The Legacy of the Glorious (Milarqui's Cut)

[Deimos]

This is a very fine timeline. I first visited this board because of "A Prussian on the Spanish Throne" and I like to see a different take on the premise.

I won't be able to comment much, though as I am not very knowledgeable on the details of Spanish history and the challenges it had to face.
However, in return, this means I can learn a great deal about a nation and her peoples, inventors and innovators that perhaps did not get enough chances to shine in the last 150 years.

 

[Milarqui]

@Deimos: I am glad you chose to comment! It does not matter if you don't know much about Spanish history, you can still ask questions and wonder about the future.

Oh! I thought it was Manuel Becerra.

That was in 1869, when the Progressives "ruled". Since the conservative wing of the National Union is in charge of government in 1872, then it is likely that Serrano chose someone from his old party, thus López de Ayala.

@Everyone: I have already managed to write down the outline for the post-Portuguese Civil War timeline, so, as soon as I finish re-writing Chapter V, I'll start writing the rest of Chapter VI, which will deal with the PCW, its outcome and the 1890s.

 

[ramones1986]

That was in 1869, when the Progressives "ruled". Since the conservative wing of the National Union is in charge of government in 1872, then it is likely that Serrano chose someone from his old party, thus López de Ayala.
.

Why not post the Spanish Cabinet from the Provisional Government until Sagasta's time?

 

[Milarqui]

Why not post the Spanish Cabinet from the Provisional Government until Sagasta's time?

Uff... That would be so, so very long to do.

 

[Milarqui]

A question for the experts in heraldry:

I have been thinking about the flag of Corsica, and have made something quite interesting, but I am not sure if it would actually be good, so I would like to know if this design would run well:

Take the Sardinian flag, remove the Maures in the second and third quarters, place the crown from Napoleon III's Imperial Standard in those two quarters, have the Maure in the first quarter look to the other side, and, in the center, put the Napoleonic Eagle from the Imperial Standard.

What do you think? Good enough, or should have something changed?

On another note, I've finally managed to finish the rewriting for Chapter V, and, as soon as I get links for all the images in that chapter, I'll post it.

 

[mfarah]

A question for the experts in heraldry:

I have been thinking about the flag of Corsica, and have made something quite interesting, but I am not sure if it would actually be good, so I would like to know if this design would run well:

Take the Sardinian flag, remove the Maures in the second and third quarters, place the crown from Napoleon III's Imperial Standard in those two quarters, have the Maure in the first quarter look to the other side, and, in the center, put the Napoleonic Eagle from the Imperial Standard.

What do you think? Good enough, or should have something changed?

On another note, I've finally managed to finish the rewriting for Chapter V, and, as soon as I get links for all the images in that chapter, I'll post it.

I'm... not too crazy about that design. Corsica had its own flag and coat of arms, and copying/adapting the Sardinian one makes little sense (IMHO).

Also, in heraldry the heads (and animals, etc.) are supposed to look to the right (to the viewer's left). To do it the other way around implies the title holder to be a bastard (not a big deal today, a big deal too in the past).

I'd do something different: take the preexisting coat of arms of Corsica, add the Bonaparte shield in canton (for the flag, pretty much the same thing). THEN add the imperial mantle, crown, etc. Something like this (pardon my limited drawing skills - I use MS-Paint):

 

[mfarah]

I'd do something different: take the preexisting coat of arms of Corsica, add the Bonaparte shield in canton (for the flag, pretty much the same thing). THEN add the imperial mantle, crown, etc. Something like this (pardon my limited drawing skills - I use MS-Paint):

And then, the full coat of arms (please pretend the black fillers aren't there):

Credit: I used three images from wikipedia to do this mashup.

 

[Milarqui]

Well, just made an an alternative: the coat of arms of Napoleonic France at the left, three bees on the top and the Maure to the right.

 

[mfarah]

I'm... not too crazy about that design. Corsica had its own flag and coat of arms, and copying/adapting the Sardinian one makes little sense (IMHO).

Also, in heraldry the heads (and animals, etc.) are supposed to look to the right (to the viewer's left). To do it the other way around implies the title holder to be a bastard (not a big deal today, a big deal too in the past).

I'd do something different: take the preexisting coat of arms of Corsica, add the Bonaparte shield in canton (for the flag, pretty much the same thing). THEN add the imperial mantle, crown, etc. Something like this (pardon my limited drawing skills - I use MS-Paint):

A corrected version of the coat (in heraldry "silver" is white or silver, not that garish gray I left in, thinking it was brighter than it really is).

 

[mfarah]

I can't say anything yet, but...

... I hope I pull *something* through. You'll see (I hope!).

 

[Milarqui]

Chapter V – The Rose of the Winds​

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Chapter V, Part I: Tramontana, One For The Diplomats​

With the Compromise of Baraguá and the end of the Cuban rebellion, a new period of peace began for Spain. Too many people had died in the six year long fight, and the war had been a huge economic drain for Spain, one that would take much time to mend. At least, the national industry had grown during that period, spurred on by the improving economy and the government's legislation, as well as the war itself, which helped the weaponry industry.

The Compromise was widely celebrated. Of course, there were some discontent voices in the most conservative sectors about the fact that Cubans were now on equal terms with other Spaniards, and claimed they should remain under control of Madrid, but most of the population was just happy that there was no war, and that the Cubans remained within the Kingdom.

Flag of Foral Cuba
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The Congress was a microcosm of Spanish society: the reactionary deputies (Integrists and Traditionalists) demanded that the Compromise was repealed, that Arsenio Martinez-Campos resigned and that Cuba returned to the statu quo that had existed before the rebellion; the Liberal-Conservatives asked some pointed questions about the treaty, particularly the slave manumission, which affected their allies in Cuba, and the left wing parties applauded the entire Compromise, for it agreed with their position of trying to give as much rights as possible to the people.

