Note: Deleted the Mexico segment because I was dissatisfied- a re-done Mesoamerica update will come at some point.
The Aragonese Revolution was not, as was initially thought, a hearkening back to old liberties, like the British and Carthaginian Revolutions. This revolution was far more similar to the ancient revolution in Corcyra, as covered by Thucydides and analyzed by the Roman political theorist Pyrophore in his seminal work "The Titan".
The Aragonese Kingdom had, at one point, ruled most of the Western Mediterranean. At its height (although Kabylie was not yet conquered) under King Llorenc III, Aragon controlled its home territories in Iberia, Oran, Carthage, Naples, and had suzerainty over much of northern Italy and the duchy of Dyrrachium . Within 50 years of Llorenc's death, Dyrrachium was back under Roman control, Northern Italy had declared independence, Hungary had taken southern Italy, and the Carthaginians had their revolution, taking Sicily, Corsica and Sardinia with them.
Aragon did manage to conquer Kabylia in the 1580s, but eventually lost Kabylia in the 1660s. In 1717, Provence was also made independent, as a result of the Treaty of Paris that ended the 5 Years War. Aragon from that point onward was a neutral power, a shadow of its former glory. At the same time, its population began to grow after the reforms of King Anton II. Food prices slowly climbed during the 18th century, and the incompetent and autocratic King Micolau II only exacerbated matters.
From the mid-17th century onward, the urban middle class had grown in size and influence, even as the geopolitical influence of Aragon waned. Barcelona, the capital, grew in size.
The winter of 1771 was one of the coldest on record. Crops died in the fields, and the burgeoning population of Aragon cried out for food. The urban middle class cried out for political reform as King Micolau and his autocratic court completely mishandled the crisis. The King's wife, Princess Lucrezia Gero of Naples, notoriously spent mass amounts of treasury money on dresses and galas, even as the people starved. In April, the King, recognizing the severity of the crisis, called not only the noble Cortes but the clergymen and burghers as well (with exception of the Muslims and the Jews).
For three months, reform and action stalled as the incalcitrant nobles and clergymen refused to budge on key issues of power and governance. The people continued to starve. The burghers left in mid-June. Of all of these delegations, it was the Barcelona delegation that was the most radical.
And on July 4th, the tension broke. A bread riot was fired upon by zealous Royal troops. A sympathetic burgher speaker was arrested and shot near the market. The people and burghers revolted. Barricades were erected, and the Aragonese Revolution had begun. Three days later, the Rights of the Citizen were established, nailed to the door of the tavern for all to see. It would be these declared rights, and the new principles of Equality and Solidarity that would run the revolution (some burgher factions noted the lack of Liberty- this would be important later).
The capital, Barcelona, was quickly seized. Sympathetic soldiers soon bolstered the ranks of the Provisional Revolutionary Government, which was held in an old mosque that had become a tavern. The King stayed in his rural estate for now, hoping that the revolution would die down. But it did not. Foreign support from Britain and Carthage began to trickle in- they hoped for another republic to support them in geopolitical struggles.
In late August, the King idiotically returned to his capital, to try and negotiate with the revolutionaries. He was captured and imprisoned, and forced to make large concessions to the revolution. The moderate factions were pleased- they had no desire to overthrow the monarchy if they could have their freedoms with a king. This shaky compromise persisted until mid-November, when the nobles and reactionaries tried to free the King.
The moderates won their battles with the nobles, but at great loss. The radicals were politically enriched by the whole fiasco, and the culture of paranoia permeated Barcelona.
A climate of tension lasted until late December- opponents of the regime, from the captured nobles to clerics to people falsely denounced, were put up to fake trials and were publicly executed by impalement.
And on Dec. 25th, it was the King and his wife who were executed. By this time, anti-clerical elements had completely seized control of the Council of State, and some churches had already been ransacked or burnt, even in the countryside. In defiance of religious norms of Christmas and various other things, the King and his wife were crucified next to each other. They said a few words to each other- they had never been terribly close- and then took their punishment. They were supported by wood blocks. Their legs were nailed to the cross, as were their arms. They were already weakened by ill-treatment in prison- the Queen had watched her daughter be debauched by her guards, before being taken to a whorehouse in Barcelona somewhere. And, late on Christmas night, the two died. The crosses were lit on fire, and the image of their corpses burning on the crosses would become the defining image of the conservative victims of the Revolution. In death, their significant flaws in life would be forgotten.
The execution of the King also marked the ascendance of the radical faction under Tirs Fonda. Fonda would rename the Council of State into the Committee of Public Safety, a convenient euphemism for the organ of the revolutionary purges.
The outside powers could not tolerate such blasphemy, violent regicide (in spite of earlier examples) and revolutionary ideas. The British and Carthaginians withdrew their support, and the First Coalition, made up of the Italies, the Castilians, the French and the Scandinavians, marched to war. The Germans, Basques and Portuguese were all conspicuously neutral at the time.
