Chapter 115: Changing History?
The scale of this wedding was enormous, with all invited nobles starting from marquises and officials at least being leaders of the cabinet government and core departments.
Of course, this grand wedding also attracted attention from many domestic and foreign media, having been the front-page headline of major Spanish newspapers since a month ago.
Presiding over Carlo’s wedding was Archbishop Pedro of Toledo, who was also the highest-ranking archbishop in Spain.
What surprised Carlo was that the church had chosen neutrality in the reforms before the government and had not directly stood up to oppose the government.
Although this also caused the church to lose many interests, including most of the land under church control. But at least for the current church, they could continue to exist rather than being replaced by the government and royal family with new candidates.
Spain is a Catholic country, that’s true, but the problem is that the current Pope’s own situation is not so favorable, let alone intervening in Spanish Church affairs.
In the situation where the Carlist faction’s rebellion has been completely resolved, even if the church wanted to incite rebellion, the success rate would probably be low.
After all, this is no longer the era of religious fanaticism; religion’s influence on Europeans has been declining. A hundred years ago there might have been a chance of success, but now Spain is no longer ruled by religion.
Of course, as the saying goes, carrot and stick. For the church, a force with considerable influence in Spain, it was naturally impossible to oppress it entirely.
When meeting with Archbishop Pedro, Carlo personally promised to consider establishing the title of Archbishop of Spain. The future Archbishop of Spain would not only be the highest bishop of Spanish Catholicism but also control the Spanish Church and have certain restraints over other religions.
As long as Archbishop Pedro was willing to cooperate with the rule of the government and royal family, the position of the first Archbishop of Spain would undoubtedly be his.
Although he did not explicitly state the other possibility, Archbishop Pedro knew in his heart. If he was unwilling to cooperate with the rule of the government and royal family, Carlo might support another Archbishop of Spain to confront the existing status of the Archbishop of Toledo.
Although the Archbishop of Toledo himself was the bishop with the highest power and status in the Spanish Church, do not forget the existence of the Pope.
The Pope was still holed up in the Vatican, under the control of the Italian Government. If the Pope, under pressure from the Italian Government, cooperated with the Spanish Government to create the position of Archbishop of Spain, how much power would he, the Archbishop of Toledo, have left?
After all, the church’s power was much weaker compared to the government. If the church internally split into two factions due to power struggles, it would become mere fish meat to be slaughtered by the government.
Under the gaze of over a hundred nobles and senior officials, Carlo and Archduchess Sophie swore their vows together.
This wedding was attended not only by nobles from Spain itself but even King Vittorio Emanuele II of Italy and Archduchess Sophie’s mother, Princess Sisi, came in person.
In addition to these two distinguished nobles, King Louis I of Portugal, Carlo’s sister Princess Maria Pia, and Carlo’s eldest sister, Princess Maria Clotilde who married Napoleon Jerome Bonaparte, also came to the wedding site.
In fact, besides these nobles, even the royal families of great powers like Britain, Germany, and Russia sent representatives to attend this wedding and presented their gifts.
Actually, whether Spain or the Austro-Hungarian Empire, both were enough to attract the attention of these national governments. If these two countries united, their level of attention would increase, and the representatives attending the wedding would either be the crown prince or a duke with certain prestige in the military.
The royal families and governments of other countries were not fools either; they were also pondering the changes this wedding would bring to the European landscape.
This marriage alliance represented the rapprochement between the Spanish Government and the Austro-Hungarian Imperial Government. So, would the Italian Royal Family, which belonged to the same family as the Spanish Royal Family, join in?
If Spain, Italy, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire formed an alliance, what impact would it have on the European situation?
Even if the possibility was not great, this matter would prompt deep thought from other national governments and royal families, and they would consider their own actions accordingly.
The ones most concerned about this were actually the British. The British deployment in the Mediterranean was well-known, with the Strait of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal like two solid fortresses, tightly trapping all Mediterranean coastal countries within the Mediterranean Sea.
Besides the British, the ones quite concerned about this were Germany and Russia. The Russians and the Austro-Hungarian Empire had conflicts in the Balkan Peninsula, but the current conflicts were not that intense.
After all, the Balkan Peninsula was still ruled by the Ottoman Sultanate, and many countries including Bulgaria had not yet gained independence. It was impossible to go to war with the Austro-Hungarian Empire just for these countries that had not yet become independent.
The most intense conflict between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia was when the Balkan countries successively gained independence, and both countries sought more control over the Balkan Peninsula.
The current conflict between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia was not so severe, which was also the reason why the Three Emperors Alliance could eventually form in history.
So why did the Three Emperors Alliance break up after forming? First, the conflict between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia intensified, including the British constantly provoking relations between the two countries.
Also, Germany, which should have mediated, chose the Austro-Hungarian Empire time and again in conflicts, which also made German-Russian relations drift further apart.
But in any case, the current relationship between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia was not that good, but not yet to the point of mortal enemies.
For the Russians, if there were real signs of rapprochement between the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, and Spain, the Russians would attempt to sign a non-aggression treaty with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, temporarily ending disputes in the Balkan Region and putting more energy into competition with the British.
And for Germany, this marriage alliance allowed the Germans to see a possibility: a possibility of completely blockading the French.
Looking closely at the positions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, and Spain, they perfectly formed a solid defense line on France’s east, south, and southwest.
Plus Germany’s own blockade on France’s northeast, directly trapping France in its homeland. This perfectly matched Chancellor Bismarck’s policy of isolating France, which was also why the Germans were paying attention to this marriage alliance.
