Chapter 11 We want bread, not a republic

Seeing the Spanish Revolution spread rapidly to Madrid like a raging fire, Queen Isabel, who had an extremely chaotic private life, 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 effortlessly 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.

It is still unknown whether this vigorous revolution is the savior of the Spanish people, but the chaotic situation in Spain has created an opportunity for Cuba, far away in America, 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 monarchical government is the biggest problem at present.

Moreover, the provisional government is not a monolithic entity, and the relationship between the major classes and forces is also like fire and water. The chaotic situation of the provisional government is not much better than that of the former Spanish royal government.

The initiators of this revolution were the Spanish upper bourgeoisie and liberals. Their original intention was 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 had had enough of the oppression of the monarchy and the aristocracy. They wanted to establish a federal republican government with decentralized power but unified management, and agreed to use the president to replace the king and unify the management of the whole of Spain.

Carlo was 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.

At this time, what Carlo was most reluctant to hear was that the Spanish provisional government decided to abolish the monarchy, which also meant that Carlo would completely lose contact with the Spanish throne.

On November 9, the Spanish provisional government finally issued a decree on the establishment of a parliament and announced that parliamentary elections would be held next year, in February 1869.

Although this decree did not mention the composition of the future Spanish government, everyone who paid attention to the news in Spain understood that the result of the parliamentary elections could determine the fate of Spain.

If big capital and liberal reformers gain a majority in parliament, the new parliament will have the power to enact a bill on constitutional monarchy.

Similarly, once the working class or peasant class gains a majority in parliament, the monarchy in Spain may be wiped out, and the republic may also come to the Spanish stage.

As it stands, 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 in a few months.

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.

These three months are unlikely to change the attitude of the Italian people, nor 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 that advocates monarchy.

As for the harm that the Spanish Bourbon dynasty brought to the Spanish people, it can all be attributed to the rule of the licentious Queen Isabel.

Carlo also has a basis for advocating the monarchy.

The strongest navy in the world is definitely Britain, which is a constitutional monarchy. The strongest army in the world should be France (the afterglow of Napoleon), which 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 this 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 take the initiative to 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 Isabella. If you want to blame someone, just blame Queen Isabella.

In addition to wanting to keep a little trust in the monarchy in the hearts of the Spanish people, Carlo also wanted to make the Spanish people hate the Bourbon dynasty and Queen Isabel as much as possible.

Only in this way will the Spanish people be less repulsive 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 the blood of Spain for decades anyway, and it is time to make a little contribution to the Spanish.

And this is not a smear on the Bourbon family. Queen Isabel's rule in Spain is well known, and the main feature is debauchery and chaos.

If the Spanish people can no longer trust the Bourbon dynasty, the Carlos rebellion that has plagued Spain for a long time can also be properly resolved.

After all, the Carlos party is also from the Bourbon family, and they also 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 to express 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 monarchies in Europe at this time, such articles are definitely better than nothing.

It is better to publish such articles in newspapers than to publish those advocating republicanism and liberal democracy. At least such reports will not make the people dissatisfied with the throne of the monarch.

In the absence of objections 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.

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