Bourbons flee to New World

I was reading about the Portuguese court fleeing to Brazil and a thought occurred to me. What if the Spanish had done so as well?

1. Where would they have gone? I would think they would have headed to Mexico City, but I could be mistaken.
2. Would they have been able to maintain more control over their empire? The Peninsula War started the ball rolling on the independence movements in the New World.
3. Would the Spanish Bourbons taken a harder line with the Americans? During this time they had incursions into Texas and Florida along with the annexation of West Florida.

1. Mexico city sounds likely.

2. The Independence movements were rooted in loyalty to the Bourbons. Having the royals in the Americas would probably add to such sentiment. However Ferdinand VII was the worst possible ruler to deal with them, as he would have never agreed to an Empire of Brazil like entity emerging in Mexico or elsewhere. Maybe you kill him off, Carlos takes over and for some reason is amenable to Francisco ruling Mexico. While Carlos was a well known legitimist, Francisco was rather liberal.

3. That one I don't know.

anyone have any thoughts on how the American would now view New Spain? It would no longer be at the edges of the empire with the Bourbons in Mexico City

Jbsmagic said:

I was reading about the Portuguese court fleeing to Brazil and a thought occurred to me. What if the Spanish had done so as well?

1. Where would they have gone? I would think they would have headed to Mexico City, but I could be mistaken.
2. Would they have been able to maintain more control over their empire? The Peninsula War started the ball rolling on the independence movements in the New World.
3. Would the Spanish Bourbons taken a harder line with the Americans? During this time they had incursions into Texas and Florida along with the annexation of West Florida.

Click to expand...

1. Mexico City; I agree with your and the other guy's insight here. This was the heaviest concentration of loyalists and it -was- the capital of New Spain. No reason not to go there, even if for some reason it happens to be overrun with revolutionaries---the government and loyalist troops will go there, crush the rebellion and set up shop; crushing the rebels will even add legitimacy and restore some prestige.

2. Yes, I believe so, especially if they make it there with most of their fleet and loyalist army intact (making peace with and securing support from the Brits helps in this). I agree with killing Ferdinand VII, that fat miserable f*ck (watch the 'Napoleon' miniseries, does NOT paint him in a favorable light).

3. The Bourbons in exile would very likely, I imagine, exploit the Americas as hard as possible in order to build up enough to take back Spain proper, rather than giving up on the 'old world' and staying in New Spain. I don't see a permanent Bourbon New Spanish Empire, if that's your aim. MAYBE under a cadet branch of the Bourbons, after Ferdinand sets off to retake Spain, and is unsuccessful in retaining the colonies. Then you end up with a Brazil-esque situation (and probably a more stable Mexico, if the liberals are crushed for good by loyalists before the split).

A stronger Spain would presumably butterfly the Mexican American war. Would that put a greater pressure on an all Oregon movement or would Spain and great Britain combine to box out the Americans from the pacific?