The Pain of France

In reality, the countries affected by Potato Late Blight had long since expanded beyond Ireland. The worst-hit were the Netherlands and Belgium. The potatoes in the Flemish region of the Netherlands had completely failed, while yields in other regions had fallen by an average of 85%.

As for Belgium, its potato harvest was only a hair better than a total failure, having fallen by about 90%.

But in terms of the sheer scale of losses, France and Spain were the worst off. Spain had initially escaped damage, but after a heavy autumn rain, Potato Late Blight began breaking out across the country on a massive scale.

Flooding and Cholera also destabilized the regions, greatly increasing the number of people emigrating abroad. But these emigrants did not bring about a major boom in either country's colonies. Instead, they benefited the Americans.

In reality, most of Spain's colonies were barely keeping afloat. Cuba and Puerto Rico were each renowned for producing sugar and coffee.

But countries with such narrow export bases were highly vulnerable to the international market. This was especially true at a time when protectionist trade policies were flourishing. The Spanish could not provide a market large enough to matter, so overproduction was utterly pointless.

The Philippines governorate had inherited Spain's proud tradition: whether it was taxes or agricultural produce, if anything at all made its way back to Spain, it counted as a loss for the governor.

Not only did it give nothing back to the mother country, it even held out its hand for more money. For instance, the governor of Manila was currently plotting a war against a tiny island with a population of just thirty thousand—Jolo Island.

Facing an island whose garrison might number no more than three hundred, the governor of Manila claimed he was