TLIAWOS: Cantando los Cuarenta

EEA0637.png

W-what is this?
It is what the title says. A Timeline in a Week Or So.

Oh. So you can't resist jumping in the bandwagon, can't you?
I'm actually doing it only so I can have an excuse to do this silly thing with the fake dialogue. All the cool kids are doing it.

So what does that title in spanish mean anyway?
It's a pun on a particular play in the game of tute, but it refers to the number of years the timeline is going to cover (more or less).

Wait, isn't tute a card game?
Indeed. Although I've always been more of a brisca or escoba man.

Oh, god. This is not what I think it is, right?
Yup. It totally is.

You are doing a Shuffling The Deck timeline with spanish presidents from the democratic period. You monster.
Indeed I am. There's only six of them anyway (plus an extra character that will be revealed in due time).

Hence those playing cards in the title, er, card.
Yes. Not only that, I am totally copying the card-themed characters gimmick from Lord Roem and Meadow's original TL. But with a spanish deck, of course. I couldn't title it Shuffling the Deck because I wanted a title in spanish, and the spanish language already has a single verb for that, barajar; and TLIAD: Barajando la baraja sounds very silly and redundant.

Soo, can we expect the usual ration of silliness, subverted clichés and ironic fates?
You bet. Plus a small helping of alternate World Cups for your trouble.

When are you going to finish No Spanish Civil War.
Don't think about endings, man. Endings are a prison for the soul, man. Think of the path. The path is the path, not the ending. Namaste.

Whatever. At least finish this one, will you?
This time I have already written half of it before posting.
 
Last edited:
wr8N3s9.jpg

LA SOTA DE BASTOS: FELIPE GONZÁLEZ
1977-1978
Felipe González spent almost a decade buried in a nameless grave and today he can't even say he is the great martyr of Spanish democracy, for someone else more deserving of that title would snatch that away from him a decade later. So he was unlucky, although, to be honest, he could have handled the situation more carefully.

And yet González could not have started his tenure better. 1977 had started badly for Spain, with political violence increasing, rioting and people angry at the Suárez government's slow reform pace. But at least there were reforms. Spaniards were elated when free elections -the first since 1936- were announced for June, with the aim of electing a Congress that would draft a democratic constitution. This elation was subdued once it was known that the PCE, the foremost symbol of the long dead Spanish Republic and of the fight against Franco, would not be legalized and would be unable to run in the election. Suárez didn't want to upset the reactionary forces in the army, who were already unhappy with the democratization process, and thought that outright legalizing Franco's nemesis would be a step too far. This proved to be a serious political miscalculation: in June, the entire left and a good part of the center and right threw themselves behind PSOE wishing to punish Suarez' overcaution and when the dust settled, Felipe González, a 35-year old with a thick sevillan accent, found himself as President of the spanish government.

As usual in Spain, this promising start could only go wrong, horribly wrong. At the beginning González dazzled spaniards and the world: he was young, he was dynamic, he was funny. Unlike the suits and military or fascist uniforms that Franco's ministers had worn for decades, González and his vicepresident Alfonso Guerra wore trendy workmanlike coats and corduroy pants. The corduroy generation, as Time Magazine called them. The world was looking forward to Spain finally transitioning towards democracy in a peaceful and social democratic way. Gonzalez and Guerra really looked like the future Spain wanted. Upon being sworn in, Guerra declared: “In a couple of years, not even the mother that bore her is going to recognize Spain”. He was right,in a twisted way.

The PSOE's youthful enthusiasm could not handle the simmering pot of tensions that was Spain in 1977. Yes, the people wanted reform, and they wanted it now, but said reform had to be a complicated balancing act between many different groups -the people, nationalists, fascist nostalgics, monarchists, communists, socialists, trade unions, the Church- all still vying for revenge, reparation or continuing what had happened in Spain for the last 40 years. And neither González nor Guerra wanted to wait for everyone else to follow them. They wanted reform, they wanted a democratic and social Spain, they wanted some measure of reparation for Franco's crimes, and they wanted it now. They weren't hardcore socialists in the least: at the 1974 congress in Suresnes, the PSOE had renounced marxism in favor of a more moderate european-style social democracy. But González knew that a large part of his parliamentary majority was standing in for the PCE congressmen that had not been able to run, and needed to appease them.

