Chapter 116: Changing History?

The scale of this wedding was nothing short of grand; the invited nobles were all at least marquesses, and the officials were at least leaders of the cabinet government and core departments.

Naturally, this massive wedding also attracted the attention of many domestic and foreign media outlets, becoming the front-page headline in major Spanish newspapers starting a month ago.

Presiding over the wedding for Gao Da was Archbishop Pedro of Toledo, who was also the highest-ranking archbishop in Spain.

What surprised Gao Da was that the Church had chosen neutrality during the government's previous reforms and did not stand up to oppose the government directly.

Although this caused the Church to lose many interests, including most of the land under its control, at least for the current Church, they could continue to exist rather than being replaced by the government and the royal family with new candidates.

Spain is indeed a Catholic country, but the problem is that the current Catholic Pope is not in a very good situation himself, let alone being able to interfere in the affairs of the Spanish Church.

With the Carlist rebellion having been completely resolved, even if the Church wanted to incite a rebellion, the probability of success would likely not be high.

After all, this is no longer the era of religious dogma, and the influence of religion on Europeans is becoming lower and lower. If it were 100 years ago, there might have been a chance of success, but the current Spain is no longer dictated by religion.

Of course, as the saying goes, use the stick in the left hand and the carrot in the right. For the Church, a force with considerable influence in Spain, it was naturally impossible to suppress them all at once.

When Gao Da met with Archbishop Pedro, he personally promised to consider establishing the title of Archbishop of Spain. The future Archbishop of Spain, in addition to being the highest bishop of Spanish Catholicism, would also control the Spanish Church and have a certain degree of restraint over other religions.

As long as Archbishop Pedro is willing to cooperate with the rule of the government and the royal family, the candidate for the first Archbishop of Spain in the future will be none other than him.

Although the other possibility was not explicitly stated, Archbishop Pedro understood it in his heart. If he were unwilling to cooperate with the rule of the government and the royal family, perhaps Gao Da would support another Archbishop of Spain to counter the original status of the Archbishop of Toledo.

Although the Archbishop of Toledo is the bishop with the highest power and status in the Spanish Church, do not forget the existence of the Pope.

The Pope is currently holed up in the Vatican, under the control of the Italian government. If the Pope were to cooperate with the Spanish government under the coercion of the Italian government to create the position of Archbishop of Spain, how much of his power as Archbishop of Toledo would remain?

After all, the power of the Church is far inferior to that of the government. If the Church were divided into two factions due to a power struggle, it would only become meat on the chopping block for the government.

Under the gaze of hundreds of nobles and high-ranking officials, Gao Da and Archduchess Sophie took their vows together.

In addition to the domestic nobles of Spain, even King Vittorio Emanuele II of Italy and Archduchess Sophie's mother, Princess Sisi, arrived in person.

Besides these two noble guests, King Luis I of Portugal and Gao Da's sister, Princess Maria Pia, as well as Gao Da's eldest sister, Princess Maria Clotilde, who married Napoleon-Jerome Bonaparte, also arrived at the wedding scene.

In fact, besides these nobles, even the royal families of great powers like Britain, Germany, and Russia sent representatives to attend the wedding and presented their gifts.

In fact, whether it is Spain or the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it is enough to attract the attention of the governments of these countries. If these two countries were to unite, their level of attention would also increase; the representatives attending the wedding were either crown princes or dukes with a certain prestige in the military.

The royal families and governments of other countries are not stupid either; they are all thinking about the changes this wedding will bring to the European landscape.

This marriage represents the rapprochement between the Spanish government and the Austro-Hungarian government. So, will the Italian royal family, which belongs to the same family as the Spanish royal family, join in?

If Spain, Italy, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire formed an alliance, what kind of impact would it have on the situation in Europe?

Even if the possibility is small, this matter will lead other national governments and royal families to reflect and consider their own actions accordingly.

