The Legacy of the Glorious (Milarqui's Cut)

[Milarqui]

Chapter IV, Part VII: The National Dis-Union

Spain had faced its first fire test, and had overcome it stronger and more united than ever. However, the conflicts caused a great loss: the National Union Party. Although the members of the great coalition had agreed that the party would have a limited life, that did not mean that the implosion was less impressive.

The first signs of the National Union's cracking had been seen after the “Virginius Affair”, when the party's Progressive wing had threatened to ask for a vote of no confidence against Serrano. Since then, fights in Congress between the Conservative and the Progressive wings of the Union became more frequent: at some points, some of its more ardent members had to be held back by their companions to prevent a fistfight to start. Finally, on February 1874 it was clear that all collaboration between both sides would be next to impossible. In the end, the leadership of the party agreed that, until the Courts were dissolved, the National Union would remain together, but starting at that point, the split would become a reality.

And that was what happened on March. The Courts were dissolved, to prepare for the elections that would happen a month later, and soon the dissolution of the National Union was published in all the nation's newspapers, making a reality what had just been clear to everyone but those that did not pay attention to the comings and goings of the politicians in Madrid.

The Conservative wing became the Liberal-Conservative Party, which mostly attracted the members of the old Liberal Union, as well as the most conservative members of the Progressive Party. The new party also merged with Antonio Cánovas del Castillo's Conservatives and Alejandro Mon's Moderates, forming what could be called a center-right party. Its first leader was, after a voting, the charismatic Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, because Francisco Serrano had announced that he would leave politics while he remained in the Army, in accordance to the Pacto de los Heros, but that he might make a return when he eventually retired.

Meanwhile, the Progressive wing of the National Union, formed by most of the old Progressive Party and the Democratic Party, formed the Democratic-Radical Party. Led by Práxedes Mateo Sagasta, Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla and Cristino Martos (with Juan Prim ostensibly leaving politics but still handling things in the shadows), this party, of center-left tendencies, also attracted several members of Emilio Castelar's Republican Party, who were ready to accept King Leopold as long as they could have some influence in the advance of Spanish society, as well as other people from many minor parties.

Emilio Castelar y Ripoll, leader of the Republican Party
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These were not the only parties that would appear in that year: a small Progressive Party was formed by several members of the old party of the same name who did not agree with Sagasta and Ruiz Zorrilla's theories; a Federal Republican Party split from the Republican Party, as Castelar supported an Unitary Republic similar to the one that had existed in France until the proclamation of the Second French Empire, and the Catholic-Monarchic Communion split in two, giving birth to the Integrist Party and the Traditionalist Party, due to differences in who they supported and their opinions.

The elections of April 1874 gave the next result:

• Democratic-Radical Party: 217 deputies
• Liberal-Conservative Party: 128 deputies
• Republican Party: 19 deputies
• Federal Republican Party: 10 deputies
• Integrist Party: 8 deputies
• Progressive Party: 8 deputies
• Traditionalist Party: 1 deputy
• Non-established: 29 (Cuba and Puerto Rico)

With an absolute majority in their hands, the Democratic-Radical Party could soon start to work and put their plans for the Kingdom of Spain into action.

In the first place, the Irredent Carlists were judged. All of them were declared guilty of terrorism and treason to the Crown. Several of them were condemned to prison sentences between twenty and fifty years, others were condemned to forced labour in the colony of Guinea, and the last few, the surviving leaders, had been condemned to death by hanging. The sentences were carried out immediately, in order to avoid more problems.

Another important matter was Cuba. After the rebels' message was received, General Arsenio Martínez-Campos, the leader of the Spanish Army in Cuba, and who had supported a double politic of harshness against the intransigents and of tolerance with those that supported negotiation, ordered all armies in Cuba to stop moving and not to attack unless they were attacked, while a place to make the negotiations was chosen. The chosen place was the city of Mangos de Baraguá, because of both its centric position in the island as well as its being near to the coast. The main leaders of both sides met there to decide the conditions by which the rebels would lay down their weapons. On July 7th 1874, the peace agreement, which was called the Compromise of Baraguá, was signed:

• The Spanish Government concedes the amnesty to the rebels, frees those rebels who are imprisoned and lifts the exile sentence to those it was applied to.
• The rebels lay down their weapons, renounce to armed fight and accept the Spanish Government as Cuba's legitimate government.
• Anybody born in Cuba or who has Cuban parents is a legitimate citizen of the Kingdom of Spain and has the same rights as all other Spaniards.
• Slavery is abolished: those slaves who worked in the rebel armies will be declared free men, and all other slaves will be freed before two years have passed [1].
• Cubans may join the Spanish Army and be promoted like their Spanish counterparts, independently of their race.
• Cubans may meet freely, vote in the local and national elections and form their own political parties (as long as they do not call for war against the legitimate government
• Cuba will become a Foral Region [2].

General Arsenio Martínez-Campos Antón
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The terms were not the ones the rebels wished, as their main demand was Cuban independence, but they knew that they were in the losing side, that said demand would have been completely rejected by the Spanish government and that any attempts to insist on it would be met with their own destruction, so they accepted. Anyway, the last point would give them a certain degree of autonomy from Spain, which had been among their initial demands, and they were willing to take in order to help Cuba reform, so they accepted. A few days later, Sagasta's government approved the same pact.

The concept of Foral Regions was the brainchild of Sagasta, who had envisoned a reform of the whole nation into what would, in the future, be called the Foral State [3]: the size of the Kingdom of Spain, with far-flung territories in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guinea and Philippines made the administration of the whole national territory from Madrid very complicated. Thus, Sagasta's government decided to restructure the national administrative system in order to ease the interaction between the government and the people.

Spain would be divided in regions, all of which would have a grade of administrative autonomy, similar to the one that had been recently applied in the Vascongadas and Navarra, replacing the old fueros. Some regions would be granted the possibility of teaching local languages in schools - Catalan, Basque, Galician. The overseas regions - only Cuba and Puerto Rico for now, although the government expected to be able to act with more strength against the Philippine local elite and finally cut off all of the power they had in there, and Guinea was currently too small to even think about it - would also be granted self governance in most internal matters, because of their remoteness from the metropoli, an idea that might also be applied to the Peninsular regions if it was successful. Granting autonomy would ease the government's work, as they would be able to act at a greater scope while the regions acted at a local level, and at the same time the central government would be able to keep political control over the whole nation, as they reserved the right of inverting or stopping any reforms made by regional governments that contradicted those decisions taken by the government in Madrid.

While neither Cubans nor Puerto Ricans had been able to vote on the new government, in three years they would finally be able to choose their own representatives to the Congress and their own Governor.

[1] This term did not fall well among the slave-owning aristocrats in the western half of the island, but, besides some sterile protests, they did not act against the slaves' manumission, because they knew any heavy protest would immediately backfire on them.
[2] The world Foral comes from Fuero, which comes from the Latin word Forum, an open place that served as market, court and meeting place. However, Fuero, in this case, means a series of rights and laws the kings and nobles gave to certain cities in order to attract people to them.
[3] As a counterpoint to the State of the Autonomies that exists in today's RL Spain.

END OF CHAPTER FOUR
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Well, that was the whole chapter four, the first I have written. I hope that you liked it, and that you will keep reading here (also, post your opinions! I like to read what you think!). The next chapter will deal with things such as the Philippines, the workers movement (anarchist and marxist), Spain's relationship with South America and more!

 

[Milarqui]

Chapter V – The Rose of the Winds​

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

The end of the war in Cuba was a great relief for the Spanish society: too many soldiers, civilians and rebels had died in the rebellion, and the war had been a great economic drain for the Spanish treasury, one that would take some time to mend. At least, the nation's industry, especially that of weaponry, had grown thanks to it.

The Compromise of Baraguá was widely celebrated among the people of Spain. There was some grumbling among the most conservative and reactionary sectors about the fact that Cubans were now on equal terms as the rest of the Spaniards, claiming that they should remain under the control of the metropolis, but most of the population paid not a lot of attention: if the Compromise kept the Cubans happy and within the Kingdom, they were all for it.

The Congress of Deputies was, in essence, a microcosm of Spanish society: the reactionary deputies (Integrists and Traditionalists) were demanding that the Compromise of Baraguá was repealed, the resignation of Arsenio Martínez-Campos for his role in the negotiations and the derogation of all rights that formed part of the Compromise; the Liberal-Conservatives, although supporting the measure, asked a few pointed questions about the treaty, particularly the manumission of all slaves – a point that, while it did not affect them personally, it did affect some of their allies in Cuba – and the small left-wing parties (Republicans and Progressives) applauded the Compromise in its entirety.

For Sagasta, the situation could have not been better. The population had largely supported his position; the economy was improving, reaching levels better than those in 1866 thanks to the policies followed by the Provisional Government and later governments; and Spain's international position was getting stronger, thanks to the victory over France and the alliance with Germany. Now, however, it was the moment to concentrate on other internal and foreign affairs.

Among them was the end of the occupation of southern France. As France continued to pay her war debts to Spain and Germany, troops of both nations started to leave certain zones, diminishing the costs of occupation and thus allowing France to pay faster. Indeed, both Spain and Germany were amazed at how fast the French were paying those debts. By the year 1876, all payments had been made, and no Spanish or German soldiers remained in France.

Spanish-German relations continued to improve in those years. Further collaboration between both nations had yielded several improvements. For example, García Sáez's carbine was taken, slightly improved (it was already a good weapon, after all) and produced for use in the military (although the Mauser/RESA 1871 was still the favoured weapon), especially for some platoons of the Tercios Especiales, as well as the recently created Gebirgsjäger, the German version of the Tercios, which was trained especially in forest and mountain fighting.

Member of the Gebirgsjäger, the first German Special forces, in his formal uniform
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Also, together with Austria and Russia, both nations issued the Berlin Memorandum, aimed at convincing the Ottoman Empire, mired in rebellions in the Balkans, to accept an armistice between themselves and the insurgents, something that was rejected by the British Government, then led by Benjamin Disraeli. The massacres of Bulgarian people terrorized the world, especially after Januarius MacGraham's articles on the Daily News and Gladstone's report, forcing Disraeli to drop its support for the Ottomans. This would come in a critical moment, as the Russian Empire, immersed in its Pan-Slavist phase, would declare war on the Ottomans on the next year.

Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Did you know that he was a Sephardic Jew (in terms of ethnic group)?
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Not all was rays and sunshine for the Spanish government: the Catholic Church, and especially Pope Pius IX, became angry when the news arrived to Rome about the actions taken by the government in Philippines (see Part II).

Pius IX had been the Pope already during the Hohenzollerns' War, and had seen from the Vatican Palace how the Italians took the last remains of the Papal States. However, he had yet to accept that the temporal power of the Bishop of Rome was no more, and thus continued acting as if Rome was still part of the Papal States. Thus, he rejected to meet with all envoys sent by Italian king Vittorio Emanuele II – who was trying to negotiate with him a possible way out of the current “problem” – as it would mean a tacit acceptance of Italian rule over the Eternal City, and he had remained “imprisoned” in the Vatican to avoid dealing with any problems derived from entering de facto Italian territory.

Pope Pius IX, born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti​

However, that did not mean he did not pay attention to what was happening outside the four walls of his residence, especially when they directly affected the Catholic Church. Relations with Spain had been difficult since Isabel II's dethroning, and even more after the Italian takeover of Rome, which had not been prevented by Spain, despite the Pope's call for all Catholic people to defend the city.

The Pope would soon write an encyclical, named In Orientales Fidelitas, which decried the “persecution” of the Catholic clergy in the Far East, especially in the Philippines, a bastion of Catholicism in the region. It went further, accusing the Spanish 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”. Those who were able to read between lines also found subtle threats to excommunicate, not only the government, but also the entire Royal Family, if the government did not revert its position and immediately restored the Church's privileges in the Philippines.

The encyclical was very badly received in Spain, especially by Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla, the Minister of Foreign Affairs after the last elections. Zorrilla, after reading the encyclical, sat down to write a very scathing letter, accusing the Pope of hypocrisy (regarding the “concentrating in their earthly gains” especially, since the Pope was still demanding that the Kingdom of Italy evacuated Rome) and of not being a true Christian, confronting him with the fact that the bishops and priests had practically enslaved the Filipinos, who only wanted to live in peace, while the “amoral” government was the only one improving the Filipino people's lives, giving them the foundations to stand on their own feet and spread better education among them. The only reason the letter was not sent was because the more conciliatory Sagasta prevented him from doing it, although Sagasta's only complaint was the language used in the letter.

Another letter, written at a later point (when Zorrilla was finally calmed down) explained the Pope what was the actual situation in the Philippines before the reforms were started. The letter further continued, establishing the danger the priests were in by mistreating the local people, thus risking their deaths were there to be a revolt the Spanish Eastern Army could not stop on time. It finished with a promise that the clergy and cult maintenance would also be applied to the Philippines.

The letter did not help to repair the relations between the Kingdom of Spain and the Holy See, although it was a start, and at least it kept the Pope from going forward with his threat of excommunication. However, that did not mean it was the end of the issue: Pius IX and following Popes continued to call for the restoration of the clergy's privileges in Philippines and the Concordate of 1851, as well as for Catholics to choose the options that would help keep true Catholicism in its proper position as a guide to the people of the world.

An also important event was the marriage of Napoleon IV, king of Corsica, to Spanish Infanta Maria del Pilar, one of Isabel II's daughters and sister to Alfonso de Borbón, he who for a few days had been Alfonso XII of Spain. The wedding was attended by the families of the bride and the groom, as well as many members of the European royal houses, but the only Spanish representative was the Spanish Foreign Minister, Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla, while the French Royal House did not even deign to send an answer, as, according to them, Corsica was still part of France, and thus the Napoleon usurper's wedding was a normal wedding between a French citizen and a foreign woman.

Infanta María del Pilar de Borbón y Borbón, new Queen of Corsica and wife of Napoleon IV of Corsica
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[Milarqui]

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

With the issue of Cuba put behind them, Sagasta decided to tackle an affair that could turn equally thorny and potentially catastrophic, if it was not treated soon and correctly: the Philippines.

Being at the other side of the world, and more than a month of travel away, the Philippines had been mostly out of sight – and out of mind – for the politicians in Madrid. For the two last centuries, an oligarchy had grown in the archipelago, formed by the clergy and the tiny colonial elite, which ruled over the Indios – or Filipinos, as they preferred to call themselves – as if the archipelago was still stuck in the sixteenth century. The only Filipinos that managed to jump over the obstacles placed in their way were the Ilustrados, a small community that had managed to educate themselves in ways that were denied to most people. That small number was slowly increasing, but their influence was nil when compared to the power the oligarchy held, especially the clergy, important in a region as Catholic as the Philippines.

A mestiza de sangley [1] woman
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The last few years, since the replacement of General Carlos María de la Torre y Nava Cerrada with also General Rafael de Izquierdo y Gutiérrez as Governor-General of the Philippines, things in the archipelago had started to become worse: for example, in 1872, an uprising in Fuerte San Felipe (nearby Cavite) had been supported by 200 soldiers, but easily put down. However, forty-one people ended being executed, including three priests, Fathers Mariano Gómez and José Burgos and Friar Jacinto Zamora, collectively known as Gomburza. This, and other many things, made it clear that Philippines could soon take the same path as Cuba.

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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Deeply interested in preventing a new Cuba from happening, Sagasta, with the freedom that came after the end of the Cuban War, took the affair with both hands and worked to cut off the problems source. His first decision was to call Carlos María de la Torre and offer him the chance to take, once more, the role of Governor-General. The general felt suspicious, thinking that, as soon as he started to do anything worthwhile, those opposed to his ideas would have him replaced: however, when Sagasta showed him the orders that gave him full power to execute all government-approved reforms, he accepted his new position.

On June 9th 1874, the newly named Governor-General of the Philippines boarded the recently built armoured frigate Cádiz, which was bound to Philippines to reinforce the Spanish Pacific Fleet. After a one-month long travel, which included a crossing of the Suez Canal and stops in Goa and Singapore for coaling, the Cádiz sailed into the Port of Manila. His first action was to go to Malacañang Palace, the official residence of the Governor-General, and present himself before acting Governor-General Manuel Blanco Valderrama. Having being warned of his arrival with a telegram from Madrid, Blanco welcomed de la Torre to the Philippines and updated him on the current state of affairs.


The arrival of de la Torre spread out through Manila first, and in the following days through the rest of the Philippines, sparking spontaneous celebrations among the Filipino people. De la Torre was, perhaps, one of the few Spanish people all Filipinos respected, because of his efforts during his first term as Governor-General to improve their lives and standing within the Kingdom of Spain: at one point during that time, there had even been a parade in front of Malacañang Palace by his many supporters [2].

Malacañang Palace, official residence of the Governor-General of the Philippines
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The oligarchy's reaction was pretty much the opposite. When, years before, de la Torre had threatened their position in the Philippines, they had complained and managed to get him replaced, with the support of de la Torre's political opponents. However, this time, de la Torre had full government support to continue and expand the policies he had followed before, so now all protests sent to Madrid would be sterile and useless: the Governor-General would have no problem in fulfilling his duties.

Very soon, the make-up of the Philippines started to change. Constitutional rights were granted de facto to all Filipino people, the Ilustrados were called to Malacañang to be consulted by the Governor and works were started in order to improve the main cities, installing many of the things the Spanish cities already enjoyed.

From left to right, Marcelo H. del Pilar, Félix Resurrección Hidalgo and Graciano López Jaena, three members of the Filipino Ilustrado movement
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The next thing de la Torre did was to start cutting off the power the oligarchy still held, and he started with the base: the schools. As it had happened before both in Spain and in the Caribbean, schools were secularized, with priests being replaced with actual teachers, helped by the Ilustrados. Programs were started to improve adult literacy – which was at a worse situation than that of Spain proper – and conscious efforts were initiated to improve the state of the local universities and make it easier for people to attend them.