Ramón Nocedal, leader of the Integrist Party
​

Sagasta could not have had a better start of legislature: the population largely supported his opinions, the economy was improving rapidly, surpassing the pre-1866 levels, and Spain's position in the world was getting stronger thanks to the victory over France and the alliance with Germany. Now, it was the moment to concentrate on other internal and foreign matters.

Of course, one of those matters was the relationship with Germany, which kept improving as time passed and collaboration between both nations yielded more improvements. For example, García Sáez's carbine was taken, slightly modified (it was already a great weapon, after all) and produced for use in the military, especially for some platoons of the Tercios Especiales as well as their newly created German counterparts, the Gebirgsjäger, trained especially for forest and mountain fighting. The Mauser 1871/RESA R-1 was still the main weapon of both armies, however.

Coat of Arms of the Gebirgsjäger
​

Their relationship was further deepened when both countries, together with Austria and Russia, protested for the Ottoman Empire's massacres of the Bulgarian people and tried to convince the Ottomans to accept an armistice with the insurgents in order to make peace in the region. The British government, then led by Benjamin Disraeli, and which until then had supported the Ottoman Empire, was forced to back down when the Bulgarian people's plight was published in the Daily News. The Russian Empire would take advantage of this to declare war on the Ottomans the following year.

It was during this period when France finally managed to pay the entire war debt, something that amazed not only the Spanish and German governments, but the French people themselves, who saw happily how the foreign soldiers slowly retreated from certain zones of the French national territory: on October 1878, the last Spanish troops crossed the border into Perpiñán.

Despite this period of good feelings, not everything was sunshine for Spain: the Catholic Church, and specifically Pope Pius IX, became angry when news about the government's actions in the Philippines (see Part II) arrived to Rome.

Pope Pius IX
​

The Holy See's relationship with Spain had worsened since the Hohenzollerns' War, when the Pope's call for the Catholic nations of the world to protect Rome from the Italians went unanswered (of course, the fact that Spain had had to defend its national territory was ignored). Pius IX had yet to accept that the Pope's temporal power was no more, and continued to act as if Rome was occupied by an enemy force, rejecting to meet any envoys sent by Vittorio Emanuele II until the Italian troops abandoned Rome, as such a meeting would be a tacit acceptance of Italian rule over the Eternal City. For the same reason, he refused to abandon the Vatican, so as to avoid being captured by the Italians and forced to relinquish his claims.

The lack of direct support of the Spanish government to the Catholic Church had greatly eroded the trust the Pope had in Spain's status as a bulwark of Catholicism, and when it became known that the priesthood had lost all their privileges in Philippines, he decided to take action.

In his encyclical In Orientales Fidelitas, Pius IX decried the “persecution” of the Catholic clergy in the Philippines, a bastion of Catholicism in the Far East, and accused the Spanish government of becoming “amoral” and of “concentrating in their earthly gains, forgetting that the true Kingdom is the Kingdom of God, who will punish those who choose to sin”. Within the document also were subtle threats to excommunicate, not only the government, but also the entire Royal Family, should the government not restore the Church's privileges in the Philippines.

The encyclical was badly received in Spain. Had not Spain been the greatest support of Catholicism for centuries, fighting and suffering for bringing the Word to the idol-worshippers of other continents, only for the priests to misuse their power to load themselves with gold brought from the blood of the people and prevent Spain's great potential from coming about? Had Spain not done enough to favor Catholicism, and yet now the Pope demanded that even greater sacrifices be made to set back all the efforts done in the last few years?

No one received it worse than Minister of Foreign Affairs Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla. After reading it, Zorrilla sat down and wrote a very scathing letter for the Pope. In it, he accused the Pope of hypocrisy, especially regarding the “concentrating in their earthly gains” bit, since the Pope was still griping over the Kingdom of Italy's “occupation” of Rome, and of not being a true Christian, confronting him with the fact that most priests and bishops in the Philippines had enslaved in all but name the Filipino people, while the “amoral” government was the one trying to improve their lives, give them the foundation to stand on their own feet and spread better education among them.

This letter was not sent in the end, for, when Zorrilla informed about his intentions to the Council of Ministers, Sagasta talked him out of doing it. However, his reasons were less about the content of the letter (he did agree with Zorrilla's opinion about the matter) and more about the words used to express his opinion, when the entire matter could be expressed with slightly more polite words. Zorrilla kept the letter, however, as a way to remember what the Pope had tried to do.

Another letter, jointly penned by Zorrilla and Sagasta (who managed to keep the tone of the letter at a more polite level, if not less accusatory), explained the Pope the actual situation in the Philippines before the start of the reforms and established the danger the priests were putting themselves in by mistreating the local people, thus risking their deaths if there was a revolt the Spanish Eastern Army could not stop on time. It finished with a promise that the priests in the region would be as protected as they were in Spain, and that they would be maintained by the Spanish Nation through the cult and clergy maintenance term in the Constitution.

The Pope was not mollified much by this, although he did retire his threat of excommunication. Relations between Spain and the Holy See remained sour, but the letter had been a start for the change towards improvement. Still, Pius IX and some of the following Popes continued to call for the restoration of the Concordate of 1851 and the restoration of the clergy's privileges, not only in the Philippines, but in the rest of Spain, also exhorting the true Catholics in Spain to vote for the options that would help restore Catholicism in its proper position as the guide to the people of Spain and the world.

