Chapter III: The Hohenzollern's War
Chapter III, Part I: Casus Belli
As expected by the Spanish and Prussian governments, the announcement of the proclamation of Prince Leopold zu Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as the new King of Spain sparked different reactions among the European nations.
Italy and Portugal, which had been searched out for potential candidates for the throne, saw the news with relief, in spite of Vittorio Emmanuele II's personal ambition to place his son Amedeo in the Spanish throne, and the existence of many Portuguese supporters of an united Iberia, amongst them Portugal's Prime Minister, the Duke of Saldanha. With Leopold's accession to the throne, they expected that Spain would become politically stable and a good friend of them. This was especially probable for them, as Leopold was twice related to the Portuguese Royal Family (besides Leopold's marriage to the Portuguese King's sister, late Pedro V had been married with Leopold's sister Stephanie), and Prussia had supported Italy in their gaining the Veneto after the Seven Weeks War against an Imperial Austria opposed to both unifications.
King Vittorio Emanuele II of Italy and João Carlos de Saldanha Oliveira e Daun, Duke of Saldanha
The attitude from London was pretty similar: Prime Minister William Gladstone hoped that Spain became stabilized, and thus a potential trade partner for the industrialized United Kingdom, always in search of new markets. It would also be a way to reduce France's influence in Spain, too great since Isabel II's and her sister's marriage to Francisco de Asís and Antoine d'Orléans.
William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Other nations, such as Romania and the other nations in the Balkans that were rebelling against the Ottoman yoke, greatly supported Leopold's future accession to the throne. The Scandinavian monarchies also took the news as very acceptable, with only Denmark making some token protests, since they still remembered their defeat at the hands of Prussia and Austria in the Second Schleswig War of 1864.
Of course, not all of Europe was happy to see this. Russia, still an absolutist monarchy – although slowly evolving out of it thanks to Aleksandr II's reforms – was worried about the replacement of Queen Isabel II with a democratic constitutional monarchy led by a Hohenzollern, while Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Josef I was especially worried, because the success of Bismarck's political campaign meant that Austria-Hungary was steadily losing the status of main German nation to Prussia, and nothing could be done to prevent it.
Aleksandr II The Liberator, Tzar of Russia
Meanwhile, in the Americas, the United States of America saw this with mixed eyes: on one side, a more stable Spain meant that the war in Cuba might soon end, and thus be open to possible commercial expansion, but, on the other side, it meant that Spain would still hold territories in Cuba and Puerto Rico, and that pretty much ran against the United States' own ambition to hold influence over the islands, as per the Monroe Doctrine.
There was little to no surprise that the main opposition in Europe came from the Second French Empire. To Napoleon III's great indignation, the news about the Spanish choice arrived to the Tuileries Palace, not through diplomatic means, nor through his ambassadors in Berlin or Madrid, nor his agent network in Spain. No, the news had to reach him through the press!
The Tuileries Palace, residence of the French Imperial Family
The news were also a surprise for the French government: they had suspected that Spain would have made negotiations with several German princes, but never, in a century, they would have guessed that the chosen prince would turn out to be one of the Hohenzollerns that were challenging France's predominance in Europe from their seat in Prussia.
As angry as he was after the bad news were received, it was when his rant subsided that Napoleon III realized the situation was even worse than what it looked like at first sight: if a Hohenzollern was crowned in the Royal Palace of Madrid, France would be not only isolated in the continent, but surrounded by her enemies, and that might spark war against Prussia, a war he was personally opposed to since he still needed time to stabilize his rule after the recent referendum of May 8th. Thus, France had to act as soon as possible, lest worse things happen and leave her in a deeper hole. Napoleon III then ordered a message to be sent to the French Ambassador in Madrid.
Mercier de L'Ostende, who had also realized what might be the consequences of Leopold's crowning, received the Emperor's message: the message ordered him to do anything in his hands to force the Spaniards to change their minds. That same day, he demanded for a meeting with President Prim himself. However, Prim, perfectly knowing what the ambassador desired to speak (or, rather, shout) about, categorically refused to meet with him, under any circumstances.
L'Ostende would have to content himself with a rather improvised meeting with Home Affairs Minister Práxedes Mateo Sagasta, who, although received him in conciliatory tones, finally lost any sympathy or patience for him in a meeting that lasted a few minutes. Given that there were no witnesses, historians would turn to the only first hand testimonial of the encounter: Sagasta's memories, in which he spoke about the encounter with the enraged French Ambassador:
That day had started calmly enough. I had started it with reviewing several documents related to the actions of the police, who had arrested a few gentlemen that had protested in a violent manner about our choice of King. I knew this would have happened, independently of who was chosen as the new King: at least, it had not brought outright riots.