The power of the Church was further cut off when all post-1837 monastic orders were eliminated, after having avoided this for five years. Also, the extensive land properties the Church still owned and that were not being exploited were confiscated and sold: this time, to prevent the same problems that kept southern Spain mired in landlordism, the auctioning was held in ways to ensure that most properties were bought by local Ilustrados and small owners. The revenues from the auctions were spent in the development of the Philippines, which helped much in developing the local infrastructure, as well as starting to cut off the rest of the oligarchy's power.

There was also a growth of the army, leading to a curious arrangement: the number of actual Spanish troops was not big enough to make a great difference, and the distance between Spain and Philippines meant it was next to impossible to receive reinforcements in an immediate way. Thus, de la Torre, with the permission of Sagasta and Minister of War Juan Prim, started to recruit local troops for their use in fighting in the Philippines. They were still being led by Spanish officers, of course, as they had yet to find a way to start training Filipino officers, and many times they were treated with disdain by the seasoned Spanish troops. However, the “Batallones Filipinos” would soon prove to be very good in their job, and would gain respect from the rest of the army.

Members of one of the first "Batallones Filipinos"
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The only region that remained relatively unruly was Mindanao, the southernmost island of the Philippines. The cultural differences were great, especially in regards to religion, as the Moros (as the people of Mindanao were called) were Muslims, and thus remained culturally separated from the rest of the Filipino people. Previous attempts by the Spanish government to put their rebellion down had been unsuccessful, but now things were different: they had the Tercios, and a part of the Army was now expert in jungle fighting. Also, the Spanish fleet was exercising a blockade around the island, preventing several Chinese blockade runners from selling guns to the Moros (who paid with slaves, which was another reason the blockade had been placed). Remembering the Virginius Affair, the ships were normally sent on their way back with a warming, and the cargo was seized. Once or twice, though, the ships were seized and the crewmen incarcerated, with the Chinese government being informed of the fact that some of their people had been found guilty of contraband.

One by one, all the Moro tribes were forced to surrender, but the terms being offered to them – partial autonomy, Spanish citizenship and all the rights that came with it – were good enough for them, who were tired of war.

By the same time the last Moros surrendered in September 1876, the Governor-General decided that it was time for Spain to invade the Sulu Archipelago, in order to consolidate the southern border of the Philippines and prevent another nation (the British had been sending traders into the region since the nineteenth century, the French were looking on with interest to the archipelago and the Americans had some designs on North Borneo, which was part of the Sultanate of Sulu) from taking over them, thus formalising Spanish control over the region (which, de jure, existed since 1851). The advanced weaponry and successful use of the Navy made the victory, while not an easy one, a successful one, with Spanish troops capturing the city of Jolo (capital of the Sultanate) on May 1877. The Sultan and his family were immediately taken to Manila, and established in a good set of rooms in the city, although it still meant they were prisoners in a gilded cage.

The last Sultan of Sulu in his exile in the Philippines
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Spain would also manage to get the Hong Kong-based American Trading Company to drop their lease in the region of Sabah (Northern Borneo) so that they could finally take the region and turn it into part of the Spanish East Indies. There were some protests from the British and Dutch, who were trying to take as much of the island as possible, but after negotiations to mark the borders between the three colonies, both accepted Spanish ownership of Sabah, and the Spanish East Indies gained a new region to work with, and to extract resources from.

Spain was not the only active nation in the region: France started to use its colonial possessions in Indochina in order to spread its influence among the nations there. By the year 1875, Cochinchina and Cambodia were already French colonies, and soon pressure was put to acquire the rest of the region, but they were under Chinese protection, and French presence in the region was not big enough to be able to defeat them. Thus, a conscious decision was taken to start this, so that, when the time came, China could be defeated and all of Indochina fell in French hands.

At the same time all of this was happening, Germany was slowly entering the colonial sphere. However, most of Africa, Asia and Oceania had already been taken, so the Germans rushed to take those places that had yet to be claimed by other nations, in spite of Bismarck's opposition to it. The first place to enter the German colonial empire was Kamerun, where German traders had been active in since 1868. They also started to take interest in New Guinea, whose eastern half remained unclaimed (the western half was part of the Dutch East Indies), so it was soon developed thanks to the establishment of several trading ports, with German trade soon dominating the region. The archipelago of Samoa, which so far had yet to be taken, was claimed by German ships and troops that had used the Spanish Pacific islands as a springboard. This action was protested by the Americans and British, who had economic interests in the archipelago. Negotiations were arduous between the three nations, but in the end an agreement was reached: Britain would leave Samoa in exchange of Germany accepting British suzerainty over the southern half of eastern New Guinea, and the eastern half of the archipelago, formed by Tutuila, the Manu'a, Motu O Manu and Olosenga, were given to the Americans.

The German Empire flag being risen over Mulinu'u, capital of German Samoa
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[1] The mestizo de sangley were people of mixed Chinese and Filipino inheritance. Famous José Rizal was a mestizo de sangley
[2] 100% true. Carlos María de la Torre was Governor-General of the Philippines between June 1869 and April 1871, and he is considered the most beloved Spanish Governor-General ever assigned in the Philippines: a parade was thrown for him by his supporters. Unfortunately, he was replaced by Rafael Izquierdo, who was the one in charge when Gomburza were executed. Who knows what could have happened if de la Torre had not been replaced?

 

[Milarqui]

Chapter V, Part III: Ostro, Adventure And Exploration

Another important path taken by the Kingdom of Spain led to Africa: at the time, the European colonial powers were starting to look at Africa as a great new fountain of resources, as well as a new market for their industrial products: recently, several nations had started to raise their tariffs in order to strengthen their own industrial production, and, as a result, international trade had started to go down.

Spain had already two points from where they could expand into Africa: the territory of Ifni, ceded to Spain after the Spanish-Moroccan War of 1860, and the colony of Rio Muni. Western Africa, thanks to the strategic position of the Canary Islands near the African coast, was an excellent place, and it would allow for the colonization of most of the remaining African west coast, between Cape Blanco (near the French West African coast) and Ifni itself. In order to secure that land, the government had several military forts built at strategic points between the two points, proclaiming Spanish ownership of the region.

A monk seal colony in Cabo Blanco
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In Guinea, things were still a bit complicated due to the existence of illnesses that had yet to be found a true cure for, but medical advances and previous expeditions had improved things, and thus it allowed Spanish expeditions to enter Africa, following the local rivers, such as the Benito, Abia or Uoro Mbini Rivers. The main expeditions, led by men like Manuel de Iradier y Bulfy, and supported by Cuban mulatto ex-soldiers, not only helped to map out the region, but also would help to put down several revolts by natives and rise the red-and-yellow flag in those towns. There was also an expedition to Madagascar, where Spain found natives that liked the idea of allying with someone that had recently defeated the ones who were constantly attacking them, the French. Soon, Spanish-built weaponry was being sold to the Malagasy army and several advisors came there. France protested this move, alleging that the Lambert Charter gave France rights over Madagascar, but there was not much they could do, as they could not prove the legality of said charter.

Manuel Iradier y Bulfy, one of the main explorers of what would be Spanish Guinea, and Joseph-François Lambert, whose negotiations were the genesis of the so-called Lambert Charter
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France itself was using the subject of Africa as a way to appease its people. The loss of the Oranesado in the Treaty of Frankfurt had been hard (although not as hard as Rousillon or Alsace-Lorraine, of course), so the government pushed for an immediate expansion of the French colonies in West Africa, using the mission civilisatrice as an excuse (although many did have that feeling in mind). To that end, war was declared on the native kingdoms of Cayor and Jolof, and after several battles where French weapons and strategies won over the natives' primitive ways, they were put under the control of the French governor in Senegal. The Ivory Coast would also see an expansion towards the north, attempting, however, not to do anything to enter into the English sphere of influence, as France expected to gain them as allies for their eventual revenge against Spain and Germany. France also decided to gain control of part of Central Africa, in a bid to counter Spanish influence in the region, and thus placed several fortresses in the Kongo, between Loango and Cape Lopez.

Portugal, with its current holdings in Guinea, Angola and Moçambique, had an excellent position from which to expand into the rest of Africa. Although Gambia would surely soon be blocked by French expansion of its Senegalese and Guinean colonies, their other two colonies were an easier thing, since they even had inroads into the African continent. They even planned for an eventual joining of both of their colonies into one, which could help communicate the eastern and western coasts of southern Africa. They would not know that their plan would be fruitless, but still it drove many people towards the two colonies.

Even the United Kingdom, with its great colonies in Canada, India and Oceania, had some problems and looked forward to the Dark Continent to expand their holdings and available markets. Even as, under the orders of Secretary of State for the Colonies Lord Carnarvon, they started to deal with the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic for the potential federation of the British and Boer territories (a deal that was turned down by the Boers), there were already plans for the eventual annexation of the Zulu Kingdom into South Africa.

These were started to become apparent in 1877, when Sir Theophilus Shepstone invaded the Transvaal Republic and persuaded the Boers to give up the independence. Transvaal had previously had several border problems with the Zulu Kingdom, in which Shepstone had supported the Zulus, but now that he had to see the border dispute from the other side, he tried, unsuccessfully, to get the Zulus to back down. The Zulus, especially their king Cetshwayo, who had previously thought of him as a friend, accused him of betraying them. This would make Shepstone start to report the Zulus as an aggressive threat.

From left to right: Henry Howard Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon and Secretary of State for the Colonies; Cetshwayo kaMpande, the last Zulu king and Sir Theophilus Shepstone
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This, as well as a series of minor incidents happening in the border between the Zulu Kingdom and British Natal on summer 1878, was used by high commissioner Sir Henry Bartle Frere as the means to present the Zulu Kingdom with an ultimatum, made of thirteen demands that he knew King Cetshwayo would not be able to comply with, thus starting war. Cetshwayo tried to do as much as possible to prevent war from happening, but in January 1879 an army of 15,000 troops led by Frederick Augustus Thesiger, 2nd Baron Chelmsford, invaded Zululand, without the authorization of the British government.

General Frederick Augustus Thesiger, 2nd Baron Chelmsford, and Sir Henry Bartle Frere, High Commissioner for Southern Africa
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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] It is in here that Napoleon III's son was killed by the Zulus in RL: he had been able to get himself sent to South Africa to fight on the British Army, and he was put under the protection of Chelmsford himself, not being fighting directly under direct orders of the British government and his mother, Empress Eugénie. Some time before the Battle of Ulundi, he was part of a scout team sent ahead, with a great escort for the Prince, but the Zulus found them and killed the Prince. Obviously, here he does not die, since he is now the King of Corsica, and lives with his wife.

 

[Milarqui]

Chapter V, Part IV: Poniente, With Old Wars

The problem with Cuba solved, there were other things related with the Americas that the Spanish diplomacy decided to tackle soon.

One of them was the First Pacific War [1], which was theoretically still on-going in spite of the fact that no war action had taken place since 1866: basically, the last governments of Isabel II and both the Provisional Government and the governments that had searched for the new king and then fought the war against France had forgotten it due to more pressing problems. However, now they could do something, and the Sagasta government thought it was an excellent moment to attempt to establish better ties with the South American nations.

With the help of the United States, who was seeking a way to gain rapport with the resurgent nation, Spanish diplomats met with those of the South American alliance, formed by Chile, Bolivia, Perú and Ecuador. In the following Treaty of Tallahassee of 1875 (signed in the capital of the state of Florida), Spain recognised the independence of the four American nations in exchange of them opening their markets to Spanish products.

However, the years between the end of the war and the peace signing had taken their toll on the alliance, and now the nations were separating: Gabriel García Moreno, who had been President of Ecuador, would soon die at the hands of Colombian Faustino Rayo, and Ecuador drifted away from the other nations; Perú and Bolivia, which had once been part of the same nation, remained together, and Chile, which was emerging in the region as a powerful nation, was slowly starting to turn against its northern neighbours, which could become potential enemies in achieving regional supremacy.

Gabriel García Moreno, President of Ecuador
​

Sagasta saw this as a clear chance to divide the alliance and instead find some allies of its own in the southern hemisphere. After some considerations, it was decided that the best idea would be to pick Perú. This decision was not taken lightly: despite the fact that the war had initially started against Perú, there was still a pro-Spanish sentiment in the region, coming from the 1820s, when Perú was the last nation to become independent from Spain. Also, they had access to a great number of resources in the region, and if the Peruvian markets were opened to Spanish products, perhaps Spanish businesses could manage to even expand operations into. The guano deposits in the Chincha Islands, as well as the many natural resources in there, could be at hand. Of course, benefits would have to be shared with Perú, and probably they should build factories, but it was something they were willing to do.

Soon after this, two new buildings were built in La Paz and Lima, capitals of Bolivia and Perú, respectively: the Casa de España, ostensibly a place where all Spaniard people living in both nations could meet to remember their mother nation and encounter their compatriots, but it would also be used as the headquarters of the trade between Spain and both nations. Soon, one of the main articles both nations would be buying were weapons, both of German and Spanish production. The possibility of a war with Chile was near, and the allied nations wanted to make sure that such a war fell in their favour.

Casa de España in the city of Lima
​

The war did not take long to come. The nationalization, by part of Perú, of the nitrate mines in the department of Tarapaca, near the border with Bolivia, harmed Chilean interests in the region, as it left a great part of the nitrate resources in the region in the hands of the Peruvians (more than half of them, in fact). However, Chile only elevated complaints for the actions of the Peruvian government, and decided to concentrate in the Bolivian mines in the province of Antofagasta. The region was quite difficult to colonize by part of the Bolivians, as the mighty Andes stood in the way, and thus Chile had the way open for business expansion.

However, in 1878, the Bolivian government chose to use a loophole in a contract that had given the Chilean Compañía de Ferrocarriles y Nitratos de Antofagasta the authorization to extract saltpeter from Antofagasta's mines without paying taxes, arguing that said agreement had not been approved by the Bolivian Congress. After a series of offers and counteroffers, the Bolivian Congress approved a 10 cent per 100 kilograms tax. The Chilean company asked for the support of its government, which argued that the tax was illegal, as per the Boundary Treaty of 1874, which, among other things, fixed the tax rates on Chilean companies operating in Bolivia for 25 years. In the end, Bolivia refused to back down, and threatened to confiscate the company's property.

The war started on February 14th 1879, the day when the Bolivian government auctioned the Compañía de Ferrocarriles y Nitratos de Antofagasta's assets in Bolivia. That same day, 500 Chilean soldiers occupied the port city of Antofagasta, being welcomed by the mostly Chilean population in the city. Bolivia, however, did not declare war definitely until March 14th, asking the Peruvian government to do the same. Perú attempted to mediate in the war, trying to get both nations to the negotiating table, but Chile demanded immediate neutrality from Perú in the war, and, after not receiving confirmation of this, Chile officially declared war on Bolivia and Perú on April 5th.

Occupation of Antofagasta by Chilean soldiers
​

Most of the war, due to the fact that Antofagasta was next to the Atacama, the driest desert in the world, was 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.

From left to right: Peruvian ships Independencia and Huáscar, and Chilean ships Almirante Cochrane and Blanco Encalada
​

The Chilean navy blockaded the port of Iquique on the same day war was declared. The siege lasted for a month and a half, ending in the Battle of Iquique: there, Captain Miguel Grau demonstrated his great worth and ability, commanding the Huáscar and managed to sink the Chilean corvette Esmeralda. However, the victory was a pyrrhic one, for Perú lost the Independencia as it persecuted the schooner Covadonga.

Miguel Grau Seminario, Admiral and future President of the Republic of Perú, and the Battle of Iquique

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Despite the loss, it nonetheless allowed Perú to free the port of Iquique, and the subsequent months turned Miguel Grau into the hero of his generation, because, on board of the Huáscar, he managed to hold off the Chilean Navy, participating in several fights in the Pacific. His genius stroke true with the capture of the steamship Rimac, which was carrying a whole cavalry regiment: this was the biggest defeat so far in the war for Chile.

Due to this defeat, the Chilean government was forced to resign, as did Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Juan Williams Rebolledo, who was replaced by Commodore Galvarino Riveros Cárdenas: he started to devise a plan with which the Chilean navy would be able to trap the Huáscar and give victory to Chile.

However, the capture of the Rimac gave Perú time to deal with the problematic situation of its navy, and managed to buy two ironclads from Spain, with the possible options to obtain more of them if required. Sagasta and Prim decided to use this as a way to both intimidate Chile and gain new territories in the Southern Pacific, which could easily become part of another route between Spain and the Philippines should the two African routes (the Suez Canal and South Africa) be closed off.

Nine ships, led by the Numancia and Zaragoza ironclads, travelled from the port of El Ferrol to the Canary Islands, and from there to Iquique, making stops in Rio de Janeiro and the young but growing Argentinian town of Rawson, before crossing the Magallanes Straits and reaching Perú. Two of the ships would shed their Spanish colours to replace them with the Bicolour Banner, officially joining the Peruvian Navy, while the rest sailed west, making stops in some of the islands and archipelagos of the zone, such as the island of Pascua – where the natives signed a protectorate treaty with the Spanish admirals, who were amazed at the size of the statues that had been built by the natives' ancestors – or Salas y Gómez – a movement protested by the Chilean government, which had claimed the island for itself – before reaching the Carolinas, where some German ships were found and saluted. A small diplomatic incident nearly happened when it turned out that some of those ships were planning to claim the islands for the German Empire, but as soon as they realised their mistake, the Germans left without discussion.

The Numancia and Zaragoza ironclads
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The two new ships – christened Independencia, after the lost ironclad, and Iquique – joined the Peruvian Navy in the nick of time. They managed to take part on the Battle of Punta Angamos of October 8th [2], where, although numbers favoured the Chileans, the greater ability of Miguel Grau gave victory to the Peruvians and preventing what could have been a land invasion of Chilean troops into Peruvian territory. The Chilean Navy also lost the Blanco Encalada, which would be marked as the start of the end of the war.

