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===1873, ''Annus Horribilis''===
 
===1873, ''Annus Horribilis''===
 
1873 became one of the worst years of the young Leopoldine monarchy: Republican revolts happened nearly weekly in Catalonia and Andalusia, the progress made against the Cuban rebels during the previous years was lost and a Carlist revolt started, initiated by those that still supported Carlos María de Borbón y Austria-Este after a split that had happened before the Hohenzollerns' War. In October, the ''Virginius ''Affair hit Spain, and nearly sparked war between Spain on one side, and the United States and the United Kingdom on the other, but fortunately for the government the problem remained just diplomatic.
 
1873 became one of the worst years of the young Leopoldine monarchy: Republican revolts happened nearly weekly in Catalonia and Andalusia, the progress made against the Cuban rebels during the previous years was lost and a Carlist revolt started, initiated by those that still supported Carlos María de Borbón y Austria-Este after a split that had happened before the Hohenzollerns' War. In October, the ''Virginius ''Affair hit Spain, and nearly sparked war between Spain on one side, and the United States and the United Kingdom on the other, but fortunately for the government the problem remained just diplomatic.
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===1874, Back To Normalcy===
====<span style="font-weight: bold;">1874</span>====
 
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The events of 1873 made it clear to the Spanish government that the only way to prevent an escalation of the Cuban conflict was to end it as soon as possible. However, they now counted with a powerful weapon, the [[Tercios Especiales (The Legacy of the Glorious)|Tercios Especiales]], a special forces unit that had been trained to fight in any kind of battlefield, using guerrilla tactics. First, the Tercios were deployed against the Irredent Carlists in the north, ending their threat before February was through. Then, the Tercios were sent to Cuba, where they helped the army to bring down the Cuban rebels, who officially surrendered on July 7th.
January 20th: President Prim deploys the Tercios against the Irredent Carlists.
 
   
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In the meantime, the National Union Party separated in the two parties that would control Spain's political life for many years, the Liberal-Conservative Party and the Democrat-Radical Party, the latter of which won the next elections and approved a plan to transform Spain into a nation where regions would earn certain devolved powers from the central government, although it would still take some time until that happened.
February 3rd: the Government of the Third French Republic falls. A new government restablishes the Kingdom of France. Philippe, one of the sons of former King Louis-Philippe I, becomes Philippe VII of France.
 
 
February 7th: Corsica, unwilling to fall under the rule of a Bourbon, revolts, smashing the few French troops in the island and calling Napoleon IV to lead them.
 
 
February 10th: Corsica becomes, effectively, an independent Kingdom, although France will always consider Corsica as an official part of France.
 
 
February 12th-18th: the Tercios Especiales arrest or kill most of the Irredent Carlists: only a few manage to escape into France, never to return to Spain.
 
 
February 22nd: the Tercios Especiales are sent to Cuba, in order to deal with the Cuban rebels.
 
 
February 28th: the Tercios Especiales manage to find and arrest Carlos Manuel de Céspedes and his son: they will be condemned to several months of house arrest due to the former President's ill health. In Spain, the Courts dissolve, and the National Union separates in the two parties that will control Spain's political life: the Liberal-Conservative Party, and the Democrat-Radical Party.
 
 
March 15th: Máximo Gómez, General of the Cuban Revolutionary Armies, falls dead thanks to the ability of a sharpshooter of the Tercios Especiales.
 
 
April 2nd: the elections give victory to the Democrat-Radical Party, which gains the majority. Práxedes Mateo Sagasta becomes the new President.
 
 
June 15th: the Cuban rebels, after months of defeats, asks for an armistice.
 
 
July 7th: the Compromise of Baraguá ends the Cuban Revolutionary War. Cuba remains part of the Kingdom of Spain, although it gains autonomy in certain matters and some of the rebels' greatest demands, like the manumission of all slaves or the concession of full rights to all Cubans, are met.
 
 
[[Category:Timelines]]
 
[[Category:Timelines]]
 
[[Category:The Legacy of the Glorious]]
 
[[Category:The Legacy of the Glorious]]

Revision as of 19:23, 20 May 2012

The Legacy of the Glorious (El Legado de La Gloriosa in Spanish) is a timeline written by Milarqui in which Prussian prince Leopold zu Hohenzollern Sigmaringen, after consultations by the Spanish government, becomes King of Spain. This leads to a declaration of war by the French Government on Prussia and Spain.

History

Background

Previous to La Gloriosa Revolución, or Revolución de Septiembre, Spain was ruled by Queen Isabel II, the last descendant of the long line of kings and queens that had ruled Spain since the times of the Catholic Monarchs, having been named Queen of Spain at the age of 3 and become Queen when she was 13. However, her reign, which many hoped would help usher an era of democracy, was however a convulse era, controlled by the military and the conservative political forces, which was why the Spanish liberal sectors sought to change things. Several uprisings failed due to lack of planning or support, but they slowly gained allies, and would soon start.

