Chapter 11: We Want Bread, Not a Republic

Seeing the Spanish revolution spreading toward Ma Deli like a wildfire, Queen Isabel, whose private life was extremely chaotic, finally panicked.

Faced with the choice between resistance and flight, Queen Isabel did not hesitate in the slightest, taking her family and fleeing north to Falanxi in a hurry.

The Queen's flight also accelerated the Spanish revolution; the revolutionary army entered Ma Deli without any effort and declared the demise of the Kingdom of Spain.

On October 8, 1868, Francisco Serrano appointed himself President of the provisional government, and Hu An Primo, who held great prestige within the revolutionary army, served as the Minister of War for the provisional government; Spain officially entered a state of extreme chaos.

Whether this grand revolution would be the savior of the Spanish people remained to be seen, but the chaotic situation in Spain created an opportunity for Cuba, far away in the Americas, to fight for independence.

On October 10, the famous Cuban plantation owner and prominent lawyer Céspedes Borja del Castillo led a group of Cuban patriots to launch an uprising near Yara in the eastern Oriente Province, and issued the Yara Manifesto 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, as Cuba was one of the few remaining Spanish colonies that could still bring in a positive return.

The Cuban War of Independence not only forced the Spanish provisional government to dispatch troops for suppression, but also left the nascent government facing massive military expenditures while in dire financial straits.

But this was not the only problem the provisional government faced. The revolution had succeeded, but the provisional government had yet to gain control over the whole of Spain.

At the same time, how to stabilize the rule of the provisional government and establish an administrative system completely different from the former absolute monarchy was the greatest challenge at present.

Moreover, the provisional government was not a monolith; the relationships between the various classes and factions were as incompatible as fire and water, and the chaotic situation of the provisional government was not much better than that of the former Spanish royal government.

The initiators of this revolution were the upper-class bourgeoisie and liberals of Spain, whose original intention was to overthrow the former absolute monarchy and establish a democratic monarchy with power concentrated in the national government.

However, the petty bourgeoisie, workers, and peasants of Spain had had enough of the oppression by the monarchy and the nobility; they preferred to establish a federal republican government with decentralized power but unified management, and they favored replacing the king with a president to manage the whole of Spain.

Ka Luo was also anxiously watching the situation in Spain. The good news was that Italy and Spain faced each other across the sea, and were only separated by Falanxi on land, so news still traveled quite quickly.

At this moment, the last thing Ka Luo wanted to hear was that the Spanish provisional government had decided to abolish the monarchy, as that would also mean Ka Luo would completely lose his connection to the Spanish throne.

Time reached November 9, and the Spanish provisional government finally promulgated a decree on the establishment of a parliament, announcing that parliamentary elections would be held in February of next year, 1869.

Although this decree did not mention the composition of the future Spanish government, everyone following the news from Spain understood that the results of the parliamentary elections would determine the fate of Spain.

If big capital and the liberal reformists won a majority in parliament, then the new parliament would have the power to enact legislation regarding a constitutional monarchy.

By the same token, once the working or peasant classes won a majority in parliament, the Spanish monarchy might cease to exist, and a republic would very likely take the stage in Spain.

As it stands, there is a very high probability that the situation in Spain will develop as it did in history.

Primo, who supports a constitutional monarchy, still controls the power of the Spanish government and is very likely to gain an advantage in the parliamentary elections a few months from now.

The timing of the parliamentary elections is also worth pondering. From the establishment of the provisional government to the parliamentary elections, there are only four months, and from the promulgation of the decree to the parliamentary elections, it is less than three months.

It is difficult for these three months to change the attitude of the Italian public, and it is also difficult to change the influence of those nobles and big capital in Spain.

However, in order to make his plan more secure, Ka Luo decided to stir up some wind for the Spanish public.

What kind of wind? Naturally, the wind of advocating for a monarchy.

As for the harm the Spanish Bourbon dynasty had brought to the Spanish people, it could all be blamed on the rule of the licentious and incompetent Queen Isabel.

Ka Luo also had a basis for blowing the wind of advocating for a monarchy.

The world's strongest navy is certainly that of Yingguo, and Yingguo is a constitutional monarchy. The world's strongest army should be Falanxi (the afterglow of Napoleon), and Falanxi is also a monarchy.

The old powers of Europe—Russia, the Austrian Empire, and the emerging power, the Kingdom of Prussia—are all monarchies, and even Italy, which has just achieved unification and joined the ranks of the great powers, is a monarchy.

Looking at the whole world, the only non-monarchy among the current great powers is the United States, and the United States is not seen as that powerful in the eyes of Europeans at this time.

The rise of the United States will have to wait until after World War I and World War II; the United States of this era does not yet have such an exaggerated industrial and economic scale.

Since the vast majority of powerful countries in Europe are monarchies, what reason do the Spanish people have to voluntarily abandon such a very advanced system?

As for the failure of the former monarchy, that was entirely the fault of the Bourbon family and Queen Isabel; if everyone wants to blame someone, they should just blame Queen Isabel.

Ka Luo did this not only to preserve a glimmer of trust in the monarchy in the hearts of the Spanish people, but also to make the Spanish people hate the Bourbon dynasty and Queen Isabel as much as possible.

Only in this way would the Spanish people not be so repulsed by an outside dynasty, and Ka Luo's hope of entering Spain would be much greater.

As for the Bourbon family, Queen Isabel, and the famous Alfonso XII, since they have already been sucking the blood of Spain for decades, it is time for them to make a little contribution to the Spanish people.

And this cannot be considered smearing the Bourbon family. Queen Isabel's rule in Spain is well-known, characterized by licentiousness, incompetence, and tyrannical chaos.

If the Spanish people could be made to no longer trust the Bourbon dynasty, the Carlist rebellion that has long plagued Spain could also be properly resolved.

After all, the Carlists are also of the Bourbon family, and they also deserve some credit for the chaos in Spain.

On November 27, 1868, the already popular Italian *24-Hour Sun* published an article titled "We Want Bread, Not a Republic," which quickly spread to northern and southern Italy.

The main content of this article was to describe the current advancement of the monarchy and the success of various European monarchical countries, stating that the monarchy is the most reasonable choice for European countries, and that the republic is a deformed evolution for Europe.

Regardless of whether this article makes sense, for the European monarchical countries at this time, such an article is definitely better than nothing.

It is better for newspapers to publish such articles than to publish those that advocate for a republic and liberal democracy; at least such reports will not make the public dissatisfied with the monarch's throne.

With no opposition from various countries, this report also began to spread on a small scale along the Mediterranean coast, especially in the Mediterranean countries centered on Italy.

Seeking recommendation tickets and monthly tickets, seeking follow-up reading and investment, and also seeking some comments in the book review section to make it look lively. Readers who have anything to communicate can also join the old book's group (there is no new book group for the time being).

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(End of this chapter)