The Queen of the Orient

Mercenarius

Banned
UPDATE: This timeline has been revamped. For the new version, go here.




The Queen of the Orient: A Philippine History


Prologue


By the end of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, Spain was left in ruins. Its economy in shambles, and its empire standing on shaky ground. The restored king Fernando VII didn't help matters. He nullified the Cádiz Constitution and imposed autocratic rule, in hopes of restoring Spain to its old glory. But what it did was the opposite. The people later became dissatified with Fernando's heavy-handed rule and began to rebel. The Spanish colonies in the Americas managed to secede from the Crown and declared independence, reducing the once mighty colonial realm into a few islands and outposts in Africa and the Caribbean, and its sole possession in Asia: the Philippines.

The Spanish government grew more distrustful of criollos and mestizos, and employed countermeasures againt them, aiming to avoid another secession. Several peninsular officials that were expelled from the Americas were transferred to Manila, replacing the existing criollo ones. This caused resentment amongst the criollos, perceiving it as a prejudice against them. The changes were also extended to the military, demoting criollo officers and promoting peninsular ones. As expected, the criollos protested. But the government responded by transferring them to Mindanao. One criollo Captain named Andrés Novales decided that enough is enough, and began to plot against the government.

On the night of June 1st 1823, 800 soldiers under the command of Novales and Lieutenant Rafael Ruiz[1] attacked government positions in Manila, killing several Spanish officials in the process including Mariano Rodriguez de Folgueras, the man responsible for their misery. Not so urprisingly, the common folk joined the mutineers, also tired of the injustices of the Spaniards

This victory endeared Novales to his men, proclaiming him emperor. But for Novales, the battle has just begun, and led his men into Fort Santiago. Andrés requested his brother Antonio to open the fort's gate, but he refused resulting into a deadly standoff. Things turned around however, when the latter's subordinates went against his orders and opened the gates.[2] Antonio was then held hostage by his own men, who now joined Andrés' growing army. The conquest of Manila was virtually complete.

The event send shockwaves throughout the nearby provinces, provoking other Filipinos to rise up against the Spanish yoke. Unfortunately, victory was not yet guaranteed. In the midst of chaos, Governor-General Juan Antonio Martínez and some surviving Royalist troops escaped to Pampanga, and prepared for a counterattack. This set the stage for the largest war yet on Philippine soil.

The Philippine War of Independence has begun.


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[1] I decided to give him a first name since it was not recorded IOTL. I hope it's okay (If you know his true first name, please tell me.)

[2] This is the POD. IOTL, Antonio Novales resisted his brother's forces until Spanish reinforcements arrived to crush the rebels.
 
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Mercenarius

Banned
War for Independence (Part 1)

The seizure of Manila was just the start of the struggle. Just a day later, the suburban districts fell into disarray. Tondo, Ermita and Paco were captured on June 3rd, followed by Ermita, Malate and Santa Ana two days later. The Spanish fleet at Manila Bay had also fell into chaos when some officers, obviously criollos, declared its allegiance to Novales' junta. The Chinese community at Binondo expressed support of the rebels, hoping that it could mean no more excess taxes from the pesky Iberians. Meanwhile, Governor Martínez mobilized the entire Spanish garrison on Pampanga and attacked Bulacan quelling the budding rebellion there. For the time being, that is.

The rebel positions were threatened when the Royalists reached the north of Tullahan River. So on June 12th, at the Palacio del Gobernador, Novales (along with several intellectuals) declared the Philippines' independence from Spain, and urged the populace to take arms and fight. His call was answered, as hundreds of men joined his army, and the provinces formed their militia units. Novales personally led 8,000 men and fought against the Royalists at Polo on June 24th, where the rebels earned a pyrrhic but decisive victory. Ruiz, in an attempt to retake Bulacan, was defeated at San José del Monte, but held his ground at Montalban. After being reinforced by irregular troops under the command of Regino Mijares, Ruiz resumed the offensive and, with help from local guerillas, smashed the Spanish forces at Bocaue.

At the beginning of July, Novales' forces arrived at Pueblo de Bulacan[1], where a sizeable Spanish force entrenched themselves, supported by Royalist vessels off the coasts. Novales knew he doesn't possess enough supplies for a siege, and decided to isolate them. On July 7th, Ruiz won a minor battles at Pandi and San Rafael, and advanced into Apalit in Pampanga, forcing Martínez to transfer troops to avoid being outflanked. Novales finally reached Pampanga's border on July 12th after the fall of Hagonoy. A few more battles occured and by the end of July, Bulacan was clear of Royalists.

