Chapter 12: Kicking A Man When He’s Down
Although the evolution of various political systems may seem complex, it ultimately stems from the public’s dissatisfaction with those in power.
This actually also means that, whether monarchy or parliamentary republicanism, there is fundamentally no difference in terms of better or worse.
The most fundamental issue is whether the public’s needs can be satisfied, which turns into Europeans’ dissatisfaction with those in power and the government, and is the real reason for the outbreak of revolution.
If the Spanish Government could pay attention to the public’s current situation and introduce some policies to improve the public’s lives as much as possible, perhaps such a revolution would not have occurred, and Spain’s monarchy could continue to exist.
This also means that Spain’s problems have actually become very serious, with the public unable to eat their fill and unable to continue living, leading to the outbreak of revolution.
The report published by Carlo in the newspaper delved into the essence of Spain’s problems, which is the Spaniards’ most fundamental demand: to improve their quality of life.
Eating bread and drinking milk, although this seems like a very normal request, was extremely difficult in 1868, over 100 years ago.
Even simplifying it to the most basic level of having enough to eat and drink, the Spanish Kingdom Government still could not satisfy it.
What Carlo had to do was to place all the blame on Queen Isabella and the Bourbon Dynasty, whitewashing monarchy as much as possible.
Slightly later on November 30, 1868, in Madrid, Spain.
“General, there is a report from Italy that requires your review.”
Primó, who had been busy all day and was preparing to end his hectic work, was interrupted by a sentence from one of his subordinates.
“A report? From Italy?” Primó was somewhat surprised and asked, “What wind blew an Italian report to Spain?”
“It’s a report about monarchy and republicanism, General.” The subordinate handed over a newspaper, with a clear headline printed in the center: “We need bread, not republicanism.”
“Interesting.” Primó originally had no intention of taking the newspaper, but after seeing the headline on it, he still took it and opened it to read.
This report was reprinted by a small newspaper office in Madrid, translating Italian into Spanish language, so that Spaniards could understand this report.
“How has this report been disseminated elsewhere?” After Primó had completely finished reading the entire report, he suddenly asked a strange question.
“Besides small-scale dissemination in Madrid, there has been small-scale dissemination in Barcelona, Valencia, and Valladolid, and newspaper offices there have all reported such news.”
Primó smiled, with a hint of deep meaning in his eyes, and said teasingly, “It seems this report was deliberately placed on my desk by someone.”
“General, I…” The subordinate was just about to explain when Primó interrupted him, smiling and saying, “Alright, of course I trust your loyalty.
What I mean is that at this time, someone has probably set their sights on Spain. For an Italian report to spread widely in so many cities in a short time proves that the enemy is absolutely well-prepared.
If it coincidentally coincided with this revolution, that’s fine, but if our revolution was anticipated long ago by the guy behind this, that’s truly worrisome.”
Looking at his subordinate’s worried expression, Primó patted his shoulder and comforted his emotions: “Alright, I have no suspicion of you at all. Now I give you a task: go to Italy to investigate the source of this report, then find out all the people in that newspaper office.”
Although he was puzzled in his heart about what exactly someone wanted to achieve with this report, for now, this report was still very useful to Primó.
The simplest example cited in it was fundamentally irrefutable, because at this time all powerful European countries were monarchies.
This was also beneficial for Primó to steer the new government toward constitutional monarchy, achieving the reforms he envisioned for Spain by concentrating power in the national government.
Why did Primó oppose republicanism?
Because the republican system proposed by those farmers and workers was a loose Spanish federation. This would not only incite wave after wave of independence movements in Spain’s various regions that already had independence intentions, but also cause the Spanish Government to lose control over various places.
What the reformists wanted was a stable government that could implement reforms, not a decentralized and chaotic one, which was also why Primó ultimately chose constitutional monarchy.
As one of the most powerful figures in the Spanish revolutionary forces, Primó’s opinion had a significant influence.
The Spanish Provisional Government did not stop the dissemination of this report; even those major capitalists were assisting its spread to more Spanish cities from behind the scenes.
Thanks to the heated discussion stirred up by this report, Spaniards also began discussing the merits of monarchy and the responsibility of the overthrown Queen Isabel II.
Saving the country in crisis was impossible, but those capitalists were extremely skilled at frantically shifting blame to evade their own responsibilities.
Since Queen Isabella had already lost the throne, and the provisional government had no intention of welcoming back Queen Isabella or Prince Alfonso.
Then, not kicking her while she was down at this time—should they wait until others shifted all the responsibility onto themselves and that damned queen?
For their own interests, the capitalists would not hold back at all.
Starting from December, the climate in Madrid became even colder, at least for the die-hard loyalists of the Bourbons.
Isabel II’s prestige could no longer be described as terrible, because her previous prestige had already been quite terrible.
The public’s outrage was shifted by the capitalists and some nobles with ulterior motives onto Queen Isabella; at least those factory owners and nobles who had frantically exploited Spaniards no longer had to worry about being shot in the back.
But this was not a good thing for Queen Isabella, who was far away in France, because she was still thinking of finding an opportunity to restore the throne at this time.
However, not all nobles were happy at this moment. The Carlists, from the same family as Queen Isabella, were not in a good mood at this time.
Queen Isabella’s terrible reputation affected the Bourbon Dynasty, and as a member of the Bourbon Dynasty, “Carlos VII” had no less trouble at this time than Queen Isabella.
More importantly, after generations of inheritance, the Carlist faction was no longer recognized by the majority.
Especially after the Second Carlist Wars, “Carlos VI” came to power as the leader of the Carlist faction.
But within a few years, this self-proclaimed King of Spain was arrested by the government army, and “Carlos VI” was forced to renounce his claim to the throne.
Carlos VI’s brother Juan benefited from the fisherman’s luck and became the Carlist faction’s proclaimed King of Spain “Juan III” without any preparation.
But the Carlist faction did not strongly support this king who had picked up the crown, and after “Carlos VI” was forced to renounce his claim to the throne and was soon released, the Carlist faction ended up with a situation of two kings standing side by side.
Originally self-amusing kings not recognized by the majority, and now with this dual kings situation, the Carlist faction’s support continued to decline.
Although the childless “Carlos VI” soon passed away later, “Juan III,” this so-called claimant to the throne, still did not receive strong support from the Carlist faction, which also meant that in this Spanish revolution, the Carlist faction was fundamentally powerless to stop it and had no strength to push “Juan III” onto the throne.
Ever since starting his public opinion campaign, Carlo had kept his attention on the situation in Spain.
After learning that this report had been widely reprinted and disseminated in various places in Spain, Carlo finally breathed a sigh of relief.
But soon, Carlo began a new worry.
Such an action was completely different from history, and for that report to be widely spread in Spain, it certainly wasn’t just Carlo who contributed.
If it achieved good results, that would be fine, but if it affected the situation in Spain and pushed it toward a republic, then Carlo would regret it to the point of toothache.
But current Carlo had no better way and could only pray that General Primó, who supported monarchy in history, would be as awesome as in history, securing the majority of seats in the Spanish Parliament election, and in one move becoming the Prime Minister of the Spanish Government, controlling the entire Spanish Government.
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