Timeline (The Legacy of the Glorious)

Before the War

1868

September 18^th: La Gloriosa, a revolution of Spanish liberals, dethrones Queen Isabel II, who is exiled to France with her family.

October 7^th: the Provisional Government is formed, and it starts to work in order to restore orderto Spain and change the nation for the better.

October 10^th: the Grito de Yara initiates the Cuban Revolution.

1869

January 15^th: the Cortes Constituyentes are voted in, and start to write a new Constitution for Spain. This Constitution becomes the most advanced and democratic of all of Europe at the time of its conception.

June 1^st: the Spanish Constitution is approved by the Cortes. Spain is defined as a Constitutional Monarchy. Francisco Serrano becomes Regent, and Juan Prim becomes the first .

Second half of 1869-First half of 1870: several candidates are considered for the Crown. Many are rejected, others decide to express their wish not to become King of Spain.

1870

June 21^st: Eusebio Salazar y Mazarredo, former member of the Spanish diplomatic mission to Berlin, sends a telegram to Madrid: Leopold zu Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen has accepted his candidacy for the Spanish Crown, and he will arrive with the written confirmation on July 6th (POD: in OTL, the telegram erroneously said that he would arrive on July 26th).

July 7^th: the Spanish Courts accept Leopold as King Leopoldo I de España.

July 9^th: France starts to threaten war if Leopold does not renounce to the crown. President Prim orders mobilization of the Spanish army.

July 12^th: Vincent Benedetti, French Ambassador to Prussia, meets with King Wilhelm I of Prussia and asks him to ask Leopold to renounce to the crown.

July 15^th: Leopold's father tells Benedetti that Leopold renounces to the crown. Spain is not officially notified.

July 16^th: the French army starts to mobilize.

July 17^th: Benedetti, under orders of the French Imperial Government, asks Wilhelm I for a written and signed confirmation that Leopold nor any Prussian will become King of Spain, but the King tells him that he has nothing more to say. He will later send a telegram to Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, telling him about the encounter.

July 18^th: the Ems telegram, slightly modified by Bismarck, is published. The outrage in France and Prussia is overwhelming. Napoleon III immediately demands apologies from the Prussian King and the definite renounce by all Prussians to the Spanish throne. Carlos María de Borbón y Austria-Este, current Carlist pretender to the Spanish throne, meets with Napoleon and asks him to invade Spain and place him as King. Napoleon prefers Alfonso, son of Isabel II, though.

July 19^th: Prussia starts to mobilize. The Carlists, supporters of Carlos María de Borbón, split. The majority decides to support the new king.

July 20^th: France declares war on Prussia and Spain. The Southern German States of Baden, Bavaria, Hesse and Württemberg declare war on France.

The Hohenzollerns' War

July 21^st: Leopold officially accepts the Crown of Spain.

August 8^th: France invades Prussia, taking Saarbrücken.

August 9^th: France invades Spain. They are defeated in La Junquera, but they manage to persevere through Fuenterrabía.

August 12^th: the German armies expel all French troops from German territory.

August 14^th: San Sebastián falls to French troops led by Marshal Canrobert.

August 18^th: The Day of Balance: German troops defeat Marshal MacMahon's army in Wörth, there is a stalemate in the First Battle of Perpignan and Serrano's hurried attack against Canrobert ends with defeat.

August 20^th: Prince Alfonso de Borbón is crowned Alfonso XII de España in a ceremony held in French-occupied San Sebastián.

August 21^st: the Republicans attempt to revolt in order to get Spain out of the war and declare a Spanish Republic. The revolt is soon put down by Spanish loyal troops. Meanwhile, Prim is defeated in Ceret and forced to retreat back into Spain.

August 22^nd: Bazaine's army is defeated in Mars-la-Tour, and forced to retreat.

August 23^rd: Vitoria falls to the French. Regent Serrano barely escapes on time.

August 24^th: Bazaine is defeated again, this time in Gravelotte. The Imperial Government orders Canrobert to send part of his troops to the French-German frontline.