As Manila was relatively safe for the time being, an assembly was convened in Palacio del Gobernador, with many prominent intellectuals in attendance. They set up a provisional junta in place of the Captaincy-General, and also setting up the objective of drafting a constitution.


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[1] OTL Bulacan, Bulacan. (Yeah, it's redundant.)
 
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Do you have an account of how many ships are loyal to The royalists or to rebels?

How many the ships of the line under Novales?
 

Mercenarius

Banned
Do you have an account of how many ships are loyal to The royalists or to rebels?

How many the ships of the line under Novales?

Well, no actually. There isn't any record of ships during that time AFAIR (that's why I didn't put a number). Although Spanish sources might have. I may look into it.
 
Well, no actually. There isn't any record of ships during that time AFAIR (that's why I didn't put a number). Although Spanish sources might have. I may look into it.

Well, I asked since the number of ships and type of ships in possession of Novales can tilt Philippines into a minor power Status or just a defense oriented country.

Paired that with the Spanish shipyards in the Philippines that were still top of the line due to high quality wood that Philippines offer.

Although you wont need to know the number if you are pushing Philippines success rate to a later date since iron/steel navies would start in 40 years or so.
 

TFSmith121

Banned
It may be a little too early for much help now, but

It may be a little too early for much help now, but later in the century, after the Latin American republics were independent and had gotten through their internal periods of consolidation, there were at least a few considerations of Latin American expeditions to "liberate" the remaining Spanish possesions in the Americas and, IIRC, even the PI when it got to the point the Latin American nations with a Pacific had developed navies worth mentioning...of course, if the Filipinos look like they can win, the British and French will start sniffing around for "allies" to support...

Interesting point of departure.

Best,
 

TFSmith121

Banned
Different times, different places, but there were plans

Any sources on that expedition?


Different times, different places, but after the failure of the Spanish expedition against Mexico in 1829, Santa Anna (!) and some Mexican republicans tried to organize an expedition against Cuba or Puerto Rico using troops raised in Mexico and Haiti; there had been discussions in 1824 between Mexico and Gran Colombia as well, but they were put on hold in the face of British and US opposition.

After the Chincha Islands war in the 1860s, there were some discussions of a joint expedition to the Phillippines, as well.

With the Filipino revolt in 1823, it gets interesting; the Spanish and their local royalist allies were still fighting in what (to them) were New Granada, Rio de la Plata, Peru, and New Spain, although it was winding down...Peru and Chile had both acquired substantial naval squadrons (in the sense of substantial for revolutionary governments) and were active against the Spanish in the Pacific. Martin Guise led a five-ship Peruvian squadron against a Spanish 74 as late as 1824, for example. Also, Cochrane was still active as a mercenary; he was in command of the Brazilian Navy in 1823, but he seemed willing to go anywhere there was money to be made.

Plenty of American veterans of 1812-15 were probably available, as well.

As always, comes down to how much money the Filipino insurgents/republicans/nationalists had to offer...

Best,
 

Mercenarius

Banned
Looks like Latin American reinforcements are highly unlikely at this point. I think they would rather fix their own house first.
 

TFSmith121

Banned
True, but given the post-Napoleon lack of work for ex-soldiers and sailors

Looks like Latin American reinforcements are highly unlikely at this point. I think they would rather fix their own house first.


True, but given the post-Napoleon lack of work for ex-soldiers and sailors, if the Filipinos can come up with some hard currency/specie, they might be able to bring in some professional assistance worth the name...

Especially in terms of naval strength, akin to Cochrane, Brown, and Guise.

Best,
 

Mercenarius

Banned
True, but given the post-Napoleon lack of work for ex-soldiers and sailors, if the Filipinos can come up with some hard currency/specie, they might be able to bring in some professional assistance worth the name...

That's the hard part. From what I know, they didn't have that much money a that time, since they're still in transition from government dependency to a capital-driven economy (which was completed around 1830s, I think).

Especially in terms of naval strength, akin to Cochrane, Brown, and Guise.

As much as I find that very, very tempting, would this mean some butterflies in the Americas (and an additional pressure to me, since I'm not that well-read about L. American history)?
 
That's the hard part. From what I know, they didn't have that much money a that time, since they're still in transition from government dependency to a capital-driven economy (which was completed around 1830s, I think).

As much as I find that very, very tempting, would this mean some butterflies in the Americas (and an additional pressure to me, since I'm not that well-read about L. American history)?

With regards to cash, Novales was in control of Manila based on your story. Manila was less than a decade from stopping of the Galleon trade. Although at beginning the rebels may not have the cash, Novales getting control of the colonial governments cash/taxation would solve this since you got a lot of tropical agricultural products as well gold/precious metal mines.

