Empire Rising: Spain

The smooth progress of Spain’s attack on the Sokoto Caliphate was something Spain itself had not anticipated.

For this vast African nation that is 1,600 kilometers wide and nearly 1,000 kilometers long from north to south, Spain was quite cautious and attentive.

In all of Spain’s colonial wars, there had never been a war that allowed Spain to deploy an army of more than 80,000 troops.

Although these 80,000 were colonial troops, it cannot be denied that they were all equipped with standard rifles, forming a modernized army.

Although not comparable to the fighting capabilities of regular European armies, among European colonial armies, auxiliary forces, and the regular armies of other non-European countries, their fighting capabilities are at least among the top ranks.

Initially, those planning this war from the Spanish side, including Carlo, the Minister of Colonial Affairs William, the Minister of Defense Evan, and the General Commander of the Congo Territory garrison Andrew, all unanimously believed that the war would last for several months or even more than a year.

The Spanish Army would face strong resistance from the Sokoto Caliphate, and even the colonial troops would suffer considerable casualties.

This is why Spain prepared for this war for several months. Unexpectedly, Spain’s ample preparations seemed somewhat excessive.

Within a few days of the war breaking out, Spain’s Western Route Army smoothly gained control over the Oyo, Ijebu, and Ivo Kingdoms.

These three states provided Spain with a military force of tens of thousands, allowing Spain’s Western Route Army to successfully break through the 100,000 mark.

Although the troops provided by these indigenous states were merely considered cannon fodder, their sheer numbers meant that killing them would take several days for the Sokoto Caliphate’s army.

The opposing forces did not have an army equipped with a large number of advanced weapons like Spain. Most of their soldiers still used cold weapons, with only a small number of elite troops, or Sokoto Caliphate’s Guard Army, able to use firearms.

Indeed, the Sokoto Caliphate possessed firearms, but their technology lagged behind that of European countries.

This resulted in several days passing since Spain initiated the war, before news reached the Sokoto Caliphate’s capital, Oyoibo, which is over a hundred kilometers from the Spanish colony.

Clearly, by the time the Sokoto Caliphate received the news, it was already too late. The reason is simple: the northern border of the Oyo State is less than sixty kilometers from Oyoibo.

By the time the Sokoto Caliphate received the news and began summoning troops from various states, the Spanish Army was already nearing the capital Oyoibo.

Without reinforcements from the state armies, the direct forces of the Sokoto Caliphate only amounted to mere tens of thousands.

Among these tens of thousands, more than half were equipped with cold weapons, with only a little over 8,000 in the Guard Army using firearms, which were in various designs and clearly made by different countries.

Surprisingly, if one looked closely, they would even see weapons manufactured by Spain in the hands of these indigenous forces.

Of course, the Spanish weapons they obtained were not the previous generation’s standard Vitali M1872 rifles, but earlier muzzle-loading guns.

Due to their delayed reaction, by the time the two armies met, the Spanish Army was less than ten kilometers from the Sokoto Caliphate’s capital, Oyoibo.

This proximity was deadly; the Sokoto Caliphate’s troops had no retreat space, and could only defend their positions to the death, or else the capital would be conquered by Spain.

Even worse, although the Sokoto Caliphate quickly gathered tens of thousands of troops, they obviously lacked time to build defensive positions.

Moreover, these indigenous forces clearly lacked experience with firearm warfare, which led to their insufficient understanding of digging defensive positions.

The consequence was that the Spanish Army faced indigenous forces with no proper defensive positions. Tens of thousands of indigenous soldiers lined up in formation, creating a grand spectacle, but Andrew, the General Commander of the Congo Territory garrison leading the Western Route Army, was already smiling broadly.

Why was he smiling? To deal with the large manpower of the Sokoto Caliphate, Spain would use machine guns as a powerful weapon in this war.

To end the African war sooner, Carlo generously equipped Andrew’s army with dozens of the latest Maxim machine guns, newly modified.

These latest-machine guns, based entirely on smokeless powder, tackled the longstanding issue of poor visibility from old machine guns and greatly enhanced shooting range and bullet power.

With dozens of such powerful machine guns, not to mention a mere tens of thousands of indigenous soldiers. Even if their numbers rose to 100,000, Andrew had confidence in defeating them in one battle.

He had personally experienced the power of machine guns and understood clearly how devastatingly effective they were against soldiers.

Especially against the cluster formations used by African indigenous forces, machine guns were practically perfect targets. With just a burst, dozens of indigenous soldiers would fall; and with the current power of machine guns, even if those who fell were not hit in a vital spot, survival was unlikely.

As soon as the two armies encountered each other, tens of thousands of indigenous troops immediately charged at the Spanish Army.