Under Fonda, the paranoia in Barcelona and elsewhere reached a fever pitch. The conservative nobles and clerics had fled or had been killed, and the country was under the control of Barcelona and its revolution. Suspects from all villages, whether innocent (more likely) or guilty (less likely), were crucified upon the roads as punishment for crimes against "the People". People ratted each other out for old grievances, and he who advocated extremism was the most trusted. The cautious moderates were regarded with suspicion as "noble spies"- and most were executed.
Religion was abolished, as were some forms of private property (but not all). Noble estates were confiscated, and land reform was enacted. The new rights and the slogan of Solidarity and Fraternity were enacted. The old Royal colors of Red and Yellow were abandoned. Instead, a green flag was made, with a black fist in the center. Green and black were the colors of bourgeois revolution from then on- specifically green, with black signifying revolt beyond ideological lines. This would be proven in Aragon soon enough.
The Killing Time of Fonda lasted from Christmas 1771 to March 15th 1773. In this time, the moderate factions and the conservatives either became more extreme temporarily, or were killed. These actions were supported by the brash writings of Pere Mas, who roiled up the people into a frothy rage against clerics and noblemen. Brother ratted on brother, child told on mother, and the crucifixes lined the roads from Rosello to Malaga.
The forces of the Revolution managed to hold off the Coalition, in part because of Castilian peasant revolts and the incompetence of the French officers. The Italian navies were defeated off the coast of the Balearics, and most of their troops were sunk and drowned. The Scandinavian contingent, smaller than the rest, decided to strike in the north in concert with the French. Although Rosello was taken, the advance towards Barcelona was decidedly slow.
However, this extremity was not without consequences. The Killing Time was less severe the farther away one got from Barcelona, but the fear of extremism and the rural anger at blasphemy and revolution was palpable. Aragon's minority Jewish and Muslim populations feared for their lives. The Jews, being seen as neutral and loyal burghers (loyal because of their permanently established legal rights), were largely safe, although the ghetto in Cartagena was burnt to the ground. The Muslims, who were more conservative, poorer and slightly more rural, were not as safe. And in Granada, Muslims and the Christian majority had always gotten along well.
From the Alhambra in Granada, a counter-revolt was declared. Banners of Christ and Allah were raised. The well-armed peasants, who had once had to contend with piracy, organized themselves better than the revolutionary armies. Soldiers who had resented the King but feared Fonda flocked to Granada in revolt. The Granadine conservative-royalist revolt would be a continuing sore, from its establishment in September 1772 until it was defeated. Led by the famous young reactionary and charismatic leader Carles Marxuach, shortened to Carles Marx, the Grenadines would basically run Granada as an independent nation. Long-held regionalist sentiments were encouraged- this would prove important in the century to come.
Eventually, the purges burned themselves out. The other revolutionaries turned against Fonda and his friend Mas. Mas was killed by a young woman, Catalina Argerich, who managed to escape and live famously in Monomotapa- but that is another story. The moderates, invigorated by Fonda's slow madness and the discontent of the people against the "shirtless radicals", spoke against him. Fonda went to speak to his people on March 15th, 1773. But the people, once again starving thanks to bad economics and bitter at continuing executions, were in no mood. History does not record his speech. The angry crowd rushed Fonda, and killed his guards. He was not given a trial- instead, he was ripped limb from limb and fed to the dogs.
Afterwards, the moderates seized power, and made truce (but not peace!) with France. Although a King was not yet restored, any change was an improvement on Fonda. The Committee of Public Safety was disbanded, and the radicals were quickly and privately purged in the Night of Drownings, where the radicals were wrapped with chains, along with their families, and sunk into the ocean. No death would follow- Aragon would rebuild. The crucifixions and open blasphemies, along with the other less successful social reforms, would be halted.
An attempt was made to retake Granada, but the forces sent were slaughtered by guerilla warfare. The Granadines were largely left alone for a few months, to allow for manpower and materiel to recover.
But foreign events would disrupt the peace. The brotherhood between Castilians and Aragonese had recovered after the end of the religious wars, and the idea of Hispanism, that the two countries should unite in a recognition of Visigothic heritage, had blossomed during the Enlightenment. And the "theocracy" was no longer truly a clerical government. The military had seized power in the 1740s, and had proceeded to exacerbate Castilian poverty and the famine in the 1760s. And so, on July 3rd, 1773, the garrison in Toledo was overthrown. The inefficient government at Valladolid was slow to respond to the crisis, as the Castilian revolutionaries overthrew Salamanca and the city of Leon as well. The Aragonese, even with the Granada problem, were quick to help their fellow revolutionaries. Castile's government, against revolutionaries, revolutionary-allied peasants and the Aragonese, did not last long. Even with French troops marching towards Rosello, the Aragonese did not halt. On November 14th, 1773, the Castilian government fled their last city at Santander and fled abroad. Bernambuco would declare independence, while the government set itself up in the Caicos.