After achieving naval supremacy following another battle in front of Antofagasta, the Peruvian Army and Navy achieved a landing of troops nearby the city of Antofagasta, keeping them supplied from Iquique and taking the city from the beleaguered Chileans, after a battle where, according to accounts, more casualties were caused by the heat and humidity than by the bullets shot by the soldiers.

From Antofagasta, the Peruvian soldiers started to march towards the east in an attempt to take the desert forts spread along the Atacama desert, a task that would have been hard at any time of the year, but became harder due to the high temperatures typical of the Southern Hemisphere's summer. Bolivian troops also marched from the east, and, after two months of march and battle, all Chilean troops were dead or prisoners of the allied armies.

The Atacama Desert: I'm getting thirsty just for looking at it...
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Meanwhile, Miguel Grau had not remained quiet: his fleet attacked the Chilean coast, forcing their navy to attempt to stop them, an attempt that saw the loss of the Almirante Cochrane, Chile's remaining ironclad, in a battle that happened on November 15th in front of the city of Valparaíso.

The last event of the war was a landing by a mixed Peruvian-Bolivian army on the city of Copiapó, which took the city on January 20th of 1880. By then, most Chilean cities were demanding that the government put an end to the war, which they had to acquiesce, and asked the Peruvian-Bolivian alliance for an armistice.

Under the auspices of the United States and United Kingdom, a peace treaty would be signed on March 1st in Quito, Ecuador. Territorially, the situation was statu quo ante bellum, that is, there would be no exchange of lands. However, economically, things were different: Chile was forced to accept Bolivia's expropriation of the Compañía de Ferrocarriles y Nitratos de Antofagasta, which had started the war, accept the change of taxes for the Chilean companies and pay a compensation to both Perú and Bolivia.

In spite of Bolivia being the most benefited economically, the great winner of the war was Perú, which had established its supremacy in the south-eastern Pacific, and which found itself in a great euphoria following the victory. Miguel Grau Seminario, ascended now to the rank of Admiral, would be also elevated to the rank of Héroe de la República [3], and would, in 1884, be voted in a landslide to become President of the Republic, using his position to direct Perú towards modernization, so that their regional supremacy could be upheld.

[1] The Chincha Islands War.
[2] 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.
[3] Miguel Grau Seminario remains, to this day, one of the most important figures of Peruvian history. In RL, he was recognised as the most important Peruvian of the Millenium, and, as he was a member of the Congress of the Republic of Perú, to this day his seat remains preserved in the Congress, with all congressmen and women responding "present" when Grau is called.

 

[Milarqui]

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

In the year 1877, Spain went through a new election day. This time, it was not as exciting as previous ones. For starters, the nation was in the middle of a period of prosperity, born from the policies taken by previous governments. There were not too many problems beyond the typical ones of the day to day. Thus, when, on April 1877 the Spaniards went to vote, they chose to give continuity to the Democrat-Radical Party the continuity in power. Unknown to the main population, these elections would be the first where the manipulations of the caciques were eliminated, which had been the problem the government had worked on as democracy took roots in Spanish society.

It was in that same year of 1877 [1] that what was bound to eventually become one of the most important political parties of Spain was born: the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE, Spanish Socialist Workers' Party).

From left to right: PSOE's logo; Casa Labra, the place where the PSOE was founded; Pablo Iglesias, founder and first Secretary General of the PSOE; and UGT's logo
​

It had appeared as a consequence of several factors:

• The arrival of political books to Spain, particularly Marx's The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital, bringing the idea of socialism to Spain.
• The growing number of people that now worked in the industrial sector, concentrated in the main cities of Spain (with Madrid, Barcelona and Bilbao being the most important), a direct consequence of the slow mechanization of the agricultural and livestock sectors.
• The consciousness of the lower class about the precarious conditions many of them worked at.
• The stabilization of the economy, which allowed for businesses to gain greater benefits.

Covers of the first editions of the Communist Manifesto and of Das Kapital
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The three latter factors were very important, since they were the seed that had given birth to the modern Spanish workers' movement, fed with the facts of the great differences between the different social classes, which, while those differences were less and smaller, there was still, nonetheless, a great difference between what was considered the high class and the low class, although the new policies was allowing the slow appearance of a middle class that was taking over or creating many small and medium businesses in the cities of Spain.

The workers' movement was not a new thing in Spain: during the times of Fernando VII's and Isabel II's reigns, there had been many attempts by the workers to try to organise in order to defend their common interests, particularly those related to their salaries and working time. However, most of the time their attempts to do this were brutally put down by the government, since they were more akin to satisfying the desires of the businessmen, landlords and nobles than the needs of the workers.

Another problem the early workers' movement had to deal with was that their scope was smaller than what was required for things to work out in their favour. These associations were only formed by people with the same job, which limited the size of their demands and the potential harm that could be caused if the workers' demands were not met.

First number of El Eco de la Clase Obrera, first Spanish newspaper directed towards the working class
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Thus, 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 first forays in the political world did not take much time to start. Just a year after the PSOE's creation, Pablo Iglesias, its founder, started the first trade union of Spain, the Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT, Workers' General Union), which was also a first in that it was created to encompass the efforts of workers of several careers to gain sensible working conditions and salaries, as opposed to one-job associations.

Both party and trade union grew quite fast: for example, by the end of the decade, PSOE had 50,000 affiliates in Madrid, Asturias and Vascongadas, and was starting to make its way in Catalonia, one of the main industrial centres of Spain, where socialism had to contend with anarchism, which had made its way to Spain several years before thanks to the influence of Italian anarchist Giuseppe Fanelli, who had arrived to Spain in 1868 in order to recruit members for the First International. Both ideologies would find similar numbers of followers in Catalonia, although anarchism would enjoy a greater number of them, as the ideology was quite attractive to many in the region. Anarchism was also growing in Andalusia, where, in the 1870s, a section of the First International had been formed.

Logo first used by the Federal Council of Spain of the International Workingmen's Association, or First International
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However, socialism held a great advantage over anarchism: despite how attractive anarchism sounded to some, the people had come to appreciate the stabilization a government brought, as well as the improvements in their lives and the economy. Thus, while anarchism was completely opposed to the mere idea of a government, sometimes even using violence to make their position known, socialism was willing to work with the system so that the change could be as pacific as possible.

It would take some time until the PSOE was rooted in Spain, enough to be able to gain its first deputies to the Congress, but until that moment arrived the party would keep growing and expanding its influence.

It was certainly an interesting time to live in. However, this did not mean everything was perfect. The appearance of the first class-wide trade union meant that very soon those affiliated to it were using their association to start making demands, demands that in the future would be things taken for granted, but that at the time meant a great deal for the . Several strikes hit the nation in some of the most important industrial sectors. The main RESA factory saw a strike hit it in 1880, just two months before the next elections, asking for a reduction of the work hours. Attempts by Sagasta's government to address the grievances of the strikers met with defeat, as these were very set on their positions, and would not step back until their demands were met.

In the end, just two weeks before the elections started, the government chose to pass a law that would reduce the work week to 50 hours. It was certainly welcomed by the people, but not by the main businessmen, who chose to start supporting Antonio Cánovas del Castillo's Liberal-Conservatives. This support ended up being fundamental in the following elections.

Finally, on May 1880, after the votes were counted, it became clear that Sagasta's eleventh-hour attempt to earn back the confidence of the people had met with failure. People had instead 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

Well, I hope this met with your needs and wants for some time. It was a bit difficult for me to write the last part of this chapter, but hopefully I made it interesting enough.

I'll try to draw the flags for each of the Foral Regions, and will present soon Hohenzollern Spain's flag.

Next chapter will deal with the Scramble for Africa, problems associated with the potential downturns and upturns of the economy, new additions to the Kingdom of Spain, and the genesis of a problem (with its solution) that will change things in Spain and many other points in the world (Linense will surely know what's that problem ).
​

 

[Milarqui]

Well, after more than two months of research, head-breaking and writer's block, here it is what you were waiting for...

Chapter VI – The Second Colonization Starts...​

Chapter VI, Part I – The European Politics

A decade after the start of Leopoldo I's reign, Europe was a much changed continent. Ten years before, the United Kingdom remained aloof of the happenings in Europe, France was the continent's greatest power, Prussia was looking forward to unify all the German nations under the same flag, Austria-Hungary looked with mistrust to Prussia, Italy was looking towards Rome with greed, the Ottoman Empire controlled a good part of the Balkans and Spain had been looking for a king.

Now, France had gone from Empire to Republic to Monarchy while going through an astronomical war debt and the loss of part of its national territory, Germany had become the greatest power of Continental Europe, all of Italy had become one thanks to Vittorio Emanuele II, the Ottoman Empire had lost most of the Balkans due to several wars of independence, and Spain had become solidified as one powerful nation on its own right.

However, a deeper look at how things had evolved would be interesting, given how things had changed.

The United Kingdom, which still was the greatest power in the world, was currently in the middle of the successful reign of Victoria I. In 1876, Queen Victoria had taken the title of Empress of India, as the subcontinent finally became an official part of the British Empire, the same year Disraeli's government bought the Egyptian shares to the Suez Canal from the impoverished Khedivate, and in 1878, she lost her second daughter, Alice, to diphteria. Lord Gladstone, the Prime Minister at the time of the Hohenzollerns' War, had gained the reigns of government after the 1880 election, in which the Liberal Party had campaigned against Benjamin Disraeli's expansionist policy, calling it “disgraceful”.

Despite this, the empire would keep expanding during Gladstone's mandate: in Egypt, Colonel Ahmed Urabi, angry at the state of the nation, which was controlled economically by French and British people representing the European banks, and politically and militarily by an elite formed by Europeans, Albanians and Turco-Circassians, decided to revolt in Spring 1881, taking control of the government with the support of the lower classes and a good part of the army, which felt threatened by Khedive Tewfik Pasha's plans to shrink it in order to reduce costs. The British and the French sent a joint note to the Egyptian government, asserting their support for the Khedive, sparking new threats against European interests in the region. In the end, the political turmoil exploded in a huge riot in the city of Alexandria on January 8th, which ended with 300 deaths, most of them Egyptians.

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Mohamed Tewfik Pasha, Khedive of Egypt and Sudan
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When attempts by the British to attempt to stop the riot from spreading became a failure, the British House of Commons chose to vote for the British Army to invade Egypt and bring the revolts to a stop. Landings in the Canal Zone and Alexandria were taken almost immediately with success, but further advances became more difficult, and there were also several defeats. However, the victory in the Battle of Adabeya in July 1882 helped to put down the revolt, and suddenly the British were met with the fact that they actually controlled all of Egypt, even though their intention was just to stop the rebellion and keep the Suez Canal under their control. While attempting to restore Egypt for their future, there were some within the United Kingdom that were ready to accept that, de facto, Egypt had become part of the Empire.

France was still on the throes of an economic expansion that had started right after the war payments had finished. Having to pay eleven billions of francs-gold to Germany and Spain, plus the costs of occupation, had spurred the French government to follow slightly extreme economic policies that helped to make up enough money to pay the entire debt in just six years. King Philippe VII had, for many, become the savior of France, because he had provided the nation for a shining symbol to look up at, and had been a stabilizing figure for the politics, a role that, ironically, many would compare to the one Leopoldo I had played for Spain.

The government, currently lead by Premier Albert de Broglie [1], was centered in two main foreign policies: finding new allies for the future war against Germany and Spain –the planning for had started almost as soon as Philippe VII had become King of France– and reestablishing the image of the Kingdom of France as a superpower, which had suffered a hard hit due to the Hohenzollerns' War.

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Albert de Broglie, Duke of Broglie, Premier of France
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The former was achieved relatively easily. Knowing that one of the few nations with the power to counter the Germans and the Spaniards was the United Kingdom, the French sought to gain them as allies. It was not an easy task, given that the United Kingdom tried to maintain itself over the political matters of the continent, but the French government persevered, especially since, as Germany's power grew, so did British concerns about them, and the potential problems it could cause to the balance of power in Europe. Thus, France tried to find ways to collaborate with the British in such a way that they would be willing to help them in the future. The only thorn in the side was that the British were adamant that Corsica was to remain independent for the time being, and they would have to acquiesce if they wanted to have the French as allies.

Russia was also a great possible ally, because, even though both nations were ruled by kinsmen –Kaiser Wilhelm I was Czar Alexander II's uncle through the latter's mother–, Germany's and Russia's interests in Europe ran opposite to each other.

The second part was achieved by impulsing their colonial policies. Using their current colonies in West Africa, they took as much land as possible in there. Cayor fell to their armies, as did many other local kingdoms. Algeria was also expanded towards the south, in an attempt to connect with their West African colonies and completely cut-off Spain's access to the interior of the continent. They also did their best to encourage people to emigrate to those colonies, in order to solidify their position there, and also took to start settling further into southern West Africa.

However, the chance to recover their place in the world would happen half a world away: in 1882, complaints by French merchants and missionaries led to an expedition led by Commandant Henri Rivière, that took Hanoi. The Vietnamese chose to ask the Black Flag Army – a bandit force that controlled the Red River – and the Chinese to support them. Chinese support appeared in the form of an invasion of Tonkin by troops, ostensibly to prevent the French from using their port in Tonkin to invade the rest of the region.

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The Black Army Ensign, as shown in the Musée de L'Armée in Paris
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Unfortunately for the Chinese, when word of the event got back to Paris, King and Government saw an excellent chance to take over the rest of Vietnam, and also to get back into the international scene. Thus, they sent several reinforcements to Cochinchina and Tonkin, and when things were ready, the French declared war on China, using the Chinese invasion of Tonkin as a casus belli, as they stated it threatened their port city.

The French troops made mincemeat of the small Vietnamese army, and very soon had occupied the entire Vietnam. Of course, just like it happened in the Spanish Independence War, occupying a region was not the same as controlling it completely, because the Black Flag Army was still up in arms, preventing the French from easily taking control of any place out of the cities. It would take the French many years to pacify the region enough for it to be considered relatively safe.

As for the Chinese, it was a matter of numbers trying to fight technology. Unlike what happened in the Hohenzollerns' War, this time the more modern technology used by the French was able to fight and defeat the numbers of the Chinese several times. This became especially evident in the Battle of Nui Bop of February 7th, when 2500 French troops faced 15000 Chinese soldiers and earned a hard victory after 1000 Chinese troops died while only 34 Frenchmen died and 56 were injured. The Chinese were still able to gain a few victories thanks to their knowledge of the terrain, but it was not enough, especially when compounded with several overwhelming defeats in the seas.

In the end, the Chinese Empire was forced to ask for peace terms from the French, who milked them for all their worth: as well as Vietnam, the French took the islands of Hainan and Taiwan, as well as two new concessions in Kwang-Chou-Wan and Hankou, joining those in Shangai, Shamian Island and Tianjin. This victory gave France great prestige in Europe, having fought the Asiatic giant alone and defeating it in a year, and imbued its people with the feeling that it could eventually be possible to restore the French homeland and recover the lost territories of Alsace-Lorraine and Roussillon.

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French Territories in Asia after the Sino-French War
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Meanwhile, Germany was living in a golden age. The war victory still permeated much of the German society, with some of the more optimistic people even talking about the Hohenzollern Krieg being the start of a so-called Pax Germanica. However, the most skilled politicians of the moment already knew that it was but a matter of time that the Kingdom of France used any excuse they could find to declare war on Germany once more.

Thus, the militarist atmosphere that permeated Germany remained, although slightly relaxed as it was apparent that a war was not as near as thought. This relaxation was also helped by the growth of the industrial base, although many times these also wound up to have problems of their own, as many factories were under control of cartels that controlled much of the German industrial power, and many times the workers' rights were denied to them. This changed with the establishment of the Sozialstaat by Bismarck, who intended, through his paternalistic policies, to ensure that Socialism's influence within Germany was reduced – an effort that had started in 1878 with the Anti-Socialist Laws, forbidding all socialist organizations and literature – as well as reducing the outflow of immigrants to the United States.

Bismarck's attempts to prevent Socialism's entrance into German politics failed: despite the existence of the Anti-Socialist Laws, socialist-minded candidates gained seats in the recently built Reichstag by running as independent candidates, a loophole in the German Constitution that the socialists exploited, encouraged by the growing successes the PSOE was enjoying in Spain. The socialists, who were unofficially part of theGerman Socialist Party –SPD, Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands – and other left-leaning deputies, such as those from the National Liberal Party –NLP, Nationalliberale Partei– or the German Progress Party – DFP, Deutsche Fortschrittspartei – used the Spanish political system as an example Germany could – and perhaps should – follow, a position also held by the linguistic and political minorities, which pointed out how Spanish legislation allowed autonomy to parts of its national territory, as well as the use of minor languages.

These discussions, and comparisons to the Kingdom of Spain, were more accentuated in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Dual Monarchy had, since its formation in 1867, struggled to ensure that the Balkan minorities did not rebel against the Emperor. However, knowledge of how Spain dealt with its own minorities carried back to the Balkans – thanks to traders, diplomats and journalists –, and soon the demands for greater rights and for local and regional autonomy started to grow. The protests were supported in the sly by the young nation of Serbia, which hoped to be able to unify all southern Slavs just like Prussia had unified all Germans.

However, Serbia would find their task to be far more difficult than how it had been for the Prussians: for starters, the Empire's army was far greater than that of Serbia. Also, Austria-Hungary had been dealing with the minorities for a lot of time, and thus knew how to prevent those demands from becoming mainstream, even if their methods were rather brutal. They also had the support of their northern neighbor and ally, Germany, which knew that anything that might unsettle the balance in Austria-Hungary would reduce their effectiveness as an ally.

Meanwhile, Russia was undergoing the reign of Alexander II, who had several years before initiated reforms to help Russia modernize, having given the freedom to the serfs in 1861, and now supporting the expansion of the industry and the railway network, which he expected to be able to connect the nation from the capital in Saint Petersburg to the young city of Vladivostok within twenty or thirty years. He had also made plans to initiate the democratization of Russia, which he and many of his ministers regarded as the best way to prevent the lower classes from revolting.