With regards to naval help, it would depend if you get foreign help as suggested or you defect some of the Spanish Navy to rebel cause.
 

Mercenarius

Banned
War for Independence (Part 2)

The months of August and September 1823 saw limited action, with only a few skirmishes between the rebels and Royalists around the Pampanga River, stabilizing the battlefront there. During this brief respite, Governor Martínez turned his attention northward, where some provinces had finally joined the fray, while Novales transferred his army to Ruiz and returned to Manila, where he was given a euphoric welcome.

An assembly by convened on August 19th, to organize a temporary government and to draft a constitution. Using the Cádiz Constitution as a basis, the burden upon the delegates were reduced, and the Philippine Constitution of 1823, the first of its kind in Asia, was promulgated on August 29th. It was a virtual copy of the Spanish one, with some modifications. The Manila Junta, as it was known, formed a provisional government and started a debate, whether the future Philippine state should be a monarchy or a republic. Obviously, many were in favor of the latter but, considering the volatile situation, and lessons from the chaos of the French Revolution, decided for a monarchy as a point of transition. The most obvious candidate for the Junta happened to be Novales, since a war hero would be a very powerful rallying point for the populace. When Novales was informed of his appointment, he politely refused, much to the surprise of almost everyone. The reason? Novales already had his choice for the title "Emperor of the Filipinos".

On September 2nd, during the Junta's session the criollo general, still the de facto leader of the Junta, nominated his mentor and benefactor Luis Rodríguez Varela -the self-titled El Conde Filipino- as the rightful choice. Varela, who just arrived in his first Junta session[1], was shocked. The entire Junta, which almost forgot about Varela, felt the same. But Novales' reasoning for his decision was quite sound: Varela was the only Filipino inducted into the European nobility, and one of the most influential liberalists in the islands at the time. Fortunately, the delegates agreed.

After some deliberations, the Junta came to a unanimous decision, and elected Varela as the monarch. On September 7th, the 1823 Constitution was ratified. The next day, September 8th (the feast day of Virgin Mary), after swearing his oath of allegiance to the constitution, Varela was officially proclaimed as Luis I, Emperor of the Philippines.


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[1] He was unable to attend the first session of the Manila Junta because of fever (a little butterfly effect :D).
 
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TFSmith121

Banned
Well, not to go to the default, but:

That's the hard part. From what I know, they didn't have that much money a that time, since they're still in transition from government dependency to a capital-driven economy (which was completed around 1830s, I think).



As much as I find that very, very tempting, would this mean some butterflies in the Americas (and an additional pressure to me, since I'm not that well-read about L. American history)?

Probably, at least with the British...however, and not to go to the default, but:

The US was not trading that widely with the western Pacific at this point (New England manufactures for Chinese and Malay/Indonesian luxury goods, for the most part; pepper was a "relatively" big trade item), but a few years after your point of departure, various piractical operators were taking enough US flag merchant ships that the US starting dispatching diplomatic and naval missions. The first of significance was in 1831...

See:

http://books.google.co.th/books?oe=...to+the+Hon.+Levi+Woodbury#v=onepage&q&f=false

One thing that is worth considering here is that the US published the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, and Monroe was fairly friendly to the Navy; total USN personnel strength was about 4,000 officers and men (down 1500 from the postwar high in 1818), and the fleet was pretty substantial - there were a half dozen ships of the line and a dozen frigates in commission, in ordinary, or essentially complete on the stocks, plus plenty of smaller ships...

From a geopolitical sense, there were already a lot of people in the southern US looking at Cuba and Puerto Rico, and the possibility of a war with Spain to "liberate" them was not off the table; East Florida had been taken in what amounted to an undeclared one in 1819.

So, to get machiavellian about it, if the US is willing to covertly support some Filipino "revolutionaries fighting for liberty against a tyrannical monarchy," then an "incident" might come from it that would justify an actual war, which - in return for support for Phillippine independence - presumably gets Cuba and Puerto Rico swept into the US ambit...the results (presumably) could satisfy both the New England-Mid-Atlantic merchantile interests and the southern plantation/slaveholding interests...

Nasty, but not unimaginable, in the Nineteenth Century.

There are all sorts of ripples, of course, but such a course would give the "Filippine Republic" a pretty significant ally, overstretch any Spanish reaction, and - in a lot of ways - be a "better" relationship between the US and the Philippines than the one that actually came about in history...

The only real question would be if the British would object; this would be significantly after 1812-15, and although it pre-dates the Anglo-American rapprochement, it's not impossible to envision. The US was (I'd expect) already a more significant trading partner for Britain than Spain would have been...

There would be a fair number of candidates for "unofficial" advisors/observers/etc. from the US in this period to chose from...

