Oh, okay. By the way, I sensed that the Portuguese Civil War will create refugees going to the region of Galicia (especially from the north).
The Legacy of the Glorious (Milarqui's Cut)
- Thread starter Milarqui
- Start date
- Status
Yes. He is VERY busy.
I recently started to work full time, and I am also doing some studying on the side, so my free time to work on this is quite limited. The next chapter is still advancing, slowly, though, and I already have 3 parts out of the 7-8 it will consist of.
Also, I have been thinking, and I figured out that there is no actual need for a Spanish-Moroccan War to begin in 1895, as I had initially planned. There might be one at a later point in time, but I figure that it is still quite possible for something actually happening on a better time (not to mention, 1895 is too near to the Portuguese Civil War and it would make my TL too similar to Tocomocho's original one).
Hope that's good enough to know what's going on at my side of the computer.
Given the portuguese civil war and the further breakdown of Anglo-Portuguese relations, will we see a complete takeover of their colonies? Or maybe the planned division of them with Germany?
Good luck on your new job, Milarqui!Yes. He is VERY busy.
I recently started to work full time, and I am also doing some studying on the side, so my free time to work on this is quite limited.
Hmmm.... I don't know, but I sensed 85% impossible
If this thread extended into middle of the 20th century, what will be the situation of mass media (especially radio and television broadcasting) in the Hohenzollern-era foral Spain?
Just asking, Milarqui
Well, Spain will probably have access to radio broadcasting much sooner than in Real Life. Television would probably be held back until it was invented in the US, but by the 1930s/40s it would start to be quite important. You can bet on the RNE (Radio Nacional de España) and TNE (Televisión Nacional de España) becoming important to the national culture by the 1950s.
TNE? Good name. Nevertheless, I still prefer TVE, like in OTL.
How about the regional networks?
Wait... I sensed that RNE will establish in the 1920s.
Last edited:
About Tesla in Spain...butterflies can help, maybe will work better without having that rivalty with edison.
About Television, that was inveted by a despatriated hungarian in USA and the butterfly can change the event all together(can be invented early or later, in ASTP was invented early in germany but keep as a military tool... why? I dunno)
Regarding the radio and television broadcasting stuff (if it's extended into 1900s), I started a separate thread.
Will Kürlich Kerl
Banned
seconded; I somewhat like this better than the other version by Tocomocho. (We just have to see what happens to the USA here)
Bumping once again...
I think Milarqui is still busy with his work. I wish he'll update this thread as soon as possible (read: immediately!)
I think Milarqui is still busy with his work. I wish he'll update this thread as soon as possible (read: immediately!)
Ugh...
I swear I haven't abandoned this. The problem is that I am stuck.
Currently, I'm doing part 5 of 6, consisting of Spain's dealing with Morocco and the Riffians. Part 6 will be an introspective of the end of the century for several nations (pretty much those that have been mayor actors in the story).
Writing Part 4 was a bit difficult, especially considering the problems of the Sino-Japanese War and the "Invasion of China" starting...
I honestly don't know when I'll be able to post. But I'll try to be fast. OK?
I swear I haven't abandoned this. The problem is that I am stuck.
Currently, I'm doing part 5 of 6, consisting of Spain's dealing with Morocco and the Riffians. Part 6 will be an introspective of the end of the century for several nations (pretty much those that have been mayor actors in the story).
Writing Part 4 was a bit difficult, especially considering the problems of the Sino-Japanese War and the "Invasion of China" starting...
I honestly don't know when I'll be able to post. But I'll try to be fast. OK?
So sorry...
I'm very sorry for keeping you waiting for so long since the last update. It's been really hard to continue, due to (a) Real Life (b) other projects and (c) writer's block.
However, this message brings you something different.
Good news!
You may expect the next update to be uploaded within the day (in about six hours, if I finish the last words fast). Unfortunately, I haven't taken the time to search for images, and the map I had drawn with the movements of the civil war has disappeared, so not even that (at least, I wrote it so that you could follow the movements on a normal map).
Also, I had been planning to write a small summary of the events that had taken place in the thirty years since the election of Leopoldo I of Spain, but I realized that it had a lot more potential in a Where Are They Now chapter, where the changes to the different nations, as well as cultural changes, would be detailed.
Hope that you like the update!
I'm very sorry for keeping you waiting for so long since the last update. It's been really hard to continue, due to (a) Real Life (b) other projects and (c) writer's block.
However, this message brings you something different.
Good news!
You may expect the next update to be uploaded within the day (in about six hours, if I finish the last words fast). Unfortunately, I haven't taken the time to search for images, and the map I had drawn with the movements of the civil war has disappeared, so not even that (at least, I wrote it so that you could follow the movements on a normal map).
Also, I had been planning to write a small summary of the events that had taken place in the thirty years since the election of Leopoldo I of Spain, but I realized that it had a lot more potential in a Where Are They Now chapter, where the changes to the different nations, as well as cultural changes, would be detailed.
Hope that you like the update!
