Napoleon in 1812
Chapter 90:

14. End of the SecondHundred Years’ War – 6

Thedemands of theFrench side, represented by Armand Augustin de Caulaincourt, wereclearand simple. This confused Viscount Charlton, Husley Collins, who wasordered to stop the Frenchexpansion by all means.

“There areexactly four Spanishterritoriesthat HisMajesty theEmperor wants. Sardinia, Sicily, the Basque Country and Catalonia.”

“That’s toomuch to ask! You’re tryingtotake away one-sixth of theterritory of the Kingdom! Besides, Sicilyand Sardinia are islands where you haven’t evenset footin!”

“If thisland cannotbeobtainedbecause theEmpire has notoccupiedit… Then, may I claimownership of thisplaceasthe Empire nowoccupiesMadrid?”

“…”

There wasnothing forBritain to opposetothis demand, as the Frenchside said thatthis wasa reasonable condition, asking for concessions in exchange forrecognizingthe Spanishthrone.

‘No… rather, this isn’t bad.’

Husley Collinsnotedthat FrancedemandedSardiniaand Sicily. The membersofthe WhigParty, which tookpowerwith people’s anger, were also not fools. Sooner or later, theday would surely come whenFrance and Britain faced eachotheragain.

Thesea belonged to Britainafterall. TheBritish could alwaysoccupy moreterritories. It was never reallya loss if an enemy acquired islandsthat could becomecoastal bases. Itwas heartbreakingtogive up theBasque Countryand Catalonia to France, but there wasnojustification to prevent it.

“…The Kingdom supports the Frenchdemand. This seems to be areasonable enoughdecision.”

“The Portuguese sideagrees as well.”

Spaincomplained, but in fact, it was only to takethe upper handinthe negotiations, and the Frenchdemand was notsobad in exchange for protecting their throne.

Theythought that sellingout one sixth of thecountry wasacceptable to stop thiswar in which theywere on thevergeofcompletedefeat. As such, Francegained fourregions without muchresistance from the other countries.

France’s diplomatic officials held on to the position of makinggenerousconcessions.

Theofficials fromSpain, Portugal and Britain welcomed the winner’s tolerance. Thanks to this, thenegotiations wereable to proceed swiftly.

===

“April 19, 1813, at 3 p.m. I would like to announce the ‘Treaty of Madrid’, which was signedunderconsultation withthe French Empire, the Kingdom of Spain and theKingdom of Portugal, underthe observation of the UnitedKingdom.”

Thefinaltext of theagreement, issuedbythe French judge with the assistance of the clerk, was as follows.

1. Francewithdraws its troopsfrom theoccupiedSpanish andPortuguese territories. This will be doneassoon as thetreaty is signed.

2. Joseph I renounces thethrone of Spain. FrancesupportsFernandoVII as KingofSpainand legitimateleader and will not claim thethrone.

3. Inreturn, Spain cedes theisland of Sardinia, andthe territories of Catalonia andofthe Basque Country to France. Spainalso gives theeconomicand developmentalrights on the islandofSicily for 100 yearstoFrance.

4. France guaranteesPortugal’s independence. In return, Portugaland its Braziliancolony willhave a minimumtariff policy forFrench-madetradegoodsfor 50 years.

Innegotiations concludinganend-of-war agreement, winnersand losers were usuallyclearly distinguished fromeach other.

But at theMadrid Palace, wherethe Treaty of Madridwas signed, not onlythe French, Spanish andPortuguese, but alsothe Britishobservers wereall trying to hide asatisfying smile.

Whatwas the reasonfor thissituation thatcouldnot happen in a zero-sum game? Napoleon somehowseemed to knowthat.

‘Everyone’s having a daydream.’

Every one of them was confidentofhaving won thenegotiations and wasnot showingany signofstruggle. Who actually wonthesenegotiations would onlybedecided after a longtime. Napoleonwas surethat it would be France. He thoughtthat Britain would especiallyregret it.

Itwas no exaggeration to saythat Spain andPortugalhad beenindanger of being expelled fromthe entire peninsulawhen Britain withdrew fromthe war.