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Czar Alexander II of Russia
​

On March 13th 1881, however, the Czar's plans nearly went awry when several members of Narodnaya Volya – Наро́дная во́ля, The People's Will –, an organization that demanded the democratization of Russia, although with many socialist overtones – such as placing factories under the control of the workers or giving land to the peasants –, attempted to kill Alexander II as he went to the Mikhailovsky Manège for the weekly military roll call. Three bombers were ready to attack the armored carriage Alexander II was riding: the first bomb, thrown by Nikolai Rysakov, killed one of the Czar's Cossack bodyguards and injured several of the people that were nearby; the second bomb was thrown by Ivan Emelyanov towards the Emperor, who had come out of the carriage shocked after the first explosion, but a courageous man called Aleksandr Levitsky [2] managed to catch the suitcase in which the bomb was kept, dying when the bomb exploded seconds after. A third bomber named Ignati Grinevitsky was tackled to the floor by nearby people when it became clear that he was also carrying a bomb.

The Cossack bodyguards managed to get the Czar back into his carriage and had the conductor take the carriage towards the Manège as fast as possible in case there were more bombers around, while they, together with the policemen that had been called by the Chief of Police – who had been riding a carriage right behind of that of the Czar –, arrested the would-be regicides and ensured that all the injured people were taken to the nearest hospitals.

It is said that Alexander II wept bitterly when he realized how near he had been to death, and ordered that the three men that had tried to kill him were interrogated until all other members of the terrorist organization were captured. However, they were not to be killed, as he did not want for them to become martyrs for other potential terrorists.

The next week was relatively calm, as the Narodnaya Volya members were arrested one by one. Most of them were freed, as they showed that they were not aligned with the most extremist members of the organization –most of Narodnaya Volya only asked for a Constitution to be approved, and for Russia to become a constitutional monarchy–, but the rest would be condemned to hard labor for their actions. The family of the man who had given his life to save the Czar was brought to the Winter Palace, and Aleksandr Levitsky was ennobled posthumously, so that the title could go to his older child, and the entire family would be provided for during the rest of their lives.

Exactly one week after the attack, Alexander II went forward with his plan to democratize Russia. His first act was to call for the election of a Duma, an elected parliament, which he had finished drafting the plans for the day before the attack [3], but the attack had shaken him enough to delay the announcement.

He knew it would be a hard and difficult task, as he would have to go against years of tradition and against most of the nation's nobles, but with he also knew that, if he persevered, none of the nobles would be able to stop him.

[1] Those that have enough knowledge of physics will recognize the surname.
[2] Invented name. The man's children may have an important role in the future, though...
[3] 100% true. He had planned to release his plan for the creation of the elected Duma 2 days after that fateful Sunday, but, obviously, his death put a stop to said plans. In fact, Alexander III's –Alexander II's son and successor– first act after being crowned was to take those plans and tear them up. In RL, there was not an elected Duma until 1905, and even then it was only treated as a consultative body by Nicholas II.

 

[Milarqui]

Chapter VI, Part II: ¡Cánovas, Presidente!

The victory of the Liberal-Conservative Party in the last elections meant much to the people of Spain, but even more to the cadre of politicians that had led La Gloriosa. In the first place, it was a clear signal that the Spanish democracy was working, as the registered data had shown that a 81.09% of the voters had come to the urns to cast their opinion for the different parties. It was also a moment that would test Cánovas' commitment to Leopoldine Spain: considering his past as a supporter of the Bourbon monarchy in the person of Alfonso de Borbón, some believed – based in unfounded fears, fortunately – that Cánovas may attempt to use his new position as the springboard for Isabel II's son's potential accession to the throne; and there was also the matter of Cánovas' complete disagreement with the form rights were conceded to the people, thinking that said rights had to be legislated to prevent their misuse, as opposed to the Constitution's concession of said rights.

Despite the fears some people had, Cánovas, in his speech to Congress after being invested as President of Spain, swore to uphold the Constitution in its current form, and not to push for reforms of the Constitution unless it was clearly necessary. This pleased the liberal opposition, which was glad that, although they had lost the elections, at least their opponent was a reasonable man.

His first policies were, surprisingly for a man as convinced of the civil authority's superiority over the military, concentrated on improving the Spanish Armed Forces. The number of soldiers in the army was expanded, and the weaponry was improved to include the last technological developments, among them the newly created smokeless gunpowder, which was more powerful and had the added benefit of not producing any smoke, thus making detection much more difficult. The Tercios Especiales was also increased in size, reaching the memorable number of 15 platoons and 900 soldiers before his first term was through.

He also increased funding for the Navy, especially important as recent developments by the Monturiol-García Sáez team had proved to be very interesting, and, in fact, the Navy was already the proud owner of a small submarine fleet that, although it was quite primitive, it still was a powerful weapon – and Spain wished to maintain the lead in the submarine production and design, as other nations' navies had copied them. The team had also recently taken in a man who was very interested in the matter of submarine design, Lieutenant Isaac Peral – a veteran of the Cuban Revolutionary War – who had already made several schematics of possible future design. These initial designs gave fruits in March 1884, when Isaac Peral presented his Proyecto de Torpedero Submarino – Project for a submarine torpedo boat –, which was a submarine with a electric motor that allowed the submarine to dive whenever its captain wanted. This attracted the attention of the current Minister of the Navy, Admiral Pascual Cervera y Topete, who was interested in any ideas that might result in the improvement of the Navy, and arranged for a first prototype to be built. The tests for the first Peral-class submarine – christened Gloriosa – were done nearby the coastal city of Cartagena, where it showed that it had great potential, although it still had much room for improvement.

The Gloriosa, decommissioned in 1910 and given to the city of Cartagena​

Another of his plans was to send explorers to Guinea in order to expand the size of the colony, and claim as much land as possible down there before others arrived. It was but a race against time, space and illness as several explorers tried to map the interior of Africa and made deals with local native tribes in order to ensure that they would regard Spain as their sovereign – not that it would require much of them, at least right now: the main reason behind the explorations was not to bring civilization to the uncivilized, but to bring greater glory to the Kingdom of Spain by making it look like it was doing its utmost to do so.

It was also during this time that the transference of administrative powers to the Foral Regions was finally completed. This, and the fact that most of the policies carried out by the Cánovas government did not rock many boats, meant that he was popular enough to be reelected in the 1883 elections, and the Liberal-Conservative Party held the majority, although with a smaller margin.

Cánovas' second term as Presidente did not start on a good foot, though: for example, a law approved in November 1883, the Ley de recursos monetarios, which included tax reductions for the greatest fortunes in the nation and slight tax increases for the middle and lower classes, was bitterly opposed by most of the opposition, with only the Liberal-Conservative Party and the minor right-wing parties approving it. It was not an issue, thanks to his party's majority, but Cánovas saw that the line between support and opposition had clearly divided Congress in two.

This would set the theme for the entire legislature: several laws Cánovas got passed were met with complete opposition by the Democrat-Radical Party and other left-wing parties, while being supported by his own party and the others, although a few laws were neutral enough – such as the Ley de arrendamientos, which had been created to develop a series of government-owned living buildings that could then be rented to families that did not have enough money to buy or rent other living space – to be accepted by most people in Congress.

However, Cánovas' attitude in favor of the high classes irritated great part of the population, and even more when he attempted to pass a law – Ley de educación religiosa – that would have enforced teaching of religion in state-controlled schools. Surprisingly for Cánovas, this law was defeated in Congress, with the opposition parties voting against it en masse and several Liberal-Conservative deputies joining them, stating that the church had no place in the public education.

As the 1886 elections approached, Cánovas was trying to find a way to ensure his victory in the urns, but most of his ideas were being shot down by an increasingly hostile Congress, the population had chosen to make its discontent with the President's choices through manifestations, and, on May 1885, the first-ever General Strike happened, spurred on by the trade unions that had started to form in the nation, spurned on by UGT's success.

Summer 1885 was considered by many the lowest point of the Cánovas' presidency. Most people knew that, if the elections were to be held in that moment, the Liberal-Conservative party would have lost by a large margin.

It was around that time when one of the President's advisors, who, unknowingly to him, was an Integrist Party supporter, suggested to Cánovas the possibility of making use of the still present, but now unimportant, caciques, as well as the control over the electoral process, to falsify the results and give the right-wing parties a clear victory in the elections. Cánovas said nothing when this suggestion was made, but the following day said advisor found himself laid off from his position in the government and arrested. While this was not enough to let the people recover their trust in Cánovas, it was at least a good enough signal that he was as committed to democracy as the leaders of La Gloriosa.

However, the incident that would mark the Cánovas presidency forever in the memory of the Spaniard people was yet to come.

It all started innocently enough. The Dominican Republic was ruled by Alejandro Woss y Gil, who had become President after Francisco Gregorio Billini resigned. In November 1885, he had to go through the nth coup d'état attempt the Republic had suffered in the last century, which had started in the province of Auza. Initial efforts to control the uprising failed, and soon the coup extended through the entire Republic, despite Woss' efforts to stop it. It took a month for the coup to be put down, but in the end Woss managed to gain the loyalty of enough soldiers to stop the coup and have all traitor generals arrested and shot.

Alejandro Woss y Gil, reviewing the troops that stopped the coup
​

The problems for Woss and the Dominican Republic started when it became known that, among the deceased in the coup, were several Spaniards, traders that had arrived to the country to sell industrial products and that had been caught in a bad situation by rebel troops, which had killed them all.

When news of this reached Spain, Cánovas thought it was the perfect thing to distract the main population from the problems his previous choices had caused. Immediately, he sent a message to the Dominican Republic government, through Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos O'Donnell – nephew of Leopoldo O'Donnell, who had led the old Liberal Union until his death in 1867 –, demanding that the Dominican government immediately compensate the families of the deceased for the deaths and the lost merchandise – which had been looted by the rebel soldiers. Woss sent back a message in which, while he offered his condolences for the deaths of the Spanish businessmen, he stated that he had no reason to pay, as the event in question had been initiated by men that had chosen to betray their oaths of loyalty to the nation.

Unfortunately for Woss, the Spanish government was not willing to accept that as an excuse. The Ministry of the Army sent word to the troops in Cuba and Puerto Rico to prepare themselves for a potential invasion, and the Caribbean Fleet also readied itself for entering action. They sent the Republic's government an ultimatum: either they paid compensation for the deaths and losses, and gave a sincere apology for their inability to protect foreigners, or there would be a state of war between the Kingdom of Spain and the Dominican Republic. When, a week after the ultimatum was given, there was no answer from the Dominican Republic, the army and navy were given the go ahead to start the invasion of the Dominican Republic.

The sorry state of the Dominican army, due to the recent attempt by several generals to take control, meant that it could not do much to oppose the almost unstoppable attack the Spaniards unleashed, especially when coupled with the almost surgical attacks the Tercios Especiales were doing, destroying munitions depots and basically raising hell behind the enemy lines. By the end of February, all of the Republic's cities and coast were under Spanish control, and troops had started to take control of the rest.

There were several problems when it came to controlling lands out of the cities, though. As the Spaniards had learned in the past, it was easy for a defending nation to use its forests, jungles and mountains to fight an invader the guerrilla way, and now they were on the invader's side. Many a soldier was killed or injured due to the attacks of the Dominican guerrillas, and it took a lot of time for the Spanish Army to finally detain those guerrillas. It would have been much longer if the Tercios had not been there, making good use of their training and weaponry to find them.

This war was, unfortunately for Cánovas, not enough to avoid losing the 1886 elections to the Democrat-Radical Party, although the Democrat majority was not as big as they had expected:

• Democrat-Radical Party: 227 deputies
• Liberal-Conservative Party: 123 deputies
• Federal Republican Party: 25 deputies
• Republican Party: 20 deputies
• Progressive Party: 15 deputies
• Integrist Party: 5 deputies
• Traditionalist Party: 2 deputies
• Cuban National Party: 2 deputies
• Puerto Rican Independent Party: 1 deputy

The new President, Cristino Martos, felt well when he first sat down in the seat of government. He had been working towards the goal of helping Spain become a democratic nation, and, after decades of effort, not only had he been an instrumental part of those efforts, but he had also managed to gain the Presidency, which he would have not expected to be able to do when he had joined the old Democratic Party more than twenty years ago. He did not expect to be able to gain a second term – in fact, he did not plan to do so – so he decided to make the most of it and do as much as possible for Spain.

One of the first things done was to negotiate an end to the war with the Dominican Republic. In the end, things did not go as bad as the Dominicans feared, and in fact there were several things that happened to benefit the Dominicans more than the Spaniards, but it was still potentially disturbing for their future:

• The Dominican Republic will become a protectorate of the Kingdom of Spain. All attributions related with relations with other nations will be controlled from Madrid.
• The Dominican Republic will pay 1,500,000 pesetas to the relatives of the deceased people, and 3,000,000 pesetas to the Kingdom of Spain.
• The Kingdom of Spain will help the Dominican Republic reconstruct its infrastructure and improve it.
• Spanish businesses will be allowed to set up factories in the Dominican Republic without any opposition from the local government, beyond what is already in its laws.
• If, at any point, the people of the Dominican Republic desire to become part of the Kingdom of Spain through a referendum, the Dominican Republic government will resign and allow Spanish proper authorities to establish control. The Dominican Republic will then become a Foral Region on the same level as Cuba or Puerto Rico, and will be able to send representatives to the Spanish Congress of Deputies.

All in all, it was quite the good deal, what the Dominicans got, especially considering what had started the whole thing, although, of course, some rightly feared that the Dominican Republic might fall once more under control of the Spanish. Still, they thought that the Dominican people would remember the struggles to gain independence from Spain in past years.

The victory in Santo Domingo, as well as the establishment of the three Filipino Foral Regions – see Part IV –, helped to restore Cánovas' image as a good President, even if many of his decisions had been considered quite wrong by most of the population. He attempted to gain once more the control of the Liberal-Conservative Party, in order to attempt to achieve the Presidency in the future, but it was clear that, right now, Cánovas would not be asked to lead the party again.

Cristino Martos' only term as President was fairly uneventful. Save for a few slips in the colonization of the Spanish colonies in Africa that required the intervention of the army, the ship was hardly rocked by Martos' policies, as the old Granadino politician was interested in keeping things together between all the democratic forces and reducing the tensions between the nation's two main parties. Thus, Martos was acclaimed as a fair President, willing to hear what everybody had to say, and yet strong enough to put into law what he felt was necessary for the nation to work well. His influence helped Segismundo Moret, who had been Minister of Justice with Martos, to gain the Presidency in the 1889 elections, which would be marked in the people's calendars because of a completely unexpected event: Pablo Iglesias, founder of the PSOE, became the Socialist Party's first deputy, having presented himself as a candidate in Madrid. However, this would soon be forgotten due to the events in Portugal – see Part VI –, which would radically change the entire world.

 

[Milarqui]

Chapter VI, Part III – The African Division

The situation in Africa was certainly getting a bit out of hand. Britain's almost accidental conquest of Egypt had led the European nations to a lull in the attempts to take control of North Africa. However, the same did not happen in the rest of Africa, as the more important nations of Europe tried their best to put as much territory under their control.

Bismarck had initially been completely opposed to Germany having any colonies, because he knew that colonialism would eventually lead to unrest and that the burden of obtaining, maintaining and defending such possessions would, most likely, outweigh any potential benefit it might bring. However, starting in 1883 Bismarck's advisors noted a significant change in the colonial policy of the government: New Guinea was finally taken over completely in less than a year, and the colony of Kamerun started to expand, as did a small one north of Portuguese Moçambique. However, it was not enough, and Germany was running out of potential land to expand into. Also, the expanding colonies meant that, at any point in time, two nations might, at any moment, have a bad encounter and start to fight each other for a piece of probably worthless land.

Thus, he had the idea of organizing an encounter in Africa, so that all colonizing nations could agree on how to divide Africa within their own spheres of influence. He knew that it would be almost impossible to get all nations to agree, and that probably no nation would be happy enough with what would be eventually be chosen, but he guessed that, by pushing everyone, he might be able to find something most everyone could agree with.

To that end, he sent a message to the embassies of all European nations and the United States to invite them to a conference in the city of Berlin, where he expected an agreement could be hammered between representatives of said nations. Answers were sent, and on September 1884 representatives of many nations met in Berlin. The attendants came from Austria–Hungary, Belgium, Corsica, Denmark, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden-Norway, the Ottoman Empire, and the United States.

The initial meeting of the Conference of Berlin, as shown in the Die Gartenlaube newspaper​

Problems started even before the conference officially started. The presence of a representative from the Kingdom of Corsica almost led to a fight between him and the representative of the Kingdom of France, who claimed that Corsica was part of the Kingdom of France and, thus, should not have a place in the Conference as if it were an independent nation. The standoff only subsided when Bismarck told the French representative that, since the conference had been initially agreed by the French government, if they chose to leave it then no French claims would be recognized by those nations attending the conference. The French representative relented in the end, but it became clear from the start that they would be blocking any and all attempts by the Corsicans to gain even a port in the Dark Continent.

The conference first dealt with the matter of the current colonies. All nations agreed that colonies that had been established up to that point were to remain in the hands of their current owners. The following points were also fixed, so as to provide the members of the conference with a common reference to work on:

• The members of the conference would work together to prevent the continuation of the slave trade within their spheres of influence.
• All signatories would be able to trade freely along the Congo Basin and Lake Niassa.
• The Congo and Niger rivers would be free to navigate for all signatories.
• Taking possession – either directly or through a protectorate – of a portion of the African coast would have to be notified to all other signatories.
• Uti possidetis [1], or Principle of Effectivity, would be in place: the only way a power could hold a colony is if they actually possessed it, demonstrating so with treaties with local leaders, the establishment of an administration to govern it and keep order, and flying the flag there, as well as through economical use of said colony.
• No nation would attempt to interfere in other nations' areas of influence in Africa.

These terms were, at least, terms that everyone could agree to. The worst would be, Bismarck knew, when it came to deciding the borders between the areas in which each nation would be able to have influence. The diplomatic and military conflicts of the last twenty years were surely going to be brought to the negotiating table, and it would surely take hours – probably even days – of exposition and backroom deals to reach enough consensus in regards to the division of Africa.

