00:00Ah, Spain, the first empire upon which the sun never set.
00:05One cannot help but admire the sheer ambition of the Spaniards during the 16th century.
00:11In the span of mere decades, the Spanish monarchy turned from a fractured feudal power into
00:18the owner of the largest colonial empire on earth with literal mountains of silver in
00:24their treasury.
00:25In the wake of such achievements, we can hardly blame the Spanish kings for thinking
00:29that they could truly conquer the world.
00:32But the true scale of their ambition can only be appreciated if we look at the insane yet
00:38seemingly plausible plan of the Spanish to conquer China.
00:43Now it is worth noting that the Spanish monarchy at the time was ruled not by a Spanish dynasty
00:49but by the Habsburgs, who famously married their way into almost every European throne at some
00:55point or another.
00:56It was a long time dream of the Habsburgs to create a single universal monarchy for all
01:03of Christendom.
01:04But they were having quite a bit of trouble with that task in Europe with Protestant England,
01:10the Calvinist Dutch and the Muslim Ottomans waging almost continuous war against Spain from
01:17the 1560s onwards.
01:19Outside of Europe, however, Spain had much more success.
01:23With incredibly small armies, the Spanish conquistadors had conquered the major civilisations of the
01:30Americas and were well on their way to converting them to Christianity and making them into loyal
01:36Spanish subjects.
01:37From their new American colonies, the Spaniards then managed to sail across the Pacific to
01:43colonise the Philippines, establishing what is arguably the first truly global trade route
01:49in history.
01:50From Manila, Spanish traders had access to China from where they could buy silk, porcelain
01:56and spices with their newfound American silver.
01:59The Chinese were always desperate for silver, by pure historical coincidence.
02:06The Ming dynasty, which had taken over from the Mongols two centuries prior, had initially
02:11tried to implement paper money.
02:13But it was a bit too early for that particular innovation, so their currency collapsed and
02:19they instead decided to use silver, making it much more precious there than in Europe.
02:26The Spaniards would buy whatever luxuries they could from China with their endless supply
02:31of American silver, then ship the goods through the Philippines and Mexico to Europe.
02:36The returns from this trade route were incredible, as much as 300% per voyage, and it ran continuously
02:45for two and a half centuries, right up until Mexico gained its independence.
02:50It is these truly eye-watering profits that got the Spanish in Manila thinking, why should
02:56they just trade away their silver to China?
02:59After all, had the Spanish been content with just trading with the Aztecs and the Incas, there
03:05would be no Spanish America, so conquest was clearly preferable to trade.
03:12And by cutting out the middleman, that pesky Chinese emperor, Spain would gain control of
03:18the most productive supply chain on earth, right at the source.
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04:33What also sounded very good was China's promise of near infinite wealth.
04:38In fact, this allure proved so tempting that nearly every Spanish diplomat, governor and clergyman
04:45in Manila, made some form of proposal for the conquest of China.
04:50King Philip II was inclined to entertain these proposals.
04:54After all, it was after him that the Philippines were named, and he voraciously read all reports
05:01from the islands.
05:03Yet for him, what really mattered was bringing Christianity to China.
05:08He was a very pious king, seeing himself as the defender of all Catholics, and he was
05:14absolutely determined to save China's vast population from eternal damnation.
05:20Luckily, the Philippine governors had a very strong religious argument for invading China.
05:27The Ming Emperor forbade Spanish missionaries from preaching the Gospels, so they couldn't
05:32convert the Chinese peacefully.
05:34Therefore, they argued that it was Spain's divine duty to forcefully open China's doors
05:41to the Word of God.
05:42The plan to invade China was given even more support by another lucky circumstance, this
05:49time much closer to home.
05:51In 1580, the old Portuguese king died without any direct heirs, and while Philip II was third
05:59in line behind his distant cousins, he decided to expedite his candidacy.
06:04Thus, after a brief war, Philip II of Spain became Philip I of Portugal, bringing together the world's
06:13two largest colonial empires under one crown.
06:17This Iberian Union presented a lucrative stepping stone for the Spanish conquest of China in the
06:24form of Macau.
06:25The Spaniards now had access to the Portuguese colony right next to China's southern administrative
06:32centre of Canton, which would make an ideal staging ground for an invasion along the Pearl River.
