assumptions, and the road ahead needs to be carefully verified.

Tunisia was in a stalemate, and the Dutch were the most anxious, so the Dutch Navy tried several times to break through the blockade of the Turkish Navy and send supplies to Roja, but in the end they all failed, for which the Dutch Navy almost fought with the Turkish Navy.

The Dutchman's calculations were soon understood by other nations, and Spain, France, and the principalities of Italy near the Mediterranean Sea all got a piece of the pie. Especially the Spanish Empire, which was repaired too badly by the Chinese Empire in World War I, has a strong hatred mentality.

As a Catholic country, Spain did not deal with Turkey, secondly, in line with the idea of expanding its colonies, and thirdly, it also figured out the Guò North African land war to win back some face for the Spanish army.

Therefore, under the influence of these factors, the Spanish king ordered the Spanish army to march east from the North African colony of Morocco, intending to occupy the Turkish Algerian region.

However, just as the Spanish Empire was preparing to intervene in North Africa with the intention of re-emerging, France in Europe once again caused trouble for Spain and shattered the dream of a re-emergence of the Spanish Empire.

After the end of World War I, although France and Spain stopped the war, the two European land powers, which were neighbors, did not shake hands and made peace, but continued to break out small-scale border military conflicts.

Neither side wanted to escalate the conflict into a full-scale war between the two countries, so the conflict was confined to skirmishes and did not attract the attention of the citizens of both countries.

However, with Spain sending troops to North Africa, the French finally couldn't bear to hold Spain back and not allow the Spanish Empire to rise again. After all, the Spanish Empire was too close to North Africa, and once the army was fully deployed, North Africa would soon become a Spanish colony.

France then created a medium-sized military conflict on the border to attract the attention of the Spanish army and contain Spain's war operations in North Africa. At the same time, France incited the Catalans, Neapolitans and Portuguese to rebel against Spanish rule.

In the summer of the thirteenth year of Shenmu, João of Braganza claimed the right to inherit the Portuguese throne and led the rebellion, which was widely supported by the Portuguese. Spain had to put down other rebellions, fight France, and send troops to North Africa, but failed to respond in time. João ascended the throne as the first monarch of the Braganza dynasty, known as João IV, which led to the independence of Portugal from the Spanish Empire.

The King of Spain did not seem to care about Portugal's independence, and as a result, the two states coexisted in virtually peace for the next decade, with no major wars breaking out.

France's goal was only half achieved, because Portugal did not anticipate an all-out war against Spain after independence. The French were put aside by Portugal and had to increase their troops on the Franco-Spanish border, resulting in the outbreak of the Battle of Luciva, the Spanish Army suffered a loss, had to stop its plan to enter North Africa, and turned back to deal with France, and the Franco-Spanish War broke out immediately after 11 years.

The fight between the two great powers on the European continent immediately stimulated the nerves of the European countries. At one point, it was assumed that World War II would break out because France was part of the powerful Allied bloc, and Spain was on the wane, and the Holy Roman Empire was powerless to help Spain.

On 5 August, the four member states of the Central Powers met in Paris to discuss the Franco-Spanish war. There were no core conflicts of interest between the Central Powers, so it was highly likely that they could form a coalition and go to war against the Spanish Empire.

The Spanish Empire was frightened, and he could not confront the entire Central Powers, so he hurriedly lobbied the Chinese Empire, the British Empire, and the Russian Empire, hoping that these three countries would not interfere.

However, the Spanish envoy does not seem to have achieved much success. The countries of Europe thought that the Spanish Empire was over, and the Spanish people were even more worried.

As a last resort, the Spanish Empire quickly turned to the Turkish Empire for help, asking for an alliance with the Turkish Empire to deal with the Central Powers.

These two countries that almost fought, countries with a full-scale conflict of religion and territory, no one would believe that they would form an alliance.

However, the impossible happened, and the Turkish Empire agreed to Spain's request to cease war with Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, and other principalities, and to form the Mediterranean Rim Treaty Organization to defend against the bullying of the Central Powers.

When the four Allied member states that were meeting in Paris learned of this, they had to revisit the issue.

If the two major military blocs fight, then World War II will undoubtedly start again.

The Chinese Empire was nothing, Britain, France, and Russia had not yet recovered from the First World War, and did not want another World War II, so the Paris Conference abandoned the plan to completely carve up the Spanish Empire, and the other three countries did not interfere in the Franco-Spanish War.

The Allies relented, the Mediterranean Treaty Organization did not want to fight, and Turkey would not really help Spain, so Turkey, the Holy Roman Empire and other countries also announced that they would not interfere in the Franco-Spanish War, and in the end it was just a heads-up between France and Spain. A