Infanta María del Pilar de Borbón y Borbón, new Queen of Corsica and wife of Napoleon IV, King of Corsica​

Another great event of the decade was a marriage: in 1876, Napoleon IV, King of Corsica, married Maria del Pilar de Borbón, one of Isabel II's daughters, and sister of Alfonso de Borbón. The wedding took place in the Cathedral of Ajaccio, and it was attended by the bride's and the groom's families, as well as many members from the main European royal houses. The only Spanish representative was Foreign Minister Zorrilla, while no French representative deigned to send an answer, as, according to them, Napoleon's wedding was a normal wedding between a French citizen and a foreign woman, even if both were former princes of their nations, and thus did not warrant any actual representation from the French royal house.

 

[Milarqui]

Chapter V, Part II: Levante, For The Calm And The Change​

Cuba was now peaceful, so Sagasta decided to tackle something that might be as catastrophic as the rebellion in the island was, if it was not treated soon and correctly: the Philippines.

As it was at the other side of the world (more than a month of sea travel away), the Philippines had been mostly out of sight (and out of mind) of the politicians in Madrid. For the last two centuries, an oligarchy formed by the clergy and the tiny colonial elite had grown in the archipelago, which ruled over the Indios (or Filipinos, as they preferred to call themselves) with an iron hand, as if the archipelago was still in the 16th century. The Ilustrados were the few Filipinos that were able to avoid the obstacles put on their way by the backward society. That small number was slowly increasing, but their influence was little when compared to the oligarchy's, especially the clergy, important in a region as Catholic as the Philippines.

Several Ilustrados in a visit to Madrid for the 15th anniversary of the Reforma
​

Things had worsened in the last few years, since General Carlos María de la Torre y Nava Cerrada was replaced with General Rafael de Izquierdo y Gutiérrez as Governor-General of the Philippines. In 1872, a small uprising in Fuerte San Felipe was put down by the army. Forty-one people ended up being executed, among them three priests that worked with the people: Fathers Mariano Gómez and José Burgos and Friar Jacinto Zamora, known in the region as Gomburza. This, and other things made it clear that the archipelago could take the same path as Cuba.

Interested in preventing that from happening, Sagasta took the affair with both hands and decided to cut off the problems' source. His first decision was to reappoint Carlos María de la Torre as Governor-General, and he told as much to the general. The man felt suspicious, remembering how easily he had been sent away a few years before, but when Sagasta told him he would have full powers to implement all government-approved reforms, he accepted the new position.

Governor-General Carlos María de la Torre y Nava Cerrada and Fathers Mariano Gómez and José Burgos and Friar Jacinto Zamora, collectively known as Gomburza
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On June 9th 1874, the newly appointed Governor-General of the Philippines boarded the recently built armoured frigate Cádiz, which was to reinforce the Spanish Pacific Fleet. After crossing the Suez Canal and stopping in Goa and Singapore for coaling, the Cádiz sailed into the Port of Manila on July 10th. His first action was to meet in Malacañang Palace with acting Governor-General Manuel Blanco Valderrama, who welcomed and updated him on the current state of affairs.

Meanwhile, the news of de la Torre's arrival spread out through Manila first, and in the following days through the rest of the archipelago. Spontaneous celebrations were started: the Governor-General was, perhaps, one of the few Spanish people all Filipinos respected, because of his great efforts during his first term to improve people's lives and standing within Spain.

Malacañang Palace, official residence of the Governor-General of the Philippines​

The oligarchy's reaction was pretty much the opposite. Years before, they had managed to stop the threat de la Torre represented for their position by getting him replaced. However, this time that course of action was closed to them, as any protests sent to Madrid would be sterile and useless: the Governor-General would have no problem in fulfilling his duties.

It was soon that changes started to be seen: after years of living in a sort of legal limbo, the Filipino people were finally granted their constitutional rights; members of the Ilustrado class were being consulted by the Governor-General about the steps to be taken, and works were initiated in order to improve the infrastructure of the main cities. The period that followed from the reappointment of de la Torre would become known to the Filipino people as La Reforma.

The Governor-General, under advice of the Ilustrados, decided that the next step was to work at the base of society in order to break the oligarchy's power. His eyes set on the school system, it soon underwent a transformation similar to the one that had happened in Spain: schools were secularized, priests were replaced with actual teachers, adult literacy programs were initiated, and the local universities became better funded in order to allow more people to attend them.

The Church's power was next, with all post-1837 monastic orders being eliminated after avoiding it for five years. The extensive land properties the Church still owned and did not exploit were confiscated and sold. In order to prevent the problem of landlordism that southern Spain still suffered, the auctioning was held to ensure that mos properties were bought by local Ilustrados and small owners. Revenues were spent in further developing the archipelago, thus both helping the region, gaining the allegiance of the locals and cutting off the oligarchy's power.

The only unruly place was Mindanao, the southernmost island of the Philippines. The cultural differences were great, especially religious, because the Moros (as the people of Mindanao were called) were Muslims, and regarded themselves as separated from the rest of the archipelago. Spain had unsuccessfully tried several times to put down the rebellion, but now they had the Tercios, as well as an army expert in jungle fighting, and the Spanish Pacific Fleet initiated a more effective blockade around the island, preventing Chinese blockade runners from selling guns to the Moros (who paid with slaves, giving the Spaniards more reason to keep the blockade). To prevent a new Virginius Affair, ships were normally sent back with a warning and the cargo was seized, and once or twice the ships were seized and the crewmen incarcerated for contraband and slavery.