1978 arrived and the comission charged with writing the new Constitution stalled, unable to reach a consensus: González had enough of a majority to rule, but not enough to pass a constitutional text without a large consensus between all political forces. And, while Suarez's UCD was happy to collaborate, the rest of the right, from Fraga's AP to the Fuerza Nueva reactionaries, was less understanding.
The summer of 1978 arrived with economy still stagnant -as most economic reforms were being blocked by an UCD wary of too fast leftwards movements-, riots in the streets, ETA and far right terror still striking and the army still losing its trust in González by the day. And worse, after a year, people were starting to lose hope as well. The only good news were Spain's unexpected qualification to the 1978 World Cup second round, after a surprise defeat of Brazil in the first round when Cardeñosa managed to score effortlessly on an open net. Spain would then be eliminated by Argentina in a very politically charged match marred by dubious refereeing.

Just as Spain beat Brazil in the World Cup, word came that the constitutional text being discussed included things such as a complete federalization of Spain, and references to socialism not unlike those in post-revolutionary Portugal's Constitution drafted in 1976. That was the last drop. In barracks, in bars and in safehouses, plans drafted long ago were put into action.

In June 25, just as spaniards watched the Netherlands stun Argentina in Buenos Aires with a last minute goal by Rensenbrink, tanks left their barracks and rolled onto the streets in Madrid, Valencia and other cities. What was known as the Second Spanish Civil War had just begun.

In a way, everyone was sort of expecting it. No one could really buy that The Usual Suspects would really let democracy go through after those 40 years, much less democracy ruled by socialists. Plenty of people who had spent decades planning escape routes because they had seen what happened in 1936 to friends or relatives who didn't have one decided to put those plans into motion. And yet, Miguel Gila, perhaps Spain's greatest humorist, who had lived and almost died through the first one as a teenage republican soldier explained with his characteristically dark humor how most spaniards old enough to remember 1936 felt as well: “This war? This isn't war. Wars used to be something else, but this thing here, isn't war or anything. So few dead! So few bombardments! You go by the road and you can only see a couple of corpses lying by the roadside! Boo-fucking-hoo. They tell me the fascist jails have like a dozen inmates in them and some of them have actually done something! If I knew this was going to be the next war, I would have done it earlier! They really don't do wars like they used to, do they. It's like we really are ready for democracy and have become civilized this time. '36, that was a war como Dios manda! All those millions of dead people and destroyed cities: That's how it's done! We really got our money's worth of that one's ticket”.

Because, in the end, it wasn't the apocalyptic massacre that everyone had been fearing in the back of their minds since the old man croaked, and for some time it seemed as if the government would have the upper hand. In the first days of chaos, the rebels failed to take full control of Madrid after and after a week of confuse combats that left hundreds dead, it became clear that the rebels, led by general Milans del Bosch, only held full control over Valencia, Cádiz, Pontevedra and Navarra, with Madrid and other provincial capitals being disputed. It was a war indeed, but nowhere on the scale as the last one, and by mid- July, González could say that the rebellion could be crushed by autumn. It was really a more civilized affair: there was no mass panic, no mass murders, no mass flights and no mass atrocities, in fact, as Gila had remarked, there was only a few hundred extrajudicial murders countrywide, as civil society, that had worked superbly in marches and concentrations and mass petitions the previous year, melted in the face of tanks and airplanes. Things were so fast, confusing and -as it turned out- so haphazardly thrown out that soon even capturing subversives ceased to be the military junta's priority: finishing the job in Madrid was the top priority.

In the end bringing in reinforcements from rebel-held Valencia wasn't necessary. The air strike that destroyed the Moncloa Palace in July 12, was enough to get the job done, even if the putschists should have thought twice before wiping out everyone entitled to negotiate with them in a single strike. With the government beheaded, the entire country seemed about to be thrown in full chaos. By the end of the month, Spain was in the verge of disolution: its government beheaded, its Congress scattered and powerless, military strongmen advancing on the capital, Portugal and France massing troops in the borders while the Sixth Fleet moved on the Baleares, the Basque Country and Catalonia right about to declare independence.