As France hadsufferedhuge financialand human losses in theprolonged war, itwouldsurely havesought away to makeupfor it, andSpainand Portugal would havebeen forcedtopay for it.

Especially, the Spanish thoughtthat they would havetoendure any harsh demandtoprotect their king, Fernando VII, and thedecisionofthe Britishtoobserve wastoprevent such excessive greed from the French. Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ NʘvᴇlFirᴇ.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

Thedemands that France made in thistensed relationship were muchunexpected forthem. Sardinia, Sicily, Catalonia, theBasque Country.

Andfor Portugal, thelowest tariffsfor imported goods. At that moment, Spanish andPortuguese diplomatsthought.

‘Thesituation on the Frenchside wasnot verygood either. The British pressure worked.’

British diplomats also thought.

‘France was strongly consciousofthe Easterncountries (Austria, Prussia, Russia, etc.).’

At France’s proposal, which wasmore generous than expected, theBritish changed their minds and urged theSpanish andPortuguese officialstomake peace as soon as possible. That was howthe talks wereable to be concludedsofast.

Originally, it was usual forend-of-war agreements to end after difficultpush-and-pull negotiationsbetween countries, thatcouldlast forseveral days, weeks, oreven a month.

However, the ‘MadridConference’ was concluded withina dayand lasted just afew hours, with France’s generous concessions and thecoalition thatdid not trytocut further.

“Itwas an opportunity to confirmthe sincerity of Your Majestyaboutthe balance, stability andsecurityofEurope, on which youinsistedthe other day. Thanks to the Emperor’sbroadconcessions, the Iberian Peninsula will enjoy truepeaceand harmony!”

ViscountCharlton, Husley Collins, encouraged by the reductionofFrance’srequirements and rightsbeyond his expectation, praised Napoleon in a delighted voice. From hispointofview, hemust be excited to makeanachievementthat could appealtothe prime minister and thecabinet.

In addition, theSpanish andPortuguese diplomatsseemed to agree withthe factthat Napoleon made concessions, although they may have animosity against him. However, Napoleon’s thoughts when hearingthosewordswere different.

‘Wetook everything we could.’

The waronthe IberianPeninsula began whenNabotappointed his brother Joseph BonaparteasKing of Spain.

Perhapsifhehad insisted on this, Portugal and Britain would havetriedtoresume war. Napoleonhad no intention of doing such amisguided thing fromthe start.

Hehad aroughidea of what kindofagreement Nabot madewith Joseph. But it wasnone of hisbusiness. Napoleon, as theEmperor of France, was only interestedinpromoting the nation’s interest.

‘TheBasque Countryand Catalonia, whichhave been dominated by pro-France and anti-Castilian peoplesincethe beginning of theIberian Peninsular War, are areas thatcan jointhe French society withouttaking muchadministrativepower. Thisisthe kindofland we shouldtake.’

Basqueand Catalonia were the placeswherethe ‘division operation’ secretly led by Napoleon hadthe greatest effect, with thelargest numberoflandowners andlocalnobles joiningthe IberianStandingOrganization.

Inaddition, mostofthe populationoftheseprovinces could speak French. Inotherwords, evenifFrance ruled themdirectly, the risk of awide resistance was very small.

Moreover, bothprovinces could bring manystrategic and economic benefits to France. First of all, they were the centeroftradebetween theWestern Mediterranean Sea andthe North Atlantic.

Afterthe liftingofthe trade blockade againstBritain, France would competeortradewith Britain, increasing its share of foreign trade.

Commercial andindustrial workers in Basque Country and Cataloniawouldgreatly help France grow its foreign trade network.

These twoprovinces could alsoserveasa major stronghold for France, south of the Pyrenees.

By seizingthem, France was nowable to send troops into the Iberian Peninsula through thematany time.

This meant thatthe entire peninsulawouldbewithin the range of Franceand thatSpainand Portugal would not be able to easily express their rejection of Frenchoppression.

‘This certainly strengthens theleashonthe IberianPeninsula.’

“Themeeting with YourMajesty wasa very pleasant and glorious time. I hopetosee you again someday. Although such meetingwill alwaysbewelcomedina party venue, not on the battlefield.”