August 26^th: Serrano, having reunited a new army, liberates Vitoria from the French.

August 27^th: Prim manages to defeat Trochu in the Second Battle of Perpignan and take the city.

September 3^rd: Prim defeats Trochu, this time in Carcasonne.

September 7^th: Serrano expels the last French troops from Spain. In the Battle of Sedan, Napoleon III dies after charging against German troops.

September 8^th: Negotiations start between the French and the Spanish-German alliance to determine a possible armistice.

September 12^th: Louis Napoleon is crowned Napoleon IV. Negotiations break, and war continues.

September 20^th: Spanish Marine Infantry troops execute a landing near Orán, which is taken on the 25th.

September 24^th: Italian troops take advantage of the fact that the French troops protecting Rome have left, and take the city, which soon becomes the capital of the Kingdom of Italy.

October 30^th: Bazaine's army surrenders in Metz after a two-month long siege.

November 2^nd: France surrenders after Spain takes Toulouse.

November 7^th: initial armistice signed between France and the Spanish-German alliance.

November 15^th: definite armistice signed. Wilhelm I of Prussia is crowned Emperor Wilhelm I of the Germans in the Versailles Palace.

December 9^th: Leopold arrives to Spain. On the 12th, he will swear the Constitution and be crowned King of Spain.

December 24^th: the Treaty of Frankfurt (nicknamed Le Charbon du Pére Noel by the French) is signed: France loses Alsace-Lorraine to Germany, and Rousillon and the Oranesado to the Spanish, as well as having to pay reparations of war: 6,000 million francs to each nation.

The Post-War Period

1870

December 30^th: Juan Prim resigns as President of the Council of Ministers.

1871

January 1^st: the leaders of the main Spanish parties (Unión Liberal, Partido Progresista and Partido Demócrata) merge into the National Union Party in order to strengthen the nation. They also sign the Pacto de los Heros.

February 18^th: the first elections of the Leopoldine Era give the National Union a smashing absolute majority. Serrano becomes President of the Council of Ministers. The new government initiates a program of modernization of the Spanish Armed Forces and its society, to bring it up to levels on par of Britain or Germany.

September 29^th: in a meeting between President Serrano, Generals Prim and Ramón Cabrera and King Leopoldo, Serrano and Prim agree to form an elite corps, the Tercios Especiales, which will fight Spain's enemies through guerrilla warfare.

1872

January 20^th: the Cavite Mutiny starts. 200 troops rise up in arms, attempting to convince the rest of the Philippines to fight the Spanish colonial authorities. The attempt is a failure: very soon, loyal troops defeat the rebels.

February 17^th: three priests, Mariano Gómez, José Apolonio Burgos and Jacinto Zamora, known collectively as Gomburza, are executed for their role in the Cavite Mutiny.

1873

February 14^th: in Saint Valentine's Day, pro-Republican revolts hit Barcelona and Perpignan. These will start to happen almost every week.

March 1^st: a charge by Máximo Gómez's troops on the Spanish Army stops the advance that had been nearly constant in the previous year.

March 12^th: the Irredent Carlists, who still support Carlos María de Austria after the split that happened before the Hohenzollerns' War, decide, led by the "Mad Priest Santa Cruz", to rebel again, in hopes that they will be able to place Carlos María de Austria as their king. The Carlist Revolt starts soon after this meeting.

April 3^rd: Serrano sends the Home Army after the Irredent Carlists. For several months, they will only be able to find destroyed towns and dead people.

October 15^th: the Virginius, a former blockade runner that is now smuggling weapons into Cuba for the rebels, is arrested by Spanish corvette Tornado. Its captain, several crewmen and a few passengers, totalling 19, are executed.

October 28^th: Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, President of the Republic of Cuba in Arms, is deposed.

November 15^th: Serrano resigns and returns to his mandate in the Army.

1874

January 20^th: President Prim deploys the Tercios against the Irredent Carlists.

