Chapter 57: Carlos the Successor
On September 29, 1833, King Ferdinand VII of Spain died. Carlos Maria Isidro, who was in Portugal at the time, learned the news and announced himself as King of Spain on October 1, 1833, changing his name to Charles V.
But as early as the day of Ferdinand VII's death. Queen Maria Cristina announced that Isabel II ascended the throne and became the King of Spain, and she herself was the regent of Isabel II.
On October 4, 1833, the Carlos faction launched an uprising. On October 17, the regent Queen Cristina announced that Carlos would be deprived of his princely title and all powers, and his property would be confiscated.
The First Carlist War broke out.
In fact, in 1830, Ferdinand VII promulgated a bill similar to the "State Sanction", abolishing the Salic Succession Law and allowing women to inherit the Spanish throne.
The "State Sanction" was widely opposed, and most of the nobles and Catholic leaders stood on Carlos' side.
But Carlos himself lacked political wisdom and political skills.
The Queen Regent was essentially the same as Carlos. They both hated liberalism and did not treat people other than nobles as human beings. She loved court intrigue and oppression, and liked the supreme authority of the monarch under the autocratic system.
But the first thing she did when she came to power was to gain the support of the liberals and pretend to be close to the people.
Although she hated liberals and civilians so much, she still appointed a liberal leader from civilian origin as the Prime Minister of Spain.
Then the Queen Regent made unrealistic promises to the nobles and Catholic priests, claiming that not only would they protect their due rights and interests, but they would even set up annuities to reward those who were loyal to Spanish orthodoxy.
After the Queen Regent Cristina's operation, the balance of power between the two sides was directly reversed.
Carlos publicly condemned the betrayal of the nobles and the Catholic high-level officials, and said that he would eliminate the liberals from the country after he ascended the throne.
In fact, this kind of betting on both sides is not uncommon in the history of the European continent, but Carlos did not understand the rules of the game. He naively thought that he was the righteous party, but pushed many potential supporters to the side of the regent Queen Christina.
His threats had no effect, but made him a lonely man.
At this time, Carlos could only rely on the peasants in Navarre, Vasconia, and Aragon, the Saints Party (ultra-conservative party) who had always supported him, and the separatists in Baskonia and Catalonia (similar to the local autonomous groups in Hungary).
But Carlos' supporters, except for those honest peasants, neither the noble priests nor the separatists regarded Carlos as a king.
What the nobles and the church valued about Carlos was his conservatism and his weak will.
Carlos, who was a devout believer in religion, seemed to be born to be a plaything in the hands of those priests. Similarly, the nobles did not think that Carlos, who was weak-willed, dared to confront the aristocracy.
Catholicism and the nobles all hoped that Carlos could become the best puppet in their hands.
The separatists also felt that Carlos in power could better safeguard their "freedom".
Because of the huge disparity in strength, the leader of the Carlos faction, General Surama, adopted a guerrilla warfare strategy.
From 1833 to 1835, the guerrillas of the Carlos faction were not defeated by the government army, but they fought more and more, with a maximum of 70,000 people, and under the command of General Surama, they completed several beautiful battles, which seriously damaged the Spanish government army.
At this time, Carlos also became arrogant, forgetting the days when he had to be carried on the back of others in the mountains, and ordered the army to attack Bilbao.
Under Carlos' personal command, this battle lost 20,000 soldiers, General Surama was killed, and Carlos had to go into exile abroad.
Carlos received assistance from the orthodox faction in France, but not as much as he imagined.
In fact, King Louis Philippe of France was very sympathetic to Carlos emotionally.
With Louis Philippe's tacit consent, the extreme royalists in France could enter and exit the country at will, provide money, supplies and weapons to the Carlos faction, and even directly hire foreign soldiers to participate in the war.
French territory can also be used as a hiding place for the Carlos faction, and the Spanish government forces will be ruthlessly rejected by the French army if they want to cross the border.
Louis Philippe and the extreme royalists have done a lot, but it is not enough.
This has a lot to do with Carlos's reluctance to part with his old capital. Because of his extreme religious belief, he has not made a single promise to the French.
In other words, everything the French did before was completely unrewarding, and they were simply the "good guys" of the 19th century.
Carlos is a complete stingy person, and now Franz is ready to pluck the feathers of this stingy person.
Carlos will never sell Spanish land, so he thinks he has no bargaining chips, but in fact he has a lot of bargaining chips, such as his three sons.
If Carlos uses his youngest son to marry France, he will definitely get twice as much support as he does now, and France will even publicly support Carlos.
If Carlos uses his heir to marry France, the French will definitely support Carlos with all their strength, and even send troops directly if possible.
Of course, our Mr. Carlos will not write this.
Carlos will never use his sons as bargaining chips, but Franz will help him.
A letter, a letter to Louis Philippe, this letter will be obtained by Guizot or Thiers.
France, Tuileries Palace.
Thiers grabbed a letter, excited, he thought it was time for France to regain its former glory.
Carlos will let his eldest son marry the Orleans Dynasty, which is enough to change the pattern of Europe.
It is not difficult to imagine how powerful a kingdom of France and Spain will be one day in the future.
The weak Spain now has a brilliant resume. France will take back everything it has lost for Spain and integrate it into the glory of France.
At that time, France will become a powerful force that competes with Britain, and will eventually surpass and replace Britain as the world's hegemon as time goes by.
However, Thiers' enthusiasm was poured cold water by King Louis Philippe.
"Marry Carlos? The Queen of Spain has abolished Carlos's princely title, and he is no longer the heir to the Spanish throne."
"Your Majesty, we can support Carlos to take the throne, so that the future king of Spain will have the blood of the Orleans Dynasty."
"Thiers, I think it is not in France's own interests to get involved in the Spanish Civil War. Let's forget it."
Since the king opposed it, Thiers had no choice but to leave in dissatisfaction, but Louis Philippe's cowardice still made him very angry.
Before Thiers left, he saw Guizot walking towards him from the opposite side with great excitement.
"Mr. Guizot, why are your steps so brisk?"
Guizot and Thiers had different ideas, but at this time Guizot greeted Thiers with a smile.
"Oh, Mr. Thiers, I believe you will be happy for France when you know this news."
"What good news?" Thiers asked.
"Spain is going to marry us France." Guizot replied.
Thiers' face darkened, thinking, "This idiot is more concerned than our king."
But Thiers remained calm on the surface, and made a gesture to invite Guizot to walk in front of him. He wanted to see Guizot's disappointment when he learned that the king opposed the marriage with Spain.
Guess what will happen next!