One of the first “Batallones Filipinos”​

The greater number of military operations also required an increase in the size of the Spanish Pacific Army, but reinforcements from Spain would be too slow to arrive if needed immediately. Thus, de la Torre, with permission from Sagasta and Minister of War Prim, initiated work to recruit local troops for their use in fighting in the Far East. They would remain being led by Spanish officers, of course, as Filipino officers were still a thing in the future. The “Batallones Filipinos” were initially disdained by the seasoned Spanish troops, but soon they would prove their mettle in the battlefield, and gain some measure of respect from the rest of the army.

The Batallones Filipinos' first actions took place in the subjugation of the Moro rebellion: while the Batallones helped maintain numerical superiority over the rebels, the Tercios and the army veterans launched deadly attacks. One by one, the tribes were forced to surrender before the might of the Spanish Armed Forces.

However, in the end the Moros gained very good terms, that made the surrender not as bitter as they expected: if they put down their weapons, swear allegiance to the Kingdom of Spain and accept the Spanish government as their legitimate, they would gain Spanish citizenship (with all the rights and duties derived from it) and, in the future, autonomy under the recent legislation, much like the Cubans and the Puerto Ricans.

After the rebellion was put down, the eyes of the Spaniards were cast to the Sulu Archipelago, which was de iure under their control since 1851, but said control had never been formalized. In order to prevent other nations (like the United Kingdom or France) from taking what was seen as theirs, Spain initiated an invasion of the archipelago on October 1876, and, although it was not easy, the army managed to follow their task: on May 1877, the red-and-yellow flag flew over Jolo, the capital of the Sulu Sultanate. The Sultan and his family were exiled to Manila where they would live like prisoners in a gilded cage for the rest of their lives.

The last Sultan of Sulu, in his Philippine exile​

Some time later, North Borneo was also placed under Spanish occupation. The British and the Dutch were not happy about this, given their interest in taking over the island of Borneo, but negotiations confirmed Spanish ownership of the region of Sabah.

Spanish ships would also cross the southern Pacific (see Part IV), laying claim to Pascua Island [1] and Salá y Gómez, judging them to be excellent potential coaling stations should there it be any problem with the two African routes (the Suez Canal and the Cape). The possibility of finding a way to build a canal across Central America like it had been done across Egypt just a decade before was thought about, but dismissed, for it would be a titan effort to develop and build. A small diplomatic incident occurred when German ships attempted to lay claim to the Carolinas, an archipelago that had been claimed by Spain a few years before, but in the end it all ended being a misunderstanding, and the German ships returned to New Guinea.

Naturally, Spain was not the only nation with interests in the Far East. France, recently out of its period of transition after the Second Restoration, intended to do its best to restore its prestige lost in the war. In 1875, even though they were still paying war reparations to Spain and Germany, they initiated plans to place Indochina under their control: save for Cochinchina and Cambodia, it was under protection of the Chinese, but this was not an obstacle for the French, who hoped that China could be provoked into declaring war, facilitating the region's fall into their hands.

Another nation interested in gaining control over more lands was, curiously, Germany. Chancellor Bismarck had been quite adamant in not allowing the development of a German colonial empire, as he saw colonies as potential sources of political and economical destabilization. However, increasing pressure from inside and the need to make the nation stand out more made him relent, and soon German ships and settlers were seen in many corners of the world. While, in Africa, the Kamerun and Tanganyka were claimed, in the Far East it was eastern New Guinea that was claimed by the Germans.

The archipelago of Samoa, in the southern Pacific, was also regarded by the Germans with interest, as it could be a good naval base in case of war. Thus, several German ships, using, with permission, the Philippines as a base, soon arrived to the archipelago, setting anchors near the city of Apia and almost formalizing their claim on the island. However, British and American interests also existed on the island, and neither nation was willing to give up what they considered rightful control of the archipelago.

Thus, representatives from the three nations met in the city of Rome, capital of Italy, considered to be neutral enough to be acceptable for all parties. Discussions were held, arguments were made, but, in the end, after five months of discussions, the three nations agreed to the Compromise of Rome on the Issue of the Islands of Samoa: Germany would gain control over the western half of the archipelago, the United States would gain the eastern half of the archipelago, and the United Kingdom received, as compensation, the south-eastern quarter of New Guinea, to which the Germans renounced.

Rising of the flag at Mulinu'u, capital of German Samoa
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[1] Easter Island.

 

[Milarqui]

Chapter V, Part III: Ostro, Adventure And Exploration​

The Kingdom of Spain's quest to expand led them to Africa. At the time, the European colonial powers were starting to look at the Dark Continent as a potential fountain of resources and a new market for their products, as international trade had started to go down after many nations raised tariffs to strengthen their national industry.

Spain already had a few points from which expansion could be achieved: Ifni, which had been Spanish since the African War of 1860, and Rio Muni, in the Gulf of Guinea. The strategical position of the Canary Islands meant that expanding in West Africa was easier, and thus a plan was put into place to claim the entire coast between Cape Blanco and Morocco. Several military forts were built at strategic points in the coast, and several ports soon began to receive the visit of Spanish traders.

A monk seal in Cape Blanco​

The expansion in Guinea was more difficult because many illnesses with their origin in the region still had no cure, but medical advances helped improve things, and the local rivers, like the Benito, the Abia or the Uoro Mbini, were soon traversed by Spanish expeditions led by men like Manuel de Iradier y Bulfy and formed by people from all over the Kingdom, including Cuban mulatto ex-soldiers that had decided to find their luck in Africa. These expeditions helped to map out the region, but also aided in gaining the allegiance of many local tribes and rising the red-and-yellow flag over several towns.