February 3^rd: the Government of the Third French Republic falls. A new government re-establishes the Kingdom of France. Philippe, one of the sons of former King Louis-Philippe I, becomes Philippe VII of France.

February 7^th: 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 10^th: Corsica becomes, effectively, an independent Kingdom, although France will always consider Corsica as an official part of France.

February 12^th-18^th: 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 22^nd: the Tercios Especiales are sent to Cuba, in order to deal with the Cuban rebels.

February 28^th: 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 2^nd: Manuel Iradier y Bulfy starts his first African Expedition, which will last 830 days, and in which he will meet many tribes.

March 15^th: Máximo Gómez, General of the Cuban Revolutionary Armies, falls dead thanks to the ability of a sharpshooter of the Tercios Especiales.

April 2^nd: the elections give victory to the Democrat-Radical Party, which gains the majority. Práxedes Mateo Sagasta becomes the new President.

June 9^th: Carlos María de la Torre y Nava Cerrada boards the ironclad Cádiz and travels to Philippines, to take control of the Spanish colonial government in the archipelago.

June 15^th: the Cuban rebels, after months of defeats, asks for an armistice.

July 7^th: 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.

July 10^th: Carlos María de la Torre arrives to Manila, and officially takes possession of the office of Governor-General of the Philippines.

July 11^th-15^th: several improptu parties start in the Philippines when the identity of the new Governor-General becomes known.

July 14^th: the Compromise of Baraguá reaches the Spanish Congress. The extreme-right wing, formed by the Traditionalist Party and the Integrist Party, demands the derogation of the Compromise, but the rest of Congress approves it.

July 20^th: de la Torre starts to consult the foremost Filipino Ilustrado's in order to ascertain the situation in the Philippines and how to fight that.

July 30^th: de la Torre starts his program to modernize the Philippines. Schools are finally put under control of secular authorities and teachers, five years after the same happened in Spain.

August: the Desamortizaciones Filipinas take place in the archipelago: all lands owned by the church are expropriated and sold to Ilustrado people and small owners. Also, all post-1837 monastic orders are eliminated, as it happened in Spain years before.

September 12^th: Pope Pius IX publishes his encyclical In Orientales Fidelitas, criticizing the Spanish government for its role in the elimination of all the privileges enjoyed by the Catholic Church and the ruling oligarchy in the Philippines, and threatening the Spanish Royal Family and the Government with excommunication if those privileges are not restored. This nearly causes a diplomatic crisis when Manuel Ruíz Zorrilla, Minister of Foreign Affairs, writes a scathing letter to the Pope, accusing him of hypocrisy and of being a bad Christian. Only the more conciliatory Sagasta prevents the letter from being sent.

September 24^th: a new letter is written personally by Sagasta to the Pope, detailing the problems that may have derived from the non-derogation of the special privileges of the Church in Philippines, and ensuring that Spain will maintain the cult and clergy in the region.

1875

February 10^th: on the anniversary of his crowning as King of Corsica, Napoleon IV marries his beloved Maria del Pilar de Borbón y Borbón, the sister of Alfonso XII de España.

June 20^th: the German Empire officially creates the colony of Kamerun.

August 14^th: the Treaty of Tallahassee between Spain, Chile, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador officially ends the First Pacific War.

1876

January 20^th: with the Philippines secured, de la Torre decides that his next objective is to pacify Mindanao, an unique part of the Philippines in that it is a region where Islam is the mainstream religion, instead of Catholicism. Given that the number of troops is not enough, he decides to raise local troops, called "Batallones Filipinos", for their use in the pacification of Mindanao.

March 3^rd: Spain signs a trading deal with Peru and Bolivia. Lima and La Paz will soon sport a new building, the Casa de España, which becomes the headquarters of Spanish trade with both nations.

May 11^th: Spain, the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Russian Empire issue a joint diplomatic note, the Berlin Memorandum, proposing to the Ottoman Empire the idea of an armistice with the insurgents in Bulgaria.

May 30^th: the campaign to pacify Mindanao begins.