06:38This fact was universally recognised by the Spaniards in the Philippines as a sign from God endorsing
06:45their invasion.
06:47A grand convention was held in Manila in 1586, and a detailed proposal was drafted for the
06:54invasion of China.
06:55The plan called for 10,000 troops to be assembled from mainland Spain, alongside 6,000 native Filipino
07:04warriors and another 6,000 Christian samurai from Japan.
07:08Yes, unlike China, the Japanese had allowed Christian missionaries into their country and by the 1580s,
07:17their numbers were large enough to enter into an alliance with Spain.
07:22This multi-ethnic invasion force was to seize southern China out of Macau, then march to
07:28Beijing to force the Chinese emperor into submission to the Spanish crown.
07:33On paper, it was exactly the same plan that had toppled the Aztecs and the Incas, so the
07:39Spaniards were certain it would work.
07:42Then, once the Chinese population had been Christianised, Spain could launch a crusade across
07:48Asia, ultimately opening up a second front against the Ottoman Empire.
07:53Preparations for the invasion of China commenced before the plan had even reached King Philip
07:59in Madrid.
07:59After all, letters back then could take a full year to circumnavigate the globe.
08:05The Philippine governor was buying weapons and ammunition, making alliances and fortifying
08:11Manila for almost two years before he got the King's response.
08:16Ironically, since Spain and Mexico were very far away, the invasion supplies were almost exclusively
08:23sourced from China itself by willing merchants who were oblivious to Spain's plans.
08:29Unfortunately, when the Philippine governor finally received King Philip's response in
08:341588, the answer was a resounding no.
08:40You see, while the Philippines were gearing up for invasion, the Spanish crown had made offensive
08:45plans of its own.
08:46King Philip had assembled a grand fleet, the famous Spanish Armada, to once and for all
08:53defeat England and restore Catholicism to its wayward subjects.
08:59Unfortunately for Philip, his armada was defeated in four short skirmishes, and then
09:05most of it was destroyed by Atlantic storms on the way back to Spain.
09:10So with his navy in tatters and England preparing an armada of its own to counter invade Spain,
09:16King Philip could scarcely afford sending 10,000 men halfway across the world to China.
09:24And so King Philip instructed the Philippines to maintain peaceful trade with China, much
09:30to the angst of the Spaniards there, but very much to the delight of his new Portuguese subjects,
09:36who very well understood that Spain had no chance of actually conquering China.
09:41China.
09:41Unlike the Aztecs and Incas, who were stuck in the Stone Age, Ming China was at the forefront
09:47of civilization, both in terms of numbers and quality.
09:52Lest we forget, it was the Chinese who invented gunpowder, and the Ming had a standing army of
09:59over a million soldiers and enough walled cities to make any conquistador blush.
10:04One might argue that yes, the Ming armies were unmotivated, untrained, and under-equipped,
10:12due to rampant corruption and Chinese culture treating soldiers as the very bottom of the
10:18social hierarchy.
10:20But even if the Spanish had captured Canton, with its great walls that no Spanish cannon
10:25could penetrate, they would have found it totally impossible to hold and manage the vast lands
10:31of China with a pitiful force of 20,000.
10:34As an example of just how impossible conquering Ming China would be, the Japanese would try
10:40a similar venture a mere decade later, with over 150,000 men and 1,000 ships landing in
10:46Korea to move into China.
10:49Yet, even though Japan was a lot closer to China than Spain was, and had come knocking with
10:5410 times as many soldiers, the invasion never made it past Korea, and ultimately, almost
11:01everyone died.
11:03So, it is probably good that King Philip called the whole invasion off, as his forces would
11:09have suffered the same fate, and then we wouldn't have all those wonderful casinos in Macau today.
11:15In any case, thank you for watching, my friends.
11:18If you enjoyed this brief tour of Spain's grandomanic fantasies, consider supporting us
11:23on Patreon.
11:24Make sure to like and subscribe, and leave a comment down below about which topic you want
11:30us to cover next.
11:32Don't forget to check out our friends over at Raycon, and stay tuned for the next delusionally
11:38ambitious episode of SideQuest.
11:45Why did the Spanish laugh at the Ming's navy?
11:48They heard it was all junks.