Manuel Iradier y Bulfy​

Another expedition was sent to Madagascar, whose native people were interested in gaining the friendship of someone opposed to the French, who had been attacking them for many years. Soon, Spanish-built weaponry was being sold to the Royal Malagasy Army, and several advisors arrived to help them fortify against the French. The latter complained, arguing that a previous agreement made by recently deceased Joseph-François Lambert (the Lambert Charter) gave French companies exclusive rights to trade with Madagascar, but Queen Ranavalona II chose to accept the Spanish offers and to state the illegality of the Lambert Charter.

Queen Ranavalona II​

France had many reasons to be interested in keeping some control over, not only Madagascar, but also over much more in Africa, among them providing a way to appease its people over the loss of Oran, Rousillon and Alsace-Lorraine. With the mission civilisatrice as an excuse (although many did have that idea in mind), many soldiers and settlers travelled to Africa. The native kingdoms of Cayor and Jolof were invaded and placed under control of the French governor in Senegal after several battles in which weapon and strategy won over the natives' primitive ways.

The Ivory Coast also saw expansion towards the north, taking care of not entering into the United Kingdom's sphere of influence, and building several fortresses in the Kongo, between Loango and Cape Lopez, in a bid to prevent Spain from gaining more territories in Africa.

Meanwhile, Portugal had an excellent position to expand into Africa through Gambia, Angola and Moçambique. Although the former would soon be blocked by French expansion of Senegal and Guinea, the latter would not only expand, but also would have the chance to unite across Africa, thus allowing them to communicate both coasts of Africa without having to resort to shipping around the Cape of Good Hope.

Even the United Kingdom, with its great colonies in Canada, India and Oceania, had problems with trying to sell everything their powerful industry produced, and Africa was for them a chance to sell those extra products. Secretary of State for the Colonies Lord Carnarvon ordered the initiation of a diplomatic offensive to convince the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic to federate with South Africa, an offer that was refused. At the same time, plans were laid down to deal with the Zulu Kingdom.

These plans were put forward in 1877, when Sir Theophilus Shepstone invaded the Transvaal Republic and persuaded the Boers to give up independence. All of a sudden, the Zulu Kingdom, which had been previously supported by Shepstone in their border conflicts with Transvaal, became the new enemy. King Cetshwayo of the Zulus, who had previously regarded Shepstone as a friend, accused the man of betraying him.

Sir Theophilus Shepstone and King Cetshwayo kaMpande​

​

This, combined with several incidents in the border between the Zulu Kingdom and Natal, was used by High Commissioner Sir Henry Bartle Frere as the excuse to give Cetshwayo an ultimatum, formed by thirteen demands, on Summer 1878. All of these demands were completely unacceptable to Cetshwayo, who nonetheless tried to do his best to prevent war from happening. It, however, became inevitable when 15,000 soldiers led by Frederick Augustus Thesiger, 2nd Baron Chelmsford, invaded Zululand without their government's authorization.

The Redcoats would soon encounter problems when they were defeated in Isandlwana (their arrogance meant they didn't prepare their camp for the eventuality of a Zulu night attack) and several troops were besieged in Eshowe. The first army expelled from Zululand, Chelmsford readied a second army to relieve the army in Eshowe, a successful effort that was followed by the second invasion. Their slow, methodical advance ensured that the troops were never caught distracted, and ensured the defeat of the Zulus.

The war did not last much longer. In July 4th, the Battle of Ulundi took place, and victory was won by the British, in spite of the defeat of several scouting units that had gone ahead of the main army [1]

The Redcoats would find themselves expelled from Zululand, after the disastrous defeat of Isandlwana and the start of the Siege of Eshowe. Lord Chelmsford organised an army to relieve Pearson's men in Eshowe, a successful venture that would be the start of the second invasion. These would proceed slowly, with the British having learned the lesson of Isandlwana – where the British troops had not even tried to entrench themselves – and ensuring the defeat of the Zulus. Several scouting units sent ahead of the main army were defeated [1], but, in the Battle of Ulundi of July 4th, Cetshwayo's troops were defeated and dispersed, thus bringing an end to the Anglo-Zulu War. Zululand would become part of the British Empire, being controlled locally by several chiefs in order to prevent their joining, once more, into a powerful united kingdom. Meanwhile, Lord Chelmsford and Bartle, although praised for their victory, would soon be criticized for their disobedience: Lord Chelmsford would never serve again in the field, and Bartle was relegated to a minor post in Cape Town.

[1] In RL, Napoleon III's son was killed in one of this actions. He had managed to get himself sent to South Africa to fight on the British Army, but, under orders of the British government and his mother, he was never put on the frontlines. He formed part of a scout team and was followed with a great escort, but the Zulus found them and killed the Prince (there some thought about the possibility that the large escort might have actually attracted the Zulus' attention about his importance). Obviously, in this TL he does not die, because he is in Corsica, reigning and living with his wife.

 

[Milarqui]

Chapter V, Part IV: Poniente, Old And New Friends And Enemies And Viceversa​

Spanish diplomats, fresh from their work with the Compromise of Baraguá, decided to cast their eyes at another part of the world: South America, and to be more exact, its western coast, where lied the nations against which Isabel II's government had declared war in 1864. No war action had taken place since 1866, but neither the last governments of Isabel II nor the Provisional Government nor the governments that had followed it had taken the time to fix the situation, due to more pressing problems. However, with their minds now free, Sagasta and Ruiz Zorrilla realized the problem and decided to use it as a way to establish better ties with the South American nations.

The United States (which sought to gain rapport with the resurgent nation) hosted a conference between the two sides of the Pacific War [1]. In the Treaty of Tallahassee of 1875 (signed in the capital of the state of Florida), Spain recognized Peru's independence (which had not been accepted when Peru gained it in 1821) and renounced to any claim held over lands in the South American continent, and in exchange, the four nations (Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile) would open their markets to Spanish products.