September 29^th: the last Moro (the inhabitants of Mindanao) rebels surrender. Spain offers generous terms, giving them autonomy, Spanish citizenship and, when the infrastructure is developed enough, representation in Congress.

October 20^th: the Spanish Pacific Army and Navy initiate the takeover of the Sulu Sultanate, de jure part of Spain since 1851.

1877

April 12^th: Sir Theophilus Shepstone establishes British authority over the Transvaal Republic, which becomes annexed to the British colony of South Africa.

April 20^th: the Democrat-Radical Party wins the Spanish elections, and Sagasta is re-elected as Presidente del Consejo de Ministros.

May 2^nd: the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE, Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) is founded in Casa Labra, Madrid, by Pablo Iglesias.

May 4^th: the city of Jolo, capital of the Sulu Sultanate, is taken by Spanish troops. The Sultan is exiled to Manila, and the Sulu Archipelago becomes part of the Philippines.

June 1^st: the American Trading Company cedes their lease over the region of Sabah (Northern Borneo) to the Spanish government, which immediately puts the region under the control of the Governor-General of the Philippines.

October 3^rd: German troops and settlers start to take control of northeastern New Guinea, with the aim of create a new colony there.

1878

February 14^th: the Bolivian government approves the deal made with the Compañía de Ferrocarriles y Nitratos de Antofagasta regarding their exploitation of the natural nitrate resources, as long as they agree to pay a tax of 10 cents per 100 kilograms. This tax is rejected by the Chilean government, which considers it a breaking of a previous treaty.

March 3^rd: Bulgaria gains its independence from the Ottoman Empire. The Treaty of San Stefano puts an end to the Russo-Turkish War.

May 2^nd: the 70th anniversary of the Levantamientos del 2 de Mayo, the official start of the Spanish Independence War, is celebrated in all of Spain, especially in Madrid.

May 11^th: Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany is shot twice by radical socialist Max Hödel.

June 2^nd: Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany is shot by Dr Karl Nobiling.

July 13^th: Treaty of Berlin: the Ottoman Empire recognises the independence of Serbia, Montenegro and Romania.

August 12^th: Pablo Iglesias, founder of the PSOE, founds the Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT, Workers' General Union), Spain's first trade union.

September 22^nd: Germany officially claims the Samoa Archipelago as a colony of the German Empire. The United States and the United Kingdom immediately protest.

October 19^th: the first of the so-called Anti-Socialist Laws are passed by the Reichstag: Bismarck justifies this with the attacks upon the Kaiser by radical socialists.

November 10^th: Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States reach an agreement over Samoa: the United States receives the eastern half of the archipelago, Germany the western half, and the United Kingdom receives southeastern New Guinea as consolation.

December 3^rd: Manuel Iradier y Bulfy starts his second African Expedition. This one will aid in the expansion of the Spanish colony of Guinea.

December 11^th: Sir Bartle Frere, High Commissioner for Southern Africa, presents the Zulu Kingdom with an ultimatum formed by outrageous demands, giving them one month to comply.

1879

January 11^th: as the Zulu Kingdom has rejected the ultimatum, British troops enter Zululand.

January 22^nd: the Zulu Kingdom wins an important battle in Isandlwana, defeating a good part of the invading troops. The Siege of Eshowe starts.

January 23^rd: after ten hours of siege, the defenders of Rorke's Drift manage to repel the Zulu assault on their positions. 11 soldiers earn a Victoria Cross.

February 4^th: start of the Second Pacific War. Chile invades Antofagasta, the only Bolivian coastal city.

March 1^st: Bolivia declares war on Chile for their invasion.

April 5^th: British troops evacuate Zululand, after relieving the Siege of Eshowe. Chile declares war on Perú for not declaring their neutrality in the conflict.

May 22^nd: In the Battle of Iquique, the Peruvian Navy earns a victory over the Chilean Navy, which loses the corvette Esmeralda. At the same time, in the Battle of Punta Gruesa, Peru's only ironclad, the Independencia, strikes a reef and is lost.

