Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 202: Ottoman Turmoil and Balkan Rage

In mid-February 1876, the compulsory primary education development plan voted by the Spanish cabinet government was officially made public and began to be implemented.

The news immediately caused a sensation and attracted the attention of a large number of people in Spain.

According to government documents and announcements, this compulsory education, mainly in primary schools, will be completely free of tuition and miscellaneous fees, and primary school students will be provided with three free meals a day.

In the announcement, the government also specifically mentioned that three meals a day were funded by the royal family, which also triggered a wave of gratitude to the royal family and praise for Carlo among the people.

What the people are most concerned about is their actual interests. If the royal family pays for the three meals a day of the students in school, it also means that the Spanish people will no longer have to bear the cost of meals for their children in school.

The cost of food for one day may be just a small expense, but if you look at the entire year or even the entire six years of elementary school, it is definitely not a small expense.

For an average Spanish family, one less person’s three meals a day means a lot less expenses. If this expense is used elsewhere, it can effectively improve the quality of life of all family members.

Carlo was of course always keeping an eye on the public opinion in Spain. After learning that the people were grateful to the royal family and himself, Carlo knew that his move was right.

The more grateful the people are to the royal family, the more secure the royal family's position will naturally be. This is not only about Carlo, but also about all future monarchs.

The more stable the Spanish royal family is, the less the future king will have to worry about his throne. Otherwise, any small accident could lead to the overthrow of the throne, which would also make Carlo's hard work go to waste.

After announcing the compulsory primary education development plan, the education department has already begun plans to renovate primary schools in the Madrid and Catalonia regions.

The Community of Madrid and Catalonia have the two largest cities in Spain, Madrid and Barcelona, ​​which is also where these two regions become pilot areas for compulsory education.

But because of this, the population of Madrid and Catalonia is not small, totaling over 200 million people.

How to smoothly promote the operation of compulsory education and solve all problems in the process of implementing compulsory education is what the education department needs to pay attention to at all times.

If some unresolved problems arise during the pilot implementation of compulsory education, it will affect the implementation of compulsory education across the country.

Not only the education department is paying close attention to the compulsory education pilot projects in Madrid and Catalonia, but the public is also paying close attention to it.

Although Madrid and Barcelona both have a large number of workers, the income of ordinary workers at that time was not that high. Compulsory education with no tuition and miscellaneous fees was extremely attractive to the Spanish working and peasant classes.

The promotion of compulsory education in the two pilot areas is a collaboration between the education department and the regional governments of Madrid and Catalonia.

Carlo also specifically instructed Education Secretary Gerard Wilson and Deputy Prime Minister Canovas to ask the government to strictly control the construction quality during the reconstruction of primary schools and to prevent any reuse of dangerous buildings.

Once any phenomenon of reuse of dangerous buildings or shoddy construction is discovered, as well as any corruption in the promotion of compulsory education, the Cabinet Government and the Senate will deal with it seriously as quickly as possible and hold accountable all officials involved in the above incidents.

Gerard Wilson and Count Canovas naturally did not regard Carlo's instructions as an ordinary conversation. From Carlo's facial expression, it can be seen that Carlo's attitude was absolutely serious when he said that if it happened, he would be severely punished immediately.

The two men did not dare to be careless at all. Not only did they repeatedly instruct their officials to strictly control the quality of the renovated and newly built primary schools, they also went to the renovation site in person to supervise and ensure that there would not be any quality problems.

Whenever any of the above incidents occur, even if the cause has nothing to do with them, they must bear certain responsibilities.

More importantly, if an accident occurred even though Carlo had given instructions in advance, they would lose Carlo's trust.

There is no need to say more about what it means to lose Carlo's trust under the current Spanish cabinet government system.

Even though Canovas, as the Deputy Prime Minister, is already a sure bet for the next Prime Minister, if he loses Carlo's trust because of the quality issues of the primary school building, I'm afraid everything he has will disappear.

As long as Prime Minister Primo does not come forward and Archduke Serrano does not stand up against Carlo, the current Spanish government is ruled by Carlo alone.

Carlo already has a very high reputation among the people, which is also the confidence of Carlo to control the government through the upper and lower houses. Not to mention the fledgling Count Canovas, even if Prime Minister Primo re-enters the political arena, he may not be able to compete with Carlo.

Of course, this is only the case when it comes to political struggle. If the fierce struggle leads to the mobilization of troops, it will turn into a new Spanish Civil War, and the outcome will naturally be hard to predict.

The education department acted quickly, and in just over three months, more than a dozen primary schools had been renovated.

Of course, the so-called reconstruction process is actually very simple.

