Chereads / RISE OF EMPIRES:SPAIN / Chapter 11 - ### Chapter 11: We Want Bread, Not a Republic

Chapter 11 - ### Chapter 11: We Want Bread, Not a Republic

Seeing the Spanish Revolution spreading rapidly to Madrid like a raging fire, Queen Isabel, whose private life was extremely chaotic, finally panicked. Faced with the choice of resistance or escape, Queen Isabel did not hesitate at all and hurriedly fled north to France with her family. 

The queen's escape also accelerated the Spanish revolution. The revolutionary army entered Madrid without any effort and declared the demise of the Kingdom of Spain. On October 8, 1868, Francisco Serrano appointed himself as the president of the provisional government, and Juan Primo, who was quite prestigious in the revolutionary army, served as the minister of the army of the provisional government. Spain officially entered an extremely chaotic state.

Whether this vigorous revolution is the savior of the Spanish people is still unknown, but the chaotic situation in Spain has created an opportunity for Cuba to fight for independence. On October 10, Cespedes Borja del Castillo, a famous Cuban plantation owner and barrister, led a group of Cuban patriots to launch an uprising near Yala in the eastern province of Olite, and issued a Guerra call to all regions of Cuba, calling on all Cubans to fight for freedom, equality, and independence. 

This was a heavy blow to the hastily established Spanish provisional government because Cuba was one of the few remaining colonies in Spain that could bring positive returns. The Cuban War of Independence not only forced the Spanish provisional government to send troops to suppress it but also made the new government face huge military expenditures under extremely difficult financial conditions.

But this is not the only problem facing the provisional government. The revolution was successful, but the provisional government has not yet taken control of the whole of Spain. At the same time, how to stabilize the rule of the provisional government and establish an administrative system that is completely different from the former monarchy is the biggest problem at present. Moreover, the interim government is not a monolithic entity. The relations between the major classes and forces are also like fire and water. 

The chaotic situation of the interim government is not much better than that of the former Spanish royal government. The initiators of this revolution are the Spanish upper bourgeoisie and liberals. Their original intention is to overthrow the former monarchy and establish a democratic monarchy with power concentrated in the national government. But the petty bourgeoisie, workers, and peasants in Spain have had enough of the oppression of the monarchy and the nobility. They want to establish a federal republican government with decentralized power but unified management, and agree to replace the king with the president to unify the management of the whole of Spain.

Carlo is also paying close attention to the situation in Spain. The good news is that Italy and Spain are across the sea from each other, and there is only France between them on land, so the news is still transmitted very quickly. What Carlo is most reluctant to hear at this time is that the Spanish interim government has decided to abolish the monarchy, which also means that Carlo will completely lose contact with the Spanish throne.

On November 9, the Spanish provisional government finally issued a decree on the establishment of the parliament and announced that parliamentary elections would be held next year, in February 1869. Although the decree did not mention the composition of the future Spanish government, everyone who followed the news in Spain knew that the result of the parliamentary elections would determine the fate of Spain.

If big capital and liberal reformers obtain a majority in the parliament, the new parliament will have the power to enact a bill on constitutional monarchy. Similarly, once the workers or peasants obtain a majority in the parliament, the monarchy in Spain may be wiped out, and the republic may also come to the stage in Spain.

For now, there is still a high probability that the situation in Spain will develop as it has in history. Primo, who supports constitutional monarchy, still controls the power of the Spanish government and is likely to gain an advantage in the parliamentary elections a few months later. The timing of the parliamentary elections is also worth pondering. It took only four months from the establishment of the provisional government to the parliamentary elections, and less than three months from the promulgation of the decree to the parliamentary elections. It is difficult to change the attitude of the Italian people in these three months, and it is also difficult to change the power of the nobles and big capital in Spain.

However, in order to make his plan more secure, Carlo decided to blow some wind to the Spanish people. What wind? Of course, it is the wind of advocating monarchy. As for the harm brought to the Spanish people by the Spanish Bourbon monarchy, it can all be attributed to the rule of the licentious Queen Isabel.

Carlo also has a basis for advocating the wind of monarchy. The world's strongest navy is definitely Britain, which is a constitutional monarchy. The world's strongest army should be France (Napoleon's afterglow), and France is also a monarchy. The old European powers Russia, the Austrian Empire, and the emerging power Kingdom of Prussia are all monarchies, and even Italy, which has just achieved unification and joined the powers, is a monarchy. 

Looking at the world, the only non-monarchical country among the powers is the United States, and the United States is not so powerful in the eyes of Europeans at this time. The rise of the United States had to wait until after World War I and World War II. At that time, the United States did not have such an exaggerated industrial and economic scale. Since most of the powerful countries in Europe are monarchies, why would the Spanish actively give up this very advanced system? 

As for the failure of the monarchy in the past, it was all the fault of the Bourbon family and Queen Isabel. If you want to blame someone, just blame Queen Isabel. In addition to wanting to keep a trace of trust in the monarchy in the hearts of the Spanish people, Carlo also wanted to make the Spanish people hate the Bourbon monarchy and Queen Isabel as much as possible. Only in this way will the Spanish people not be so averse to foreign dynasties, and Carlo's hope of ruling Spain will be much greater.

As for the Bourbon family, Queen Isabel and the famous Alfonso XII, they have sucked blood from Spain for decades anyway, and it is time for them to make some contributions to the Spanish. And this is not a smear on the Bourbon family. Queen Isabel's rule in Spain is well known, and it is characterized by debauchery, tyranny, and chaos. 

If the Spanish can no longer trust the Bourbon monarchy, the Carlist rebellion that has plagued Spain for a long time can also be properly resolved. After all, the Carlists are also from the Bourbon family, and they have contributed to the chaos in Spain. 

On November 27, 1868, the already popular Italian 24 Hours Sun published an article about "We want bread, not a republic," which quickly spread to northern and southern Italy. The main content of this article is to talk about the advancement of the current monarchy and the success of major monarchies in Europe, and it shows that the monarchy is the most reasonable choice for European countries, and the republic is a deformed evolution for Europe.

Don't worry about whether this article makes sense or not. For the European monarchies at this time, such an article is definitely better than nothing. It is better to publish such articles in newspapers than those advocating republicanism, freedom, and democracy. At least such reports will not make people dissatisfied with the throne of the monarch. Without opposition from all countries, this report has also begun to spread in a small range along the Mediterranean coast, especially in the Mediterranean countries centered on Italy.