Empire Rising: Spain

As early as 1880, the Winter Palace where Alexander II resided suffered severe damage. The St. Petersburg police apprehended 17 suspects related to the assassination; these 17 were directly sentenced to hanging, and their friends and family were permanently exiled to remote Siberia.

Such harsh punishment not only failed to deter these assassins but also prompted retaliation time and again.

Eventually, Alexander II was still assassinated. Although the St. Petersburg police had strengthened the security around the Imperial Palace, and the Tsar’s Guard had also deployed troops stationed within the Winter Palace.

When the unexpected happens, it always comes so suddenly, Alexander II was blown up in a manner he had never imagined.

On March 13, 1881, Alexander II was traveling by carriage from the palace to the government, preparing to attend a routine meeting.

But this itinerary was leaked in advance, and when the convoy reached a street corner, a bomb was suddenly thrown under Tsar Alexander II’s carriage.

The good news was the bomb did not injure the Tsar at all. The bomb didn’t even overturn the carriage, apart from causing a slight delay, it seemed the assassination had no effect.

But Alexander II soon found nothing to laugh about. As he angrily approached the assassin caught by the guards, another bomb was directly thrown toward him.

Without the protection of the carriage, Alexander II was not as fortunate this time. The bomb exploded quickly, and Alexander II was affected by the shock wave, severely injured.

Fortunately, Alexander II remained conscious; he was not directly killed by the bomb.

Unfortunately, the injuries caused by the bomb were beyond what the medical technology of the time could resolve. Remaining conscious in such times became a torment as he had to endure the pain from the bombing, feeling his body gradually weaken and finally lose consciousness slowly.

By the time European countries received the news, it was already the day following the assassination, March 14.

For the European people believing in God, 13 is really considered an unlucky number. Alexander II also died on the 13th, which might sometimes be blamed on fate.

As the monarch of a European power, Alexander II’s death attracted attention from all European countries.

For Austria, the death of reformist Alexander II was certainly good news. Russian reform was already incomplete, and after the reform-promoting Emperor’s death, the impact of reform naturally diminished.

Let’s not forget, Russia still has numerous nobles. The abolition of serfdom already made Alexander II offend many Russian nobles. Would the new Tsar risk continuing to offend the nobles to advocate Alexander II’s reforms?

The Tsar’s funeral was conducted grandly in St. Petersburg, with delegates from almost all European countries attending the funeral.

After all, Russia remains one of the most powerful countries in the world; the death of the Russian Tsar is big news that can shake Europe, especially due to this assassination method of death.

Of course, compared to the deceased Tsar Alexander II, European countries are more concerned about the attitude of the new Tsar Alexander III.

Russia is a Tsarist autocratic country where the Tsar holds unparalleled power. With the succession of the throne, will Russia’s diplomatic stance change?

Originally, the relationship between Russia, Germany, and Austria-Hungary was already enigmatic, and all European countries speculated whether the Triple Alliance established by Germany would break apart.

The current succession of Russia’s monarch undoubtedly makes the direction of the Triple Alliance even more unpredictable. Whether the Triple Alliance continues affects whether Europe can achieve relatively long-term peace.

European countries were all speculating, but Carlo, as a Transmigrator, naturally knew the changes in Russia afterward.

If Russia could insist on Alexander II’s reforms, and even have the courage to deepen the reforms, promoting comprehensive reform in Russia, perhaps Russia’s combat power could double.

But unfortunately, due to his father’s painful tragic end, the succeeding Tsar Alexander III exhibited an ambiguous attitude toward reforms.

He still supported his father’s reforms but feared he might end up assassinated like his father.

Even the coronation ceremony was postponed to two years later, which is quite unusual among all European countries.

Generally speaking, after succeeding as King, a coronation ceremony is held within a year. Although one becomes the country’s king upon accession, the role of the coronation ceremony is to strengthen the legitimacy and declare the legitimacy of one’s rule.

Alexander III held the coronation ceremony two years later, which from this aspect shows he is genuinely afraid of assassination.

Mainly because this kind of assassination is hard to guard against, assassins will use all sorts of methods to carry out assassinations, and people will inevitably have a day of negligence.

Out of courtesy, Spain sent its Foreign Secretary as a representative to attend Alexander II’s funeral. Due to the lack of any relations between the Spanish Royal Family and the Russian Royal Family, Carlo naturally did not need to personally rush to the funeral of Alexander II.

Spain’s dispatch of the Foreign Secretary, besides participating in Alexander II’s funeral, also intended to reassert previous cooperation with the Russian Government, ensuring that cooperation between the two countries would not be affected by the Tsar’s succession.

What cooperation was there between Spain and Russia? Of course, it was in terms of immigration.

Although after the end of the Russian-Turkish War, Russia stopped purchasing Spanish weapons and equipment, Spain didn’t stop its actions in importing immigrants from Russia.

Since Spain pays real currency or other valuable industrial products and technical materials to import immigrants, Russia is also very willing to continue cooperating with Spain.

In the two years following the end of the Russian-Turkish War, Spain imported over 50,000 immigrants from Russia, with most of these Russians being transferred to Spanish colonies for agricultural work.

We must admit, Russian farmers are also experts in agricultural work. They have a high stress tolerance, easy satisfaction, and are not prone to rebellion, making them one of the easiest groups to govern across Europe.

In the situation where Spain itself could not bear the burden of large-scale external immigration output, introducing Russian immigrants became Spain’s only and most suitable choice.

Just a few days after the diplomatic delegation’s departure to St. Petersburg, good news came back that the Russian Government would not change its diplomatic policy in the short term, and Spain could still continuously import immigrants from Russia in the coming years.

This certainly is good news since Spain’s future development of West Africa colonies requires a large number of immigrants, and not all tasks are suitable for the indigenous people in the colonies; some tasks still require regular European immigrants.

The indigenous people of West Africa only need to serve as cheap labor; their main use is for heavy labor tasks with high mortality rates, while other tasks are reserved for immigrants.

After confirming that the Russian Government’s diplomatic stance would remain relatively unchanged, Carlo became more curious about Germany and Austria’s attitude towards Russia.

Will the Triple Alliance continue? Or will Russia lean towards France, with two major military blocs forming ahead of time and colliding more fiercely?

To clarify this, Carlo instructed the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau to closely monitor the actions among the governments of Germany, Russia, and Austria. Once the three governments secretly meet, it indicates that the Triple Alliance is very likely to continue, with neither Germany nor Russia planning to leave the alliance.

If the three governments do not meet privately, and there is no interaction between the German and Russian governments, then the dissolution of the Triple Alliance might not be far off.