The main contention points would take most of the time, and required the representatives of the competitors to make good use of their diplomatic and negotiating abilities to gain as much as possible for their nation:

• Morocco: the control over the Sultanate of Morocco was pretended by France and Spain. France, after the loss of the Oranesado, wanted to protect Algeria's western flank and completely surround the Oranesado to ensure that, in the event of a war with Spain, they would be able to claim it thanks to their control over all land around the Oranesado, while Spain wanted Morocco to ensure a land communication between the cities of Melilla and Ceuta, as well as land support for Orán and its surroundings. Both nations gave solid arguments for why the region should fall within their own sphere of influence: Spain could point out to their past with Morocco, the existence of Ceuta, Melilla and Orán being so near to Morocco and the actual bordering between Morocco and the colonies of Sidi Ifni and Western Sahara; meanwhile France tried to use the border with Algeria, the existence of other French colonies in Africa, Asia and America – an almost useless reason to offer, since Spain had also the three of them – and the fact that Spain already had the Canary Islands, as well as Ceuta, Melilla, Sidi Ifni and Western Sahara, which they could use for whatever they wanted Morocco for. As negotiations slowly showed that nations were more willing to accept Spain's proposal of “borders” between the Spanish and French spheres of influence in there, the French representative tried to gain at least something, by proposing to divide Morocco between the Spanish and French spheres, with Spain gaining the north and south and France gaining the rest, but that suggestion was immediately shot down by the Spanish and German representatives. In the end, all nations save France, the United Kingdom – who voted against – and the Ottoman Empire and the United States – who abstained – approved the Spanish plan for the region.
• Tunisia: this region was pretended by France, Corsica and Italy. France was, naturally, completely opposed to the mere idea that an upstart, rebel region – as the French representative called Corsica, which nearly provoked a fistfight – could gain control over even a square centimeter of African land. Italy was also opposed to it, but more on the terms that the more land other nations gained were lands that would not go to them – and perhaps a little of the still existent irredentism over Corsica. Finally, Corsica wished to establish itself as a nation to account for in Europe, on a level similar to Serbia or Greece. The smaller nations in the meeting, like Portugal or Belgium, supported Corsica's claim, as they wanted to make sure that the conference was not going to be dominated by the great powers. Spain and Germany supported the Italian claim, while the United Kingdom and Russia were more supportive of France. In the end, however, another proposal was made to divide Tunisia in two, the north going to Corsica and the south going to France. Realizing it was the better they could aspire to, the Corsicans accepted the proposal, and in the end the only ones that rejected it were France – which still demanded control over all of Tunisia –, Italy and the Ottoman Empire.
• Egypt: Egypt was pretty much accepted as a British protectorate by most of the conference attendants, given the British troops' fundamental role in stopping the rebellion that had hit the region. The fact that they also used their position in Egypt to take over Sudan was not much of the concern of most of the Europeans, especially since the Mahdist rebellion had started there, and kept the British well busy and distracted, which was all too well for their European rivals. The only problem surged from the Suez Canal. Its strategical position made it all too important for the foremost European powers, especially those who had territories in East Asia – the United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Portugal and Russia – and for whom the Canal represented shaving off several thousands of kilometers when traveling from the Mediterranean to Asia. After negotiations, the British Empire proclaimed that the Suez Canal would become a neutral zone under their protection, and that all ships would be allowed to use it, but they reserved the rights to stop warships from using the canal in times of war.
• Ethiopia: Ethiopia had been an independent empire since 1137, and they certainly did not want to lose that independence. Their main defender was the United Kingdom, whose representative and government stated that, as Christians, they deserved to be independent from the main European powers. Opposed to the notion was Italy, which looked forward to controlling the ancient land, which might become the pearl of the Italian Empire. Unfortunately for the Italians, the other attendants supported the UK's choice, and Ethiopia was recognized as an independent nation.
• The Horn of Africa: the British, French and Italian representatives were making demands around this region. The three nations had been signing treaties with many of the local tribes, and had now to present those treaties in order to establish those territories as their protectorates. Both the United Kingdom and Italy had been the busiest in that region due to their interests in there, and soon a map started to be drawn with the claims. The French, however, had not been sleeping on the job, and were thus able to claim protectorate status for many tribes. In the end, the region became divided between the three nations, and there was no more problem with it.
• West Africa: opposed to what had happened with Morocco, France had the upper hand in the region, thanks to their already existent position in Algeria and their control over a good part of the coast. Also, not many were interested in taking control of the Sahara Desert, given that it was probably lacking the resources to make it worthwhile to spend the money to establish forts to lay claim to that territory. At most, it might be interesting to take the coastal regions, but those had already been claimed, so everyone let France connect Algeria to its colonies in West Africa.
• Liberia: this being the only item that directly affected the United States, there was little people could say about it. Saying that the American government had a vested interest in Liberia's independence was an understatement. Thus, no one had any problem with Liberia's status as an independent nation, allied to the United States. The only problems were with the potential of their using Liberia as a platform for the attacking other colonies, but the United States' representative stated that his country did not have any designs on territories outside the Americas. This, naturally, made the nations with colonies in the Americas – France, Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom – a bit nervous, but they regarded the potential American threat towards their American territories as a problem for the future.
• Gulf of Guinea: the Gulf was, fortunately, easily divided between France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. France gained a land connection between Algeria and the Gulf thanks to the sphere of influence in Dahomey, Spain managed to lay and force as accepted a large claim surrounding the current Spanish colony in Guinea, Germany claiming the so far untaken region north of Guinea, known as Kamerun, and Nigeria and the Gold Coast falling into the British zone of influence. France did try to reduce the Spanish claims over Guinea, but the support from Germany, Portugal and Italy prevented that from happening.
• Congo: the Congo was, for most nations, the potential double-edged knife. On one side, it had great number of resources that, if exploited, would make a nation rich. On the other side, it was such a large and mostly unexplored territory that it would be hell to claim. Everybody wanted a piece of the region, but few dared to voice a claim on it. France had, however, already claimed a piece at the north, as they stated their wish to connect French Guinea with their hold in Central Africa. In the end, the solution came from an unexpected source: Henry Morton Stanley, who had been exploring the Congo region in the name of King Leopold I of Belgium. Considering the neutrality of Belgium, it could be an excellent idea to concede the Congo to them. Leopold I wished for the region to be turned over to the authority of the International Association of the Congo, a private company presided by himself. However, the British, Dutch and American representatives did not feel well with the idea of a private company holding control over such a large territory, remembering what had happened with the British East India Trading Company and the Dutch Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie. In the end, however, after negotiations with the Belgian government, the British, French and German agreed to lend the Belgians enough money to buy the AIC from the King and thus turn over the Congo to Belgium without problems.
• East Africa: East Africa was a bit of a quagmire, as several nations desired to lay claim to a piece of the region. Germany, thanks to their establishing a colony there, managed to lay claim to the zone surrounding Lake Malawi and the coast opposite to Zanzibar. The British Empire claimed Kenya, the land of the feared Masai natives. The British would have liked to take a part of the German claims on Tanganyika, as they planned to make a railway connection between Egypt and South Africa, but in the end negotiations with the Belgian government gave them the possibility of building a connection through the Congo.
• Madagascar: the island of Madagascar was subject to a serious and very long debate. On the one side, France argued about the legality of the Lambert Charter, which, according to them, gave the French government exclusive rights to exploit the island's natural resources. On the other side, Spain and Germany argued that said Charter could not be considered legal, as neither Lambert nor prince Rakoto – who had reigned between August 1861 and May 1863 as Radama II – had no legal support from neither the French government nor the Malagasy queen at the time, Ravanalona I, as well as showing the other nations about their deals with the Malagasy people. In the end, however, the British argued that, given that it had been fairly isolated from the civilized world, unlike Ethiopia, the Malagasy would need someone to bring them into the present, and the French were the ones that had a better chance to bring the mission civilisatrice to Madagascar. Only Spain, Germany, Corsica and Italy voted against it, and France would soon be the only foreign nation that would face the Malagasy.
• South Africa: the greatest problems in the conference came from the discussions surrounding who would have the rights to the territories of southern Africa. The territory of the south-west, between Portuguese Angola and British South Africa, went to the Germans after a short diplomatic struggle, since German settlers had arrived there the previous year. The main problem appeared when it came to the region surrounded by British South Africa, Angola, Moçambique, Congo and German East Africa. Portugal wished to connect its two South African colonies, but that ran against the British Empire's plans regarding the Cape-to-Cairo Railway. Both nations argued intensively, presenting comment after comment, argument after argument, proposal after proposal, over why one or the other nation should be the one to have the rights to that region. The one thing that won the day was the fact that the British Empire already had a lot of land under their control, so the Portuguese representative was able to spin conceding that region to Portugal as a way to preserve the balance of power, as well as acting as a buffer between German East Africa and British South Africa. Only France supported the British plan, the rest of the attendants went with Portugal's Mapa Cor-De-Rosa [2].

Separation of Africa into the different spheres of influence for the different nations​

As Bismarck predicted, no one left the meeting entirely happy, but at least the conference had helped to prevent potential conflicts in the future. Unfortunately, he had not completely foreseen the great interest the British Empire had in connecting the north and south of Africa, and that was the spark that would initiate one of the most influential conflicts of the later nineteenth century.

[1] This sentence, meaning “as you possess”, comes from uti possidetis, ita possideatis, “as you possess, you shall possess henceforth”.
[2] Literally, “Pink-colored Map”. The reason is because the Portuguese representatives presented a map where Portugal's claims in South Africa were painted in pink.

 

[Milarqui]

Chapter VI, Part IV – Three More Regions

In the year 1886, the Philippines were now developed enough to be considered for becoming a Foral Region. However, there was a problem no one had considered when the idea of giving autonomy to the Philippines: the archipelago was too big to actually become just one region. Given the powers the Overseas Foral Regions were given, many in Madrid –and even some people in the Philippines– had realized that the city of Manila was too far away from parts of the archipelago to act as the seat of the regional government. There was also the fact that some pro-independence groups were getting organized already, demanding that the Philippines cut off all ties with Spain. So far, those groups were in the clear minority, but they were still enough of a problem to make some people nervous.

Cánovas – who was looking forward to the elections that would happen in July that year – was personally opposed to the concession of autonomy to the Filipino people, arguing that they were not advanced enough to understand the democratic process, and that they would be better remaining under the control of a Governor-General appointed from Madrid. However, he also knew that attempting to go back might provoke in the Philippines the same rebellions that had hit Cuba twenty years before, so he guessed that, since Philippine autonomy was unavoidable, he could, at least, make sure that the potential danger Filipino autonomy could cause was reduced.

Thus, on March 1886, Francisco Silvela y de Le Vielleuze, Minister of Home Affairs, boarded the liner Reina del Pacífico and traveled to Manila, unknowingly tracing the same path Governor Carlos María De La Torre had traced twelve years before. When he arrived to Manila –by which time the elections had happened, and the Democrat-Radical Party had gained victory– he met the Governor, and presented him with the plans to organize the future of the Philippines. De La Torre was initially opposed to the plan, arguing that it was possible to control all the Philippines from Manila, but Silvela countered that the differences between Manila and Davao, the most important city of Mindanao, would make ruling everything from Manila as difficult as it was to rule Cuba from Madrid, and that it would be better if the government's plans went ahead. De La Torre relented.

Francisco Silvela y de Le Vielleuze, Minister of Home Affairs during Cánovas' 2nd government​

The next week, the main newspapers of Philippines carried the notice: in order to better organize the archipelago and make sure that no citizen would have reasons to argue they did not feel identified with their regional government, the Philippines would be divided in three Foral Regions: Norte, formed by the archipelagos of Luzón and Palawan; Visayas, formed by the archipelago of the same name, and Sur, formed by Mindanao and the old territories of the Sultanate of Sulu. Not everybody was happy with these arrangements, of course, as this would now divide the islands in three competing regions that would not be able to pull their weight together as they would have if the Philippines were one region, but there was nothing they could actually do about it.

Of course, one group of people that felt most content was the people of Mindanao. They had not expected the Spanish government to follow on with the promise to concede them autonomy. They guessed that they would just be given some little things to pay lip service to the promise given ten years before, but instead they had gotten full autonomy, like the other regions in the Philippines, and now the Sulu Archipelago and Sabah were also under their control.

In Spain, this was seen as a good move made by Cánovas, partially restoring his popularity among the Spanish population. They knew that the Philippines were quite big, not bigger than Spain, but much bigger than all regions, so it made sense that it was divided in three parts for the better governance of the region. Among some even rested the theory that, since the Filipino were “inferior”, if they had some sort of self-governance, it was better if the territory controlled was smaller than normal –of course, this was ignoring that each of the three regions were similar in size to the Spanish regions–.

The arrival of the autonomy to the new three Foral Regions of Hilaga –formed by Luzón and Palawan–, Kabisayan –formed by the Visayas– and Habagatan –formed by Mindanao and the old Sultanate of Sulu– [1] was received with great joy by the Filipino people. They would finally be able to decide their own local matters without having to wait for Madrid or the governor to tell them what they had to do.

Spain's Foral Regions, with their flags
​

Very soon after the news were made, the old pre-Foral flag of the Philippines was taken down and replaced with three new flags, that now flew alongside the Spanish flag in the new Foral Parliaments in Manila, Ciudad Cebú and Davao, the capitals for Hilaga, Kabisayan and Habagatan, respectively. The Parliaments, provisionally formed by the main Ilustrados and some of the foremost town councilors, voted in the Foral Charters approved by the Spanish government, adding things that only affected their regions and also started to debate the first, most important regional laws.

It had been a long travel for many of them, but finally they had managed to earn a position as equals with the rest of Spain.

[1] Hilaga means North in Filipino, Kabisayan is a slightly modified version of the name for the Visayas in the Winaray language –spoken in the eastern Visayas– and Habagatan means South in Cebuano.

 

[Milarqui]

Chapter VI, Part V – Stars, Bars, Seas

The once friendly relations between the United States and Spain, which had improved after Leopold's accession to the throne, and even more after both Cuba and Puerto Rico were given autonomy, had slowly soured over time. The Manifest Destiny idea, although not as expanded as before, was still a popular idea, especially when combined with the Monroe Doctrine, according to which all of the Americas should be under the influence of the United States government. Spain's continued hold over the two Caribbean Islands, the influence it was gaining in South America and the recent war against the Dominican Republic were seen as insults towards the United States. There had been even talks about declaring war on the Kingdom of Spain due to said war, but in the end it was all wet paper

Despite all of this, the government took care of not antagonizing the Spaniards too much, beyond protesting for the imposition of a protectorate status over the Dominican Republic: they still hoped that, in the future, the Spanish government might be amenable to selling or leaving its possessions in America. Meanwhile, they would continue with their current work, and perhaps they could start funding the pro-independence parties to convince Spain that abandoning the Caribbean was better for its own interests than maintaining territories in the Americas.

Mexico, then led by Porfirio Díaz after his almost unanimous victory in the 1884 elections – which, whichever the way you put it, had been a complete sham – looked at Spain as a potential ally and friend. Just like they had done with Peru, Díaz hoped that an alliance with Spain might first bring prosperity and then further stability to Mexico. He wished to push back the growing influence the British Empire and the United States were gaining within Mexico, and the Spanish could be perfect for that. Not to mention, their common past may be great to attract some Spanish capital and perhaps even workers.

Porfirio Díaz, President of the United States of Mexico​

The Mexican democrats, those who were working to fortify the Estados Unidos de México into one solid, fully democratic state, also looked at Spain with the hope of their becoming what the United States had been for the rebelling Spanish American colonies in the early nineteenth century: a role model, a nation that could be imitated and that might perhaps be approached to aid them in their objectives. Besides, Porfirio's almost dictatorial presidency was something they thought an insult to actual democracy, and they hoped Spain's pressure would help put it down.

Most of Central America was fairly uninterested in what Spain was doing. They had enough with trying to keep up with the day-to-day of their nations, smashed between the British and American-backed companies that did and undid at their whims. The only nation that was partially interested in Spain was Nicaragua: since they were the only nation in the region – apart from Colombia – to have a coast both in the Atlantic and in the Pacific, they thought that perhaps it might be possible to attract investors to their nation, especially if they came to help in the construction of a possible water connection between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.

They had previously tried to get American millionaire Cornelius Vanderbilt to fund such a gigantic works, but in the end they had only managed to connect both coasts with a railway-and-coach line that did little to help with what they thought was the important matter. They would then realize that the expense of building such a great work was only up to the richest nations. The United States or the British Empire might be interested, but Nicaragua wanted to get free from their influence, and Spain and Germany offered a possible counterpart to both Anglo-Saxon nations. It would still be years until the possibility was suggested, but it was a first step.

Further to the south stood the South American nations. Tensions between many nations threatened war: a new war between Peru, Bolivia and Chile always seemed to be right around the corner; Brazil disputed with Bolivia over the Acre region, rich in resources such as rubber and exotic woods; Argentina and Brazil were disputing themselves the role of main South American power; Britain and Venezuela were exchanging angry words over the latter's border with Guyana... Anything could spark a great war between them, and it was only the delicate work of diplomats, both South American and from the rest of the world, that prevented the powder keg from being lighted.

In Colombia, the recent attempt by the Societé internationale du Canal interocéanique to build a canal that joined the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean had recently been suspended. The engineering project, which had started in 1884 [1] under the direction of Ferdinand de Lesseps – the man in charge of the construction of the Suez Canal - was met with many problems almost from the start: the men's lack of experience in that kind of working meant many setbacks, lack of knowledge over the region's geology and hydrology provoked many landslides that covered the opened canals, illnesses took many workers' lives... After 220 million dollars, 6 years of work and around 15,000 deceased workers, the Societé internationale stopped the works, leaving Colombia in search of someone that could finish the entire Canal.