I then picked some messages sent from Seville, speaking about the state of prisons in the region and requesting money to rebuild them to a better degree. I decided to write to Laureano about this when the door opened violently.
I raised my eyes, and saw Monsieur L'Ostende, the French ambassador, entering the office without asking for permission and really furious. Behind him ran Adolfo, my secretary, who seemed to be a bit dazed and was apologizing for not being able to advert me of L'Ostende's presence. I stood up and invited L'Ostende to take a seat, while I took Adolfo outside and told him that he had nothing to fear, since it was not his fault that L'Ostende was so angry, and to take some time off to calm down.
After closing the door, I returned to my seat and faced the ambassador. Despite his obvious anger, I did not step back, and instead tried to calm him down.
“What is it that brings you here, Monsieur Ambassador? It must be a very important matter for you to come here without even asking for a meeting,” I asked him as diplomatically as I could.
“Would you explain me what the hell this means, Sagasta?” L'Ostende asked angrily, dropping a newspaper over the table and hitting it with the palm of his hand. It was La Gaceta de Madrid, an issue from two days before, that proclaimed Leopold zu Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as the new King of Spain under the name of Leopold I.
“I would say that the article is quite clear. Spain has spoken through its representatives, and has made its choice about who it want as its King.”
“France will not tolerate this insult! We will never allow a Prussian to sit in the Throne of Spain!”
It was clear that nothing was going to stop L'Ostende in his attempt to do things his way, or rather, the way of Napoleon. However, he did not count on the fact that, this time, we would not step back.
“Monsieur, please, calm down, while I tell you the reasons why France has nothing to fear. In the first place, even if you dislike our king, at least he is not Montpensier, which I am quite sure His Imperial Majesty would have been horrified with. Our Constitution only gives the King a symbolic power, which I doubt he will be able to use to declare war on France, which Spain still regards as an ally. Finally, if I am not mistaken, His Imperial Majesty and our King are distant relatives through Joachim Murat, so, please, tell your government there is no need to get overexcited.”
“Believe me when I tell you that His Imperial Majesty would rather see that buffoon of Montpensier as your pathetic King before any Prussian in the world, whether he is kin or not!”
I am a patient man, but even I have my limits. And L'Ostende, with his arrogant attitude, had consumed most of my patience.
“Monsieur L'Ostende, you, your government and His Imperial Majesty may believe that Spain is France's playground, to do or undo at your wish, but that time is over. Spain has chosen its King, and we will not tolerate any more interferences in such an important affair. Please, leave, and advice your government to take things calmly before they reach the point of no return.”
If L'Ostende was angry before, now he seemed incensed. I have to say that, for a few seconds, I feared for my life.
“I have been allowed to tell you that, if Spain continues on this stubborn path and does not reject the Prussian, it will suffer the serious consequences of not following France's suggestions.”
At the moment, I thought that France had not only gone past the point of no return, but that it did not plan to find the way to go back. However, some time later I would learn that they were already planning to cut off the candidacy from its origin, but, fortunately, in the end it was not successful. Either way, I had to show L'Ostende that, in this matter, we cared not about their opinion and 'suggestions'.
“Let me tell you a bit about our common story. In 1808, the Emperor's uncle, Napoleon Bonaparte, thought the same as you, and invaded Spain to force us his brother Joseph as our King. Four years later, Joseph was out of Spain, Napoleon's empire was shattered, and his soldiers had already retreated from Spain and Russia. History tends to repeat itself, Monsieur Ambassador, so I can tell you without any problem that, if His Imperial Majesty orders an invasion of Spain, it will end up with his empire shattered, Napoleon III exiled to Cochinchina, and the Bonapartes finished forever. Now, please, leave this office.”
Without a word of goodbye, L'Ostende stood up and left. Independently of what the future brought to Spain, it was clear that the meeting, for good or bad, was the end of the friendship between Spain and France.