Gabriel García Moreno, President of Ecuador​

Unfortunately for the alliance, the lack of a common enemy and the signing took their toll on it, and soon it was broken: Ecuador drifted away after its president, Gabriel García Moreno, died at the hands of her lover's husband, and Chile started to turn against its northern neighbours, Peru and Bolivia, which remained allied.

The events showed Sagasta that this was the best chance to gain allies in South America. After much deliberation, Peru was picked as the best potential ally. Despite the bad blood from the Pacific War, there was still much pro-Spanish sentiment in the region, coming from the 1820s, when Peru became the last nation to become independent from Spain, and that was something that could be played on. It also influenced the Peruvian alliance with Bolivia, the great number of natural resources that existed in there, and the markets opened with this.

A diplomatic offensive and several trading offers later, La Paz and Lima, capitals of Bolivia and Peru, sported a new building each: the Casa de España, ostensibly a place of reunion for the Spaniards in both countries to meet and remember their mother nation, but it also doubled as the headquarters of the new trading relationship.

Modern Casa de España in Lima​

Things soon took a turn for the worse, though. In a bid to gain control over many of the nitrate sources in the region, the Peruvian government nationalized the nitrate mines in the department of Tarapaca, near the border with Bolivia. This harmed Chilean interests, as it left more than half of the sources in Peruvian hands, but, apart from a few protests, no actions were taken against the Peruvian government's actions. Instead, they chose to concentrate in the Bolivian mines in the province of Antofagasta, which was settled mainly by Chilean people due to the fact that it was separated from the rest of Bolivia by the mighty Andes.

In 1873, the Bolivian government had signed a contract to the Chilean Compañía de Ferrocarriles y Nitratos de Antofagasta the authorization to extract nitratine (sodium nitrate) from Antofagasta's mines without paying taxes. In 1878, seeing how much money the company was earning that the nation was not receiving, the government decided to use a loophole: the contract had not been approved by the Bolivian Congress, so it was invalid. The Congress proposed to approve the contract if the company paid a 10 cent per quintal [2] tax.

Instead, the company asked for the support of their government, which argued that the tax was illegal, as the Boundary Treaty of 1874 fixed, among other things, the tax rates on Chilean companies operating in Bolivia until 1899. The Bolivian government refused to back down, and threatened to confiscate the company's assets in Bolivia unless the tax was paid.

On February 4th, Bolivia announced that it would be auctioning the company's assets to the best buyer five days later. On the same day the auction took place, 500 Chilean soldiers bloodlessly occupied the port city of Antofagasta, being warmly welcomed by the mostly Chilean population. Bolivian President Hilarión Daza chose not to make any public commentaries of the event until February 27th, informing the Bolivian people of the events and asking for their support, while at the same time giving the Chileans two weeks to evacuate all Bolivian lands. Two days later, he issued a communication forbidding all trade and communication with Chile, and announcing the provisional embargo of all Chilean assets in Bolivia until the Chileans left.

Chilean soldiers occupy Antofagasta​

Peru, eager to prevent a war from actually taking place so near to their own borders, convinced Bolivian and Chilean negotiators to come to Lima in order to seek an acceptable end to the current situation, but neither side was willing to give up. In the end, on March 15th, Chilean Minister of Foreign Affairs Alejandro Fierro sent a telegram to Peru, demanding immediate neutrality from Peru. However, the latter dithered on this, proposing that both the Chilean demand and Bolivia's request for military action would be debated in the Peruvian Congress. A week later, Peruvian José de Lavalle, who had travelled to Santiago to convince the Chileans to return Antofagasta to Bolivia, received the treaty of alliance between Bolivia and Peru and told Fierro that the treaty was not offensive towards Chile. The Chilean government answered by acknowledging the treaty and declaring war on Peru and Bolivia on April 1st.

Due to Antofagasta being near the Atacama, the driest desert in the world, the war was mostly fought in the seas between the Marina de Guerra de Perú and the Armada de Chile. The former was led by the broadside ironclad Independencia and the monitor Huáscar, while the latter was led by twin central battery ironclads Almirante Cochrane and Blanco Encalada.

​

Three ironclads: Peruvian Independencia and Chilean Almirante Cochrane and Blanco Encalada​

On the same day war was declared, the Chilean navy blockaded the port of Iquique. The siege lasted for a month and a half, ending in the Battle of Iquique: there, Captain Miguel Grau Seminario demonstrated its great worth and ability, commanding the Huáscar and leading it to sink the Chilean corvette Esmeralda. However, Perú lost the Independencia as it persecuted the schooner Covadonga, weakening the Peruvian Navy.

Battle of Iquique
​

Despite the loss, victory allowed Peru to open Iquique once more, and Miguel Grau became the hero of his generation during the next months, managing to hold off the entire Chilean Navy in several battles in the Pacific while on board of the Huáscar. The inflexion point was the capture of the Rimac, a steamship carrying an entire cavalry regiment: this was the biggest Chilean defeat so far in the war.

The Chilean government fell after this, and Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Juan Williams Rebolledo was replaced by Commodore Galvarino Riveros Cárdenas, who started to make plans for a possible future battle in which the navy would be able to trap the Huáscar, giving the victory to Chile.

Peruvian monitor Huáscar
​

However, Peru would not let that happen so easily: the capture of the Rimac gave them time to buy two ironclads from Spain, with the possibility of buying more if required. Sagasta, Prim and Topete agreed with the sell, as it could be used as a way to both intimidate Chile and gain new territories in the Southern Pacific.

