Chapter 57 The Successor Carlos

Chapter 57 The Successor Carlos

King Fernando VII of Spain passed away on September 29, 1833. After learning the news, Carlos Maria Isidro, who was in Portugal at the time, declared himself King of Spain on October 1, 1833 and changed his name to Charles V. World.

But as early as the day Ferdinand VII died. Queen Maria Cristina proclaimed Isabel II's accession to the throne, becoming King of Spain, and she herself became Isabel II's queen regent.

On October 4, 1833, the Carlists launched an uprising. On October 17, Queen Regent Cristina announced that Carlos would be deprived of his title of prince and all his powers, and his property would be confiscated.

The First Carlist War breaks out.

In fact, in 1830, Fernando VII promulgated a bill similar to the "Edict of State" to abolish the Salic Succession Law and allow women to inherit the Spanish throne.

The "Edict of State" met with widespread opposition, and most of the great nobles and high-ranking Catholics sided with Carlos.

But Carlos himself lacked political wisdom and political skills.

The Queen Regent and Carlos are essentially the same kind of person. They both hate liberalism and do not regard people other than the nobility as human beings. She herself loves palace intrigue and strife, and the supreme authority of the monarch under an autocratic system.

But the first thing she did when she came to power was to gain the support of liberals and pretend to be close to the people.

Although she was so disgusted with liberals and plebeians, she appointed a liberal leader of plebeian origins as Prime Minister of Spain.

Then the Queen Regent made unrealistic promises to the great nobles and Catholic priests, claiming that not only would they safeguard their rights and interests, but they would even set up annuities to reward those who were loyal to Spanish orthodoxy.

After some operations by Queen Regent Christina, the balance of power between the two sides was directly reversed.

Carlos publicly denounced the treachery of the great nobles and Catholic leaders, and stated that after he ascended the throne, he would eliminate liberals from the country.

In fact, in the history of Europe, this kind of hedging is not uncommon. However, Carlos did not understand the rules of the game and naively believed that he was the righteous party. However, he pushed many potential supporters towards Queen Regent Christie. Na's side.

His threats had no effect and instead left him alone.

At this time, Carlos could only rely on the farmers of Navarre, Vasconia, and Aragon, as well as the Saints Party (the ultra-conservative party) who had always supported him, and the separatists in Baskonia and Catalonia ( Similar to local self-government groups in Hungary).

But Carlos's supporters, except for the honest peasants, neither the noble priests nor the secessionists regarded Carlos as a king.

What the nobility and the church valued about Carlos was his conservatism and his weakness of will.

Carlos, who believed in religion, seemed to be a plaything in the hands of the priests. Similarly, the nobles did not think that the weak-willed Carlos dared to fight against the nobles.

The Catholics and the nobles all hope that Carlos can become the best puppet in their hands.

The separatists also felt that Carlos could better safeguard their "freedom" if they were in power.

Because of the huge disparity in strength, the leader of the Carlist faction, General Surama, adopted a guerrilla warfare strategy.

From 1833 to 1835, not only were the Carlist guerrillas not defeated by the government forces, but they fought more and more, reaching a maximum strength of 70,000. Under the command of General Suramar, they completed several beautiful battles. The Spanish government forces were severely weakened.

At this time, Carlos also swelled up, forgetting the days when he had to be carried on his back through the mountains, and ordered an army to be gathered to attack Bilbao.

In this battle, under the personal command of Carlos, 20,000 troops were lost, General Suramar was killed, and Carlos had to go into exile.

Carlos received support from the Orthodox in France, but not as much as he had imagined.

In fact, French King Louis Philippe was very emotionally sympathetic to Carlos.

With the acquiescence of Louis Philippe, France's ultra-royalists could enter and exit the country at will, provide money, supplies and weapons to the Carlists, and even directly hire foreign soldiers to fight.

French territory can also be used as a hiding place for the Carlists. Spanish government troops who want to cross the border will be ruthlessly rejected by the French army.

Louis Philippe and the ultra-royalists had done much, but it was not enough.

This has a lot to do with Carlos's reluctance to part with his old capital. Because he is extremely religious, he has never even made a promise to the French.

That is to say, everything the French did before was done without asking for anything in return. They were simply the "good guys" of the 19th century.

Carlos is a complete iron rooster, and now Franz is ready to let this iron rooster pluck its feathers.

Carlos would never sell Spanish land, so he thought he had no leverage. In fact, he had a lot of leverage, such as his three sons.

If Carlos uses his youngest son to marry France, he will definitely get twice as much support as now, and France will even openly support Carlos.

If Carlos uses his heir to marry France, then the French will definitely support Carlos fully and even directly send troops if possible.

Of course, our Mr. Carlos cannot write.

Carlos would never use his sons as leverage, but Franz would help him out.

A letter, a letter to Louis Philippe, which would be obtained by Guizot or Thiers.

France, Tuileries Palace.

Thiers clutched a letter and was inexplicably excited. He thought that the time had come for France to return to its former glory.

Carlos would marry his eldest son to the Orleans dynasty, which would change the landscape of Europe.

It is not difficult to imagine how powerful a united kingdom of France and Spain will be one day in the future.

Spain, which is now weak, has a glorious history. France will get back everything it has lost for Spain and integrate it into the glory of France.

At that time, France would suddenly become a powerful force competing with Britain. As time goes by, it would eventually surpass and replace Britain as the world's hegemon.

But Thiers' enthusiasm was poured cold water on by King Louis Philippe.

"Marriage with Carlos? The Queen of Spain has revoked Carlos's title of prince, and he is no longer the heir to the Spanish throne."

"Your Majesty, we can help Carlos ascend to the throne, so that the future king of Spain will have the blood of the Orleans Dynasty."

"Thiers, I feel that getting involved in the Spanish Civil War is not in France's own interests. Let's forget it."

Since the king objected, Thiers had no choice but to leave angrily, but Louis Philippe's cowardice still made him very angry.

Before Thiers left, he saw Guizot walking from the opposite side very excitedly.

"Mr. Guizot, why are you so light on your feet?"

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 to know this news."

"What good news?" Thiers asked.

"Spain is going to marry France," Guizot replied.

Thiers' face darkened and he thought to himself, "This idiot is actually more caring than our King."

But Thiers remained calm on the surface, and instead made a gesture of invitation to let Guizot go in front of him. He wanted to see Guizot's disappointment when he learned that the king opposed the marriage with Spain.

Guess what happens next!