Antoine Alfred Agénor, Duke of Gramont
As soon as he left the Ministry, L'Ostende went straight to the nearest telegraph station, sending a telegram to Paris with a slightly edited summary of his meeting with Sagasta, pretty much denoting the Minister as an arrogant man unwilling to follow France's lead in the current situation. With the telegram on his hands, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Duke Antoine de Gramont, asked for an extraordinary meeting of the
Corps Legislatif, the French counterpart to the Congress of Deputies, and used the telegram as “proof” that the interests and honor of the great French nation were in danger if something was not done to give an adequate answer to the insult the Spanish government had sent to France. The following day, the main newspapers of the Gaulish nation showed a message from the French government in their first pages:
We, the Government of France, wish to state our repulse and worry over the fact that the Prussian prince Leopold zu Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen has been proclaimed King of Spain by its government this past July 6th. We stand with the brave Spanish people, our allies, against those foreign dynasties that wish to meddle in Spain for their own benefit and upset the European political balance, and will do everything in our hand so that a proper king is crowned in Madrid.
Ignoring the rightful accusations of hypocrisy (since what France intended to do was pretty much the same as they were accusing Prussia of) other nations threw at them, the French government only paid attention to their people, who were now claiming for a war against the upstarts Bismarck and Prim, for their “audacity” in choosing to not follow the lead of the main European nation.
In Spain, the French position initiated a reappearance of the Republicans, who had remained quiet since the voting, and now were demanding that the votes for Leopold were declared null, thus making the second most voted option, the formation of a Federal Republic, the only acceptable one, and thus had to be accepted and applied as soon as possible. However, General Prim did not intend to let the Republicans get their wish, and it remained his intention to bring Leopold to Spain.
Prim, a fervent Spanish nationalist, had been looking forward to erasing all foreign interference in Spain, especially if it came from France. His anti-French stance, which had been the reason why he had tried to find a candidate Napoleon III would dislike, was influenced by, among other things, the French attempt to force Maximilian of Hapsburg as Mexican Emperor during the European expedition to Mexico to force it to pay its debts. Prim had chosen to leave as soon as the debts to Spain were paid, a choice that had also been influenced by Francisca Agüero, his Mexican-born wife.
Francisca Agüero y González, Marchioness of Los Castillejos
In order to help prepare Spain if France were to declare war (not probable so far, but the chance existed), Prim announced on a secret session of the Spanish Courts celebrated on July 9th his order to initiate a general mobilization of the army, using the constant French insults towards Spain to rile them up and bring them to his side.
Meanwhile, in Prussia, Leopold's and King Wilhelm's doubts reemerged after the French demands were made public. Leopold even thought that, if he were to renounce to the Spanish throne, war would be avoided. However, Bismarck, who did not want to see his plans for German unification blow up and saw a war with France as the best way to finish it, stopped him from doing it. The only obstacle between Prussia and Germany laid with the southern German Catholic states (Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden and Hesse), which still distrusted Protestant Prussia, but Bismarck had, in a stroke of diplomatic genius, managed to get them to sign secret defensive pacts with Prussia, which would be activated only in the event of a French attack. If war happened, and Prussia were to win that war, he was sure that the wave of euphoria in those states would be the spark for the final unification of Germany in one nation.
Back in France, when they saw that Spain would not follow their request to drop Leopold, Gramont chose to exert diplomatic pressure to end the claims at its origin, in Prussia. While the different Bourbon branches (particularly Isabel II and Carlos María de Borbón) pressured the French government to intervene in their favor and place their candidate on the Spanish throne, Gramont ordered Count Vincent Benedetti, French ambassador to Prussia, to speak with King Wilhelm I and get verbal and written guarantees that he would vet Leopold's candidacy and would not allow it, since, as King of Prussia, any of his subjects required his permission to accept foreign commitments.
Count Vincent Benedetti, French Ambassador to Prussia
With this objective in mind, the diplomat traveled to Bad Ems, where the Prussian Royal Family was resting for the summer. On July 12th, the count and the King met, and the former urged the latter to speak with his relative and convince him to change his opinion in regards to the Spanish throne, as that would be the only way to prevent war. Three days later, Prince Karl Anton told the ambassador that Leopold would renounce to the crown if it was the only way to avoid war. However, Bismarck and Count Rascón chose not to officially inform the Spanish government of the changes until later, knowing that, as long as there was no official reaction, the French would be nervous and might be provoked into acting in a way that would save the candidacy.