After all, Italy was also an ally of the Germans, giving Germany some advantage in this regard. Since the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Spain had intentions to ally, why not expand this alliance indefinitely into a Quadruple Alliance of Germany, Austria, Italy, and Spain.
Even if this alliance was not aimed at war, just symbolically isolating the French, it would be more than enough to give the French a headache.
Because these four countries united would directly isolate France in such a small piece of land in Western Europe. The areas where France could exert influence, besides the Low Countries, would only be Britain across the English Channel.
Chancellor Bismarck thought seriously and increasingly felt that such a quadruple alliance was possible. The biggest conflict in the quadruple alliance was the conflict between Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and between Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
But actually, these two major conflicts had already been properly resolved. The German-Austrian conflict was actually the Prussian-Austrian conflict, and since Prussia unified the German Empire, this conflict no longer existed.
Moreover, the Austrians had been continuously showing goodwill to Germany, undoubtedly because they saw this point.
As for the conflict between Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was actually almost resolved. The conflict between Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire was over the Venice Region and the South Tyrol Region. In these two regions, Venice had been completely occupied by Italians, and the southern part of South Tyrol, where most Italians lived, had also been taken by Italians.
The remaining northern South Tyrol was mostly Austrians, and even if Italy had ideas, it was impossible to take it from the still powerful Austro-Hungarian Empire.
So from the current situation, these two conflicts had been alleviated, and there was not much resistance to forming the quadruple alliance.
Of course, if there had to be resistance, the British might not want to see the birth of the quadruple alliance. Because the quadruple alliance could not only target the French but also be used against the British.
With Germany, Austria, Italy, and Spain united, what business would other countries have? Not to mention a once powerful Britain; even Britain and France combined might not be opponents of these four countries.
Just Germany alone was enough to give the French a headache, let alone Germany, Italy, and Spain attacking French homeland from three directions.
Plus the equally powerful army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, for the French, the quadruple alliance was a huge threat that could attack Paris at any time.
But such external interference was irrelevant to Chancellor Bismarck. If the quadruple alliance could be formed, it could indefinitely isolate the French Government.
In this way, the worry within Germany that France might launch a war for retaliation against Germany in the short term would dissipate.
After all, if isolated by the quadruple alliance, unless it was the Napoleonic Empire era, it would be impossible to break through the blockade of four countries.
If the French still dared to declare war on Germany after the quadruple alliance was formed, Chancellor Bismarck would not mind letting the French understand what a second victory meant.
Carlo, happily holding his wedding in Madrid, did not yet know that perhaps because of him, the course of history had already undergone some major changes.
On the day of the wedding, Madrid also showed a very joyful atmosphere. To celebrate this wedding, Carlo even painfully took out more than 2 million pesetas from his king’s private treasury to distribute gifts to Spaniards for free.
The value of the gifts was not high, but everyone could participate. As long as Spaniards queued at the gift distribution points already set up by the government and offered their sincere wishes to the king and queen, they could receive a gift.
After the wedding ceremony ended, a larger celebration banquet was held in the largest banquet hall of the royal palace. As one of Europe’s three major royal palaces, the Madrid Royal Palace’s largest banquet hall was naturally quite spacious.
Even with hundreds of nobles, officials, including foreign guests present, it could still easily accommodate them.
To show the royal family’s hospitality, the banquet featured abundant cuisine from various places in Spain, fresh seafood products and fruits, including special red wine produced by the royal winery.
To celebrate Carlo and Archduchess Sophie’s wedding, the winery had already produced 1,872 barrels of wine in advance, of which 225 barrels of original wine would be sealed as a commemoration of this wedding.
Unless there was a major event, these over 200 barrels of wine would be sealed for a long time. After all, the older the wine, the more expensive it becomes, just like the famous 1982 Lafite in posterity.
But in fact, there wasn’t that much 1982 Lafite; most on the market were counterfeits.
Under the propaganda of the external newspapers, this wedding had been promoted as a strong union of Catholicism.
Spain was a Catholic country, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire was also a Catholic country. Of course, Italy was also one of the Catholic countries.
Many newspapers were already envisioning the alliance of these three Catholic countries, calling this alliance the Catholic Alliance.
Facing such reports, different people had different attitudes. Chancellor Bismarck was naturally quite pleased to see such reports.
The emergence of such reports proved that the publics of these three countries were also quite optimistic about their mutual rapprochement.
Doesn’t this mean that the previously conceived quadruple alliance still had a chance of forming?
For the British, the mood was not so pleasant.
The union of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Spain was already somewhat headache-inducing; if Italy joined in, it would truly become the biggest trouble for the British in Europe.
The British Government was originally worried whether the Spanish Government would have ideas of recapturing Gibraltar, and this worry intensified after the marriage alliance between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Spanish Royal Family.
If a tripartite alliance of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, and Spain was really formed, it would also mean they could not remain indifferent to Gibraltar.
If Gibraltar was lost, the British plans in the Mediterranean would be disrupted by more than half. But if they held onto Gibraltar, it would mean the British would directly conflict with the so-called tripartite alliance, which was exactly what the British did not want to see.
Britain’s policy was regional balance policy, supporting two relatively balanced forces to confront each other in a region, rather than joining in themselves.
If this so-called tripartite alliance had no intention of forming, it would be fine, but if it really had such intentions, then Britain would also need to form a corresponding alliance to ensure the harm of the tripartite alliance was minimized.
Thinking of this, the originally smiling British representative gradually put on a serious expression and began scanning the nobles attending the banquet, including some foreign guests, with his gaze.
Four thousand word big chapter to make up for yesterday’s update, two updates tomorrow, seeking support!
