Chapter 447: The Struggle for the Spanish Throne

  Chapter 437 – The Spanish Throne Struggle

When the economic crisis erupted and broke out, the relationship deteriorated not only between the two countries. As the source of this economic crisis, the British are the ones who pull the most hate.

It doesn’t matter if they play dumping, the problem is that they dumped into Europe. In this era of international relations, it is enough to look at the European continent, and there is no harm in ignoring other countries.

Originally everyone had excess capacity, the British dumping directly triggered the crisis. Needless to say, governments put the blame on the British.

In Paris, patriots are marching in the streets again. This time it’s not anti-government, they’re calling on the people to boycott British goods and support domestic production.

The same scene is happening in many European cities, and naturally the capitalists are behind it. The British have stolen the market and have threatened their survival.

Governments did increase tariffs, but the goods that had already poured in could not be returned, could they? There is no shortage of buyers in any country, and people’s modesty is always low in front of interests.

In the context of the Great Dump, Anglo-French relations deteriorated, Anglo-Austrian relations deteriorated, Anglo-Prussian relations deteriorated, Anglo-Belgian relations deteriorated ……

If the British had been a continental nation they would have had to worry about being swarmed. However as a maritime empire, with the Royal Navy they had nothing to fear.

Don’t dream of a coalition of European countries, and they are not the only ones whose relations have deteriorated. Because of trade conflicts, Prussian-Austrian relations deteriorated, Prussian-French relations deteriorated, French-Austrian relations deteriorated, Russian-Austrian relations deteriorated ……

Simply put: in order to save themselves, everyone’s relations are bad.

You dump on me, I can dump on you, everyone hurts each other. A lot of conflicts, provoked by capitalists for profit, are simply out of control.

In the face of a crisis, only the fastest-reacting companies can escape, realize their inventories in the shortest possible time, and cut their production capacity in time. Enterprises that are slow to react will have to rely on their strength to hang on.

To get through the economic crisis, the most common means used by everyone is war. War can consume excess materials and plunder wealth and markets.

As a result, many countries have been hit by unmitigated disasters.

The French launched the Egyptian War, the Malian War, and the Algerian War; the British launched the war against Tunisia at the same time they launched the war against Ethiopia.

This was directly related to the rapid deterioration of relations between Britain and France. Mutually, they are no longer giving face to each other, they are directly dry.

According to the prevailing international practice in this era, whoever snatches it belongs to whom. Before the actual occupation, all countries have the opportunity.

Austria has not been idle, ignited the war on the African continent, Botswana, Tanzania, Kenya and other areas have become a battlefield.

Tensions also rose in the Middle East, and Franz was still hesitant to launch an attack on the Arabian Peninsula. If the economic situation continued to deteriorate, it was certain that the Ottoman Empire would be in bad luck again.

The European continent countries tense relations, the African continent fought a war, Asia has not been able to peace. The relationship among the four Central Asian countries was suddenly strained, and the unequal division of the spoils led to the breakup of this fragile alliance.

Undoubtedly, this was not without the handiwork of the British. The four Central Asian countries were at each other’s throats, and they mediated in their favor to maximize their benefits.

In order to get rid of the economic crisis, the European countries also stepped up their invasion of Japan, the Central and Southern Peninsula and other countries, among which the Kingdom of Prussia and the German Confederation were extremely prominent.

The Phnom Penh Dynasty was wiped out by the Prussians, and the Malay Peninsula was occupied by the German Confederation for most of the time, and they also did battle with the Thai army.

The Americas were relatively peaceful and generally remained stable. But the Mexican Civil War continued, and it had become indisputable that the rebels were getting bigger. Massimiliano I had already written several times, complaining to Franz about this problem.

……

Spain also did not escape the impact of the economic crisis. Affected by the deteriorating domestic economy, the Spanish government delayed the arrears of military pay, which triggered strong dissatisfaction among the military.