With no elected government, street fighting in Madrid and all the powers of the state theorically going back to him, Juan Carlos I El Breve, king of Spain, had no choice but to make a deal with the devil, one that would save Spain in the short term, even if sacrificing its newfound democracy, and himself.

______

The PoD, btw, is Suárez electing not to legalize the PCE in March 1977.
 
Last edited:
Sounds like the next one will either be a Francoist or a Communist. Is he the additional character?

No, the additional character is not a president.

There's only six of them and age precludes quite a few, there aren't that many plausible candidates for the next one.

(Yes, I wasted a perfect chance of naming this Seis toros, Seis)
 
Sounds like the next one will either be a Francoist or a Communist. Is he the additional character?

Well, that doesn't exclude too many people, most of the Spanish right, were of, or sympathised to some degree with Francoism, even the most liberal and democratic members, like Suárez or Areilza. On the other hand, most left-wing people belonged to the PCE, even when they weren't communists, because it was essentially the only properly organized left-wing opposition movement.

Also, it's very nice to see a TLIAW/TLIAD/TLIAsomething using a proper, virile deck, instead of the effete French-English deck.
 

Thande

Donor
Interesting. You don't have as many people/as long a time period to work with as some of these, but it should be interesting to see.
 

Goldstein

Banned
This war? This isn't war. Wars used to be something else, but this thing here, isn't war or anything. So few dead! So few bombardments! You go by the road and you can only see a couple of corpses lying by the roadside! Boo-fucking-hoo. They tell me the fascist jails have like a dozen inmates in them and some of them have actually done something! If I knew this was going to be the next war, I would have done it earlier! They really don't do wars like they used to, do they. It's like we really are ready for democracy and have become civilized this time. '36, that was a war como Dios manda! All those millions of dead people and destroyed cities: That's how it's done! We really got our money's worth of that one's ticket

It's amazing how that sounds like a real Gila monologue. Not that the SCW had millions of dead (that's one cypher too many), but it doesn't have to be a reliable account. Let's see where this goes. Even with privileged information, that detail about a seventh figure intrigues me.
 

Goldstein

Banned
Plenty of people who had spent decades planning escape routes because they had seen what happened in 1936 to friends or relatives who didn't have one decided to put those plans into motion, even though quite a few

BTW, this sentence seems unfinished.
 
No, the additional character is not a president.

There's only six of them and age precludes quite a few, there aren't that many plausible candidates for the next one.

You've mentioned a Suarez government already, so it would almost have to be Calvo-Sotelo - Zapatero is a teenager at this point and Aznar is just out of school. Would Calvo-Sotelo be "the devil" from Juan Carlos' standpoint, though?
 
IlPBl71.jpg

EL AS DE ESPADAS: CARLOS HUGO I DE BORBÓN-PARMA
(A royal interlude, 1978-2010)

When he took the throne in November 1975, many nicknamed Juan Carlos “El Breve”, since most believed that a young man raised under Franco's wing couldn't be able to succesfully steer Spain towards democracy and wouldn't last long. To his credit, he almost made it, which is more than can be said about the average spanish monarch. To his credit as well, he took full responsibility once the situation went out of control, which is way more than can be said about the average spanish statesman. But to his shame, he was incapable of stopping the putschists first -assuming he wasn't in on it, as has been a persistent rumour- and he was as well the one who enabled El Acuerdo. In fact, it was him who reached out to Milans del Bosch in Valencia, almost pleading him to stop with his lunacy, pointing out to all the foreign troops massed at the border, to all the resolutions being discussed at the UN and -as the joke goes- asking him if his concept of saving Spain involved the humiliation of being invaded by the Portuguese.

El Acuerdo: the two most divisive words in spanish politics. Even if Spain has nowadays managed to transition into a full democracy, there are many that will consider it a national shame, the last and ultimate betrayal the senior Bourbons inflicted on Spain, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Others will argue that without it Spain would have dissolved itself into a neverending conflict.

But from Juan Carlos point of view there was not much else that could be done: the conflict's scale had been kept somewhat limited, but the risk of another total war was there even more so when civilian government had vanished. His Chief of Staff, General Armada, convinced him that, this time, a negotiated end was possible: after all, the putschists didn't want a war either, had not planned for one, and the spectre of a foreign intervention that might have snatched Catalonia and the Basque country away loomed for both sides.