Best,
 

Mercenarius

Banned
Aside from a shameless bump...

...a sneak preview of the next update.

320px-Flag_of_the_Tagalog_people.svg.png
 

Mercenarius

Banned
War for Independence (Part 3)

Right after Luis I's proclamation, the constitution was finally implemented, with government elections scheduled in November. On the other hand, Novales was appointed to the position of Captain General (with the equivalent rank of Generalissimo). With his newfound power, Novales organized the insurgent units into a single, cohesive structure. Novales had also designed a flag to be used by the new army, consisting of a red field with a mythical sun similar to that used by the Argentinian revolutionaries, but white in color.

On September 10th, a new army was raised under the command of newly-promoted General José Bayot, with the task of liberating the Bicol region from the remaining Spanish forces there. The campaign was a swift one. With the invaluable help of local insurgents, Bayot captured Camarines on September 21st, and Ibalon[1] on the 27th. Novales had also returned to the frontlines, eager to finish the war as soon as possible. With him was a new army of 10,000 men, joining forces with Ruiz on September 25th. The combined forces then prepared for a major offensive.

Meanwhile, Governor Martínez was having a dilemma. He was expecting to pacify the rebellious provinces in the north within a month, but after suffering a humiliating defeat in Dagupan on September 12th, he slowly found himself fighting on two fronts. With no reinforcements to depend on, along with the news of increased enemy movements along the Pampanga River (an obvious sign for a new assault), is a disaster waiting to happen. This predicament forced Martínez to take a gamble by attacking the rebels in the south before their full force could be brought to bear.

In September 30th, Martínez marched from his headquarters in San Fernando, crossing the Pampanga River into Bulacan. This sudden maneuver caught the Revolutionaries by surprise, and was routed in a two minor battles. But the Royalist's rapid advance were decisively halted in Malolos by Ruiz's forces on October 6th. This brough valuable time for Novales, who launced a successful assault on Apalit on October 8th, not just threatening to cut the overextended Royalists' supply lines, but also poised to attack San Fernando. This forced Martínez to fall back across the river to defend San Fernando, where a decisive battle is about to begin.


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[1] An old province composed of present-day Albay, Catanduanes, Sorsogon and Masbate.
 
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Mercenarius

Banned
War for Independence (Part 4)

Governor Martínez hastily retreated back to San Fernando, with Ruiz in pursuit. The Royalists put up a rearguard action at Bacolor, buying Martínez enough time to prepare a defensive posture against the incoming Revolutionaries. Novales continued his drive deep into Pampanga, capturing México on October 10th, right at the outskirts of San Fernando. However, the Martínez had other plans, as Spanish reinforcements from Zambales, Bataan and Tarlac began amassing near Pampanga's eastern border preparing to strike the rebel's exposed left flank.

On October 12th, as Novales began shelling San Fernando, the other Royalist army quickly advanced into Pampanga, and caught Ruiz by surprise. But despite the shock Ruiz showed some resilience, and draw the Spanish forces at Porac. But it wasn't enough to halt the Royalist advance. Afterwards Ruiz resolved to make a stand at Santa Rita, to prevent two Spanish forces from linking up, thus posing a big threat to Novales.

The Battle of Santa Rita began on October 16th. Despite the valiant efforts by Ruiz's army, the Royalist began to hammer them into submission. But the turning point of the battle happened on the next day, when Ruiz was saved by 8,000 rebel reinforcements which was, much to Ruiz's surprise, led by Antonio Novales. Antonio's army (which included around 2,500 Chinese volunteers) smashed the Royalists, and push them back all the way to Bataan, leaving San Fernando to fend for itself.

Meanwhile, Martínez personally launched one final counterattack against Novales, which marked the climax of the Battle of San Fernando. This event was immortalized by several accounts, in which it narrated about the personal field duel between the two commanders where Novales managed to wound Martínez in the arm. In the end, the Revolutionaries stood tall. Martínez, after learning the defeat at Santa Rita, realized the danger of his position, and evacuated Pampanga to start a long retreat to southern Cagayan, in the mountains of Caraballo, where he organized another defensive perimeter. San Fernando eventully fell to the rebels on October 19th.

The victory at Pampanga was a decisive one. It precipitated a total collapse of Spanish resistance in central Luzon which paved the way to the Ilocos region, still in rebellion against Royalist forces. After another series of battles, Dagupan fell on October 25th, followed by Candon and Vigan on the 28th and Laoag on the 30th. With the liberation of Ilocos, the Captaincy-General was now reduced to the Cagayan Valley and the Sierra Madre mountains. Historians would mark this moment as the beginning of the end for the Spanish East Indies.
 
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