June 1^st: British troops invade Zululand again.

July 4^th: Battle of Ulundi: British troops defeat the Zulu army, ending the Anglo-Zulu War.

July 23^rd: the Peruvian monitor Huáscar, led by Miguel Grau Seminario, captures the Chilean steamship Rimac, and with it the cavalry regiment Carabineros de Yungay. The Chilean government resigns, and Commander of the Navy Juan Williams Rebolledo is replaced with Commodore Galvarino Riveros Cárdenas.

September 24^th: the government of Peru receives two ironclads, bought from Spain, and christens them Independencia and Iquique.

October 8^th: Battle of Punta Angamos: the Peruvian Navy gains an important victory, sinking a Chilean ironclad, the Blanco Encalada.

October 20^th: Peruvian and Bolivian troops land near Antofagasta and take the city.

November 15^th: Battle of Valparaíso: the Peruvian fleet, led by Admiral Miguel Grau, defeats the Chilean Navy, sinking the Almirante Cochrane.

The Golden Eighties

1880

January 20^th: Copiapó is taken by a joint Bolivian-Peruvian force.

March 1^st: the Treaty of Quito puts an end to the Second Pacific War. Chile is forced to pay reparations to Bolivia and Peru, to accept the new 10 cent tax and to accept the dissolution of the Compañía de Ferrocarriles y Nitratos de Antofagasta.

March 4^th: the main RESA factory in Getafe suffers a strike as its workers demand a shorter work week.

March 31^st: the UK general election begins.

April 20^th: the government shortens the work week to 50 hours.

April 27^th: the UK general election ends. Lord Gladstone becomes new Prime Minister.

May 2^nd: the Liberal-Conservative Party wins the elections for the first time in Spain, after six years of Democrat-Radical rule, and Antonio Cánovas del Castillo becomes Presidente del Consejo de Ministros.

May 9^th: Cánovas gives his first speech in Congress, swearing to uphold the Constitution and not to push for constitutional reforms.

June: the government orders the expansion of the Army, as well as that of the Navy, for their use in potential future conflicts.

July 17^th: by Royal Decree, the size of the Tercios Especiales is increased to 15 platoons (900 soldiers in total).

1881

March 13^th: radical members of Narodnaya Volya (The People's Will), a pro-democracy Russian organization, attempt to kill Czar Aleksandr II. The attack is unsuccessful (although several people die, including a man called Aleksandr Levitsky, who grabbed one of the bombs to prevent it from hitting the Czar) and the would-be assassins are arrested and interrogated.

March 20^th: Czar Aleksandr II comes forward with his plan to change the backward Russian nation into a democratic nation, like the United Kingdom. Aleksandr Levitsky is posthumously ennobled to ensure that the man's family never lacks anything, as a reward for his sacrifice.

April 12^th: the Egyptian Revolt begins. The people, led by Colonel Ahmed Urabi, are fed up with foreign control of their government, and fight to take control of the government.

May 14^th: Albert de Broglie, from the Parti Liberal, is sworn in as new Premier of France.

August 13^th: the British and French diplomats send messages to the Egyptian government, asserting their support of the Khedive.

September 21^st: Cayor is formally annexed into French North Africa.

1882

January 8^th: the Alexandria Riots start, causing the death of 300 people, mostly Egyptians.

January 20^th: the British House of Commons votes to send the British Army to deal with the Egyptian Revolt after local forces and the few British forces in the Canal fail to bring it down.

March 19^th: British forces reach Alexandria and the Suez Canal,

July 14^th: British troops defeat the rebel forces in the Battle of Adabeya, putting down the Egyptian Revolt.

July 23^rd: a French expedition led by Commandant Henri Rivière takes the city of Hanoi after complaints from French merchants and missionaires reach him.

September 14^th: the Chinese Army invades the region of Tonkin, including the French concession, in answer to the previous French expedition to Hanoi, in order to pressure them to abandon what China considers to be within their sphere of influence.