The ones most concerned about this are actually the British. The British deployment in the Mediterranean is well known; the Strait of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal are like two solid fortresses, trapping all countries along the Mediterranean coast within the Mediterranean.

Besides the British, those more concerned about this are Germany and Russia. The Russians and the Austro-Hungarian Empire have conflicts in the Balkan Peninsula, but the current conflicts are not that intense.

After all, the Balkan Peninsula is still ruled by the Ottoman Sultanate, and many countries, including Bulgaria, have not yet become independent. One cannot just start a fight with the Austro-Hungarian Empire for the sake of these countries that have not yet become independent.

The time when the conflict between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia was most intense was when the Balkan states were gaining independence one after another, and both countries wanted to seek more control over the Balkan Peninsula.

The current conflict between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia is not that intense, which is also the reason why the League of the Three Emperors could eventually be formed in history.

Then why did the League of the Three Emperors break up after it was formed? First, the conflict between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia intensified, and there was also the reason for the British constantly sowing discord between the two countries.

Another reason is that the Germans, who should have mediated in the middle, chose the Austro-Hungarian Empire in one conflict after another, which also caused the German-Russian relationship to drift further apart.

But in any case, although the relationship between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia is not that good now, it has not reached the point of becoming mortal enemies.

For the Russians, if there are signs that the Austro-Hungarian Empire is really getting closer to Italy and Spain, then the Russians will try to sign a non-aggression pact with the Austro-Hungarian Empire to temporarily end the disputes in the Balkan region and put more energy into the competition with the British.

And for Germany, this marriage allowed the Germans to see a possibility, a possibility of completely blockading the French.

Take a close look at the positions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, and Spain; they happen to form a solid line of defense in the east, south, and southwest of France.

Coupled with Germany's own blockade of northeastern France, it directly traps France within its own territory. This perfectly matches the policy of isolating France in Bismarck's mind, and it is also the reason why the Germans are paying attention to this marriage.

After all, Italy is also an ally of the Germans, and Germany has some advantages in this regard. Since the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Spain have the intention to form an alliance, why not expand this alliance infinitely and directly form a four-nation alliance of Germany, Austria, Italy, and Spain?

Even if this alliance is not aimed at war, but only symbolically isolates the French, it will definitely be enough to give the French a hard time.

Because if these four countries unite, they will directly isolate France in such a small piece of land in Western Europe. The areas where France can exert influence, besides the Low Countries, are only the United Kingdom, which is separated by the English Channel.

Chancellor Bismarck thought carefully and felt more and more that such a four-nation alliance could possibly be formed. The biggest contradictions in the four-nation alliance are the contradictions between Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and between Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

But in fact, these two major contradictions have been properly resolved. The German-Austrian contradiction is actually the Prussian-Austrian contradiction; since Prussia unified the German Empire, this contradiction has actually ceased to exist.

Moreover, the Austrians are also constantly showing goodwill to Germany, and I believe they have seen this point.

As for the contradiction between Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it has actually been almost resolved. The contradiction between Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire is about the Venice region and the South Tyrol region. Of these two regions, Venice has been completely occupied by the Italians, and the southern part of South Tyrol, which is the place with the most Italians, has also been taken away by the Italians.

The remaining northern South Tyrol is mostly Austrians, and even if Italy has more ideas, it is impossible to get it from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which is still in a stage of prosperity.

Therefore, from the current situation, these two contradictions have been alleviated, and there is no great resistance to the formation of the four-nation alliance.

Of course, if one must talk about resistance, the British may not want to see the birth of the four-nation alliance. Because the four-nation alliance can not only target the French, but also be used to target the British.

If the four countries of Germany, Austria, Italy, and Spain unite, what else is there for other countries? Not to mention the once-prosperous Britain, even if the two countries of Britain and France were added together, they might not be the opponents of these four countries.

Germany alone is enough to give the French a headache, not to mention that the three countries of Germany, Italy, and Spain can attack the French mainland from three directions.