In the past, the concessions given by the Prussians might have been enough. Now, with the idea of a glorious war to put the upstart Prussians in their place pervading many French minds, they were not enough. The more hawkish and anti-liberal elements of the Imperial government, led by Gramont and the Consort Empress, decided this was not enough, and sought a way to further humiliate the Spaniards and the Prussians. On July 16th, they ordered Benedetti to ask for a written confirmation, with Wilhelm I's Royal Seal on it, that the Prussian candidacy would be dropped and never taken up again. Also, Marshal Edmond Le[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]
Bœuf[/FONT], French Minister of War, ordered a general mobilization of the French Imperial Army, for their deployment in case of war.
Marshal Edmond Le[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]
Bœuf[/FONT]
The next day, Benedetti, who had remained in Bad Ems knowing what might happen, met once more with Wilhelm I and presented him his government's request, but the old King answered that he had nothing else to say to the ambassador and politely ended the meeting. That afternoon, Wilhelm I sent a telegram to Minister President Bismarck through his diplomatic advisor Heinrich Abeken, retelling the encounter with Count Benedetti. The telegram arrived that night to the Berliner Wilhelmstrasse Palast, where Bismarck was dining with General Helmuth von Moltke.
As soon as he read the telegram, Bismarck shrewdly realized the goldmine he had in his hands and what might cause if correctly presented, so he took his quill and wrote a communication for the press regarding it. He, however, condensed the telegram's text into a few sentences, so that it might provoke the desired reaction, before sending it for its publication.
On July 18th, the main Prussian newspapers showed in their first pages the communication sent by Bismarck:
After the news of the renunciation of the Prince von Hohenzollern had been communicated to the Imperial French government, the French Ambassador in Ems made a further demand on His Majesty the King that he should authorize him to telegraph to Paris that His Majesty the King undertook for all time never again to give his assent should the Hohenzollerns once more take up their candidature. His Majesty the King thereupon refused to receive the Ambassador again and had the latter informed by the Adjutant of the day that His Majesty had no further communication to make to the Ambassador.
Memorial stone to the Ems Telegram in Bad Ems
The telegram's condensation had meant that several things that would have changed the meaning of the entire telegram were lost, and that had been Bismarck's intention when he wrote the communication: the telegram, which would be known by posterity as
the Ems telegram, turned a polite meeting between the French Ambassador and the Prussian King into an arrogant order of the former and a blunt royal answer by the latter.
This sparked exactly the reaction Bismarck had anticipated. The Prussian people became angry at the French arrogance, and thus did not bat an eye when the Prussian order of mobilization was sent a day after the telegram went public. Meanwhile, the French, who were already angry, went volcanic.
Napoleon III was informed of the communication the same afternoon it was published, and, incensed, gave a blunt ultimatum to the Prussian government, thus committing himself and his nation: either the Prussians apologized for the falsities stated in the communication and confirmed that no Prussian would ever be allowed to seat on the Spanish throne, or France would declare war.
While these news were the most spoken about ones in all of Europe, there were still other news that surprised the people. Two of these would, in theory, only affect the Spanish people: Carlos María de Borbón y Austria-Este had managed to personally meet with Duke Gramont and had stated that, if France invaded Spain and reestablished an absolutist monarchy around his person, Spain would always be a faithful ally of France. However, Napoleon III decided that young Alfonso, who had just inherited the dynastic rights to the throne after his mother Isabel II renounced to them, was more akin to his interests, both because of the friendship between his wife and the exiled Spanish queen (both women were already planning to unite their families by marrying Napoleon Eugéne, the French heir, with one of Isabel II's daughters) and the personal and political affinities the Emperor had with the young prince. Both news would, instead, cause far-reaching consequences that neither the French nor the two Spanish pretenders could have guessed.
Of course, Prussia and Spain rejected the French ultimatum: the Prussians were not going to stand down against what the Prussian newspapers were already calling the second round of the Napoleonic invasions, while the Spanish government was also encouraging the people by both maintaining Leopold as the King (denouncing the news of Leopold's renounce as French lies) and reminding them of the great deeds of the Independence War, of the leadership of Generals Castaños and Reding, of the Battle of Bailén, of Agustina de Aragón and the Sieges of Zaragoza, of the Siege of Cádiz and of the
guerrilleros that had turned French occupation of Spain into a living hell, everything to remind them that France had been defeated, could be defeated and would be defeated again.
Thinking the situation to be irrevocable, the French government finally issued its last communication: as of July 20th 1870, the Second French Empire declared war on the Kingdoms of Prussia and Spain, and would fight to teach the Prussians a lesson in war, annex the Rhineland and reestablish the Bourbon monarchy in Spain.