September 21^st: the French start to build up their positions in Tonkin and Cochinchina (southern Indochina).

November 4^th: the Kingdom of France declares war on the Kingdom of Vietnam and the Chinese Empire.

November 7^th: French troops soundly defeat the Vietnamese Army a few km south of Hanoi, and begin the invasion of the entire kingdom to place it under their "protection".

November 14^th: first battle between French and Chinese troops, just north of Tonkin. The Battle of Tonkin falls to the French side, and the Chinese troops retire towards better positions.

December: several small skirmishes between French and Chinese troops happen, as well as encounters between the French Army and the Black Flag Army (a bandit force that controlled the Red River, which had been asked by the Vietnamese king to act as a guerrilla force).

1883

February 7^th: Battle of Nui Bop: 2500 French troops defeat 15,000 Chinese troops, losing only 34 soldiers to the 1000 Chinese. This, and other similar victories in the Sino-French War, are attributed to the better weaponry the French soldiers have, as well as their better training.

February 8^th: Battle of Foochow: the French Eastern Fleet soundly defeats the Chinese fleet, at little cost, putting in evidence the obsolete Chinese navy.

February 22^nd: in a ceremony in the Congreso de los Diputados, and with the presence of the Spanish Royal Family, Cánovas and the representatives of the Peninsular Regiones Forales sign the final transfer of administrative powers to the aforementioned Regiones.

March 12^th: Bismarck orders a change in Germany's colonial policy: New Guinea, Kamerun and other German colonies start to see a greater influx of colonists in order to reinforce the German position in the world.

March 21^st: upon realising that things are getting worse, and that victory will be almost impossible China asks the French for terms of peace.

April 11^th: the elections give the Liberal-Conservative Party a victory, thus consolidating Cánovas del Castillo's presidency, although the obtained majority is smaller than the previous one.

May 12^th: the Treaty of Hainan puts an end to the Sino-French War: China cedes the islands of Hainan and Taiwan, as well as port concessions in Kwang-Chou-Wan and Hankou, to the French, while Vietnam becomes a vassal of France.

May 17^th: Juan Bautista Topete, Minister of the Navy, personally meets with Narciso Monturiol and Cosme García Sáez to ascertain the work done in terms of submarine. The team of designers now counts with a new addition: Isaac Peral, a veteran of the Cuban Revolutionary War. He is busy with an idea he has had.

November 25^th: Cánovas' government attempts to pass the Ley de recursos monetarios, which reduces taxes on the greatest fortunes and raises them on the lower and middle classes. This divides Congress in two: the law is approved with the complete opposition of the main opposition party, the Democrat-Radical Party, as well as several minor parties.

1884

March 14^th: Isaac Peral presents his Proyecto de Torpedero Submarino, a submarine with an electric motor that allows the submarine to dive whenever it is needed.

April 2^nd: Cánovas' government proposes the Ley de arrendamientos, by which the government will own several living buildings and rent their use to families. This law is approved by the majority of the Congress.

September 3^rd: the Conference of Berlin, the culminating point of the African Division, begins. A fight nearly starts when the French representative demands the expulsion of the Corsican representative, as France does not recognise Corsica's independence.

December 25^th: a lull in the negotiations of the African Division as Christmas celebrations are held.

1885

May 1^st: a General Strike is held in Spain against Cánovas del Castillo's policies, which tend to support the higher classes and the clergy.

August 25^th: the negotiations over the African Division reach their end. No one is completely happy, but it was still an equitative distribution of the spheres of influence in Africa.

September 2^nd: Juan Chamarro González, member of the Integrist Party and advisor to President Cánovas, suggests him to use the still existant caciquesto falsify the voting results in the next year's elections so as to give a big victory to the right-wing parties.

September 3^rd: Juan Chamarro González is arrested for the potential risk he may profess for the democratic state, at the behest of President Cánovas.

November 17^th: a coup is attempted in the Dominican Republic against President Alejandro Woss y Gil.