Ferdinand de Lesseps, developer of the Suez Canal​

Further to the south, Peru and Bolivia were, fortunately, more than able to protect themselves from the Brazilian and Chilean threats. The trade with Spain had brought not only great weaponry and ships to their armed forces, but also had brought several instructors that were able to bring up both armies up to better standards. The alliance was also commercial, as Peruvian traders slowly found their way towards the Spanish colonies in the Pacific and in the Caribbean, while Spanish businessmen financed the construction of new factories in the two nations, exploiting the natural resources and bringing a benefit to both themselves and the two nations.

Brazil was currently in the middle of one of the most turbulent periods in time: in March 1888, the Emperor of Brazil proclaimed the end of slavery. The five million black people that were enslaved then in the nation suddenly found themselves out of work, so most of them chose to leave for the cities, as Brazil was becoming industrialized at the time. The great loss of workers affected thousands of farmers, who became broke as their crops – like coffee or sugarcane – required very intensive labor that was lost. All of this resulted eventually in an attempt by the Army to launch a coup d'état against Dom Pedro, but this instead ended in an one-month-long civil war as troops loyal to Dom Pedro managed to arrest the rebelling generals. The Emperor did not have the generals killed, though: he knew there was a chance someone would take them as martyrs, and attempt to follow the generals. Instead, the Emperor decided that the generals would be imprisoned and expelled from the army, in order to prevent them from acting similarly, and so that they could live as reminders of what betrayal of the Emperor might bring.

Dom Pedro II the Magnanimous, Emperor of Brazil​

Chile, unable to gain in the north what they thought was theirs, decided to go towards the south in order to expand its territory and perhaps find more resources to replace those that had not been gained from Bolivia and Peru. Thus, a frenzied claiming of territories started, in an attempt to cut Argentina away from the Pacific Ocean and also claim the Tierra del Fuego Archipelago. The existence of gold in the latter made it all the more important that they could reach it. Argentina ended up threatening war if Chile did not stop. An eventual agreement, supported by neutral Ecuador, divided the archipelago in two: the larger half, the western half, went to Chile, while the rest went to Argentina. Peace was preserved, but the enmity between both nations remained.

[1] The different social-economical situation in France pushed back the initiation of the French works in Panama.

 

[Milarqui]

Chapter VI, Part VI – Consequences Of An Ultimatum

The Portuguese government had felt very glad when they managed to convince the other European nations that it was their right to connect Angola and Moçambique overland, without having to deal with borders. The only pity was that their British allies could not connect their northern and southern colonies, but they would have no problem with allowing them to build a railway across Portuguese South Africa... at a fee, of course. Given the width of the territories claimed by Portugal, they saw it as a potential good source of money.

The British would not have any of that.

They had already had to compromise on building part of the railway through the Belgian Congo. They had fought for gaining the territory between their own South Africa and the Congo, but most of the other attendants of the Conference had agreed that Portugal deserved it more, and that had almost derailed – if you would pardon the pun – the plans to connect Cairo with the Cape. They had chosen to set that problem aside for a couple of years, expecting to solve it at a later point, and some even thinking that Portugal would soon seek some other nation to sell the rights to those lands.

The four years after the Conference were quite peaceful for Portugal. There were some problems related to the governance, as Portugal went through the period that was named Rotativism, as the two main political parties (the Progressistas (the equivalent to the old Spanish Unión Liberal) and the Regeneradores (the equivalent to the old Partido Conservador)) rotated their position in the Portuguese Government at the petition of the King. The Regeneradores had managed to keep power for more than six years already, thanks to the support of Luís I, King of Portugal and the Algarves.

King Luís I of Portugal and the Algarves​

Then, catastrophe struck: on July 21st 1889, Luís I suffered a serious heart attack that left him partially disabled. Although his intellect remained intact, his body became weaker, and he could not be as effective as a leader as he had been in previous times. His son Carlos was forced to take on several of the tasks usually reserved to the king, among them the approval of laws. The following months were increasingly difficult for the Royal Family, as Luís I's condition deteriorated, with Carlos further taking on more tasks, to the point that Carlos was de facto the King of Portugal.

The British, conscious of the weakness the nation of Portugal was now presenting, realized that this was the perfect moment to achieve their objectives. After some deliberation, the British government presented an ultimatum in January 1890: Portugal could either leave all claims to the territory between Angola and Moçambique (the lands that were inhabited by the tribe of the makololo, whose protection had been “assigned” to the British Empire thanks to several agreements thanks to Cecil Rhodes' efforts) to Britain, or abide by the consequences. What the “consequences” were, it was left to the imagination of the Portuguese government, but the gathering of their ships in Gibraltar and Zanzibar pretty much said everything about it.

New map with African spheres of influence: note disputed region in lead blue
​

The government did its best to attempt to negotiate with the British: they offered the possibility of building a railway line without paying to the Portuguese government, building it partially underground so that there was a direct land connection between Angola and Moçambique... anything to avoid losing the claims to so much land, because they knew that such loss would lead to grave consequences for Portugal, both in terms of territorial and resource losses and in terms of prestige, as well as possible revolts. However, the British government was adamant. They did not care for the consequences their erstwhile allies may face after giving up the land.

The negotiations, or attempts to do so – the British being entrenched in their positions, and threatening to do even worse to Portugal if they did not acquiesce immediately – lasted for four months. Protests came from most of the other signatories of the Treaty of Berlin, stating that they were stretching it to the point of breaking – as the Portuguese had already established a military presence in the disputed region, thus making it Portuguese by the Uti Possidetis principle - but Lord Salisbury's government brushed those protests aside and continued pressuring Henrique de Barros Gomes' government to accept the “offer” they had made. With no other choice, the Portuguese accepted.

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom​

On July 29th 1890, the Portuguese Ambassador, as the representative of Portugal, signed the Treaty of London, defining the definite territorial limits of Angola and Moçambique. In exchange of a paltry 10,000,000 pounds, the Portuguese government renounced to the claims of the terrains outside of said territorial limits.

On August 1st, the Portuguese Ambassador arrived to 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the British Prime Minister, and personally gave Lord Salisbury a succint telegram that had come from Lisbon, and contained the following message:

LONDON BETRAYAL OF WINDSOR STOP PORTUGAL NO LONGER ACCEPTS UK AS ALLY STOP CLOSE EMBASSY STOP UK EMBASSY CLOSED STOP

With those words, the Treaty of Windsor, the old alliance between the nations of Portugal and the United Kingdom, that existed since 1386, was reduced to ashes, all because of the United Kingdom's greed and inability to negotiate with Portugal over a territory they had indirectly accepted as Portuguese through their signing of the Treaty of Berlin. Many decried Salisbury's political blunder in alienating the United Kingdom's greatest ally, who had stuck with them for more than four centuries, and were now cutting off that alliance. The error would mar Lord Salisbury's career forever.

Marriage of João I, King of Portugal, and Philippa of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, which, alongside the Treaty of Windsor, renewed the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance
​

In Portugal, things got very hot soon, and not only due to the summer. Despite the immediate breaking of relations with the United Kingdom, many felt that the government had ashamed itself and the nation for ceding to British demands, and a great number of people took to the streets in order to show their bad opinion of the government, manifestations that were led and fed by the Portuguese Republican Party, which saw in the King's illness and the Treaty of London the manifestation of the weakness of the monarchy, and thus saw this moment as the chance to establish a Republic in Portugal.

Unknowingly, the stress of the situation was starting to get to the King, who felt guilty at not being able to lead his nation as well as possible, and his weakened heart suffered and weakened as more bad news reached his room and palace.

Luís I, King of Portugal and of the Algarves, died in the night of August 21st 1890 of a new heart attack, that this time could not be survived. He would not be found until the morning after by his valet, who had arrived to start with the king's day.

The funeral for Luís I would be held three days later, and representatives from most European nations came to say goodbye to the man that had led the nation of Portugal for twenty nine years, and that, despite his failings at maintaining a stable government, he had done his best to ensure Portugal's pre-eminence as an European power. The only nation that was not represented in the funeral was the British Royal Family, and not because of the latter's willingness: both the government and the yet-to-be-crowned King Carlos had banned the entrance of any British representative, whether they may be of the royal family or not, as their ultimatum regarding South Africa, their subsequent actions and the consequences brought from them were considered the causes of Luís I's death.

A month later was when the crowning of Carlos, future Carlos I of Portugal and the Algarves, would be held. This was expected to be the return to normalcy – at least, to as much normalcy as possible, considering past events – for Portuguese society, so the government and the King's staff made sure that the crowning ceremony were to go as smoothly as possible, and demonstrating that the nation would go on, and perhaps improve, as Carlos was seen as an intelligent man that had matured much during the last year.

The King, the Queen and their firstborn, Luis Filipe, soon after his birth​

The ceremony went very well. Carlos was, after the Mass, crowned as King Carlos I of Portugal and the Algarves, and his wife Amélie de Orléans (daughter of King Philippe VII of France) was crowned Queen Consort of Portugal and the Algarves. It was attended by members of most European royal houses, with the British being, once more, the only ones excluded.

The ride back to the Palácio de Ajuda, however, was much, much worse. In fact, it would be the start of one of Portugal's most tumultuous times, which would shock the entire nation and plung it in destruction and death.

As the newly crowned King and Queen entered the carriage that would take them to the Royal Palace, a group of pro-Republican officers took control of several military units stationed near Lisbon and ordered them to enter the city and imprison the King. The soldiers, carefully chosen for their sympathies towards the establishment of a Portuguese Republic, obeyed the orders without discussion.

It was the first step of a plan the Republican Party had developed. With it, they expected to be able to take control of the city of Lisbon in a quick move and arresting the King, who would later be forced to renounce to the Crown in his name and that of all of his family, thus leaving the way open for the establishment of their desired Republic.

It was supposed to be a bloodless coup. The officers expected to be able to force the guards protecting the Royal Couple to stand down by means of showing their great superiority in numbers. Then, the King and Queen would be “escorted” to the Royal Palace, where they would present him with a document establishing his, his descendants' and all of his relatives' renounce to the Crown. When that happened, the few Portuguese Republican Party members in the Parliament would push for the declaration of the Republic, as there would be no one that could claim the throne.

Of course, as famed German general Helmuth von Moltke the Elder said, “no plan survives contact with the enemy”.

When the soldiers appeared in the middle of the parade and opened their way through the population, they ordered the King's bodyguards to stand down and lay their weapons on the floor. The bodyguards chose to ready their weapons and aim them at the soldiers.

The main officer, João Álvares [1], told them that they had a last chance to surrender, or else they would shoot. The bodyguards' leader's last words would be later reported by one of the fleeing civilians.

We have sworn an oath to protect the King and the Queen, and we intend to follow it till the last! Something you should remember!

The following shooting lasted twenty minutes, and by the end of it, every bodyguard was dead or dying, as did seven soldiers, with twelve more bleeding from injuries caused by the bodyguards' weapons, and six civilians that had not been able to run away before the shooting began.

However, tragedy had already struck: when the soldiers opened the carriages' doors, they found that both the King and the Queen had died in the crossfire. Not knowing what to do, they decided to commandeer the carriage and reach the palace as fast as possible so as to be able to capture the couple's two children: Luis Filipe, the heir to the throne, and Prince Manuel. As this happened, troops in many other places in Portugal and its colonies rose up, led by their pro-Republican officers, and faced those troops that had chosen to remain loyal to the Monarchy.

The Portuguese Civil War had started.

[1] In RL 1891, there was a republican revolution in Porto, but it failed. I tried to find the names of any of its ringleaders, but nothing appeared, so I have invented that name.

THE END OF CHAPTER SIX​

Well, there it is, the problems I had mentioned previously: Portugal loses two kings in less than a month, and they get into a civil war between Royalists and Republicans. I hope that you have liked it.

As you can see, right now things are very different from RL: Russia seems poised to become a constitutional monarchy soon, Brazil remains an Empire, Spain might be able to become the greatest power in the Caribbean after the victory over the Dominican Republic... and yes, Portugal is in the middle of a war. The outcome of it will be interesting, that is something I can tell you.

Also, the Spanish Foral Map is now almost complete, and there is also the three new flags, corresponding to Hilaga, Kabisayan and Habagatan.

If you have any questions, please tell me!
​

 

[Milarqui]

Chapter I: An End And A Beginning​

​

Part I: The Road to La Gloriosa​

It was the second of September of the year 1868. Isabel II, Queen of Spain and all of its colonies, and the last in a long line of monarchs that descended from the Sun King and Emperor Carlos I of Spain, was walking along the La Concha Beach, in the northern city of San Sebastián. Accompanying her were her son and heir Alfonso, her four daughters Isabel, María del Pilar, María de la Paz and Eulalia, and a large group of courtesans, ready to do anything that may grant them the favor of the Queen, and thus benefits of many kinds.

They did not know that any benefits they may gain would soon turn to ashes, dust and nothing else.

Isabel II had risen to the throne in a tumultuous period of the history of Spain: she was just three years old when her father, the absolutist tyrant Fernando VII, nicknamed El Rey Felón (the Felon King) for his total intransigence that had ruined the start of Spanish liberalism and provoked Spanish America's independence, died from age and illness. Her crowning had been opposed by the Infante Carlos María Isidro de Borbón, who was supported by the reactionary elements of Spanish society, while the liberal politicians and troops had stepped behind her, hoping that she would be the one to bring new glory and freedom to the Spanish nation.

Queen Isabel II and her consort, Francisco de Asís​

Unfortunately, that hope was, while not shattered, eventually broken: the young girl had, with time, become a sad, capricious woman, who thought of the Crown and what it represented as her own property, to do as she wished; forced into a loveless marriage with Francisco de Asís de Borbón, an homosexual and ambitious man she intensely disliked, she sought young attractive men to bed them, an attitude that was imitated by her consort and causing great scandal in the nation; the political system formed by General Ramón María Narváez's Partido Moderado (Moderate Party) and also General Leopoldo O'Donnell's Unión Liberal (Liberal Union), which excluded the more liberal Partido Progresista (Progressive Party) and Partido Demócrata (Democrat Party) had stagnated, and was seen as an absolute failure, because it was soon clear that the Presidency of the Council of Ministers was open to whichever high-ranking military officer managed to seduce the Queen; and the Royal Court was dominated by ultraconservative and Neo-Catholic councilors who were nearly always a step away from helping to restore the Ancien Régime Fernando VII had imposed during his reign.

Not everything that happened during Isabel's reign was bad: although her reign had been marked by the pronunciamientos [1], the relatively long periods of peace between them had allowed for the industrialization of Spain, which had been heavily affected by the Independence War [2] and Fernando VII's anti-liberal purges, as well as the construction of a railway network that was expanding and connecting all Spanish towns and cities. Unfortunately, many of these reforms were themselves the cause of other problems: Mendizábal's land seizures, while they had given much money to the battered Spanish Treasury, had culminated in the latifundismo, the concentration of much land in the hands of a few owners; the industrial and railroad businesses had been affected by several great swindles forged by the richest families of the time (including the Royal Family itself), and the dissatisfaction of the lower classes with their economical situation was becoming greater as time passed.

These factors, and many others, had led politicians and army officers to realize that Spain was a boiler that would explode if a proper valve was not built soon. One of them was General Juan Prim, the leader of the Progressive Party, who was determined to act as fast as possible to prevent the dissolution of his beloved nation because of the bad choices of a few people: thus, he planned and executed several pronunciamientos, all of which were completely unsuccessful, and which led to short-lived exiles to other European nations.

​

General Juan Prim y Prats, Marquis of Los Castillejos​

It wouldn't be until 1866 that the definite impulse to the revolution would happen: the European economic crisis that exploded that year heavily eroded the Spanish economy, even further than that of other countries. The inadequate industrialization of the nation, the economic policies followed by the successive governments chosen by Isabel, the concentration of the credit risk in the railroad business and in the public debt, the unpopular First Pacific War [3] and, finally, several failed harvests because of floods, brought to the surface the problems and contradictions of Spanish society:

• The great difference in income between the lowest and the highest classes, especially seen in the agricultural sector, where most of the population slaved away for long hours of hard and strenuous work in exchange of a paltry wage while the landowning oligarchy was able to squander their riches without any care.
• The conflict between the financial-landowning oligarchy and the emergent industrial-commercial bourgeoisie, the latter of which had to contend with the former in order to manage to face the problems they had to expand business.
• The problems, derived from the industrial expansion in Catalonia and northern Spain, between the industrial bourgeoisie and a new industrial worker class, which was formed by people that had to work in deplorable conditions in order to earn enough money to feed themselves and their families.

It was these problems, and many more, that would mark 1866 as the start of the end for Isabel II's, and the Bourbons', reign.

[1] The pronunciamientos were military uprisings that happened several times during Isabel's reign, and their main objective was the imposition of the uprising leaders' political views. The most important pronunciamientos were those that pretty much marked the separation between the historical periods of Isabel's reign: Maria Cristina's and Espartero's regencies, the first Moderate period, the Progressive Two Years and the second Moderate period.
[2] The name given in Spain to the Peninsular War.
[3] The name given in TTL Spain to the war with Chile, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador.

 

[Milarqui]

Part II: The Last Years of Bourbon Spain​

One of the first attempts by liberal elements to show their discontent with the situation happened in June 1866: the Sargentada of the San Gil Barracks. The failure of this uprising led to the executions of many sergeants that had supported it, and to the exile of Prim to Geneva. This, however, allowed the general to reach Ostende (Belgium), where he was able to meet with other members of his own party and of the Democratic Party (which was then led by Cristino Martos and Francisco Pi y Margall). Both parties signed, in August of that year, the Ostende Pact: the Progressive and Democrat parties would, from then on, work together to force the end of Isabel's monarchy and replace the current regime with an actual democratic system, where the people would choose their representatives through male universal suffrage. The form this regime would take was a decision left for the future, which would cause no end of problems for Spain.