In September 1868, a group of special and mysterious guests came to the military camp in Cadiz, Spain. They disguised themselves as horsemen transporting logistical supplies and entered the barracks.

“General Prim, Isabel, that siren knows all day long that she and her male favorites are lusting after the court, and nepotism has made a mess of the country.

For the sake of Spain’s future, we can’t let her continue to act recklessly. Otherwise the great Spain will be ruined by her.”

The speaker is Spain’s domestic radical faction “Ila a” on behalf of the Bourgeois, the purpose of this secret into the barracks, in order to say that the military young strong General Prim to start an armed uprising, to overthrow the rule of Queen Isabel II.

The adjective is a bit of a leap, but Queen Isabel II is not a very good monarch, and she is notorious for her bad personal life.

In this day and age, if we were to conduct a ranking of the world’s fainting monarchs, Queen Isabel II would definitely be at the top of the list: the most unpopular queen in Europe.

Not only is her reputation bad among the people, but she is also notorious among the nobility. The monarch circle is even more ostracized, especially several other queens in Europe see her very unhappy.

In short, she not only lowered the average IQ of the monarchs, but also the overall image of queens as a group.

The military also had a long history of displeasure with Isabel II, and General Prim, a representative of the military, was in charge of this secret negotiation.

The fact that the negotiation was placed in a military barracks was enough to explain a lot.

Prim did not beat around the bush and asked directly, “After overthrowing Isabel II, who will be the King of Spain?”

As a nobleman, Prim was a born royalist. Like most countries, the Spanish army was also the power base of the nobility and the force bearer of the royalists.

The group of radicals represented by the Bourgeois was actually a part of the constitutional monarchists, otherwise they would have had no basis for union.

If you change the republican faction, General Primm will not be so good to talk, directly ordered the arrest are normal operation.

“Your Excellency General, we agree with your last proposal to have a prince from the Hohenzollern dynasty take the Spanish throne.”

The issue of the throne had always been the center of contention between the two sides. After resolving this issue, the rest would be easy.

The main reason for the military to support the Hohenzollern dynasty was still to expand their rights. No one was unmoved by the treatment of the Junker nobles, and now that the opportunity had come, they naturally wouldn’t miss it.

Spain was going to have a constitutional monarchy and the king’s power was going to be suppressed. It didn’t matter so much who the king was before the radicals made a compromise.

Of course there was a political implication in having a prince of the Hohenzollern dynasty as king, which meant that the power of the military was going to expand.

This was one of the foundations of the cooperation between the two sides, and after the overthrow of Queen Isabel II, the radicals could take control of the new government, and the military would naturally have to reap the benefits.

Without enough benefits, no one would do this head-killing business. Expanding the power of the military was their reward for participating in this uprising.

Everyone knows the after-effects of expanding the military’s rights, and the radicals are no exception; initially they were against it.

However, plans can’t catch up with change, and as the domestic economy deteriorated, their behind-the-scenes supporters reached the limit of their patience with Queen Isabel II’s rule.

No group can be separated from its supporters without being rootless. The “Ila’s” were no exception, and under pressure from their supporters they decided to compromise with the military.

The revolutionaries had learned a lesson from their many failed revolts and knew that they could not succeed without the support of the military.

Having gotten the answer he wanted, Prim revealed a satisfied smile, and the negotiations that followed were smooth sailing, with both sides quickly reaching an agreement.

This is the famous “September Alliance” in the history of the Spanish Revolution, the alliance between the military and the political radicals in the country, they decided to join forces to overthrow the rule of Queen Isabel II.

The Spanish people had long suffered from Isabel II, so the uprising had to be quick.

On September 17, 1868, Francisco Sierra led the army of Cadiz to launch an armed uprising.

The wave of revolt was ignited and a lot of the Spanish country became smoke-filled. The general public, nobles, capitalists, army and other classes of the Spanish people all demanded the abdication of Queen Isabel II.