It wasthe words of the Marquis of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, who broke Napoleon’s thoughts. He seemedtohave gotteneven brighter as he thought the Frenchhad madea lotofconcessions.

“Wecan lookforward to theMarquis’ dancing skillsthen. I enjoyed meetingyou today. Have asafe trip.”

MarquisWellington made his farewell to theFrench side. In addition, Napoleon left the conference hallwhilereceiving the courtesy andgreetings of manyothers.

The Treaty of Madrid, which had causeda stir in the world, was signed in a single dayand ended the Iberian PeninsularWar at once.

Francewouldnow set up newadministrativebodies in the BasqueCountry, Catalonia, Sardinia andSicily, while Spain andPortugalwouldbetroubledtorestore their war-torn countries.

Thewar was over, butanother meaningful war to managethe aftermath andprepare forthe future hadjust begun.

===

After the‘Madrid Conference’, Armand Augustin de Caulaincourt wascriticized by several figures, including theheadsofthe Empire. The French declared victory in the warand almost dominatedthe entire peninsula.

They had such an overwhelming position, and all they had taken from the negotiationswere twoislands in theMediterranean Sea, the BasqueCountry andCatalonia. In thePeninsular War, the Spanish territory occupied by theFrench alone was 450,000 kilometerssquare.

But the land gained wasatmost 90,000 kilometers square. Thiswas the reasonwhy suspicionswere inevitable thatthey hadbeen completely pushed back in negotiating power.

“How canI make an arrangement on my own without the ordersofHis Majestythe Emperor? The consequencesofthe Treaty of Madridwere allasHis Majestyintended. If you’d liketodiscuss this, pleaseask him directly.”

They tried to hidetheirdissatisfaction and didnot say more, as they could not argue with the Emperor. Perhaps officials in theParisCabinet andthe media on the streetwouldbeangry, saying that thiscompensation did notpay the price forall the bloodshed. But Caulaincourt, who knew the essence of the negotiations, was notafraid of their criticism at all.

‘Sardiniaand Sicily arethe bestthings we can getwithout alarming theBritish. They think these twoislands can’t bring much benefittothe Empire, sothey will accept to give themtous. But thereality is different.’

The Emperorkindly explained to himwhy. In thedark forests of Sardinia and Sicily, there weremany robur oaktreesgrowing naturally, which wereessential for theconstruction of sailingboats. Thatwas right. It wasfor the navy.

Inthe future of Francethat theEmperor wasseeing after the war, it was clear that the restoration of naval forceswas deeply engraved. Sardiniaand Sicily were necessities for that purpose.

Theminimum tarifftreaty withPortugaland its Braziliancolony alsoharboredthe sameshadiness and sharpnessasa poisoned apple.

As the Foreign Minister, Caulaincourtwas wellawareofthe new revolution thatNapoleon’s government was currentlycarryingout.

Usingmachinesthat could exceedhumanlaborefficiency, they were steadily preparing facilities to mass-produce uniformlysizedproducts.

This would enable Francetostartexplosive productionand order hugevolumes just as Britaindid in the past.

Portugaland Brazil, wherethe minimumtariff treaty hadbeen signed, would be the best marketstosell such French products with highmargins.

‘Wherever yougoinPortugaland Brazil, you’ll see plentyofFrench-madeproducts. It’smyidea to destroy their hand-made markets and completely subordinate themtothe Empire’s economy. Isn’t the UnitedKingdom, whichcan be astrong competitor, alsostruggling through an economic crisis? Startingwith Portugal andBrazil, theEmpire’sproductswill steadily eatupthe Britishvacancy.’

When he heard the Emperor’swords, Caulaincourt felt goosebumpsall overhis body. It meant using the enemy ignorance, blocking information to induce misjudgment, and bringing the best cards for thebest situationthe French side could make.

Feeling the best catharsis to enjoy in thenegotiations, Caulaincourtwas greatlydelighted.

When Britain realized all this, Francewouldhave built a castle that would never collapse. Caulaincourtwas verycurious about that timeand looked forward to it.

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