The first step is to select a building suitable for the primary school campus, and the second step is to complete the cleaning and separate the classrooms and dormitories.

The biggest action during this period was to repair the broken windows and doors, which is why the reconstruction of the primary school was so fast.

Even half of the three months was spent on finding a building, and the actual renovation work took less than one and a half months.

According to the current progress, the two regions are expected to renovate more than 60 primary schools before September this year, and compulsory education can also be officially launched in the two regions.

60 primary schools are definitely not enough, but it is not impossible to squeeze in students in the early stage. In the case of insufficient schools, priority can be given to enrolling children aged 6 to 12.

Once there are enough schools, enrollment can be opened to all age groups.

Yes, compulsory primary education in Spain will be open to all ages, even adults can participate in compulsory primary education.

But for the sake of fairness, and also for the healthy development of primary school students who are actually aged 6 to 12, these older "primary school students" will not be in the same school as primary school students under 12 years old.

After all, compared with young people in their teens and twenties, real elementary school students aged 6 to 12 are not fully mature mentally, and will definitely be at a disadvantage in the competition for scholarships.

As education developed, the situation in Europe also changed slightly in May 1876.

It was not the European powers, but the changes within the Ottoman Empire, a vast empire that once spanned three continents, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Because the Ottoman Empire spanned three continents, Europe, Asia, and Africa, and controlled the Strait of Constantinople, an extremely important strait in Europe, changes in the Ottoman Empire attracted close attention from European countries, especially Britain, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Russia.

In fact, it is easy to understand. The Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia have well-known ambitions for the Balkan Peninsula, and the owner of the Balkan Peninsula is the Ottoman Empire.

The British are also very concerned about the situation around the Strait of Constantinople. After all, they are not called the troublemakers of Europe for nothing.

The changes in the situation of the Ottoman Empire stem from the decline of the empire. This once mighty empire that spanned three continents has now become a corrupt and weak old man. Although the empire is still holding on to its last breath, it is just hanging on. Compared with the traditional European powers, the Ottoman Empire is like a piece of fat meat with cuts, or fat meat with all the hair shaved off, which does not prick the mouth at all.

As early as the end of last year, a severe famine in the central and northern regions of the Anatolian Peninsula caused chaos throughout the Ottoman Empire.

However, European countries only paid close attention to the situation in the Ottoman Empire and were in a state of mutual restraint. No major power had the confidence to interfere in the situation in the Ottoman Empire under the attention of other major powers.

But since May this year, the situation in the Ottoman Empire has changed again.

Abdulaziz, the then Ottoman Sultan, was deposed by knowledgeable people in the Ottoman Empire led by Midhat, and Murad V was appointed as the Ottoman Sultan.

This was originally just a change of power within the Ottoman Empire, and should not have caused any changes in the situation.

What the Ottoman people hoped for was a sultan who could bring in a new constitution, turn the Ottoman Empire into a constitutional monarchy, make it more democratic, and promote reforms to revive and strengthen the country.

Logically speaking, Murad V was deeply influenced by France and had hope of completing the above steps.

But Murad V was not fond of the Ottoman Empire's northern neighbor, the Russian Empire, and was even very hostile to it.

One enemy was the Ottoman Sultan of the Russian Empire, which naturally attracted the attention and dissatisfaction of the Russians. The Russian Empire had long wanted to control the Strait of Constantinople to control the Black Sea Fleet's exit to the Mediterranean Sea, so it naturally gloated over the chaos of the Ottoman Empire and even hoped that the Ottoman Empire would become more and more chaotic.

An Ottoman Sultan who was hostile to the Russian Empire was obviously a good excuse, which also allowed the Russian Empire to intervene more actively in the affairs of the Ottoman Empire in diplomacy, such as supporting the independence of Serbia, a fellow Slavic brother.

The chaos in the Ottoman Empire was not only a concern for Russia, but also for Britain and Austria-Hungary.

Russia's undisguised involvement in the Balkan affairs made the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was also eager for the Balkans, very dissatisfied, and expressed an attitude completely opposite to that of Tsarist Russia, that is, it was more supportive of maintaining the status quo in the Balkans. After all, a corrupt Ottoman Empire would be more conducive to the Austro-Hungarian Empire's infiltration into the Balkans.

In fact, as early as late last year, Russian Foreign Minister Gorchakov held secret talks with the Austro-Hungarian Empire to discuss whether Russia and Austria could jointly put pressure on the Ottoman Empire to force it to allow the two provinces of Herzegovina and Bosnia, where uprisings were frequent, to achieve autonomy.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire naturally understood Russia's intentions, so it did not agree to the proposal of the Russian Foreign Minister.