Coupled with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which also has a powerful army, for the French, the four-nation alliance is a huge threat that can invade Paris at any time.

But this kind of external interference does not matter to Chancellor Bismarck. If the four-nation alliance can be formed, it can isolate the French government indefinitely.

In this way, the idea within Germany that France might launch a war to retaliate against Germany in a short period of time will vanish.

After all, if isolated by the four-nation alliance, unless it is the Napoleonic Empire period, it is impossible to break through the blockade of the four countries.

If the French still dare to declare war on Germany after the formation of the four-nation alliance, then Chancellor Bismarck would not mind letting the French understand what it means to repeat history.

Gao Da, who was happily holding his wedding in Madrid, did not know that perhaps because of him, the course of history had already undergone some major changes.

On the day of the wedding, Madrid also showed a quite joyful atmosphere. To celebrate this wedding, Gao Da even painfully took out more than 2 million pesetas from his own small treasury to distribute gifts to the Spanish people for free.

The value of the gifts is not high, but the advantage is that everyone can participate. As long as the Spanish people queue up at the gift distribution points already set up by the government and offer their heartfelt wishes to the King and Queen, they can receive a gift.

After the wedding ceremony, a larger celebration banquet was held in the largest banquet hall of the Wang Gong. As the Royal Palace of Madrid, one of the three major royal palaces in Europe, the largest banquet hall is naturally quite large.

Even if the nobles and officials present, including foreign guests, add up to hundreds of people, it can still easily accommodate them.

To show the hospitality of the royal family, the banquet prepared rich delicacies from all over Spain, as well as fresh seafood products and fruits, including special red wine produced by the royal winery.

To celebrate the wedding of Gao Da and Archduchess Sophie, the winery had already produced 1, 72 barrels of wine in advance, 225 barrels of which would be sealed as a souvenir of this wedding.

Unless there is a major event, these 200-plus barrels of wine will be sealed for a long time. After all, the older the wine, the more expensive it will be, just like the 82 Lafite that has been widely circulated in later generations.

But in fact, there is not that much 82 Lafite, and most of those on the market are fakes.

Under the propaganda of the newspapers outside, this wedding has been promoted as a strong alliance of Catholicism.

Spain is a Catholic country, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire is also a Catholic country. Of course, Italy is also one of the Catholic countries.

Many newspapers are already imagining the alliance of these three Catholic countries, and then calling the alliance of these three countries the Catholic Alliance.

Facing such reports, different people hold different attitudes. Chancellor Bismarck is naturally relatively happy to see such reports.

The emergence of such reports proves that the people of these three countries are also optimistic about the three countries getting closer to each other.

Does this not mean that the previously conceived four-nation alliance still has the possibility of being established?

And for the British, the mood is not so wonderful.

The union of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Spain is already a bit of a headache, and if Italy inserts itself into it, it will really become the most troublesome problem for the British in Europe.

The British government was already worried about whether the Spanish government would have the idea of recovering Gibraltar, and this worry intensified after the marriage between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Spanish royal family.

If a three-nation alliance of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, and Spain is really formed, it also means that it is impossible to be indifferent to Gibraltar.

If Gibraltar is lost, the British plan in the Mediterranean will be destroyed by more than half. But if they hold on to Gibraltar, it means that Britain will directly clash with the so-called three-nation alliance, which is exactly what the British do not want to see.

Britain's policy is to engage in a regional balance policy, supporting two relatively balanced forces in a region to confront each other, rather than joining in itself.

It would be fine if this so-called three-nation alliance had no intention of being formed, but if there really is an intention to form it, then it seems that Britain also needs to form a relevant alliance to ensure that the harm of the three-nation alliance is reduced to a minimum.

Thinking of this, the British representative, who was originally smiling, gradually put on a serious expression and began to scan the nobles attending the banquet, including some foreign guests, with his eyes.

A 4, 00-word long chapter to make up for yesterday's update, two updates tomorrow, please support!

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(End of this chapter)