A fleet formed by nine ships, led by the Zaragoza and Numancia ironclads, travelled from El Ferrol to Iquique after stopping in the Canary Islands, Rio de Janeiro and the young Argentinian town of Rawson. Two of the ships then shed their Spanish colours to replace them with the Bicolour Banner, officially joining the Peruvian Navy while the rest of the fleet turned west (see Part II).

The two new ships, christened Independencia (after the lost ironclad) and Iquique, joined the Peruvian navy in the nick of time. In the Battle of Punta Angamos of October 8th, they managed to tip the scale on the Peruvian side, as their guns, combined with Miguel Grau's ability, defeated the Chilean Navy, which lost the Blanco Encalada and the corvette O'Higgins, preventing at the same time a land invasion of Peru.

Battle of Punta Angamos​

After achieving naval supremacy following a second battle near Antofagasta, the Peruvian Army landed several troops nearby the city, supplying the troops from Iquique and taking the city from the beleaguered Chilean defenders after a battle where, according to first-hand accounts, more casualties were caused by heat than by bullet.

From Antofagasta, Peruvian soldiers started to march towards the east in an attempt to take the forts spread along the Atacama desert while Bolivian troops armed with Spanish weapons and ammunition, marched from the east as well, a task that became harder than normal because of the high temperatures typical of the Southern Hemisphere summer. After two months, all Chilean troops in the region were dead or imprisoned.

The Atacama Desert. Good heavens, it's so dry...
​

Meanwhile, Miguel Grau had not remained quiet: his fleet attacked the Chilean coast, forcing the Chilean Navy to attack them in an attempt to stop the raiding. In a battle that took place on November 17th in front of the city of Valparaíso, the Chileans were defeated again, losing the ironclad Almirante Cochrane, dooming the Chileans.

The last event of the war was the occupation of the Chilean city of Copiapó on January 20th 1880. The constant defeats had undermined the Chilean morale, and most Chilean cities were demanding an end to the war. The Chilean government had no choice but to acquiesce and asked the alliance for an armistice.

Under the auspices of the United States and the United Kingdom, a conference took place in Quito, Ecuador. The Treaty of Quito, signed on March 1st, established a statu quo ante bellum peace, with no exchange of lands taking place, but Chile was forced to accept Bolivia's expropriation of the Compañía de Ferrocarriles y Nitratos de Antofagasta, accept the change in taxes for all Chilean companies and pay compensations to both Peru and Bolivia.

Miguel Grau Seminario, Admiral of the Peruvian Fleet and future President of Peru
​

Although Bolivia was the most benefited economically by the war, the great winner was Peru, which had established its supremacy in the South American west coast, and now was beset by great euphoria. Miguel Grau Seminario, ascended to the rank of Admiral, was named Héroe de la República, becoming one of the most popular people of Peru. When he presented himself for President of the Republic, he was voted in a landslide, giving him free reign to modernize Peru and continue being the regional power it had become after the war.

[1] The Chincha Islands War.
[2] 1 quintal = 100 kg
[3] In RL, this battle ended with Chilean victory and the death of Miguel Grau Seminario. Things were then much more lopsided towards the Chilean fleet, which had 4 warships and 2 transports against the Peruvian fleet, with only 2 warships.

 

[Milarqui]

Chapter V, Part V: Homeland, Labour For Good And Bad

​

It was 1877, and it was also election year for Spain. This time, however, the issues were not as exciting as the ones in the previous elections, being mostly related to the economy and foreign relationships. Since Spain was in the middle of a period of prosperity born from the policies taken by previous governments, the main economic point was about how to work to increase the number of jobs and decrease the income disparity. There were also points about possibly repairing the relationship with France, trying to gain closer ties to the United Kingdom and Portugal, about improving things with South America, and many other things that were discussed.

The Democrat-Radical Party had been doing a good job the last three years, so, when the Spaniards went to vote on April 1877, they chose to give continuity to Sagasta's government, who saw his efforts to improve Spain vindicated. Unknown to the people, the elections of 1877 were the first after the Pacto de los Heros in which the caciques' manipulations were eliminated: the main leaders of the Spanish democracy judged that the nation was now ready and able to continue on without being influenced by anything but the voters' opinions.

However, the historically important event of the year was the birth of what would eventually become one of the most important Spanish political parties: the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE, Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) [1].

Pablo Iglesias, founder of the PSOE, and Casa Labra, PSOE's first headquarters
​

The workers' movement was not new to Spain, as already during the times of Fernando VII and Isabel II the workers had tried to group and organize themselves to defend their common interests, particularly those related to their salaries and working time. However, both monarchs and their governments chose to outlaw such organizations and brutally put down any attempt to revive the idea, as they were more akin to satisfying the desires of businessmen, landlords and nobles than the needs of the workers. The early workers' movement had also had to deal with the small scope of their actions, as the associations were limited to people with the same job, which limited the potential size of their demands and the power they held against their bosses.

The appearance of the PSOE was owed to several factors:

• The arrival of political-themed books to Spain. The ideas behind socialism were brought with Karl Marx's The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital.
• The industrial sector growth, most prominent in Spain's main cities (especially Madrid, Barcelona and Bilbao) due to the mechanization of the agricultural and livestock sectors and the higher demand for manufactured products.
• The lower class's consciousness over their precarious living and working conditions, and the great disparity of income between them and the higher classes.
• The stabilization of the economy, which allowed for businessmen to gain greater benefits from their ventures.

Covers for the first editions of the Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital​

The modern Spanish workers' movement grew out of these factors, and was fed with the facts of the great differences between the different social classes, which, although smaller than before La Gloriosa, still existed and still was too great. However, the policies followed by the government had allowed the slow appearance of a new, middle class that was taking over or creating many small and medium businesses in Spain, thus allowing the development of a larger job pool and increasing competitiveness.

