Catalonia:
The situation in Catalonia further exemplifies my overall plans of creating situations where Russia would benefit and my enemies would lose, no matter what the outcome. Catalonia was (and is still considered) to be Spanish territory and its inclusion in an Occitanian led Confederation would result in only one thing: war. If war was not to occur naturally, I would have forced it similarly to how I precipitated it in Burgundy, this time using bombings, random shootings along the border and the tried and true method of promising support to both sides (as I did the Uruguayan Crisis). Spain, as a recently resurgent power with powerful backing, was fast approaching the time when they could reclaim all the territory that Germany had broken off from them at the end of the Rhine-Rhone War, even if it meant war with their neighbors. Best of all, Russia had agreements with all parties involved: there was the agreement with Spain and Brazil to close off the Mediterranean and cut shipments of contraband to the British in exchange for trade concessions and the secret negotiations with the Confederations resulting in their neutrality so long as Imperial troops didnt cross the Rhine and their allegiance if I gave them the German Burundian holdings. War between them would have led to a very awkward situation for Brazil, one I meant to capitalize on to the fullest extent.
Were Brazil to back their Spanish allies (via the Lisbon Pact), the Confederation would then be bereft of allies and in desperate need of help. This would only further cement the propaganda that I had been spreading that Brazil was untrustworthy and should be kept out of Europe. It would also invalidate the recent treaties Brazil had signed, showing them to be fickle allies. The Confederation would then have three options: First, go it alone and try to hold back the Spanish and Brazilians by themselves (with the marginal aid of the other breakaway Spanish states) and inevitably be overrun. Second, they could turn to the British for help, who would already be stretched to the breaking point, but happy to deny me access to the English Channel, and then use my issue of the present (the British Home Fleet) to fight my problem of the future (the Brazilian fleet). No matter who wins, they are irrevocably antagonized towards each other and they sink ships today that I wont have to sink tomorrow. The third option available to the Confederation (and most appealing) is to seek my help. By that point, I would be close to, if not on the Rhine River, the German military would be crushed and their country overrun. It would be easy for my battle hardened troops to then head south to help crush the green Spanish and Brazilian forces, securing Western Europe for me, along with a launch pad for my invasion of Britain. It would also mean that Sardinia and Corsica would either be unaligned (and thus easy prey for Italy) or on my side and working for the people who would eventually see them added to the Italian Empire.
If, on the other hand, Brazil abandons the Lisbon Pact for their new allies in the Confederation, I have even more fun. Now, Brazil is throwing one of their older allies to the wolves in favor of their new friends, which I can then use to call into question every deal theyve ever made. The whole détente in South America is now in question (if the Brazilians will betray an actual ally like Spain, what hope does Peru have of getting fair treatment from them?) and Brazil is vilified abroad and does most of my PR work for me in smearing themselves. Spain, having just screwed over the British by closing Gibraltar, has even less options than the Confederation and has no choice but to seek Russian aid. The Brazilian betrayal also means that Portugal (the largest free market supplier of arms in the world) will side with Spain and I get not one, but two new friends. I then get to invade the Confederation from at least two, possibly three sides (Germany, the Netherlands and through Italy), Italy in turn begins the attacks on the now isolated Corsica and Sardinia and I get to establish a new Holy Roman Empire in France and Germany (with Papal blessing of course to get yet another nation on my side). On the downside, the British and Brazilian (and probably Argentinian) fleets are now merged to oppose a landing in England. However, that will mean nothing in a land war in Europe, and with all of the Baltic and Mediterranean under Imperial control and all of Central Europe as a buffer, I can afford to spend several years cranking out subs, carriers and any other ship I might need and launch the largest naval pincer move ever to strike at England from all sides.
Last but not least is my favorite option, where Brazil decides to remain entirely neutral and does nothing. Now, they completely invalidate every agreement theyve ever made, and severing once and for all any good will they had in Europe, leaving the various nations there without any hope of American intervention against me. It also means that Brazil would finally have honored one of his agreements, the secret pact made between Brazil, the United States and myself at the height of the Uruguayan Crisis, giving North America to the US, South America to Brazil and Europe to Russia. Then, I would get to sit back and pick who I wanted to win and back them, or let them fight it out until they were both exhausted of manpower and warfare and I could sweep in and crush them both.
Even if they dont go to war right away and through their mutual alliances with Brazil entered the War against me, I would have gradually been able to separate them, using the existing tensions, much as I did with Florida and Jacksonia, focusing on one and sparing the other, breeding further resentment and hostility until one of them either bowed out, switched sides, or fell. Either way, I would have gotten what I wanted and more of my enemies would be dead.