La Gloriosa

In September 1868, Spanish Admiral Juan Bautista Topete rose up in arms against Isabel II and the current nearly-dictatorial government led by Luis González Bravo. Very soon, Juan Prim and Francisco Serrano, the heads of the revolution, arrived to Spain from their exiles in London and the Canary Islands to take control of the revolution. The only battle between rebel and loyal forces happened in September 28th in the town of Alcolea (Córdoba), which ended with victory for the rebels. Upon hearing of this happening, Queen Isabel II and her family exiled themselves to Paris, giving victory to the rebels.

The Provisional Government

The rebels soon formed a provisional government, with the aim of turning Spain into a democracy. In spite of the opposition of a Republican minority, the Provisional Government decided that Spain would remain a Constitutional Monarchy.

Gobierno Provisional 1869 (J

The Spanish Provisional Government

However, soon problems started to besiege Spain, among them the Cuban Revolutionary War or the impossibility to find a proper king for Spain. Despite this, the Provisional Government managed to get Spain on the track towards democratization and such, thanks to the Constitution being approved. Things would greatly change soon, though.

The Search For A King

The efforts of Spanish diplomat Eusebio Salazar y Mazarredo allowed the Government to find out about a great candidate for the throne, Prussian prince Leopold zu Hohenzollern Sigmaringen. However, there was a problem with him, or rather, the French had a problem with him: When Leopold was voted in as the King of Spain by the Spanish Congress, the French threatened war if Leopold did not renounce to the Crown of Spain. However, Otto von Bismarck, the Chancellor of Prussia, managed to manipulate the political scene in order to provoke France into declaring war on Prussia and Spain, which they did in July 20th 1870.

The Hohenzollerns' War

For more information, see The Hohenzollerns' War (The Legacy of the Glorious)

War officially started on August 8th, when French troops invaded Prussia and took the city of Saarbrücken, while more troops invaded Spain. However, very soon the trend reverted in the Prussian front, although northern Spain was invaded, allowing exiled prince Alfonso (Isabel II's son) to proclaim himself King Alfonso XII of Spain. However, the Prussian victories in the east forced the French to move troops to that front, allowing Spanish troops to liberate the invaded regions and even counter-invading southern France, taking the city of Perpignan. The battle of Sedan of September 7th saw the death of Napoleon III, Emperor of France, after charging against German troops. French attempts to gain the chance of gaining a better hand for the eventual peace conversations were for naught, as German troops reached Paris, forcing France to accept the Spanish-German Alliance's demands.

In the end, the French were forced to not only accept Leopold as King of Spain, but also King Wilhelm I of Prussia as Emperor of Germany, as well as the loss of Alsace-Lorraine, Rousillon and the Oranesado.

The Start of the Leopoldine Era

The crowning of Leopoldo I brought great stability and euphoria to Spain, but the men who had led the revolution against Isabel II knew that this could change at any moment, so they decided to join forces in a political party, the Unión Nacional, to help in the stabilization of Spanish democracy and the Hohenzollern monarchy, whicy they also did through the signing of the Pacto de los Heros, with which they expected to determine the outline of what had to happen in the following years.

1872 was a peaceful year in Spain, but one could not say the same of the rest of the nation: in the Philippines, a mutiny of 200 soldiers was brutally put down, and several of the ringleaders, including three priests, were executed for their role in it. This was but a prelude of what would happen the following year.

1873, Annus Horribilis

1873 became one of the worst years of the young Leopoldine monarchy: Republican revolts happened nearly weekly in Catalonia and Andalusia, the progress made against the Cuban rebels during the previous years was lost and a Carlist revolt started, initiated by those that still supported Carlos María de Borbón y Austria-Este after a split that had happened before the Hohenzollerns' War. In October, the Virginius Affair hit Spain, and nearly sparked war between Spain on one side, and the United States and the United Kingdom on the other, but fortunately for the government the problem remained just diplomatic.

1874, Back To Normalcy

The events of 1873 made it clear to the Spanish government that the only way to prevent an escalation of the Cuban conflict was to end it as soon as possible. However, they now counted with a powerful weapon, the Tercios Especiales, a special forces unit that had been trained to fight in any kind of battlefield, using guerrilla tactics. First, the Tercios were deployed against the Irredent Carlists in the north, ending their threat before February was through. Then, the Tercios were sent to Cuba, where they helped the army to bring down the Cuban rebels, who officially surrendered on July 7th.

In the meantime, the National Union Party separated in the two parties that would control Spain's political life for many years, the Liberal-Conservative Party and the Democrat-Radical Party, the latter of which won the next elections and approved a plan to transform Spain into a nation where regions would earn certain devolved powers from the central government, although it would still take some time until that happened.