Chapter 734 The call of the same race

After the demise of the United States, the world situation was generally less chaotic. Because basically most countries can share some benefits, which also gives people in many countries a little hope that at least their future is promising.

But this does not represent all countries. There are also some countries that are still in dire straits, and the situation in some areas is still in chaos and even war.

This does not refer to Germany, which has become accustomed to chaos, nor to Russia, whose economy and industry are still collapsing, but to that country that does not have much presence in Europe and has gradually been marginalized - Portugal.

Why is Portugal mentioned in addition? This country is a typical country in Europe that transformed from a kingdom to a republic.

What is even more worth mentioning is that the last dynasty in Portugal was Arthur's family, the famous Saxe-Coburg-Gotha dynasty.

Even going back further, the fall of the Portuguese Kingdom had Australasian reasons. It was precisely because of the disastrous defeat in the war with Australasia and the poor governance of the then Portuguese King Carlos I that the Portuguese people were very dissatisfied with the king's rule. This led to the outbreak of the revolution, which directly ruined the kingdom.

Of course, more than 20 years have passed, and Arthur has long forgotten about this small-scale war, and the Portuguese do not hold much grudges.

But now the situation of the Portuguese is not good. The economic crisis has caused Portugal to suffer heavy losses. Coupled with the actual chaos within the so-called republican government, the country is suffering the most chaotic moment in a century.

Speaking of this, we have to mention the Greek kings who were supported by Arthur and George V.

The fate of Greece and Portugal is similar. Both revolutions destroyed the rule of the kingdom, and the countries were in chaos after entering the republic.

Even Portugal is worse than Greece.

Although the people supported the republican government at the time, Portugal's republican system was too bad.

How exaggerated is it? In the 20 years since the establishment of the republic, the Portuguese government has changed nearly 46 different governments, including democratic parties, republican parties, socialist parties, authoritarian rulers and military governments.

There was even a brief period of fascist dictatorship in it. If this period of rule had not lasted too long, I am afraid Portugal's destiny would have changed dramatically.

There have been 46 governments in 20 years, and the average number of days each government has been in power is less than 160 days. If such an exaggerated situation did not really happen, Arthur would actually not believe it.

Think about it carefully, what can you do in 160 days? It takes at least half a year for a policy to be discussed, formulated, implemented and completed. Larger policies may even take several years to promote.

160 days is less than half a year, which means that Portugal has not implemented many effective policies and constructions in these 20 years.

After 20 years of no construction, it is not surprising that the country suffered huge trauma from the economic crisis.

You know, these 20 years have directly spanned the entire World War I, and human science and technology have progressed very rapidly in these 20 years.

Portugal's development has stagnated in these 20 years, which is equivalent to their construction level remaining before World War I.

Coupled with the frequent changes of governments that have led to people's distrust of the government, it can be said that Portugal is currently suffering from the most severe crisis, which will even directly affect the fate of the First Republic of Portugal.

The reason why Arthur pays attention to the situation in Portugal is not because Arthur has ideas about Portugal.

To be honest, Arthur really didn't have much idea about this country that once had a war with Australasia and also had a relatively good relationship with Britain.

But unfortunately, someone in Portugal approached Arthur, which forced Arthur to pay attention to this country.

Speaking of Portugal, it was actually Manuel II, a member of Portugal’s extinct royal family and from the same family as Arthur.

The reason why Manuel II sent people to find Arthur was to ask Arthur to help him restore the throne and restore the rule of the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family in Portugal.

The fall of the Portuguese Kingdom was clear to Arthur. Although due to the intervention of the war, King Carlos I was not killed in that assassination.

But the subsequent Kingdom of Portugal did not last long, and the angry Portuguese people overthrew the rule of Carlos I.

After this, the throne fell into the hands of Manuel II. But it is a pity that Manuel's immature rule was obviously no match for the political parties, and his rule lasted less than a year before perishing.

All things considered, it has been nearly 20 years since Manuel left the throne. It seemed strange that Arthur was approached to request restoration after 20 years, and it also made Arthur pay attention to the situation in Europe again.

Well, after some investigation, Arthur was actually not surprised.

The real reason that made Manuel II think of restoration 20 years later was actually that the Portuguese people were very dissatisfied with the royal family's rule.

