Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 11 We Want Bread, Not a Republic

Seeing the Spanish Revolution spreading rapidly to Madrid like a raging fire, Queen Isabella, who had an extremely chaotic private life, finally panicked.

Faced with the choice of resistance or escape, Queen Isabelle did not hesitate at all and hurriedly fled north to France with her family.

The queen's escape also accelerated the Spanish Revolution. The revolutionary army easily entered Madrid and declared the end of the Spanish kingdom.

On October 1868, 10, Francisco Serrano appointed himself president of the provisional government, and Juan Primo, who was quite prestigious in the revolutionary army, served as the Minister of War of the provisional government. Spain officially entered a state of extreme chaos.

It remains to be seen whether this vigorous revolution is the savior of the Spanish people, but the chaotic situation in Spain created an opportunity for Cuba, far away in America, to fight for independence.

On October 10, Cespedes Borja del Castillo, a famous Cuban plantation owner and barrister, led a group of Cuban patriots in an uprising near Yala in the eastern province of Olite, and issued the Guerra Manifesto to all regions of Cuba, calling on all Cubans to fight for freedom, equality and independence.

This was a heavy blow to the hastily established Spanish provisional government, as Cuba was one of the few remaining colonies of Spain that could generate positive returns.

Cuba's War of Independence not only forced the Spanish provisional government to send troops to suppress the war, but also forced the new government to face huge military expenditures under extremely difficult financial circumstances.

But this was not the only problem facing the provisional government. The revolution was successful, but the provisional government did not yet control all of Spain.

At the same time, the biggest challenge at present is how to stabilize the rule of the provisional government and establish an administrative system that is completely different from the former monarchical government.

Moreover, the provisional government was not a monolithic entity. The relationships between the various classes and forces were hostile to each other. The chaotic situation of the provisional government was not much better than that of the former Spanish royal government.

The initiators of this revolution were the Spanish upper bourgeoisie and liberals. Their original intention was to overthrow the former monarchy and establish a democratic monarchy with power concentrated in the national government.

But the petty bourgeoisie, workers and peasants in Spain had had enough of the oppression of the monarchy and the aristocracy. They wanted to establish a federal republican government with decentralized power but unified management, and agreed to replace the king with a president to unify the management of the whole of Spain.

Carlo was also paying close attention to the situation in Spain. The good news was that Italy and Spain were separated by the sea and only separated by France on land, so news could be transmitted quickly.

What Carlo was most reluctant to hear at this time was that the Spanish provisional government decided to abolish the monarchy, which also meant that Carlo would completely lose connection with the Spanish throne.

On November 11, the Spanish provisional government finally issued a decree on the establishment of parliament and announced that parliamentary elections would be held next year, in February 9.

Although the decree does not mention the composition of the future Spanish government, everyone who follows Spanish news understands that the results of the parliamentary elections will determine the fate of Spain.

If big capital and liberal reformers gain a majority in parliament, the new parliament will have the power to enact a bill on constitutional monarchy.

Similarly, once the working or peasant class obtains the majority in parliament, the Spanish monarchy may be destroyed and a republic may very well come to the Spanish stage.

As it stands, there is a high probability that the situation in Spain will develop as it has in history.

Prime, who supports constitutional monarchy, still controls the Spanish government and is likely to gain an advantage in parliamentary elections in a few months.

The timing of the parliamentary election is also worth pondering. It took only four months from the establishment of the provisional government to the parliamentary election, and less than three months from the promulgation of the decree to the parliamentary election.

It will be difficult to change the attitude of the Italian people in these three months, nor will it be possible to change the power of the nobles and big capital in Spain.

However, in order to make his plan more secure, Carlo decided to spread some news to the Spanish people. What news? Of course, it was to promote the monarchy.

As for the harm that the Spanish Bourbon dynasty brought to the Spanish people, it can all be attributed to the rule of the licentious and immoral Queen Isabella.

Carlo also had reasons to advocate the monarchy.

The strongest navy in the world is definitely the United Kingdom, which is a constitutional monarchy. The strongest army in the world should be France (the afterglow of Napoleon), which is also a monarchy.

The old European powers Russia, the Austrian Empire and the emerging power Kingdom of Prussia were all monarchies. Even Italy, which had just achieved unification and joined the ranks of great powers, was a monarchy.

Looking around the world, the only non-monarchy country among the great powers is the United States, and the United States is not that powerful in the eyes of Europeans at this time.

The rise of the United States had to wait until after World War I and World War II. At that time, the United States did not have such an exaggerated industrial and economic scale.

Since most of the powerful countries in Europe are monarchies, why would the Spaniards voluntarily abandon this very advanced system?

As for the failure of the monarchy in the past, it was all the fault of the Bourbon family and Queen Isabella. If you want to blame someone, just blame Queen Isabella.

In addition to wanting to retain a little trust in the monarchy in the hearts of the Spanish people, Carlo also wanted to make the Spanish people hate the Bourbon dynasty and Queen Isabella as much as possible.

Only in this way will the Spanish be less averse to foreign dynasties, and Carlo's hope of ruling Spain will be much greater.

As for the Bourbon family, Queen Isabella and the famous Alfonso XII, they have been sucking the blood of Spain for decades, and it is time for them to make some contribution to the Spanish.

And this is not a smear on the Bourbons. Queen Isabella's reign in Spain was well known, characterized by debauchery, tyranny and chaos.

If the Spaniards could be made to no longer trust the Bourbon dynasty, the Carlist rebellion that had plagued Spain for so long could be properly resolved.

After all, the Carlos party is also from the Bourbon family, and they also contributed to the chaos in Spain.

On November 1868, 11, the already popular Italian newspaper Sole 27 Ore published an article entitled "We Want Bread, Not a Republic," which quickly spread to northern and southern Italy.

The main content of this article is to talk about the advancement of the current monarchy and the success of major monarchical countries in Europe, and it states that monarchy is the most reasonable choice for European countries, and that the republic is a deformed evolution for Europe.

Regardless of whether this article makes sense or not, for the European monarchies at that time, such articles were definitely better than nothing.

It is better to publish such articles in newspapers than those advocating republicanism, freedom and democracy. At least such reports will not make the people dissatisfied with the throne of the monarch.

With no objection from any country, the report began to spread on a small scale along the Mediterranean coast, especially in the Mediterranean countries centered on Italy.

Seeking recommendation tickets and monthly tickets, seeking follow-up reading and investment, and also seeking some comments from the book review circle to make it look more lively. Readers can also join the old book group if they have anything to communicate (there is no new book group for the time being)

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(End of this chapter)