Chapter VII, Part I
Chapter VII – The End Of A Century
Part I – Brother Against Brother
A civil war is one of the worst things that can happen to a nation. It pits brother against brother, town against town, city against city, leader against leader. A civil war is horrible, for the affected nation is fighting against itself, killing its own people, destroying its own country, all because both sides think that they have the answer to make their nation great... but the only result is that the nation becomes weaker.
That was what was happening to Portugal. The republican uprising took the monarchists by surprise, and chaos ensued. Many towns were scenes of infighting between the neighbors. Troops took strategically important positions or assaulted Army barracks in order to gain control of the weaponry kept in them. Blood was spilled in many points in Portugal. Cultural and geographical lines were drawn, separating the people and the land in two parts, lines that would eventually change.
Two weeks after the assassination of Carlos I of Portugal, those lines were stabilized. Many maps would be drawn, showing the separation between the two Portugals, and now it was time to start planning. A line that ran between Figueira da Foz in the west to Monte Fidalgo in the east was the line that separated Monarchist Portugal from Republican Portugal. Nearly every city was the scenario of fights between the two factions, but by the end of the month the redoubts had been eliminated, and soon the fight was mostly North against South. The navy, fortunately for the monarchists, fell almost entirely on their side, which was fundamental since the colonies, save for some points, were also on their side.
All in all, the Republicans knew that the revolution had been a failure. They did not expect to entirely knock out the monarchy supporters, but it was their hope that the king's abdication would make many of them stand down and accept the inevitable. However, the Royal Guard's resistance had led to the King's death, giving the Monarchists a martyr to rally their cause around. Even worse, the King's brother, Afonso, had managed to escape from Lisbon thanks to the help of his aunt Queen Antonia of Spain, who helped him cross the border with Spain.
However, it did not mean that they were going to give up. Many soldiers had joined them, most of the population in the southern regions supported them, and they still had the princes with them, which could be good hostages. If they managed to defeat the Monarchist army enough times, then victory would surely be theirs.
Meanwhile, the Monarchists had their hands full with the many problems the Royal Couple's death had caused. Fortunately, Afonso's escape allowed them to have a Regent to represent Luis Filipe, who was now the King of Portugal after his father's death. One of the main tasks the Monarchists would have to carry out would be to rescue the uncrowned King of Portugal and his brother, a task that would be very hard as long as the Republicans held Lisbon. However, with most of the navy, most generals and a good half of the army on their side, they hoped to be able to defeat the traitors as soon as possible.
International reactions to the events were swift. Spain was one of the first nations to be informed of the events, and very soon the government had declared its support for the Monarchists, promising to do anything in their hands to help put down the Republican rebellion short of direct military action in Portugal. Under the orders of President Moret, Admiral Cervera set several squadrons along the coast of Portugal, to collaborate with the Monarchist navy in putting down the few ships that had sided with the Republicans and then establish a blockade of the Republican-held coast. Both RESA and its filial CESA (Cañones Españoles, Sociedad Anónima) sold much armament in the form of rifles and cannons to the Portuguese government, and not a few youngsters and veterans joined the Portuguese Monarchist army as the Brigada de Voluntários Estrangeiros.
Germany followed suit in their declaration of support for the Monarchists. In said decision weighed their friendship with Spain, the relation of the Hohenzollerns with the Portuguese Royal family through Queen Antonia of Spain, and also a bit of a desire to stick it to the British, because it was quite clear that their actions were what had led to the current situation.
The Empire of Brazil was also one of the most outspoken supporters of the monarchy. Emperor Pedro II and his daughter and heir Isabel were distant relatives of the murdered King (Pedro II's father, Pedro I, was Carlos I's great-grandfather), and this, combined with the recent pro-Republican coup that had attempted to oust Pedro II, was more than enough to convince them to help their relatives.
In France, the feelings about the issue were divided. On one side, supporting the Republicans was basically supporting someone that opposed the Spaniards, something that the French, who still held some hatred for their southern neighbors, clearly relished. However, on the other side, a Republican victory could easily give wings to the minority Republican parties that still existed despite the unpopularity of the Third Republic. It took them two weeks to reach a consensus, but in the end the government of Premier Pierre Tirard decided to remain neutral in the issue: when the dust settled and it became clear who would win the war, they would recognize that side as the legitimate one, saving themselves the headache of supporting one side that could run against their wants.
In the Americas, most nations chose to remain aloof of the events taking place in Portugal, as their distance to Europe and the blockade made it almost impossible to do anything worth at all. The only ones to choose a side, besides Brazil, were Peru and Bolivia through their alliance with Spain, although their aid was only testimonial.
In the United Kingdom, the final act of the drama that had begun with the ultimatum to Portugal resulted in the fall of the Salisbury government. At the petition of Queen Victoria, Chancellor of the Exchequer William Ewart Gladstone took the reins of the government provisionally, and Gladstone had the Foreign Office initiate an outreach towards both sides of the civil war in order to aid in finding a peaceful resolution, partially because they felt guilty about it, and partially because they hoped to regain some sort of influence over Portugal if they helped to stop the war, but to no avail. The former ambassador to Portugal, sent to Lisbon by ship, didn't even manage to arrive there because of the blockade, and the ambassador to Spain, sent to meet with the provisional Portuguese Council of Ministers, was actually threatened with a gun by one of its members.
