"Dear Elizabeth, when will you give Gibraltar back to me."

The Spanish regent Christiana's seemingly headless gossip makes people shudder.

First of all, there is no one named Elizabeth here, Elizabeth is the name of the former Queen of England, she defeated the Spanish Armada militarily and made Britain the supremacy of the seas, and should be regarded as one of the most hated Englishmen by the Spaniards.

Then one of the main information points in this sentence is the Strait of Gibraltar, when the Suez Canal has not yet been opened, and it is the only outlet to the sea in the Mediterranean.

As long as Britain can block the Strait of Gibraltar, then the navies of all Mediterranean countries will be toys in the bathtub.

In fact, after the opening of the Suez Canal, the strategic position of the Strait of Gibraltar did not decline, but increased exponentially, until Europe declined and the United States rose.

Gibraltar originally belonged to Spain, but in 1701 the War of the Spanish Succession broke out, and Britain took the opportunity to capture Gibraltar and establish a military base.

In 1713, the Peace of Utrecht was signed, in which Britain recognized Philip's Spanish throne, but in exchange he had to cede Gibraltar.

In fact, Spain never gave up the fight for Gibraltar, and later when the North American Revolutionary War broke out, it also wanted to follow the example of the British.

But it ultimately failed, because Gibraltar was far more important to Britain than the Spaniards had imagined.

Located between the Iberian Peninsula in Europe and the northwestern part of Morocco in North Africa, the Strait of Gibraltar is 58 kilometers long and is the gateway between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The Gibraltar Peninsula is the throat of this gateway, and it is not an exaggeration to say that its location is a monopoly.

This is like the Black Sea strait in the hands of the Ottomans, whoever controls it controls the Black Sea, and can occupy the absolute initiative in both attack and defense.

In fact, it was not only Spain and Britain who wanted Gibraltar, but France also wanted it, because it was this strait that cut its navy into two parts.

If Gibraltar could be controlled, the development of the French navy would no longer be hindered, and with the strong colonial empire and the population larger than the British, it was only a matter of time before the British could replace them.

In fact, all the Mediterranean countries, including Austria and Russia, had a feeling that the British were in control of Gibraltar.

But even today Britain has not given up on Gibraltar, and even the threat of the United States has not made it back down.

Then there are some small details, the regent Christiana and Victoria are not close, and have not even met before, the former should be called respectful, not dear.

Again, Gibraltar is Spanish, not the regent, and she's only the regent, not the real king, so it's wrong to say that I'm going to be returned.

But by this time, the Gibraltar issue had knocked Victoria and Louis Philippe unconscious, and officials and journalists from the surrounding countries were also confused.

It was too much for the British to cede Gibraltar, but Prime Minister Robert Peel's order was to broker an Anglo-French alliance at all costs.

The attitude of the French side towards the Anglo-French alliance was different, but on the whole it was still very eager, but the temptation of the Strait of Gibraltar was indeed great at this time, after all, so that the French Great Eastern Fleet and the Great Western Fleet could be combined into one.

And as long as Spain takes back Gibraltar, it means that France also has the same rights, and then it can replace Britain to control the hegemony of the Mediterranean, and even the British Mediterranean fleet will have to look at the face of the French or withdraw directly from the Mediterranean.

Louis Philippe was somewhat annoyed because Queen Regent Christiana had ruined the rapport of the Anglo-French negotiations. One of his advisers whispered a few words to Louis Philippe.

Louis Philippe, who understood the stakes, was immediately moved, and the phrase "do big things and spare your life, and forget your righteousness when you see small profits" is vividly reflected in him.

Louis Philippe wanted to make this happen, too, because there were so many benefits to having to go back to Gibraltar, which would be extremely important for the future of France.

For example, it is used to contain the old adversary Austria, as long as it controls the Strait of Gibraltar, Austria will lose its colonial connection, and the navy will become an ornament.

As for land warfare, France has never feared any country in the world so far.

And it was originally the land of Spain, the territory of the Bourbons, and now it is only done to return the goods to their original owners. The main thing is that the regent queen at this time has long been hollowed out, and even the Spanish royal family is no longer popular.

Those Spaniards were pinning their hopes not so much on the Spanish crown as on France.

It was a tiny piece of land, a drop in the bucket for the UK, which has 33,000,000 square kilometres.

At this moment, Louis Philippe suddenly had a flash of inspiration and was the first to break the deadlock.

"Victoria, maybe Queen Regent Christiana is a little abrupt. But Gibraltar was really important for Spain, a country that had just recovered from the civil war and needed some comfort. ”

Louis Philippe said with embarrassment.

"Well, let's take a step back. Spain renounced its claim to the Viceroyalty of La Plata, and Britain returned Gibraltar to Spain.

It's fair and reasonable. ”

The so-called Viceroyalty of La Plata, later known as Argentina, was once a Spanish colony. Louis Philippe wanted to trade concessions in the Viceroyalty of La Plata for control of Gibraltar in British hands.

This operation can be described as a sure win for France, after all, neither of these two plots of land nominally belongs to France. And the cessation of the confrontation with England in the Viceroyalty of La Plata would be beneficial to France at this time.

However, this was unacceptable to Victoria, and she didn't need to be reminded by the accompanying officials, so she said coldly.

"It's not something I can decide, it has to be discussed and decided by Congress. If I'm not mistaken, France should also be a constitutional monarchy. ”

Louis Philippe laughed dumbly at Victoria's words, he did not like to share power with others, and chose a constitutional monarchy only for the sake of ascending to power, just like the current personality and forbearance.

In fact, the Orleans family (the Bourbon family who was in charge of France at this time) was far more obsessed with the throne than ordinary people imagined, and the former Duke of Orleans even changed his name to Philippe Equality in order to ascend to the throne.

What about Louis Philippe? He has been living a life of superficial poverty for decades, isn't it just for the sake of perpetuity?

But this does not mean that Louis Philippe is content with the status quo without ambition, human nature is greedy for pleasure, and it is difficult for a person without ambition to achieve perseverance for decades.

(End of chapter)