A Spanish Republic was declared at Toledo, with the capital moved to that city (Barcelona was both burnt out from purges and a bit too close to France). The rights and laws of Aragon were applied to Castile, and Spain was declared. With the manpower of both Aragon and Castile, the Second Coalition was not as much of a threat. The Portuguese continued to remain neutral, even as they mobilized Guinean troops back to Portugal. They also funded the Granadine revolt with guns and money. The French, Italians, Scandinavians, Carthaginians and Basques moved to crush the new Spanish state.
This coalition was more successful- the naval defeat in the Bay of Biscay and the Carthaginian beachhead at Cartagena were very threatening. The French and Basques were edging closer to Barcelona. That is, until the actions of one Lleïr Bardem.
Bardem had been born in Oran, the son of a local Kabyle Catholic woman, descended from fleeing Kabyle Catholics, and a fifth-generation Aragonese merchant. Bardem had, at a young age, shown talent for strategy and martial matters, and his father managed, through connections, to get him into the great military academy near Valencia.
Now, at the young age of 33, Bardem had inherited the command of the siege of Saragossa, which had risen against the Republic and which was defended by a large Basque garrison. Before assuming control of the siege, Bardem had led his largely-outnumbered force in a rout of the Basques. Under his command, the siege went swimmingly. Eventually, a young traitor within the city betrayed the gates to Bardem, and the city was taken. The Basque lines were then cut in two- without Saragossa, the supply line from the Barcelona siege was imperiled. Bardem swiftly took the surrounding towns, and cut off Barcelona. He was then assigned to the defeat of the French. It was also around this time that he married Monica Zaida Ayala y Cojuanco, a 25 year old Castilian Catholic from Leon.
While Bardem went to defeat the French, the Carthaginian beachhead expanded and hooked up with the Granada rebels. Southern Aragon and parts of La Mancha were now controlled by the Carthaginians, along with the Balearics. Carthaginian general Hamilcar Bunabar expertly defeated Republican forces in the south, and would continue to be a thorn in the side of the Spanish Republic.
Bardem would first defeat the siege of Barcelona, before striking north and quickly capturing lightly-defended Narbonne. The slow French forces were trapped by his fast movements and success, and were ground down from both directions. Although France could have sent more troops, the heretofore uninvolved King demanded peace (his third and youngest son had died as a young officer at the Battle of Empuries).
The French and Basques would, after their defeats, make peace with the ineffectual Directory in Toledo. This allowed the Spaniards considerable breathing room. Bardem, for his victories, gained significant popularity and was allowed command in the south against the Carthaginians, as part of a two-pronged assault against the rebels and the Carthaginians.
The rebels had been slowly ground down for years by General Lluis Melcer. In 1775, as Bardem fought Bunabar in La Mancha, he decided for a larger strike. This strike would succeed- the Devil's Columns, as they were called, would ravage the villages of the Granadan countryside. In particular, Muslim villages and citizens were targeted, mainly because Melcer was part of the Islamophobic party in government, despite his lax Catholicism.
Bardem, despite his significant talents, had trouble defeating Bunabar. Bunabar, a Corsican, was a general the equal of Bardem, although a good 14 years older. The two would fight many large battles, until Bunabar was defeated not by Bardem but by politics. Much like the intrigues of the Directory in Toledo, and in contrast to the healthier politics in Britain, the Carthaginian Senate was full of jealousy and schemes. Bunabar was called back by the Senate, to be replaced with the incompetent, nepotism-appointed General Balu Fisbig. Bunabar, whose armies were largely loyal to him and who were composed of the famous Carthaginian Foreign Legion, Granada rebels fleeing the Devil's Columns, Tuaregs and an elite contingent of Carthaginian infantry, were absolutely incensed. Bunabar quickly sent for his family and their most valuable belongings. Bunabar took his troops (including his loyal navy contingents), his family and his possessions and wealth to Monomotapa, where he would be of service against the Viceroy's many enemies. Fisbig, on the other hand, would be an utter failure against Bardem, famously being killed by a gunshot in the Siege of Cartagena in 1776.
Before Bunabar left, he would actually meet with Bardem. By the accounts of both men, they liked each other, and noted how they both more Catholic than their rulers. Bunabar respected the younger mans talents, and Bardem enjoyed his discussions with his strategic equal. In many respects, Bunabar would be Bardem's sole equal for a long period of time- but more on that later.
Spain was afterwards secure- the reactionaries had been defeated, the moderate royalists were back in government, the Directory was stable, and the borders were secure. Bardem benefited from his victories, and was definitely the most popular man in the country at the time.
