Carlist Wars

The rebellion instigated by the capitalists ended anticlimactically.

Although the whole process was somewhat unexpected, upon careful reflection it seemed only natural.

Even such events would occur frequently in later generations. A march that appeared entirely composed of workers might not have been voluntarily initiated by the workers themselves; it could have been organized by factory owners uniting to oppress, brainwash, and threaten the workers.

Because groups like the capitalists are a minority in any country, they can only rely on the majority—workers and peasants—to achieve their goals.

But in present-day Spain, it was not so easy for capitalists to incite large numbers of workers and peasants.

Peasants are the most supportive of autocracy and monarchy, and this holds true in any country. Because peasants have low demands—as long as they have enough to eat and don't go hungry, they are satisfied with their current lives.

The agricultural tax reduction policies enacted by Spain were the best means to win over the peasants. For peasants who already supported the monarchy, they were naturally willing to obey the orders of Carlos and the Spanish government.

Compared to peasants, the composition of factory workers was more complex. Worker marches were an important tool for capitalists to achieve their goals, and the capitalists naturally would not let go of oppressing and brainwashing the workers.

This was also why a considerable portion of the capitalist rebel force consisted of workers—because not everyone could see through the domestic situation, and not everyone could ignore the capitalists' combination of sweet talk and intimidation.

But such a scale of marches and rebellions could no longer threaten Carlos and the Spanish government. For Carlos, the greatest internal threat to Spain was not the country's fledgling capital, but the separatist forces in Catalonia and the Basque Country, as well as the Carlists, who had gained support from Catalan independence activists.

Although this march and rebellion were easily resolved, the army under the Spanish government's control remained stationed around Madrid, waiting at any moment for news from Catalonia and the Basque Country.

For Carlos, he actually hoped the Carlists and those regional separatist factions would take this opportunity to jump out and stir up trouble.

Only if they jumped out on their own would Carlos have a chance to eliminate them once and for all.

Otherwise, letting these opposition factions continue to develop quietly in Catalonia and the Basque Country would only deepen the rift between these two regions and Spain.

This was precisely why, in later generations, Catalonia and the Basque Country kept pushing for independence.

The Catalan parliament even held an independence referendum and declared independence from Spain based on the results. If not for the Spanish government ruling that the regional referendum violated the Spanish constitution and forcefully suppressing it, there might have been one more country on the world map.

The Basque Country was no slouch either. Although it didn't go so far as to directly hold a referendum and declare independence, the separatist sentiment in the Basque Country was even more radical than in Catalonia.

After the death of the Spanish dictator Franco, the Basque Country gave rise to a terrorist organization called ETA, which even assassinated the King of Spain multiple times.

If the independence issue in these two regions could not be resolved once and for all, Spain's future would inevitably be unstable, and more opposition parties would oppose the Spanish government by supporting the independence of Catalonia and the Basque Country.

The good news was that, at this time, the populations of Catalonia and the Basque Country had not yet reached a level that could threaten Spain.

Spain's total population was about 16.6 million, with the main ethnic group, the Spanish, making up the vast majority. Catalonia's population was only around 1.3 million, and the Basque Country's population was just over 300,000.

The combined population of the two regions was only 1.6 million, less than one-tenth of Spain's total population. This was also why Carlos was confident he could resolve the independence issue in these two regions once and for all.

In the end, the Carlists did not disappoint Carlos.

On January 25, 1870, "Carlos VII," who considered himself a man of great talent and bold vision, decided to take the initiative while the Madrid government was still in chaos.

The Carlists used newspapers in Barcelona to publish a large number of articles claiming that Carlos VII was the rightful King of Spain, and that the current Spanish government's policies would severely damage Barcelona's economy, setting it back by at least 20 years.

The Carlists also greatly exaggerated the harm of the labor law to factories and enterprises in Catalonia, even claiming that it would cause Spain to lose all its industry and factories, leaving all workers in Catalonia jobless.

Under the influence of this widespread news, many Catalans believed it to be true and expressed willingness to join the legitimate government of Carlos VII to resist the rule of the Spanish government.

After organizing an army of tens of thousands in just a few days, Carlos VII gave a public speech in Barcelona, declaring that he would expel King Carlos and restore the rule of the Bourbon Dynasty.

Amid the chaos, a new Carlist War officially broke out.

Although the target had changed from Queen Isabella to Carlos, the Carlists' goal remained the same: to place their leader, Carlos VII, on the Spanish throne.

Upon hearing the news of the outbreak of war, Carlos breathed a sigh of relief in Madrid.

When he heard that tens of thousands of troops had been organized in Catalonia, Carlos not only showed no panic but also felt even more contempt for the so-called Carlos VII.

Why?

Although the Catalan independence issue had always been one of Spain's biggest headaches, at least for now, most Catalans still had a strong sense of identification with Spain.

And more importantly, the current Prime Minister, Primo, was himself a Catalan. In fact, the last revolution was launched by Prime Minister Primo in Catalonia.

The current Spanish army included many Catalan soldiers. Under these circumstances, it was hard to imagine how Carlos VII could have assembled an army of tens of thousands.

Considering that Catalonia, as one of Spain's most economically and industrially developed regions, had a large number of workers, perhaps the Carlists and Catalan independence activists had coerced these brainwashed and threatened workers to form this so-called army of tens of thousands.

This was precisely why Carlos wanted to laugh. The Carlists kept saying that Primo's reforms had cost Catalan workers their jobs, but weren't their own actions now costing these workers their jobs?

Excluding these workers, the Carlists had at most just over 10,000 troops in their hands. Relying on this army of 10,000 to march into Madrid—did they take Carlos for Queen Isabella from two years ago?

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