NationStates Jolt Archive

King Alfonso XIII sat in Valencia to await the arrival of his esteemed guests. They would meet to discuss an earth shattering and radical new idea.

OOC: remember this is SIC

Tomaso Tittoni, Foreign Minister of Italy, walked briskly into the meeting room. He had been steamed across to Spain on rather short notice, with a relief team of diplomats to be assembled and sent over after Tittoni initiated talks. Tittoni bowed curtly to the Spanish royal before taking a seat. A Savoia king had sat on the Spanish thrown not so long ago, and this new Spanish monarch was to be considered "one of the family" for Tittoni, even though he was not a Savoia.

"Your Majesty," he began, "I, on the behalf of King Vittorio Emanuele III, personally extend the King's gratitude for Your Majesty's hosting of the talks."

"I thank you for your kind words. I believe we still await the arrival of the Portugese and French and without them we have not the grand alliance we dream of."

Jose Marero the delegate sent from Greater portugal arrived rather apprehensively in Valencia spain today wondering what The King of Spains radical ideal was.

but Spain was considered a friend of Greater Portugal Jose thouht to himself so Polite tactful diplomacy must be imperative. Jose Merero then stepped out of his Bently Limousine ( did they have official Limousines circa 1906????) to his awaiting fellow delegates in valencia...

"I, King Alfonso XIII, welcome you to Valencia. I hope our beautiful city will be the background for the forming of a grand alliance. I believe we may begin discussion now(france is on vacay). Senor Tittoni if you will please explain your governments idea."

"Thank you, Your Majesty. It is the opinion of the Italian government that, if the empires of all of our great states are to be maintained and our prosperity increased, we must unite in a common alliance. It is also our opinion that, in order to better serve the militaries of all of our nations, we must come up with a military standard so that, if the peace of Europe should collapse, there will be no problems with supply or training in the weapons involved." He paused for a moment, whispering into the ear of one of his fellow Italian delegates, who happened to carry with him a rather large bag. Out of the bag came a Cei-Riggotti assault rifle, of the latest model, though it was not loaded. He placed it on the table.

"This, gentlemen, is the new Italian Cei-Riggotti, named after the captain who invented it." Tittoni handed it around the table. "As you can see, it differs from the standard rifle quite remarkably, and can even fire at 900 rounds per minute! You can change its settings from semi-automatic to fully automatic, making it quite versatile. That is our proposal for a possible standard firearm, though we are of course open to any better guns you may find.

Anyways, back to the alliance. Portugal, Italy, Spain and France, if the French show up, would agree to defend each other in an aggressive war against a member of this League. Furthermore, as our nations form a contiguous bloc in Western Europe, Italy proposes that we develop a unified rail gauge and expand our railway system so that we can mobilise quickly and efficiently to defend our League. This system will also economically improve our nations. Italy also proposes that tarrifs be removed from all members of this League. Finally, all members will commit to signing a ten-year non-aggression pact to be renewed every ten years. This treaty shall also last for ten years, where it will be re-ratified. If the treaty fails to be ratified, it will remain in force for six weeks for possible reconsiderations.

Now, gentlemen, what ideas do you have to contribute?"

"I believe that this idea is a good one as I have told you before. I agree that rail systems should be extended so that we may mobilize faster but we could only agree to useing the Cei-Riggotti after extensive testing as I plan on haveing reliable weapons and reliable soldiers in my army and we already have bith but if this performs as well as our current rifles it may be accepted."

"I understand, Your Majesty, that Spain would only agree to adopting our Cei-Riggotti after extensive testing. My assistants have brought along several others, including some ammo, so that it may be tested in full."

"I believe with the agreement of Portugal and haveing a formal document writen up we will have an alliance and we will begin testing immediately. Also in regards to P.M. Franco's current announcement we will also invest in Angolan oil we only ask that you support any claims we make in Africa."

We find this satisfactory. the new regime desperatly wants to improve national Infrastructure. particulary naval and merchant marine as this is the back bone of Greater portugal... which transports people and goods from the motherland.. we are Interested in purchasing a consdierably sized merchant marine and naval force from various nations.. we have various means of paying for this, (monetary, access to resources e.t.c.)

we will join this alliance with Immediate effect.

also note... what is the lowdown on morroco at the moment??? can we all get a piece of the pie??

"Italy will support any Spanish claims in Africa, and we would like to see Portugal, France, or Spain take over Morrocco. I believe said state is currently up for grabs, and the expansion of our League into Africa to partially control the Strait of Gibraltar would be most excellent.

As far as Portugal goes, Italy is willing to contract with Portugal to develop shipyards for $75 million per 50,000 ton shipyard. We would sell Portugal the ships ourselves, but our shipyards are full with orders from as far away as Brazil and Korea. We are quite lucky to even build ships for our selves.

Finally, Italy tentatively agrees to all the previously agreed upon conditions and formally enacts this alliance until such time as a formal treaty is written up."

King Alfonso's secratary rushed in with a note and he looked frightened indeed...

"Por el Rey Alfonso XIII"

He handed over the note and Alfonso read in astonishment...

"My friends it appears we have been beaten to this 'pie' as our 'dear friend' Germany has recently invaded Morrocco. I propose That we immediately send troops to grab up land for ourselves before they control the strait!"

Tittoni nodded agreement. "Yes, we must send over troops now if we are to secure any territory. We will contribute our fleet to these operations, though our army is currently tied down with events concerning Austria-Hungary."

"We have issued a 2 week ultimatum and if Germany does not comply our only request is that you attack along side us in Morrocco."

"Italy supports this ultimatum, and our fleet will be assembled shortly. As Germany has units based on Syracuse, any war against Germany would involve defeating those units first. We have ample resources to do so, unless the entire German fleet and army shows up on Syracuse. We would, however, like whatever naval units Spain has to be placed under our command until such time as the neutralisation of Syracuse. This will allow our League to take a big bite out of Germany's naval strength and latter support landings in Morrocco quite easily."

OOC: I don't mean to be a party pooper (ok I do ;)) but I'm out of Morocco, and about a third of my navy is in Syracuse.

"I have no problems with this but you must understand that we do not have a large navy as I have only recently enacted legislation to build 64 ships which will not be copmpleted for some time."

"Austria-Hungary has come under attack by the Russian Empire, with Italian troops under attack as well. We ask that our allies Portugal and Spain join us in the defense of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and declare war on Russia."

"How are we to combat the Russian Empire? Our borders are far away and we have not the naval capacity to transport a significant number of troops."

"Italy has a fairly large navy, as does Austria-Hungary, and I am sure that we could arrange for the troops to be transported to Italy and, from there, Austria-Hungary."

Portugal is gearing up for annexing Morroco. we will be interested in dividing up the territories. ( like Post world war 2 germany for Instance) we would like the Coastal territories and casablanca..

hmmmmm lets do this this...