For 4 years, the Directory would run the country as a stable republic. While foreign propaganda railed against the radicals, the country was on the whole returned to sanity. Spanish institutions began to develop- common law and political freedoms were ensured. The economy and the people were beginning to recover. Britain even signed an alliance with the Directorate under the more radical Consul Selwyn Evans. But behind the surface lay rot.
The Council of 400 that ran the Directorate was corrupt and ineffective. The rights established back in 1771 were ill-defined and haphazardly established. The economy continued to stagnate. The Portuguese, under the aging King João III, were becoming more threatening on the border. Rule by committee did not work. An insurrection was brewing in the cities- bread was getting... more scarce. The Castilians felt under-represented. And so, a faction of 24 men, led by Bernat Noy, approached Bardem and his loyal cohorts that made up a majority of the military officers to save the Republic. And so, Bardem acted.
The military overthrew first the opposing officers, who were imprisoned. Then, the army left their barracks and pacified the cities. Many of the officers and soldiers were Castilians, pacifying those who thought that Castile was being dominated (it was). And then Bardem took control of the government as Prime Citizen. Consul was not used due to the British use of the term in a different manner.
Bardem would, over the ensuing months, purge his enemies from the top posts of state. He would also end the religious restrictions, which had been eased away after Fonda but which had never been ended. This was applied differently in different places- while Catholicism was largely restored, radical strains of Mayorianism were not allowed. Bardem kept his faith to himself, mainly to keep the Mayorians pacified (they hated Popery).
The Republic, within those months between April 1780 and February 1781, was slowly turned into a one-man show. Notably, Bardem was offered the title of Dictator in 1782, and he accepted. Much like the early Roman emperors, the title was not one of a monarchy initially, and Bardem's title was "Dictator of Spain, Father of the People and Guardian of Liberty".
Bardem would avoid becoming a monarch, although royalist and radical plots in 1782 and 1783 did prompt him to become an autocrat. The Roman salute soon became common in connection with Bardem, and the Dictatorship centralized itself in Toledo.
But Bardem was not content with just being Dictator. His centralization and aggressiveness soon prompted a Third Coalition being formed in 1784. Portugal, France, Provence, Carthage and the various Italian states all joined. Bardem had Britain and Scandinavia among his allies. The latter alliance was sealed with the betrothal of Alarigo Bardem to the sole daughter of the Scandinavian King, Ursula Maria. Alarigo, 9 at the time, was four years younger than the 13 year old Ursula Maria.
Germany continued to stay neutral, in part because Germany felt confident. Despite the loss (with a few token territorial losses) in the Five Years War, Germany was already establishing itself as the quiet hegemon of Continental Europe. The German population was loyal, and the rights guaranteed to the Germans were the best among the traditional monarchies of Europe. Eastern Europe largely ignored the developments in the West, although this would not be the case forever. In particular the "Eurasian" powers, Rome and Russia, were focusing on Indian affairs and, in Russia's case, the Orient. The Basques, recognizing their great losses in the last war, stayed neutral.
And so, in 1784, the Dictator marched to war against Portugal. Generals Melcer and Roig would focus on the French, while Admiral Juan Duran y Duran would focus on thwarting Carthaginian and Italian invasion attempts.
The War of the Third Coalition would be one of the longest- it would also cement Bardem as a master commander. While Melcer and Roig did manage to take most of Aquitaine and Tolouse, their advance was a slow grind against the competent French Duke of Poitou. Bardem, on the other hand, managed to beat a well-prepared and still moderately wealthy Portugal. Portugal had played the long game, and it was Guinean and colonial troops that faced the brunt of Bardem's initial assault. Even against overwhelming numbers and naval superiority, Bardem managed to win. However, this ignores the internal politics of Portugal.
King João III had had two children. The sickly son, Infante Pedro, died in 1772. This left the Infanta Clara as the sole heir. However, Portugal had not had a Queen since Santa Maria I in the 14th century. Furthermore, Clara was the unofficial head of the significant liberal faction in Portuguese society. This faction of lower nobles, sympathetic higher nobles and merchants wanted to enact basic political rights and modernize the country. They were opposed by Pedro, Duke of Braganza, himself a member of a distaff branch of the Tangerines (descended from the bastard of Sebastião's youngest brother's eldest son).
Pedro was supported in his claim by more of the high nobility, and had quietly prepared military forces in the north to stake his claim. Pedro, a cavalry man, also had military experience. Clara knew this, and Clara also knew that, while she commanded the loyalties of more of the colonial lords and much of the Armada, she lacked the land forces (although she had command of the feared Royal Guard and other famous infantry units) and domestic support to enforce her claim. Instead, she married the son of the Viceroy of Monomotapa, Principe Alejandro. She also, unlike Pedro, recognized the threat of Bardem. She had ownership of the Palace of the Moors, and had slowly prepared that art to be moved with her, along with other royal treasures, in case of attack.
A few months into Bardem's invasion, the King died. Clara, recognizing the imminent threat to her life and the lives and livelihoods of her faction, called for the exodus to Monomotapa. Most of Portugal's intellectual elite, many of her richest merchants and some of her brightest nobles all accompanied Clara across the ocean. where the recently ascendant Viceroy Alejandro awaited. Clara urged Alejandro to declare independence, and so he did. He became King Alejandro II of Monomotapa (using the old Viceroys as part of the numbering system). Immediately, Monomotapa began to liberalize, and, soon after, the Portuguese territories of Asia swore fealty to Alejandro and Clara (who ruled as co-rulers until her death).
At a swift stroke, Portugal had lost a large swath of its navy, most of its best and brightest, and untold amounts of physical wealth. When Bardem visited the Palace of the Moors, he noticed the absence of some of the art and some of the books. Pedro, who was only getting older, never got to be King. Instead, he died in the siege of Lisbon on the day he was supposed to be crowned.
Portugal would be captured. Pedro's son, Filipe, would flee across the oceans. The nobles of the Guinea elected one of their own as an interim governor, loyal to the King of Portugal. However, Filipe was never coronated, and so he was not allowed into Guinea with his court. Filipe, a petty absolutist, would execute the surviving "traitors" upon his return.
Bardem, upon capturing Portugal, made it the Province of Lusitania, and extended a limited program of reform and rights to the people. The Church was allowed to keep its privileges, and would notably support Bardem for this mercy. The Jews were also extended mercy. The Muslims, however, feared another Granadan Rebellion. Those who had fled Aragon, and those who had supported the Muslims in Granada, largely fled to the Republic of Sale.
He then declared war upon the Basques, and quickly conquered them by early 1786. He now controlled the entire Iberian peninsula and the Duchy of Tangiers. Bardem then went north, into France. With his reinforcements, Melcer and Roig beat the Duke of Poitou, who was killed in battle (some say in personal combat) by Bardem. Melcer went to Provence, while Roig launched a naval expedition to Naples.
The Carthaginians had been defeated at sea, and Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily had been seized by the amphibious forces under Admiral Duran y Duran. They sued for peace, and thus left the war.
After Provence was conquered by Melcer, the Italian states and France began to panic. Bardem was advancing through France, and Naples was being invaded. Naples would fall in 1787, and the various Northern Italian states would fall in late 1787.
Britain and Scandinavia would largely defeat the French navy, before stealing foreign stations overseas from the French and the Portuguese. Despite the profitability of the alliance, the British recognized the danger of Bardem, and would let the alliance lapse in 1791. The Scandinavians, more closely bound to Bardem, would remain steadfast allies.
The fall of France was helped by British raids and embargoes, but also by the Parisian Revolution. The 1780s were lean ones in France, and the Parisian people tired of constant wars against the revolutionaries and absolutist incompetence. In early 1789, Paris erupted into revolt. The royalists were thrown out of the city, fleeing directly into the spearhead of Bardem's invasion. The royalists were defeated, and the French king was killed by the Parisian mob. The rest of the country mourned the martyred King, while the "radical cities" of Lyon and Paris rejoiced. The Radicals tried to seize power, but were defeated and executed with the help of Bardem. Aquitaine and Toulouse were integrated into Hispania along with Provence, whilst the rest of France became "The Republic of France". Brittany was liberated as a client of the British. Thus ended the War of the Third Coalition. Bardem now controlled Iberia, France and Italy.
Despite all this, the German hegemon remained neutral. It was pleased to see its enemies in the West humbled, and the war-torn landscape of Western Europe would have trouble producing the food and men necessary to take down the Reich.
For a period of two years, there was peace. Bardem integrated more territories into his domains. Northern Italy became the Republic of Etruria. The Papal States became a vassal of Bardem, and Naples became a client Kingdom under the puppet boy-king Giovanni I- although it was a de-facto Republic.
During this time, Bardem prepared his planned invasion of the Hungarian Commonwealth. He planned to encircle Germany completely before invading it, recognizing the inherent difficulties in invading the strong, internally stable and formidable Reich.
In 1791, he invaded the Hungarian Commonwealth, and quickly seized Yugoslavia. He created a puppet kingdom out of Yugoslavia, giving the title King of Yugoslavia to victorious General Jordi Alcocer. His war into Hungary and Poland lasted until 1794. It was at this point that Germany invaded.
Bardem returned to France, to lead from the west, whilst Alcocer and Roig invaded from the East. Alarigo Bardem would accompany the Scandinavians from the North, and Melcer would strike from the South.
These assaults had varying levels of success. The campaign in the East was completely defeated, with Alcocer fleeing back to Yugoslavia and holding that territory against the German assault. The campaign from the south also failed, with Melcer being captured and executed. German forces flowed into Italy, and quickly captured the peninsula. The Carthaginians opportunistically took back their islands.
The assault led by Bardem was more successful- by mid-1795, the border was set at the Rhine. In the north, the Scandinavians had puppetized the Danish Republic and had seized Jutland. German assaults to retake these areas were largely unsuccessful, but more forces were coming. At the time of truce, the Germans were re-invading the Rhineland, and were initially succeeding.
A truce was made- status quo borders in the West and North, recognition of German success in the East and the restoration of the puppet king in Naples. The Republic of Etruria was disbanded, and the Pope remained a vassal of Bardem.
Bardem, at this point, was furious. He had finally failed in battle. He wished to remain at peace for a few years, to prepare another campaign against Germany. One advisor even said he should first strike East once more, and then take Russia- that person was discharged from the army. Invading Russia from the west, probably in winter or the mud season, Bardem said, was the height of military stupidity. To this day, in many languages, "invading Russia in winter" means something impossible or a very stupid idea.
However, the French Republic would force his hand. The overzealous man in France decided to invade Brittany in 1797. This brought in the British, led by a more conservative consul James Kennedy. Unbeknownst to Bardem, the British were already planning an opportunistic invasion. Kennedy would invade northern France and would defend Brittany. In early 1798, Paris was taken by the British. Scandinavia attempted to help their ally, but their navy was sunk in the North Sea, and their British invasion force was slaughtered at Lindisfarne. The Germans marched from Jutland and through the Danish Republic into Skane.
It was then that Bardem's reign began to disintegrate. The Germans suddenly struck, taking Naples and Provence (their monarchs either freed from puppet-ness or restored). Bardem attempted a campaign in Central France, only to be defeated by the new German Kaiser Friedrich II.
To add to his woes, a Portuguese royalist revolt in favor of Filipe I broke out. The Galician revolters soon seized Porto and Braganca, and the King, informed by faithful followers, returned to Portugal in late 1798 to assume control of the rebellion. By April 1799, Portugal was lost. Scandinavia would also sue for peace at the time, even with their General Alarik Bardem fighting for them.
Bardem was reduced to Castile and Aragon, and he continued to fight. For the next year, brutal, bitter war raged from north and west. The British freed the Basques, and also landed at Santander. The Germans captured Barcelona. But the tenacious Bardem would continue to fight, until finally he was left only with the most loyal core of troops. In August 1800, he and his loyal supporters, along with his beloved wife , would attempt to flee to Oran. They succeeded.
Bardem and his troops initially stayed in Oran, but Bardem's wife died of fever in October. The nihilistic and grieving Bardem, with support from the people (who wanted to continue the Republic), returned to Iberia. Troops were raised, and revolts soon pushed the Germans back to the Ebro, and the Portuguese back to their own borders. Bardem's last gasp would last until late 1800, when, on December 12th, he died in the siege of Toledo. His body was retrieved by supporters, and conveyed back to the cathedral he had built in Oran, where it was buried in a mournful ceremony on Christmas, next to his wife. Oran would surrender on December 29th. The Revolution, and the existence of "Spain" was over.
A Congress was to be held in the city of Aachen. And the reactionary forces of monarchy and old-style republicanism would attempt to undo the past 29 years of change and upheaval.
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The Aragonese Revolution was not, as was initially thought, a hearkening back to old liberties, like the British and Carthaginian Revolutions. This revolution was far more similar to the ancient revolution in Corcyra, as covered by Thucydides and analyzed by the Roman political theorist Pyrophore in his seminal work "The Titan".
The Aragonese Kingdom had, at one point, ruled most of the Western Mediterranean. At its height (although Kabylie was not yet conquered) under King Llorenc III, Aragon controlled its home territories in Iberia, Oran, Carthage, Naples, and had suzerainty over much of northern Italy and the duchy of Dyrrachium . Within 50 years of Llorenc's death, Dyrrachium was back under Roman control, Northern Italy had declared independence, Hungary had taken southern Italy, and the Carthaginians had their revolution, taking Sicily, Corsica and Sardinia with them.
Aragon did manage to conquer Kabylia in the 1580s, but eventually lost Kabylia in the 1660s. In 1717, Provence was also made independent, as a result of the Treaty of Paris that ended the 5 Years War. Aragon from that point onward was a neutral power, a shadow of its former glory. At the same time, its population began to grow after the reforms of King Anton II. Food prices slowly climbed during the 18th century, and the incompetent and autocratic King Micolau II only exacerbated matters.
From the mid-17th century onward, the urban middle class had grown in size and influence, even as the geopolitical influence of Aragon waned. Barcelona, the capital, grew in size.
The winter of 1771 was one of the coldest on record. Crops died in the fields, and the burgeoning population of Aragon cried out for food. The urban middle class cried out for political reform as King Micolau and his autocratic court completely mishandled the crisis. The King's wife, Princess Lucrezia Gero of Naples, notoriously spent mass amounts of treasury money on dresses and galas, even as the people starved. In April, the King, recognizing the severity of the crisis, called not only the noble Cortes but the clergymen and burghers as well (with exception of the Muslims and the Jews).
For three months, reform and action stalled as the incalcitrant nobles and clergymen refused to budge on key issues of power and governance. The people continued to starve. The burghers left in mid-June. Of all of these delegations, it was the Barcelona delegation that was the most radical.
And on July 4th, the tension broke. A bread riot was fired upon by zealous Royal troops. A sympathetic burgher speaker was arrested and shot near the market. The people and burghers revolted. Barricades were erected, and the Aragonese Revolution had begun. Three days later, the Rights of the Citizen were established, nailed to the door of the tavern for all to see. It would be these declared rights, and the new principles of Equality and Solidarity that would run the revolution (some burgher factions noted the lack of Liberty- this would be important later).
The capital, Barcelona, was quickly seized. Sympathetic soldiers soon bolstered the ranks of the Provisional Revolutionary Government, which was held in an old mosque that had become a tavern. The King stayed in his rural estate for now, hoping that the revolution would die down. But it did not. Foreign support from Britain and Carthage began to trickle in- they hoped for another republic to support them in geopolitical struggles.
In late August, the King idiotically returned to his capital, to try and negotiate with the revolutionaries. He was captured and imprisoned, and forced to make large concessions to the revolution. The moderate factions were pleased- they had no desire to overthrow the monarchy if they could have their freedoms with a king. This shaky compromise persisted until mid-November, when the nobles and reactionaries tried to free the King.
The moderates won their battles with the nobles, but at great loss. The radicals were politically enriched by the whole fiasco, and the culture of paranoia permeated Barcelona.
A climate of tension lasted until late December- opponents of the regime, from the captured nobles to clerics to people falsely denounced, were put up to fake trials and were publicly executed by impalement.
And on Dec. 25th, it was the King and his wife who were executed. By this time, anti-clerical elements had completely seized control of the Council of State, and some churches had already been ransacked or burnt, even in the countryside. In defiance of religious norms of Christmas and various other things, the King and his wife were crucified next to each other. They said a few words to each other- they had never been terribly close- and then took their punishment. They were supported by wood blocks. Their legs were nailed to the cross, as were their arms. They were already weakened by ill-treatment in prison- the Queen had watched her daughter be debauched by her guards, before being taken to a whorehouse in Barcelona somewhere. And, late on Christmas night, the two died. The crosses were lit on fire, and the image of their corpses burning on the crosses would become the defining image of the conservative victims of the Revolution. In death, their significant flaws in life would be forgotten.
The execution of the King also marked the ascendance of the radical faction under Tirs Fonda. Fonda would rename the Council of State into the Committee of Public Safety, a convenient euphemism for the organ of the revolutionary purges.
The outside powers could not tolerate such blasphemy, violent regicide (in spite of earlier examples) and revolutionary ideas. The British and Carthaginians withdrew their support, and the First Coalition, made up of the Italies, the Castilians, the French and the Scandinavians, marched to war. The Germans, Basques and Portuguese were all conspicuously neutral at the time.
Under Fonda, the paranoia in Barcelona and elsewhere reached a fever pitch. The conservative nobles and clerics had fled or had been killed, and the country was under the control of Barcelona and its revolution. Suspects from all villages, whether innocent (more likely) or guilty (less likely), were crucified upon the roads as punishment for crimes against "the People". People ratted each other out for old grievances, and he who advocated extremism was the most trusted. The cautious moderates were regarded with suspicion as "noble spies"- and most were executed.
Religion was abolished, as were some forms of private property (but not all). Noble estates were confiscated, and land reform was enacted. The new rights and the slogan of Solidarity and Fraternity were enacted. The old Royal colors of Red and Yellow were abandoned. Instead, a green flag was made, with a black fist in the center. Green and black were the colors of bourgeois revolution from then on- specifically green, with black signifying revolt beyond ideological lines. This would be proven in Aragon soon enough.
The Killing Time of Fonda lasted from Christmas 1771 to March 15th 1773. In this time, the moderate factions and the conservatives either became more extreme temporarily, or were killed. These actions were supported by the brash writings of Pere Mas, who roiled up the people into a frothy rage against clerics and noblemen. Brother ratted on brother, child told on mother, and the crucifixes lined the roads from Rosello to Malaga.
The forces of the Revolution managed to hold off the Coalition, in part because of Castilian peasant revolts and the incompetence of the French officers. The Italian navies were defeated off the coast of the Balearics, and most of their troops were sunk and drowned. The Scandinavian contingent, smaller than the rest, decided to strike in the north in concert with the French. Although Rosello was taken, the advance towards Barcelona was decidedly slow.
However, this extremity was not without consequences. The Killing Time was less severe the farther away one got from Barcelona, but the fear of extremism and the rural anger at blasphemy and revolution was palpable. Aragon's minority Jewish and Muslim populations feared for their lives. The Jews, being seen as neutral and loyal burghers (loyal because of their permanently established legal rights), were largely safe, although the ghetto in Cartagena was burnt to the ground. The Muslims, who were more conservative, poorer and slightly more rural, were not as safe. And in Granada, Muslims and the Christian majority had always gotten along well.
From the Alhambra in Granada, a counter-revolt was declared. Banners of Christ and Allah were raised. The well-armed peasants, who had once had to contend with piracy, organized themselves better than the revolutionary armies. Soldiers who had resented the King but feared Fonda flocked to Granada in revolt. The Granadine conservative-royalist revolt would be a continuing sore, from its establishment in September 1772 until it was defeated. Led by the famous young reactionary and charismatic leader Carles Marxuach, shortened to Carles Marx, the Grenadines would basically run Granada as an independent nation. Long-held regionalist sentiments were encouraged- this would prove important in the century to come.
Eventually, the purges burned themselves out. The other revolutionaries turned against Fonda and his friend Mas. Mas was killed by a young woman, Catalina Argerich, who managed to escape and live famously in Monomotapa- but that is another story. The moderates, invigorated by Fonda's slow madness and the discontent of the people against the "shirtless radicals", spoke against him. Fonda went to speak to his people on March 15th, 1773. But the people, once again starving thanks to bad economics and bitter at continuing executions, were in no mood. History does not record his speech. The angry crowd rushed Fonda, and killed his guards. He was not given a trial- instead, he was ripped limb from limb and fed to the dogs.
Afterwards, the moderates seized power, and made truce (but not peace!) with France. Although a King was not yet restored, any change was an improvement on Fonda. The Committee of Public Safety was disbanded, and the radicals were quickly and privately purged in the Night of Drownings, where the radicals were wrapped with chains, along with their families, and sunk into the ocean. No death would follow- Aragon would rebuild. The crucifixions and open blasphemies, along with the other less successful social reforms, would be halted.
An attempt was made to retake Granada, but the forces sent were slaughtered by guerilla warfare. The Granadines were largely left alone for a few months, to allow for manpower and materiel to recover.
But foreign events would disrupt the peace. The brotherhood between Castilians and Aragonese had recovered after the end of the religious wars, and the idea of Hispanism, that the two countries should unite in a recognition of Visigothic heritage, had blossomed during the Enlightenment. And the "theocracy" was no longer truly a clerical government. The military had seized power in the 1740s, and had proceeded to exacerbate Castilian poverty and the famine in the 1760s. And so, on July 3rd, 1773, the garrison in Toledo was overthrown. The inefficient government at Valladolid was slow to respond to the crisis, as the Castilian revolutionaries overthrew Salamanca and the city of Leon as well. The Aragonese, even with the Granada problem, were quick to help their fellow revolutionaries. Castile's government, against revolutionaries, revolutionary-allied peasants and the Aragonese, did not last long. Even with French troops marching towards Rosello, the Aragonese did not halt. On November 14th, 1773, the Castilian government fled their last city at Santander and fled abroad. Bernambuco would declare independence, while the government set itself up in the Caicos.
A Spanish Republic was declared at Toledo, with the capital moved to that city (Barcelona was both burnt out from purges and a bit too close to France). The rights and laws of Aragon were applied to Castile, and Spain was declared. With the manpower of both Aragon and Castile, the Second Coalition was not as much of a threat. The Portuguese continued to remain neutral, even as they mobilized Guinean troops back to Portugal. They also funded the Granadine revolt with guns and money. The French, Italians, Scandinavians, Carthaginians and Basques moved to crush the new Spanish state.
This coalition was more successful- the naval defeat in the Bay of Biscay and the Carthaginian beachhead at Cartagena were very threatening. The French and Basques were edging closer to Barcelona. That is, until the actions of one Lleïr Bardem.
Bardem had been born in Oran, the son of a local Kabyle Catholic woman, descended from fleeing Kabyle Catholics, and a fifth-generation Aragonese merchant. Bardem had, at a young age, shown talent for strategy and martial matters, and his father managed, through connections, to get him into the great military academy near Valencia.
Now, at the young age of 33, Bardem had inherited the command of the siege of Saragossa, which had risen against the Republic and which was defended by a large Basque garrison. Before assuming control of the siege, Bardem had led his largely-outnumbered force in a rout of the Basques. Under his command, the siege went swimmingly. Eventually, a young traitor within the city betrayed the gates to Bardem, and the city was taken. The Basque lines were then cut in two- without Saragossa, the supply line from the Barcelona siege was imperiled. