Empire Rising: Spain

Historically, Spain, after overthrowing the Bourbon Dynasty, established the Spanish Republic. However, the hastily established republic did not slow down Spain’s decline; rather, the frequent changes in the republican regime led to even greater chaos within Spain, ultimately paving the way for the restoration of the monarchy.

Carlo’s role is to propel the Portuguese into launching a revolution to overthrow the royal family and establish the Portuguese Republic.

The hastily established republic by the Portuguese is destined to be unable to effectively govern the country, and with Spain causing troubles on the side, Portugal’s economy is bound to collapse even further.

At this time, the Portuguese people will also recall the merits of the monarchy. But since their own royal family has been overthrown, they can only restore the monarchy by either electing a king or nominating a noble.

As Portugal’s neighbor, if Spain develops rapidly and enters a prosperous phase during this period, it will surely attract most of the Portuguese’s attention.

Carlo can cultivate goodwill in Portugal while guiding public opinion there, potentially facilitating the re-merger of Spain and Portugal.

As long as Portugal can be annexed peacefully, the subsequent matters become quite straightforward. After all, Portugal’s population is only slightly over 4 million, making assimilation relatively simple.

Spain can disperse the Portuguese population by employing them in industrial centers while emigrating some Spaniards to Portugal.

Lessen the proportion of Portuguese in the Portugal region to below 50%, making it difficult for Portugal to seek independence from Spain once again.

For this tempting piece of ”meat,” Carlo is eager to quickly incorporate it. Including Portugal’s 4 million plus population, Spain’s population could reach 30 million by around 1890 and potentially over 40 million before World War I, thus securing enough power to protect itself and even possibly determine the outcome of the war at critical moments.

Even without waiting for World War I, Spain would have enough strength to intervene in some small-scale wars and conflicts prior to the war, securing more interests for itself.

Some more covert means involve supporting certain parties existing within Portugal and using these parties to completely disrupt Portugal’s political situation.

For a monarchy, parties advocating freedom and democracy threaten its interests. However, most countries do not have effective methods, choosing either to concede to these parties or employing forceful means to suppress them.

No matter which method the Portuguese government chooses, Spain can disrupt Portugal’s political situation through this means.

Once Portugal resorts to forceful suppression, it might ignite even fiercer resistance among the Portuguese.

At that point, a good show will ensue. If a civil war breaks out in Portugal because of this, Spain, being the only neighbor, can exert a deeper influence on Portugal’s affairs.

Of course, it’s best to ignite domestic strife in Portugal at a time when the United Kingdom is distracted, such as during the Boer War.

These maneuvers in Portugal must be handled by government officials, at least publicly, Carlo cannot participate.

After all, King Luis of Portugal is Carlo’s brother-in-law, and the Queen of Portugal is Carlo’s sister. Acting against one’s relatives might compromise personal relationships.

If Portugal’s internal rebellion topples the royal family, then the problem can be easily resolved.

Carlo could even gain favor from the Portuguese Royalist Party by offering refuge to the Portuguese royal family, avoiding damage to his reputation.

Upon discussing supporting parties in Portugal to disrupt its political scene, Carlo suddenly has a new idea.

If foreign parties can be supported to disrupt the situation, why not support domestic parties to control the situation at home?

Currently, Spain has three major parties: the Royalist Party, loyal to monarchy, the Progressive Party also supporting monarchy, and the Liberal Party with ambiguous stances.

Among these, there is no worker party advocating for labor interests. If Carlo establishes and supports a worker party, it could not only perfect Spain’s party system but also stabilize Spain’s domestic situation through party control.

It is well known that since the Industrial Revolution, labor has been a significant force, capable of determining a country’s destiny.

If Carlo could completely control this political force by establishing a worker party, along with the conservative-leaning peasant class’s support, who could undermine Spain’s monarchy?

A Kingdom of Spain that has garnered support from the working and peasant classes could be considered invincible to a certain extent.

When Spain’s bourgeoisie rises, it could be controlled to have an antagonism with the working class, and the royal family would only need to balance these two classes, supported by the noble class, reaching complete national stability.

If the power of the working class becomes too strong, it can be mitigated by promoting several capitalists. Anyway, capitalists aren’t of much good, and for national stability, sacrificing a few capitalists is quite necessary.

Thinking of this, Carlo is very satisfied with his plan and decides to execute it to see the outcome.

Even if the effect is not as good as imagined, this worker party completely controlled by Carlo can still play a certain role.

After all, compared to allowing the political power of the working class to grow unchecked, the proper guiding and controlling make this force sharp yet harmless to oneself.