So it was in September 23 that the King took to the waves, and in a message broadcast to the nation, he announced that an agreement had been reached with the rebels. A civilian caretaker government would be set up. A new constitution would be drafted, and order would return. (Please notice the lack of mention to new elections).

And, right after that, he announced that, considering his failure to uphold peace and order, he was abdicating, and renouncing his rights and his line's rights to the spanish throne. The following day, the royal family departed for London.

Spain's story is loaded with ironic twists, but none greater than that of Carlos Hugo I's unlikely acession to the throne and reign. The first irony is, of course, that of an historical relic such as carlism finally reaching its goals in a somewhat peaceful way after failing to reach them by the force of arms over a century earlier: a concept not much less absurd than, say, Britain deciding on a Jacobite restoration upon Queen Elizabeth's death. A jacobite movement that had just decided to ditch traditionalist catholicism in favor of, erm, autogestionary socialism.

The second irony, of course, is that the military junta decided to start a civil war over a social democrat President trying to pass his political program, only to then eagerly accept a goddamn Titoist as a king. And it's not like they didn't know about Carlos Hugo's political ideas: the Montejurra massacre in 1976 had been a shootout between Carlos Hugo's left wing carlists and the reactionaries supporting his cousin Sixtus' claims. But they didn't have many choices: a king was needed as a symbol to rally the country behind, not even the putschists believed the country would tolerate Franco's Kingdom without a king gimmick, the senior Bourbon branch had renounced -Juan Carlos not wanting to leave another 10 year old to be raised by some military strongman for the cycle to repeat itself in 20 years-; no other european royal family would touch Spain with a 10-foot pole, and finally Juan Carlos himself had suggested “give cousin Carlitos a call” in his way out. The putschists believed that all the right wing would rally behind the carlist claimant, on the basis of his dynasty and anyway, even if he had some weird ideas about workers self-regulation and protecting the environment, so what? Surely he could be reined in easily.

The 1980's would fortunately prove them wrong. Carlos Hugo's arrival to Madrid in October 1978 after having been expelled by Franco a decade prior was even more inauspicious than that of Juan Carlos. There were no crowds waiting for him. In fact the king, not unlike Amadeo I in 1870, had to endure arriving to an empty city still shellshocked and scarred by the war. His proclamation ceremony was even more subdued than that of Juan Carlos: the TV broadcast had to cut all images from the Congress seats to avoid showing they were half empty due to the PSOE's boycott of both ceremony and the new regime. But for now everyone agrees that the Transition to a full democracy in the decade after El Acuerdo would have been impossible without Carlos Hugo's role and his ability to sidestep what were supposed to be his military minders, and that a weak king like Juan Carlos would have been incapable of standing up to the military. Even if spaniards spent the first decade of his reign barely aware of his existence, Carlos Hugo's work behind the scenes was decisive, and by the time of his death in 2010, spaniards had warmed to both the man and the Borbón-Parma dynasty.

Even though he never recanted his socialist ideals -that everyone knew about despite never being able to openly express them-, his most concrete contribution to contemporary Spain was his interest in environmental issues and his impulse of renewable energies and nature tourism. On another note, many attribute the success of the Gibraltar Talks to his great personnel rapport with King Charles, started over their shared interest in terrible architecture and organic food.

-------
This is the seventh character.
 
Last edited:
The Titoist Carlist as King? Dr. Strangelove, you magnificent bastard you... and King Charles and Carlos Hugo bonding over their mutual disdain for bad architecture is a neat hint...
 
I certainly wasn't expecting that.

Will the Acuerdo last throughout Carlos Hugo's reign, or will the transition occur at some point during it (my guess would be in the late 1980s)? And how will this affect Spain's relations with the European Community, as it then was?

The next update, I assume, will reveal who the prime minister was during the Acuerdo, unless there wasn't one.
 
Is movida madrileña still exists in this scenarip?
Not in Madrid and not in the 80's.

I certainly wasn't expecting that.

Will the Acuerdo last throughout Carlos Hugo's reign, or will the transition occur at some point during it (my guess would be in the late 1980s)? And how will this affect Spain's relations with the European Community, as it then was?

The next update, I assume, will reveal who the prime minister was during the Acuerdo, unless there wasn't one.

All this will be revealed in the next update.
 
Top