The San Gil Barracks​

The first fruits took some time to arrive, but arrive they did, and in great form: Leopoldo O'Donnell's death in 1867 allowed General Francisco Serrano (a former lover of the Queen, and one of the main candidates to Prince Alfonso's paternity) to gain the leadership of the Liberal Union. The Moderate Party's near monopolization of the government, and the Neo-Catholics each day greater influence with the Queen, told the Unionists that their only chances to maintain influence in Spain was to join the opposition to Isabel's rule, which they did that year through the Pact of Brussels. Serrano managed to bring with him the support of many soldiers and officers, as well as the generous economic aid of Antoine d'Orléans, Duke of Montpensier, who aspired to hold the Crown of Spain either by his own right or as a consort to Isabel's sister Luisa Fernanda, his wife.

General Leopoldo O'Donnell​

The moment that made it clear that Isabel's regime was about to die was April 1868: Ramón María Narváez, nicknamed El Espadon de Loja (Loja's Greatsword) and main defender of the monarchy, died after a long life of war and politic intrigues. Instead of trying to change things, Isabel II chose to support the continuity of the Moderate government by giving the Presidency to Luis González Bravo. In order to prevent the Neo-Catholics or any general from taking his position, González Bravo decided to govern against everyone, slowly turning Spain into an almost personal dictatorship through repression, exile and censure. González Bravo could be heard proclaiming his pride at showing how a civilian could also direct a dictatorship, but his actions earned him the hate of every Spaniard.

General Ramón María Narváez and Luis González Bravo​

Luis González Bravo would soon become known as the last President of Isabel's reign, because it was in this situation that an honorable sailor decided that it was the moment to punch the table and shout Enough!, initiating the revolution that would lead liberals to their freedom or their death.

 

[Milarqui]

Part III: La Gloriosa
​

September 18th 1868. Port of Cádiz, the birthplace of Spanish constitutionalism, and one of the most important ports of Spain. It was here that Juan Bautista Topete, Admiral of the Spanish Fleet anchored in the city, rose up against Queen Isabel II and González Bravo's government, proclaiming the end of the Bourbon monarchy, and the beginning of the liberalization Spain deserved.

Admiral Juan Bautista Topete, the man who initiated La Gloriosa​

During the previous sixty years of Spanish history, the Spanish Army had been the main user of force against the government so as to impose order, through the pronunciamientos. This was, however, the first time the Navy actively participated in one of them, and not only that, but they were the ones to lead it.

One day later, Generals Juan Prim (coming from London by way of Gibraltar) and Francisco Serrano (who brought with him all the generals that had been exiled to the Canary Islands by González Bravo) arrived to Cádiz, from where they would take the reins of the revolution that would initially be named the Revolución de Septiembre, but would become part of the history of Spain with the poetic name of La Gloriosa.

General Francisco Serrano y Dominguez, one of the leaders of La Gloriosa​

Very soon, the revolution found the support of the people, who, fed up with Isabel II and her decisions and those of her governments, helped spark rebellions through Andalusian and Eastern Spain. Prim and Topete would take the latter's fleet in order to travel from port to port along the Mediterranean coast, helping to feed the fire that had been lit in the Spaniards' hearts, while Serrano reached Sevilla by land and took the lead of an army with which he expected to invade Madrid.

González Bravo's government did not remain quiet, though, and sent an army formed by troops loyal to the Queen and led by Manuel Pavía y Lacy, Marquis of Novaliches, to the encounter of Serrano's army.

Manuel Pavía y Lacy, Marquis of Novaliches​

Ten days after the start of the revolution, both armies met in the town of Alcolea (Córdoba). They both had a similar number of troops, but, while the loyalists had more artillery, the revolutionaries had the knowledge that the events in the rest of Spain were playing in their favor, giving them greater courage in the soon-to-happen battle.

The first move was made by the loyalists, who assaulted Serrano's army's positions in an attempt to push them back, but this was repealed with several casualties in both sides. Novaliches then decided to personally lead a second assault, as he wanted to prevent demoralization from seeping into his men. This attempt to encourage his men backfired, for not only was the assault stopped, but Novaliches was gravely injured in the face and unable to continue leading the attack. His second-in-command ordered a retreat towards the north, thus opening the way for the revolutionaries to occupy Madrid, which they did several days later with the support and acclamation of the local people.

Serrano's army enters Madrid​

When news of both the Battle of Alcolea and the loss of Madrid to Serrano arrived to the Court, which was then in San Sebastián, they realized that the Queen only had two options right now: either the Royal Family exiled itself to nearby France, thus remaining safe yet able to easily return if the wind blew in their favor, or the Queen abdicated in the person of her son and heir, Prince Alfonso, perhaps saving the Spanish throne for the Bourbon dynasty.

Given the circumstances and the hatred the Spanish people now professed for the Bourbons, the courtiers suggested the Queen that it might better if she took the option of exile, probably the best advice they had ever offered in their court lives. Thus, Isabel II decided to keep her historical rights to the Crown of the Catholic Monarchs and parted on September 30th for the city of Biarritz, France, next to her entire family, and where French Emperor Napoleon III put comfortable chambers to their disposition.

The Royal Family goes into exile​

Both the occupation of Madrid and the Royal Family exile marked the end of the revolution. Isabeline authorities peacefully transferred power to local Juntas that had been chosen either by popular acclaim or through improvised democratic elections, and slowly peace returned to the nation.

Celebrations in Puerta del Sol after the final success of La Gloriosa​

Finally, on October 5th, the Provisional Government was formed. Its task would be long and arduous, for they would have to initiate the process for the establishment of the Constituent Assembly and the development and ratification of a new Spanish Constitution, but when that moment came, Spain would be ready.

 

[Milarqui]

Part IV: The Provisional Government and the Constituent Assembly​

The Provisional Government was led by General Serrano and formed in equal parts by Unionists and Progressives. Unionists Juan Bautista Topete, Juan Álvarez Lorenzana, Antonio Romero Ortiz and Adelardo López de Ayala took the Ministries of the Navy, Foreign Affairs, Justice and Overseas, respectively, while Progressives Juan Prim, Práxedes Mateo Sagasta, Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla and Laureano Figuerola were chosen as Ministers of War, Home Affairs, Public Works and Treasury.

The Provisional Government. From
left to right: Figuerola, Ruiz Zorrilla, Sagasta, Prim, Serrano, Topete, López de Ayala, Romero Ortiz and Lorenzana. ​

This choice was met with the first frictions in the coalition: the Democrats (now suffering from an internal division between Cristino Martos' Monarchists and Francisco Pi y Margall's Republicans) were quite unhappy at the fact that their party, despite having been on the opposition to Isabel for much more time than the Liberal Union, was not represented in the Provisional Government. Fortunately, save for a few complaints that were easily handled by the government, there were no further reactions.

Cristino Martos, leader of the Monarchist wing of the Democrat Party​

The Government soon had its hands full in trying to solve the trove of problems they had to get through in order to stabilize Spain. Their first action was the concession of public and political rights to the people, as they had promised from the beginning of La Gloriosa. They also announced through a manifest the political reforms they intended to make true in short time, and the first economic reforms, impulsed by Minister Figuerola, that would finally allow the Spanish economy to recover from the many disasters of the past.


The first democratic elections took place in December, in order to replace the Juntas with mayors, while the Constituent Assembly would be chosen in January of the following year. In the meantime, the Provisional Government approved several decrees that would be temporary until the Constitution was finally approved. These decrees had most to do with the concession of freedoms, as well as the initial organization of the judicial system.

It was also then that the Provisional Government proclaimed that Spain would retain the Constitutional Monarchy as a government, citing both the little success republics had had in Europe and the great distrusts that the formation of a Spanish Republic would awaken in the rest of Europe. This provoked the break-up of the Democrat Party, as the Republican faction, with Pi y Margall at the helm, chose to form its own party, the Partido Republicano, which supported the transformation of Spain into a federal republic in the mold of the United States of America. This idea was supported by several of the Juntas and, later, by the local governments where the Republicans had won the local elections, showing that the pre-Bourbon federalism was not dead, a support that grew thanks to their anti-militarist, anti-clerical message.

Francisco Pi y Margall, leader of the Federal Republican Party
​

Unfortunately for the government, soon they had to turn their eyes to the other side of the Atlantic, where insurrections had begun among the people of Cuba of Puerto Rico. Both islands had, for years, been treated as nearly personal fiefdoms by General Captains that held almost absolute power, and still held under the yoke of a slave-based economy, and had been on the brink of exploding when La Gloriosa started.


The Puerto Rico insurrection, initiated five days before the Battle of Alcolea, was easily put down by local loyal forces, and most rebels were captured and condemned to death. The new governor, José Laureano Sanz, soon dictated a general amnesty for the rebels in order to calm the situation, although several rebels were still exiled.

The Cuban rebellion, however, would prove to be not as easy to put down. Started by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes on October 10th with the so-called Grito de Yara, it soon derived into a brutal guerrilla war, with liberated slaves joining the rebels and launching bloody machete charges that engulfed the entire island, thanks to local support for the guerrillas. Spain's almost brutal economic exploitation of the island, the Cuban people's complete lack of rights and freedoms, the existence of a class division based on racial prejudices and the existence of slavery, were factors that played in the rebellion. In spite of the rebels' inability to take control of any great city, and the arrival of new Captain General Domingo Dulce, appointed by the Provisional Government to bring the reforms that were now changing Spain, the rebels did not surrender.

Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, first President of Revolutionary Cuba​

Considering the current situation as very alarming, the Provisional Government was forced to initiate a conscription program to form an army that would defeat the rebels, which they did not want to do. This played straight into the hands of the Republicans, who supported the derogation of the Monarchy and the establishment of a Federal Republic, where Cuba and Puerto Rico would be two states. The popular classes started to feel let down by the Provisional Government, and many thought that, if things didn't change soon, Cuba would become La Gloriosa's cancer and probable cause of death.

Spanish volunteers embark in the port of Barcelona to travel to Cuba​

All of these problems did not mean the end of political life. On January 15th, the Spaniards were called to vote in the Constituent Assembly. 70% of the electoral census, for the first time formed by all Spanish males over 25, chose their representatives to the Assembly, formed by the following:

• Government Coalition: 236 Deputies
• Progressive Party: 134 Deputies
• Liberal Union: 69 Deputies
• Democrat Party: 33 Deputies
• Republican Party: 85 Deputies
• Federalist faction: 83 Deputies
• Centralist faction: 2 Deputies
• Carlist Party: 20 Deputies
• Isabeline independents: 11 Deputies
• Non-elected: 29 Deputies
• Cuban representatives: 18 Deputies
• Puerto Rican representatives: 11 Deputies

After the clear victory by the Government forces, and desiring a continuation with respect of the Provisional Government, Serrano kept the Presidency and the Provisional Government retained their positions. A Constitutional Commission was then formed, consisting on equal numbers of Progressive, Unionist and Democrat politicians and legislators, whose task would be to develop a new Constitution for the Kingdom of Spain.

 

[Milarqui]

Chapter I, Part V: The New Constitution​

The Constitutional Commission worked very fast and finished the text in only three months. The text was approved on June 1st by 214 Ayes, 55 Nays and 112 abstentions, and finally promulgated five days later by the Constituent Assembly, in the name of the Spanish nation that had chosen them as representatives.

The 1869 Constituent Courts are opened in the Congress of Deputies​

As many would be able to read, the Spanish Constitution of 1869 drank from many sources to write down the most important matters: the Constitution of the United States of America gave it a broad declaration of rights and freedoms, the Belgian Constitution provided the role of the Crown in the new kingdom, and, above all, the historical 1812 Constitution, La Pepa, which had a general influence in the text.

The Constitution was a clearly democratic one, a declaration based on the recognition of national sovereignty based on male universal suffrage, as well as an advocacy of individual rights as natural rights, so any posterior legislation could only regulate the bad use of those rights, a stance opposed by Isabeline politician Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, who stated that individual rights had to be regulated and limited through legislation to prevent social disorder and the violation of those rights.

The religious question, the role religion would have in the new Spain, sparked a harsh discussion. La Gloriosa had seen the demolition of many convents by the Juntas, and one of the Provisional Government's decrees had led to the closure of all monasteries and religious houses built after 1837 (the year when the cult and clergy maintenance was established, through that year's Constitution, as compensation for the land expropriations of the previous year), as well as the expulsion of the Jesuit Company from Spanish territory, arguing that, as they owed obedience to the Pope above the Nation, they were a risk of treason.

The Spanish Catholic Church tried, unsuccessfully, to get the new government to accept the Concordat of 1851, which established Spain's religious union and Catholic denomination, broad jurisdictional attributions and the compliance of the Catholic dogma in public education, among other privileges. However, the government was clear in that freedom of religion would be an inalienable right, and thus part of the Constitution. This led to the ironic situation of liberals supporting freedom of religion with religious arguments while conservatives supported religious union with political arguments.

In the end, the question was solved by keeping the maintenance of the cult and clergy in the Constitution, while freedom of religion was allowed for both Spaniards and foreigners, and access to public office and acquisition and exercise of civil and political rights become independent of the professed religion.

The political system would also be renewed. Separation of powers between three bodies would become the norm, in order to prevent the excesses of Isabel's reign and turn Spain into an effective parliamentary monarchy.

Legislative power would reside in the Cortes Generales, formed by two chambers, the Congress of Deputies and the Senate. Both would be elected through male universal suffrage, and among their attributions was the control of the government's actions. Every three years, an election would take place: Congress would be renovated in every election, and each deputy would be chosen to represent a district through direct suffrage, while the Senate would be chosen through indirect suffrage, represent each province, and only a fourth of it would be renewed every three years (thus, one Senator could hold his position for twelve years) unless the King ordered the dissolution of the Courts. The lower chamber, the Congress, would be the most powerful body, as they would approve projects of law, taxes and others, although the Senate was given several other powers to make up for the loss.

Executive power would be, in theory, held by the Crown and King. However, as the person of the King was inviolable and legally non-responsible, the power would be held de facto by the government. The King would hold the classical attributions of a Head of State, as well as have the power to appoint and dismiss his ministers (only with the approval of the Courts, though), to call and suspend the Courts, the sanction and promulgation of laws and the legal authority and competences concerning the executive power.

Judicial power would, finally, become independent from the government. The members' independence would be reinforced through competitive examinations, although the King still had the power to appoint up to a fourth of the judges in the courts and the Supreme Court without their having to pass examinations as long as he had the approval of the Council of State. Judge by jury was definitely established for all political crimes and those determined by common law. All the codes of law, save for those applied to the now limited military and ecclesiastical jurisdictions, were finally unified, a process that had been initiated in the Cádiz Courts and not yet finished.

The Constitution also provided for the local and provincial institutions, as their interests were now to be controlled and responded to by the respective councils. These institutions would be also expanded to Cuba and Puerto Rico as soon as order returned to those lands. The plans for both islands, as well as the Philippines and the Spanish Pacific Islands, would be left for the future, for a time when things got calmed down enough for the government to do things. The only thing that was clear was that reforms would be done to change the situation in both places.

The Constitution of 1869 is approved by the Congress

END OF CHAPTER ONE
​

 

[Milarqui]

Chapter II: General Serrano's Regency​

​

Chapter II, Part I: The Initial Problems​

With the approval of the Constitution, Spain had to go a new route if it wanted to keep up. And now, it was time for a change in the organization of the government.

As Spain was now officially a monarchy, it was clear that a king would have to be searched for, but, meanwhile, someone would have to take the regency to represent the monarch and become the temporary Head of State. With the support of the Government Coalition, Serrano became the Regent of the Kingdom of Spain, being replaced by Minister of War Prim as the President of the Council of Ministers. This move was accepted most everyone in the government, as Serrano now found his political ambitions satisfied, as being the Regent meant holding the country's highest institutional position and, at the same time, it calmed the monarchical Democrats, who had feared that either Serrano or Prim might choose to throw everything away and become worse tyrants than Isabel had ever been.

Unfortunately, even with these changes, frictions still appeared within the Government Coalition, and even within the Progressive Party. Prim's party was now divided in two groups: one of them was led by Práxedes Mateo Sagasta, and he believed that now was the time to end the reforms, at least for the time being, as they supported the partial legislation of individual rights as Cánovas del Castillo said; the other was led by Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla, and self-styled as the Radical Progressives, who supported the continuation of reforms and maintaining the non-legislation of individual rights, as well as the transitional nature of the current monarchy towards a republic.

Manuel Becerra, new Minister of Overseas; Práxedes Mateo Sagasta, Minister of Governance, and Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla, Minister of Public Works

In an attempt to keep the coalition together and to balance it within the government, President Prim, who intended to keep the Progressive Party as the middle party between the Liberal Union and the Democrat Party, chose to replace Unionists Lorenzana and López de Ayala, then Ministers of Home Affairs and Overseas, with Democrats Cristino Martos and Manuel Becerra in July 1869. However, this move only helped in earning him the Unionists' suspicions.

Meanwhile, the Courts were asking Prim to initiate the search for the new King of Spain, arguing that each day that task was put off, was one day Spain weakened. Since things within the Coalition had partially calmed down after the reshuffling, Prim agreed to the petition and accepted the Courts choice for the members of the commission that would determine and control the Government's actions in finding the king. However, this did not help matters much, because, as some comic strip drawers joked, the Commission had ten candidates and nine members.

The first candidates to be considered were those that already had a claim by blood to the throne of Spain. Amongst them stood Antoine d'Orléans, Duke of Montpensier and one of the revolutionary cause's main financiers, who based his claim on his status as Isabel's brother-in-law and member of the French Bourbon dynasty, and was supported by a few members of the Liberal Union, including Navy Minister Topete. However, it was his ties to Isabel II, as well as the fact that he had not returned to Spain from Lisbon until the revolution triumphed, instead of coming as soon as possible since he was General Captain of the Spanish Army, that made his candidacy fall down. This was further complicated after he killed Infante Enrique de Borbón, the brother of Consort King Francisco de Asís and another rejected candidate, on March 12th 1870. Montpensier was exiled, and thus his candidacy sunk forever.