Seeing the situation out of control, Queen Isabel II in a panic appointed the Marquis of Jose to lead the army to quell the chaos. Without any surprise, Queen Isabel, who had always been a nepotist, paid the price.

On September 28, Isabel II went into exile in France after the government forces were defeated by the rebels and the insurgents led by Francisco Serra fell on their way to Madrid.

The sudden Spanish revolution disrupted the deployment of the European countries. “Revolution” was a taboo topic for all governments, and in order to avoid the spread of revolution, everyone was closely monitoring the situation in Spain.

Franz was no exception, after the outbreak of the Spanish revolution, he held a high-level meeting at the first time.

Although Spain had fallen in recent years, it was still a member of the Great Powers.

For Austria, the existence of a stable, and with a certain strength of Spain, can hold back part of the French energy, ease the pressure of the Western Front’s defense.

The government of Vienna had repeatedly drawn Spain into the fold in an attempt to create an alliance to work together against the common enemy, France.

However, the mud could never be held up, and after many attempts Franz died. Seeing that Spain just could not be helped, the Vienna government turned to an alliance with the French.

Having learned from his failure, Franz did not have much confidence in the nascent Spanish revolutionary regime.

The Spanish revolution was more appropriately described as a coup d’état than a revolution.

The traditional class of interests had not been broken, and it was the vested interests that had started this uprising, who were only dissatisfied that Isabel II’s policies had jeopardized their own interests.

In short, it was Isabel II who reformed.

Under normal circumstances, the nobles would not easily revolt. Instead, Isabel II’s reform policy offended all parties.

And coincided with the economic crisis, the domestic conflict intensified, to the time must be set off vent, which gave the uprising to create the conditions.

Now it’s just overthrowing a queen, and her corrupt government, and replacing it with a new one, essentially Spain hasn’t changed.

Foreign Minister Weissenberg analyzed: “Isabel II’s reputation in Spain has been infamous, want to restore is impossible.

If the French were willing to support it by installing her son, Prince Alfonso, to succeed the throne, there would still be a few possibilities.

However, Prince Alfonso is too young, I am afraid that he is unable to cope with the current situation, all parties are unlikely to let Isabel II regent, basically can be ruled out.

There are a lot of alternatives behind, and after excluding the Bourbons, the ones with higher support are: Prince Leopoldo of the Hohenzollern Dynasty, who gained the support of the Spanish military, but Napoleon III would have opposed it.

There was also the Duke of Montpensier, brother-in-law of Isabelle II, who would have had great difficulty in succeeding to the throne after having killed Prince Enrique in a duel.

Next is Fernando, the former Regent of Portugal, who, according to the information we have received, has no interest in the Spanish throne.

The rest of the candidates, including the former Sardinian royal family, the Orleans dynasty, and several of our domestic princes do not have a high approval rating. It is still difficult to determine who the final flower will be.”

After saying that, Weissenberg looked at Franz apprehensively, looking like he was worried that the emperor would force the Habsburg prince to succeed the throne.

If it is not the ancestor when the Habsburg dynasty into two, the Austrian line and the Spanish line each established a system, set the rule that both sides do not interfere with each other, there are not so many rotten things.

Unfortunately, Charles V did not expect the Habsburg dynasty will decline so much, the Spanish line is extinct.

In the last round of the battle for the Spanish throne, the divided Habsburg dynasty could not exert its full power and lost the war to the French, and the Spanish crown fell to the Bourbon dynasty.

It is easy to give away the jurisprudence, it is difficult to get it back again. Now that the Habsburg dynasty’s succession to the Spanish throne was not based on sufficient jurisprudence, and there was also the position of the European countries destined to oppose it, it was naturally impossible for Franz to go against the trend.

Several princes of the Habsburg dynasty, can appear on the list of candidates, that is, people give face.

“There is no need to consider the several princes in the country, the current international situation, the countries are simply not likely to let them on the throne.”

After saying that, Franz sighed, this opportunity had to be regretfully missed.

(End of chapter)