When the PSOE was born, it was a break in the way things were planned. All other major parties were heirs of the cliques that had surged during the last years of Fernando VII's reign and all of Isabel II's reign. The PSOE was the first party actually born in a democracy, a party born from the people and for the people. Its ideology was clearly Marxist, and they were similar to the Republican parties in that they also wanted to abolish the monarchy and replace it with a republic, but the PSOE only saw the republic as a stepping stone towards the eventual socialist society, without classes nor state.

The PSOE's activities were not restricted to the political world, however. Just a year after the PSOE's birth, Pablo Iglesias, founder of the Spanish socialist movement, developed the first Spanish modern trade union, the Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT, Workers' General Union), the first of its kind in Spain, as it encompassed the efforts of workers of many careers in order to work together to gain sensible working conditions and salaries, showing better ability at this than the previous one-job associations.

Logo for the Federal Council of Spain of the First International​

Both the party and the trade union grew very fast: PSOE had 50,000 affiliates in Madrid, Asturias and Vascongadas by the end of the decade, and was becoming strong in Catalonia, where socialism had to contend with anarchism. Anarchism had entered Spain in 1868 thanks to Giuseppe Fanelli, who was searching for members for the First International, and had become popular in Catalonia and in Andalusia, being attractive to many in the region.

However, in most of the nation, socialism held a great advantage over anarchism: despite how attractive the latter sounded, the people had come to appreciate the stabilization a government brought, as well as the improvements in their lives and the economy. Since socialism was willing to work pacifically with the system to achieve its objectives while anarchism was completely opposed to the idea, and was more prone to use violence to make their point through.

It would still take some time for the PSOE to take roots in Spain and expand their base to the point of gaining enough influence in politics, but still they were more than up to the task of doing their best, and until that moment arrived the party would keep growing and expanding its influence.

The next three years were a bit uneventful, but it slowly was shown that not everything was perfect. The appearance of the first class-wide trade union meant that soon those affiliated to it were using it to start making demands over things that, in the future, would be taken for granted. Strikes started to hit the nation in several important industrial sectors. One of the most critical was the one that affected the Getafe RESA factory in early 1880, followed by several other in many other factories and other places in different sectors, and even, demanding a reduction in the work week. Sagasta's government attempted to address the strikers' grievances, but they were unable to convince them to step back.

Miners striking in the Spanish 1880 strikes​

Just two weeks before the elections, as a desperate measure to regain the support of the people, the government passed a law to reduce the work week to 50 hours. The measure was happily welcomed by the people, but not by the main businessmen, who chose to start supporting Antonio Cánovas del Castillo's Liberal-Conservatives.

Either way, the government's actions were too little, too late: Sagasta's eleventh-hour attempt to regain the confidence of the people had failed, and, on May 1880, it became clear that the people had chosen to vote for the Liberal-Conservatives after six years of Democrat presidency, and Cánovas del Castillo became the new Presidente del Consejo de Ministros, ready to make its print on the Kingdom of Spain known.

[1] In RL, the PSOE was born on 1879, and the UGT was born in 1888. Here, the better economic conditions and industry expansion, as well as the alliance with Germany – which has brought many books to Spain – have triggered PSOE's appearance two years sooner, and UGT's 10 years sooner.

END OF CHAPTER FIVE

Wow, that's been quite a bit of time! Hope that you like the continued story, and that soon I'll be able to give you Chapter VI of the rewritten version!
​

 

[Faralis]

Awesome, the remake of chapter V. Excellent work Milarqui.

In RL anarchism was a lot stronger in Spain till much later. I suppose ITTL they will have much more parity in their strength ... Very interesting knowing their love/hate relation.

Seeing so much common sense in Spain´s XIX history is scarily interesting. (Almost ASB )

Thanks for the update.

 

[ramones1986]

Hey, what a nice update, Milarqui!
By the way, how about the Corsican National Flag and Anthem?
And the territory of the Spanish Guinea?

 

[Milarqui]

Here, in Spain, the New Year 2013 will begin in 6:29 hours and I won't have access to a computer until tomorrow, so, Happy New Year! (Also hope that more people will comment the last chapter, please make sure you are subscribed!)

Awesome, the remake of chapter V. Excellent work Milarqui.

In RL anarchism was a lot stronger in Spain till much later. I suppose ITTL they will have much more parity in their strength ... Very interesting knowing their love/hate relation.

Seeing so much common sense in Spain´s XIX history is scarily interesting. (Almost ASB )

Thanks for the update.

In RL, the reason Anarchism became so strong was, among other things, the cantonalismo that happened during the First Spanish Republic. Here, as Spain has improved much with the current system, and there's been much improvement to both the image of Spain and the people's living standards, the people are more interested in keeping the current system.

Hey, what a nice update, Milarqui!
By the way, how about the Corsican National Flag and Anthem?
And the territory of the Spanish Guinea?

The Corsican national flag is still being decided (right now, I'm mostly going for Napoleonic coat of arms to the left, bees on the top and Maure to the right with white background), but making an anthem would be really hard. Maybe, whichever was the hymn of Napoleon III's France. And Spanish Guinea's territory is bigger than RL SG's territory at this time, and should appear in the next chapter.

 

[Archangel]

Good updates, Milarqui!

 

[ramones1986]

Making an anthem would be really hard. Maybe, whichever was the hymn of Napoleon III's France.

You mean Partant pour la Syrie? And in Corsican? Sounds interesting.
Nevertheless, keep it as the Royal Anthem, and Dio vi Salvi Regina as the anthem of Corsica