Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 15: The War of King Selection

The revolution in Spain and the establishment of a provisional government attracted the attention of many European countries.

After the Spanish Parliament announced that it would not abolish the monarchy and would look for a new king, many countries remained eager to watch the fun and were also curious about which lucky person would be the new King of Spain.

But soon, the French government could no longer laugh.

Because according to news from Spain, among the many candidates for the King of Spain, Prince Leopoldo of the Hohenzollern Family ranks at the top and is very likely to become the next King of Spain.

(There are many Leopold princes in Germany. The candidate for the throne here is Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern, not the Bavarian one. Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern is the father of King Ferdinand I of Romania.)
This was fatal to the French. Prussia alone had already posed a huge threat to France. Especially after defeating Austria, the threat Prussia brought to France was unprecedented.

If the Hohenzollern family were allowed to obtain the Spanish crown, France would be faced with being attacked from both Prussia and Spain.

Although Spain is not a powerful country and can only be considered a second-rate country in Europe, it is located in the south of France and has the Pyrenees Mountains as a natural defense line.

Prussia only needed to stockpile less than 100,000 troops in Spain to cause great trouble to the French and threaten many cities in southern France.

On June 1869, 6, the angry French government expressed strong opposition to the Spanish and German governments, and stated that when Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern was crowned King of Spain, it would be the time for France to declare war on Prussia and Spain.

The threat from the European hegemon was still very useful. King William I of Prussia retreated somewhat under such threats and even publicly expressed his disapproval of his cousin Prince Leopold inheriting the Spanish throne.

The Spanish government was also a little panicked. If a war broke out with France because of their choice of king, it would undoubtedly be a loss.

William I's concession made the French government very satisfied, and they also relaxed their vigilance against Prussia, which had just defeated Austria.

The French ambassador to Prussia even sought an audience with William I in early July and conveyed the attitude of French Emperor Napoleon III, who hoped that William I would guarantee that he would not ask for the candidacy he had given up in the future.

Such a request was absolutely rude, which made William I, who had originally planned to give in, feel a little dissatisfied.

The French would never have thought that even when William I was retreating, there were still more stubborn people in Germany who were already preparing for war with France.

William I was somewhat annoyed by the rude treatment of the French ambassador. He sent an urgent telegram to his Prime Minister Bismarck on the same day, hoping that Bismarck could come up with a reasonable solution to the crisis facing Prussia.

But William I did not expect that Bismarck's so-called solution to the crisis was to defeat France through war, which was to solve the problem itself.

After receiving the telegram from William I, Bismarck did not show any panic, and even a smile appeared on his face.

After asking Chief of the General Staff Moltke whether he was sure of victory in the war against France and receiving an affirmative answer, Bismarck decided not to wait any longer.

He significantly revised the content of William I's telegram, deleting all the words about long-term consideration and euphemistic concessions, and added some words to stimulate the French government and officials at the end of the telegram: "Due to your unreasonable demands and attitude, His Majesty King William I has decided to refuse to approach the French ambassador from now on, and only conveyed to your country through this telegram that there is nothing more to discuss between our two countries."

Although this telegram used to stimulate the French government was not sent directly to the French government's radio station, it was published in major Prussian newspapers in the form of open news, and spread to the whole of Europe through all Prussian missions abroad. The Prussians' firm attitude caused an uproar in the French government, which also made the originally complacent French government completely angry.

Perhaps Carlo did not expect that his slightest action would directly affect the world and bring forward the Franco-Prussian War by one year.

On July 1869, 7, the angry French government expelled the Prussian ambassador to France after several days of preparation, and declared war between the two countries to the Prussian ambassador to France with a cold face.

But the French did not see the expected panic and nervousness on the Prussian ambassador's face. They could only watch the Prussian ambassador walk out of the embassy with a relaxed look on his face and get on the train back to Prussia.

Even more confused than the French was King William I of Prussia. Although William I was angry at the French rudeness, he really did not think of going to war with the French at such a time.

But things had come to such a point that William I could not stop the war. On July 7, William I announced a general mobilization in the North German Confederation and called on all states in the Confederation to fight for Germany.

Prussia called this war the Franco-German War, trying to unite Germany by asking the various states to contribute troops and manpower.

The French also called this war the Franco-German War, and the feud between the French and the German region has been going on for a long time.

This war, which was larger in scale than the Austro-Prussian War, broke out at lightning speed, which was somewhat unexpected for the Spanish government, which was theoretically the direct cause of the Franco-Prussian War.

However, in this situation, no matter who was the winner of the Franco-Prussian War, Prince Leopold of Prussia was no longer suitable to continue to be the King of Spain.

In addition, Prince Leopold himself publicly refused to inherit the Spanish throne. Although it was more because William I stood up to oppose it, it was Prince Leopold himself who gave up after all.

After all these events, the original five candidates for the Spanish throne were reduced to two princes from the Italian House of Savoy.

Whether Amadeo or Carlo became King of Spain, Savoy would be the ultimate winner.

Aside from the Savoy dynasty, which both have, Amadeo has the advantage of being older and more mature, while Carlo has the advantage of having a friendly reputation that may be more acceptable to the Spanish and is more likely to support reform.

From the perspective of reform, Primo undoubtedly supports Carlo as the King of Spain. After all, although Primo supports the monarchy, he is a thorough reformer.

Serrano is more like a neutral party between the reformists and conservatives, and can also be classified as a royalist from the aristocratic line.

Both of them were undecided between Amadeo and Carlo. For the stability of the Kingdom of Spain, Primo decided to go to Italy in person to inspect the two princes and determine the final candidate for the King of Spain during this inspection.

Serrano agreed to Primo's proposal and expressed his support for either Amadeo or Carlo to become the King of Spain and his willingness to be loyal to the new king.

Second update, please support!



(End of this chapter)