To put it simply, even if the government's chaos has lasted for 20 years, the royal family has no hope of regaining the right to rule in these 20 years.

Because to put it bluntly, Portugal was not very strong during the reign of Carlos I, and the people were not willing to have more kings on their heads for no reason.

So why did Manuel II find Arthur now?

In fact, it is the difference in the political situation in Portugal.

If Portugal previously switched back and forth between various governments in order to find a political system that was more suitable for Portugal.

So the current political situation in Portugal is basically dominated by the military. On May 28, 1926, the Portuguese military launched a coup, abolishing the government's republican rule, declaring all political parties illegal, and establishing a nationwide military government.

This is not the biggest blow to the Portuguese people.

With the outbreak of the economic crisis, Portugal's economy also suffered a heavy blow. Logically speaking, the government at this time should do everything possible to restore the economy, ensure that the unemployed can apply for relief food, and at the same time allow them to find jobs as much as possible.

But what is the Portuguese government doing at this time?

The Portuguese government is engaged in a new round of power struggle. Yes, there is also a fierce power struggle in the military government.

Finally, after more than a year of power struggle, the dictator Antonio Carmona succeeded in becoming president and established an even more extreme dictatorship.

Compared with the president of the country, Antonio Carmona is more like the uncrowned king of the country, controlling power that is even more autocratic than an absolute monarch.

Because he held the army in his hands, Antonio was extremely cruel to those he disliked, and even executed government officials at will.

The most serious result of this is actually the destruction of government order and social order.

As a result, the government's prestige has dropped significantly. People not only distrust the government, but also begin to distrust anything involving the government.

Of course, this is not the last straw that breaks the situation in Portugal.

After the war against the United States ended, Portugal was able to receive considerable benefits because of its dispatch of troops.

Because it was clear that the Portuguese government had received benefits, a large number of Portuguese people who had lost their jobs and had nothing to eat took to the streets, demanding that the government mortgage these benefits in exchange for food from other countries to relieve the unemployed in the country.

For European countries, this should be a very ordinary parade. But for Antonio, it is equivalent to those damn civilians provoking their own power rule.

The government should have the final say on what to do, rather than changing its views because of a public demonstration.

Rather than distributing relief food to the people, Antonio hopes to purchase more weapons and equipment to expand his army.

Differences in ideas naturally led to certain conflicts, and Antonio decided to suppress the Portuguese demonstrations by force.

This seemed to ignite the anger of the Portuguese people, and also caused Antonio to completely lose the support of the people.

At this moment, the Portuguese people finally remembered the benefits of the monarchy period.

It was not that they had no demonstrations during the reign of Carlos I, but the worst result was that they were persuaded and failed to achieve their desired goals.

Wherever they are now, they are faced with violent suppression at every turn, making demonstrations that are very common in Europe a taboo that people dare not participate in.

In addition, the strength of the monarchy also reactivated the royalists in Portugal and actively contacted Manuel II in London.

Manuel II was very happy after receiving the news from the royalists in Portugal.

Although he can now live the life of a rich man, the European royal family also recognizes his identity as a former king.

But after all, it is just recognition, and there is no blessing in terms of status or power for me.

As a person who had spent time on the throne, Manuel II still longed for the throne of Portugal.

If given a choice, who would want to stay in London, live under the influence of others, and endure constant ridicule?

Manuel's first choice was to find the King of England, George V, who was once a member of the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family.

In Manuel II's view, although George V changed his surname, the two were still a family according to their blood relationship.

Secondly, it is also beneficial for George V to support him to return to the throne. I believe George V is very happy.

But unexpectedly, just when Manuel excitedly found George V, he was greeted with a polite rejection from George V.

Seeing the disappointed Manuel II, George V felt very embarrassed. To be honest, it wasn't that he wanted to refuse.

But the problem is that George V does not have such high prestige in the British cabinet that the British government can unconditionally support George V's decision.

What's more, when George V was choosing a king for the kingdom of the United States, he had already had quite a conflict with the government.

Under such circumstances, the British cabinet would naturally not obey George V's orders. After all, after supporting Manuel on the throne, George V could only benefit the most.

After being rejected by George V, Manuel could only look for his next target. The only country that is also a monarchy and ranks among the top three powers in the world is Australasia, which is ruled by Arthur.

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