Antoine d'Orléans, Duke of Montpensier, and Infante Enrique de Borbón​

The next candidate with a claim to the throne was the Carlist pretender, Carlos María de Borbón y Austria-Este, who claimed the throne of Spain as Carlos VII and was the preferred candidate of the Carlists and the Catholic fundamentalists in the Courts. However, his complete unwillingness to be a king without any actual power (in the words of Carlos de Borbón himself, I did not fight for my rights only to become the puppet of the Parliament) naturally made him unfit for the role the Crown was to have in the new Spain.

For similar reasons was Alfonso de Borbón, Isabel II's son, rejected: everybody could see that, if he were to become the king, his main influence would be his mother and the members of the Isabeline court that had only helped to destroy the nation from within, while they became rich themselves.

The Carlist pretender, Carlos María de Borbón, and young Prince Alfonso de Borbón​

Thus, it was clear that candidates would have to be looked for out of Spain. Given that the nearest nation was Portugal, a search there was initiated, and soon a candidate was found: Fernando de Coburgo, who had been Consort King several years ago until the death of his wife in 1853, and who had been Regent for his son Pedro V and then his second son Luís I when Pedro died without issue, was admired for his political impartiality and his great experience. Those who believed in the idea of an united Iberia supported his candidacy, but Fernando rejected it: the idea unifying the Spanish and Portuguese crowns against the will of the people was not pleasant to him, as he knew such a move would bring an answer from the United Kingdom and France; also, he had just married with opera singer Elisa Hensler, with whom he wished to have a quiet life, away from institutional roles.

Former King Consort of Portugal Fernando de Coburgo and his second wife, Elise Hensler​

Thus, the search continued, and the Commission's eyes were cast at Italy, which was right now nearly unified by the Savoia dynasty. Two members were sounded out: Amedeo di Savoia, second son of Italian King Vittorio Emmanuele II, and Tomasso Alberto di Savoia, the 13-year-old Duke of Genoa. Amedeo rejected the throne in spite of his initial temptations, arguing Spain's instability as the reason, as he was wary of following the example of Maximilian I, Emperor of Mexico, crowned at France's behest and shot by the Republicans after the end of the Mexican Civil War. The Duke of Genoa's candidacy was initially accepted, and the Duke of Montpensier was willing to support him as long as Tomasso married one of his daughters, but in the end both Tomasso's mother and the Italian government refused the offer for the same reasons Amedeo gave, although some thought it might be revenge for Isabel's continued support of the Papal States and their control of the Latium.

Prince Amedeo di Savoia and Tomasso Alberto di Savoia, Duke of Genoa​

In the aftermath of the Duke of Genoa's rejection, the political situation constrained even more: Ruiz Zorrilla suggested the idea of initiating what he called a Liberal Dictatorship, which would develop the new aspects of the Constitution without having to wait for the King, and Treasury Minister Laureano Figuerola made public his plans to establish free trade to foment industrial and commercial growth, an idea opposed by the Unionists, the Radical Progressives and the protectionist Progressives, who wanted to support the growth of the Catalan industries.

Treasury Minister Laureano Figuerola and the first 1 peseta coin​

Given the failures at finding a good King, a few deputies suggested that the crown was given to an actual Spanish hero: Joaquín Baldomero Fernández Espartero, Prince of Vergara, who had been Regent for Isabel II and was still considered a hero by the lower and middle classes. His lack of issue and advanced age made him a favored candidate by the Radical Progressives and the Republicans, as when he died he would leave Spain again without a King and the chance of Spain becoming a Republic would be greater. However, when Juan Prim and Pascual Madoz wrote him a letter, Espartero replied that he did not wish for the throne, for he had retired from politics after the events of 1856, and he did not wish to leave neither his ailing wife nor his beloved Logroño.

Retired General Joaquín Baldomero Fernández-Espartero Álvarez de Toro, former leader of the Progressive Party and Spanish war hero​

The string of failures, the ravages from the bloody Cuban guerrilla war and the brutal repression of a Carlist uprising and a Federal Republican insurrection sparked furious criticizing against the government, and the Liberal Union tried to pass a motion of no confidence against Prim on May 19th, but he survived it thanks to the support of the Progressive and Democrat Parties. The Radical Progressives themselves, meanwhile, had started a labor to modernize Spain, granting further liberties and increasing the secularization of society, moves rejected by the Isabeline and Carlist deputies and earning the distrust of the conservative sectors of the Unionists and Progressives.

Despite his victory in the motion, Prim could see that his efforts to stabilize Spain were starting to fail, especially due to the unsuccessful search for a king (Prim himself would famously state Finding a democrat king in Europe is harder than finding an atheist in Heaven!). Naturally, this failure was strengthening the Republicans, who rejected Prim's offer of two ministries (Treasury and Public Works) for Emilio Castelar and Francisco Pi y Margall, as they expected that soon Prim would have no other choice than to heed their demands for the proclamation of a Spanish Republic.

Since Southern Europe had shown lacking in good candidates, the commission started to search in Central and Northern Europe, as the many political changes that had happened in the last years had left many potential candidates in there. However, the requirements presented by Prim's government (the candidate had to be Catholic, had to accept to swear allegiance to the Constitution and had to stay out of the Spanish political life beyond his duties) ruled out many candidates: the Hapsburg dynasty, which ruled in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and had ties to the monarchs that had ruled Spain before the Bourbons, were rejected because of their traditionalism and Neo-Catholicism; the Bavarian dynasty of Wittelsbach was rejected, too, due to the congenital madness most of its members suffered; and the Prussian Hohenzollerns, who were seen as potentially great candidates due to the titanic job they had done by turning Prussia into Europe's emergent great power, and slowly managing to unify northern Germany in one sovereign state thanks to Minister President [1] Otto von Bismarck's negotiations, were rejected because they professed Protestantism.

Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria, and Ludwig II of Bavaria
​

All of these problems seemed to corroborate Prim's statement, but then, on June 21st 1870, an agent in Berlin informed, through telegraph, of the existence of a potentially perfect candidate for the Spanish Crown.

[1] This was the title held by Otto von Bismarck at the time: he didn't become Chancellor until Germany was unified.

 

[Milarqui]

Chapter II, Part II: The Prussian Candidate​

The agent was Eusebio Salazar y Mazarredo, former Deputy to Courts and member of the Spanish diplomatic mission in Prussia. Having formed part of the revolution almost from the beginning of the planning, Salazar had been already working on searching the candidate that he could consider perfect for Spain.

Eusebio Salazar y Mazarredo​

In summer of 1866, Salazar met with Baron von Werthern, then the Prussian ambassador to France, in the summer resort of Biarritz, where many dignitaries and rich people of the time went, for a lunch meeting. Although Salazar's hopes of personally meeting with Minister President Bismarck (a faithful visitor of the resort town) were dashed, he was not discouraged, and he introduced the subject of the possibility of the Spanish throne becoming vacant for any reason, and asked the Baron for his opinion. The Prussian ambassador answered that, if that were to happen, the best candidate for the throne was Leopold zu Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen.

Leopold was part of a Hohenzollern branch that had remained faithful to Catholicism and, in the 16th century, had planted its dominion in the region of Swabia, ceding their rights to their Prussian relatives after the 1848 Revolutions. Leopold's father, Karl Anton, had been Minister President of Prussia between 1858 and 1862, Leopold was an officer in the Prussian Army, and Karl, Leopold's younger brother, had become King of Romania in 1866 under the name of Carol I, thus giving Leopold a precedent for his candidacy.

Prince Karl Anton zu Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and his second son, King Carol I of Romania​

Besides, Leopold had several characteristics that made his candidacy even more attractive: like his entire family, Leopold was Catholic, which was important for Prim's government; he was a very educated man, of great intelligence, thus potentially becoming a great support in the improvement of Spain; his personal fortune was among the most considerable in the continent; he was married to Infanta Antónia de Saxe-Coburgo-Gota e Bragança, the sister of Portuguese King Luís I, thus potentially giving him the support of those that wanted to look at an unified Iberia; and his succession was secured thanks to his sons Wilhelm (born in 1864) and Ferdinand (born in 1865), as well as, shortly after La Gloriosa's triumph, a third son, Karl Anton.

Prince Leopold zu Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and his wife Antónia de Saxe-Coburgo-Gota e Bragança
​

During 1869, Salazar, supported by Spanish ambassador in Berlin Count Juan Antonio Rascón, worked to inform Bismarck of his suggestion, hoping to gain his support for the candidacy. Rumors of his schemes appeared in several corners in Europe, but the protagonists of the negotiations managed to fake ignorance of what journalists asked them about those rumors. President Prim himself made a visit to Prince Karl Anton's house, in order to personally propose him his son's candidacy. The candidate himself and Prussian King Wilhelm I had several doubts about it, but Salazar had gained an ally in the person of Minister President Otto von Bismarck.

Count Juan Antonio Rascón, Spanish Ambassador to Prussia, and Minister President Otto von Bismarck​

At first sight, Bismarck seemed indifferent towards the idea, but his closest confidants could see that he was very excited by the idea of gaining a new ally in Europe, not to mention the possibility of using this affair to provoke France into declaring war against Prussia, thus aiding in the final steps of Germany's unification. He decided then that he would have to wear down the King's and the candidate's reluctance if he were to get his way.

With this idea in mind, Bismarck convinced Prince Karl Anton to organize a private dinner, attended by the Prussian government, the members of the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen family, General Helmuth von Moltke, the Prussian King and his son and heir, Kronprinz Friedrich. The matter of Leopold's candidacy was floated by Bismarck during the dinner, and most of those present were in favor, seeing, like Bismarck, the great potential of having France's southern neighbor as an ally. The only opposition came from Wilhelm I and the Kronprinz, while Leopold awaited the King's settlement, which came soon after thanks to Bismarck's sibylline pressures on the three men.

King Wilhelm I of Prussia and General Helmuth von Moltke​

It was on that June 21st 1870 that Salazar's telegram was sent to Ruiz Zorrilla, the President of the Courts: in it, he stated that he would arrive to Madrid on July 6th [1] with Leopold's candidacy and Wilhelm I's approval, right on time to present it before the members of the Courts, who were awaiting for the end of the parliamentary session period. In the meantime, several secret agents of Bismarck's maximum confidence entered Spain, with the aim of helping the candidacy and diverting any attention that might sink it.

[1] This is the Point of Divergence: in real life, Leopold did accept becoming a candidate to the Spanish throne, and Salazar did sent his telegram, warning Ruiz Zorrilla of his arrival. However, the RL telegram contained a mistake, stating that Salazar would arrive on the 26th, twenty days later than expected. Ruiz Zorrilla decided to end the parliamentary session period, unwilling to keep the deputies and senators awaiting for eighteen more days. This eventually led to the French ambassador to Spain learning of Leopold's candidacy during the summer, which was the first spark of what would become the French-Prussian War.

 

[Milarqui]

Chapter II, Part III: French Meddlings... ¿or not?​

Of course, many eyes were looking at Spain, knowing that whomever became the new King of Spain might as well change the entire balance of power that Europe had relied on to preserve peace since the Congress of Vienna of 1815. The most interested people in the comings and goings in Madrid were the French, especially Emperor Napoleon III. The French Emperor had looked and Isabel II's overthrow with a mix of interest, distrust and worry, so he had sent more agents to Spain in order to be the first to know what was happening in their southern neighbor, and thus manipulate events.

Emperor Napoleon III of France​

It was not the first time France had done this. The last century had seen a series of French interventions in Spain to preserve their own interests that had certainly modified many things. The most notorious events were the invasion of the Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis in 1823, who had invaded to restore Fernando VII's absolutism and end Lieutenant Colonel Rafael de Riego's constitutional experience, and their meddling in Isabel II's marriage in 1846, forcing her to marry Francisco de Asís instead of Leopoldo de Coburgo, the candidate preferred by the British.

This time, however, there would be a great difference with respect of previous French interventions, one of them being France's diplomatic isolation: French support for the 1863 Polish rebellion broke the alliance with Russia; lack of support to Austria during the Seven Weeks War offended the Hapsburg; French defense of the Pope had greatly angered the previously friendly Italians, who had ceded them Savoy and Nice in 1860 after two popular referendums; the Ottoman Empire saw France as a vulture always encouraging the former's disintegration by helping the Egyptians (who, in gratefulness, gave permission to build the Suez Canal, inaugurated in 1869 by Spanish-born Empress Eugénie de Montijo) and the Greek; and, in the New World, the United States didn't forget either the Imperial venture in Mexico nor the tentative support Napoleon III had given the Confederates. By 1868, only two European nations were amicable towards France: Spain, and the United Kingdom.

French Empress Eugénie de Montijo​

Unfortunately for France's needs, the United Kingdom maintained a policy of neutrality in most continental affairs, and they distrusted Napoleon III due to his pretensions to annex Belgium and Luxembourg (pretensions made public by Bismarck), so they could only count on their own forces to “aid” Spain to follow the path they themselves wanted.

Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland​

Napoleon was quite glad to hear that the Duke of Montpensier's candidacy had been rejected, since his accession to the Spanish throne might have provoked the reemergence of the Orléanist movement, since Montpensier was the tenth son of Louis-Philippe I, whom Napoleon had overthrown in 1848.

It was the French agents who first heard about Fernando de Coburgo's potential candidacy. Napoleon thus began to plan, supporting that candidacy, as he hoped that such an early support would bring an unified Iberia into his own sphere, but Fernando's personal rejection dashed his hopes. From then on, the French agents were as much in the darkness as any other foreign agents.

Thus, when the rumors of a Prussian candidate reached Paris, the French were unable to prove whether the Spanish and Prussian governments were telling the truth about the complete lack of contacts between both: Spaniards and Prussians knew that, if the French ever managed to confirm it, Bismarck's efforts to convince Leopold and Wilhelm I would crumble in the face of a French threat of war. The Spanish were also keen on preventing that, since Napoleon supported the restoration of the Bourbons in the persons of either Isabel II or her son Alfonso. Such was the importance of the Spanish-Prussian conversations, that it became absolutely forbidden for those involved to even breathe a word of the negotiations in such circumstances that they may reach Paris, to which the Prussian agents aided by spreading disinformation and undermining French efforts to know of the results of the search.

Mercier de L'Ostende, French Ambassador to Spain​

However, Mercier de L'Ostende, French Ambassador to Spain, managed to score a triumph and arranged a private dinner with President of the Courts Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla on June 4th, two days before Leopold's acceptance was due to arrive. Dinner took place normally, with both politicians speaking about trivial affairs and their own families. Only when the ambassador thought the way was prepared did he pounce on the matter he cared about, as if he was a tiger pouncing on its prey. Many accounts would eventually appear about what happened in the encounter, but one of the most faithful would, perhaps, be Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla's own account of the encounter in a book written out of his diaries, “From El Burgo de Osma to San Jerónimo”[1]:

We had just reached the desserts when L'Ostende asked, as if he was speaking about the weather:

“How is President Prim? It is my supposition that the search for your new King must have been very bad for him. Am I right?”

“You are correct,” I answered, my wariness increasing. “I met him this morning, and he was still working on a great number of matters that had his complete attention.”

“Tell me, did he find an answer to this problem of yours?”

I resisted my nearly unconscious response of raising an eyebrow. I had known, from the moment L'Ostende had sent the petition for this encounter, that the meeting would be neither of pleasure nor of diplomacy, but an attempt to gain information. However, the Ambassador's audacity surprised me. Whomever had taught him the art of interrogation was clearly not versed in the art.

“There are... several candidates, and we hope that one of them will be of the liking of both the members of Congress and the Spanish population.” I slightly stressed the word Spanish, because I wanted to let L'Ostende know in a subtle way that we did not care about the French people's opinion.

“Such as...Montpensier, perhaps?” L'Ostende asked, in an apparent jovial tone.

I snorted. It was unavoidable.

“Monsieur Ambassador, believe me when I tell you that we did not expel Queen Isabel only to put her sister and brother-in-law in the throne. He is a buffoon, an idiot, and the most he will receive from Congress will be a few votes from his staunchest supporters in the Liberal Union. Of which there are very few, let me tell you.”

“Surely, there must be a candidate Presidente Prim prefers over the others. After all, you are a member of his Government, as well as a man of his greatest confidence.”

L'Ostende's audacity was slowly becoming an annoyance. In retrospect, I suppose that this was what he had been taught to do: if you want to get answers out of someone that does not want to give them, annoy them until they speak, even if it is to make you shut up.

I nearly told him about the Prussian candidate, Leopold. However, I stopped myself from doing so, thankfully remembering on time that any word of that candidacy would result in its end, death and burial: its success would mean France would be surrounded by their enemies, as history proved soon enough. Then, I remembered that Prim had sent Madoz to Italy, in order to restart negotiations with the Italians. This was being done as a fallback precisely in case the French heard about Leopold, who was the favorite candidate of, not only Prim, but most of the government. So I chose that as a way to misdirect L'Ostende.

“Yes, there... might be someone,” I said, slowly. It was a conscious attempt on my part: any apparent reluctance in stating who was Prim's favored candidate meant that L'Ostende would be more pliable to believe me.

“Who it is?”

“Well, it is someone who said no before, but we are restarting the negotiations with him, and we are hopeful that he might say yes. It's... Prince Amadeo de Savoya, the Italian prince. The President certainly likes him.”

It was not a lie: Prim had liked Amadeo, and that was the reason why Madoz had traveled to Italy. But it was not the whole truth, either: while we hoped that he may affirm his will to become King, we expected that negotiations would end very soon, when the first voting went on.

Fortunately, L'Ostende was satisfied. Conversation turned to more pleasing matters, and soon after we finished desserts he left for his home.

Little did we know that, soon, this gentle relationship would turn as bitter as hemlock.

The morning after their encounter, Ambassador L'Ostende went to the nearest telegraph and communicated to the French Government and Emperor about his findings: Montpensier had no chance. No mention of the Prussians. The favored, and most probable candidate, was Amedeo di Savoia, the Italian Prince.

[1] El Burgo de Osma is the town of Soria where Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla was born, while San Jerónimo is the name of the Madrid street where the Spanish Congress stands.