At present, the Russians strongly support the uprisings of various ethnic groups in the Balkan Peninsula, which naturally arouses the fear and vigilance of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The most powerful ally of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was Germany, but Germany, Russia and Austria were in the state of the Three Emperors' Alliance. Germany's diplomatic attitude in this regard was very ambiguous. It neither supported Russia's intervention in the Ottoman Empire nor supported the Austro-Hungarian Empire to maintain the status quo. It was in a relatively neutral attitude.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire could only turn its attention to another ally, Spain, which had already achieved initial reforms.

Although Spain was also an extremely weak empire, the current reforms have allowed Spain to recover, and it is not an exaggeration to call it a European power.

Since Germany did not directly support Austria-Hungary, the most reliable ally of Austria-Hungary was Spain.

Of course, the Austro-Hungarian Empire's hope to maintain the status quo in the Balkans would not be placed solely on Spain. The most important point is that the British did not want to see Russia expand its sphere of influence in the Balkans, and even less wanted to see the Russians control Constantinople and the Straits.

After the Austro-Hungarian ambassador contacted the Spanish government, the cabinet held another emergency meeting and invited Carlo to attend.

Carlo had also heard about this period of history. In the end, a war broke out between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, which was known in history as the Tenth Russo-Turkish War.

The tenth Russo-Turkish War in history ended with Russia's victory, but the spoils were divided among Britain, Austria and Russia.

It is worth mentioning that this war allowed the Austro-Hungarian Empire to gain Bosnia and Herzegovina, which also indirectly triggered the First World War.

After all, the trigger of World War I is very famous, that is, the assassination of Crown Prince Ferdinand in Sarajevo. Sarajevo is a city in Bosnia, and the reason for the assassination of Crown Prince Ferdinand originated from the conflict between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Serbia over the two provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire hoped that Spain would fulfill its alliance and provide diplomatic support to ensure that the Austro-Hungarian Empire had enough confidence to oppose Russia's forcible interference in the situation in the Balkans.

Carlo was familiar with the development of this period of history, and naturally understood that the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not participate in this war. It was only diplomatically supporting the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and there was no loss for Spain.

Although this would offend Russia, Russia is located in the easternmost part of Europe and Spain is located in the westernmost part of Europe. There is no conflict of interest between the two countries, so offending them would be an offense.

What's more, the Russian Empire didn't last long. The Ottoman Empire was a decadent old empire, and so was the Russian Empire.

The incomplete reforms gave Tsarist Russia a second breath, but Carlo knew very well how long this breath could last.

Although the surface data of the five traditional European powers are very exaggerated, there are actually only three truly powerful countries, namely Britain, France and Germany.

Britain, France and Germany have crushed Russia and Austria in terms of industry and economy, and are currently among the top three powerful countries in the world.

Russia won the war with the Ottoman Empire, but eventually had to give in to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Britain. The fundamental reason was Russia's weakness and Britain's strength.

If the dispute in the Balkans involved only the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary and Russia, Russia would even be confident that after defeating the Ottoman Empire, it could go to war with Austria-Hungary and completely control the situation in the Balkans.

But unfortunately, Germany stood behind the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Britain stood behind the Ottoman Empire. It was extremely difficult for Russia to completely control the Balkan Peninsula, just as it is now difficult for Spain to control Gibraltar.

After discussion at the cabinet meeting, the Spanish government officially expressed its attitude, which was to agree to support the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the diplomatic level and support the great powers not to interfere in the situation in the Balkan Peninsula.

After receiving the support of the Spanish government, the Austro-Hungarian government finally breathed a sigh of relief. Although Spain was not as powerful as the five traditional European powers, it was definitely a powerful country in Europe.

Spain’s diplomatic support is still very important to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and I believe it will also make Russia consider some issues more carefully when planning for the Balkan Peninsula.

While the Austro-Hungarian Empire breathed a sigh of relief, Carlo was already preparing the military factories to produce a batch of new weapons, equipment and artillery shells.

The scale of the Tenth Russo-Turkish War was quite large, with both sides mobilizing more than one million troops and more than 4000 artillery pieces.

In this war, both sides fought large troop groups, equipped with rifled guns and artillery, and used railways and field telegraphs for communication.

This also made the battlefield larger in scale and the way of war changed compared with previous battlefields. The battles in this war were characterized by wide frontal battles and greater depth, which was worthy of learning for the Spanish army.

The warring parties will certainly need a large amount of weapons and equipment. For Spanish arms factories, this is a potential opportunity to export arms.

(End of this chapter)