As front-lines stabilized in Portugal, both sides managed to fortify their bases and launch initial probing attacks to ascertain how to take the other side's territory, while in the colonies fighting also took place: in Angola and Moçambique, the situation was solved soon at the satisfaction of the Monarchists, but in Guinea, Macao and Goa it was the Republicans who won. Whichever side won in Portugal, it would have to take care of the other hold-outs very soon.
The first proper attacks of the next phase of the war were launched by the Republican army, an attempt to advance along the coast to reach and take out Porto, the Monarchists' biggest city and currently its provisional capital, due to its port and its nearness to the border with Spain. The Republicans managed to take the cities of Coimbra and Aveiro despite nearly fanatical opposition to their advance and the navy's support for the defenders, but the advance petered out two months after the beginning of the war in Maceda, where Monarchist troops held off the Republican attack and pushed it back with heavy losses on both sides. The First Royal Army then used the Republicans' overstretched supply lines to their advantage, launching an attack into Águeda, which reached Aveiro five days later, and a second one towards Marinha das Ondas by Miranda do Corvo and Soure, cutting off the Republican troops that had survived the Battle of Maceda in two isolated pockets. From then on, initiative was owned by the Monarchists.
The Second Royal Army crossed the Tagus on Vila Velha de Rodão and advanced slowly but surely towards Portalegre, while the Third Royal Army traveled along the river and took Abrantes five weeks later. A week after the fall of Abrantes, the last Republican brigades in the north surrendered in Figueira da Foz. Portalegre had already fallen by then, victim of the new weapons deployed by the Monarchist army: the RESA R-5 rifle, the Spanish Army main service weapon, and the CESA CC88 field gun, both of which were being sold to them thanks to the Spanish government's collaboration.
The Third Royal Army took Entroncamento some time later, continuing their travel along the Tagus. The First Royal Army, meanwhile, did one of the most daring attacks when they boarded several ships and landed in the south, taking Marinha Grande and Leiria. The Republican Second Army attacked, hoping to dislodge them and destroy a good part of the Monarchist army. The Battle of Barosa ended in a stalemate, as the Republicans remained there, but were unable to expel the First Royal Army out of Leiria.
Monarchist advance was inexorable, unfortunately for the Republicans. The Second Royal Army reached Elvas, and the Third changed directions and took Nazaré, which allowed them and the First to catch the Republican Second Army in a pincer, destroying its battle capabilities. The First was divided in two, with one half advancing towards the east and clearing up central Portugal and the other reinforced Entroncamento, while the Third advanced towards Lisbon.
Two months later, everything between Gentias and the Estuário do Sado was isolated from the rest of Republican Portugal. As most of the Republican industrial force was there, this move became fundamental, as by isolating the region they prevented military supplies from reaching those Republicans out of the region. Then, while the First and Second Royal Armies advanced towards the south and the east, intent on wiping out all other possible Republican bases in Portugal (an advance that managed to reach its objective in mid-June with the takeover of Faro), the Third concentrated on slowly whittling down the Republican stronghold in the Tagus Estuary. A direct attack against the capital was not tested, because they feared that the Republicans might kill Luis Filipe and Manuel if desperate enough.
Setúbal fell in April, followed by Quinta do Conde in Early May and Almada almost a month later. The Republican leaders were sent messages almost regularly, promising them safe passage to any foreign country in exchange of their surrender and the return of the children to the custody of their uncle, Regent Afonso. The messengers either were not accepted inside or were answered negatively, and the fight continued.
By July, the last stronghold outside of Lisbon fell, and the armies prowled around the capital, preparing an assault. This assault took place on July 21st, when the First Royal Army entered the city covered by intense artillery fire, killing any soldier or officer that resisted and imprisoning those that surrendered. The Republican Army folded then and there, and most soldiers dropped their weapons and let themselves be taken away.
When they finally reached the Palácio de Ajuda, which had become the headquarters for the Republican leadership, they found out that several of them had committed suicide, a few others had been killed either during the war or as they tried to offer resistance to the Royal Armies. Only two men survived to be interrogated about the whereabouts of the Princes.
In the end, the saddest possibility became the truth: the two princes had died around April of illness, probably pneumonia, and the few doctors that were in the city were not able to heal them due to their lack of medical supplies.
When news of the victory reached Porto, the celebrations were curtailed by the fact that the Princes had died just a few months before, but nonetheless they took place, because they had finally finished the threat to the nation and things could return to normal. Thus, the court and the government started to move to the capital in order to restart their work as soon as possible, while the Army was directed to put down the Republicans in Guinea, Goa and Macao.
The fall of Goa in August 24th 1891 was the official end of the Portuguese Civil War.
- Status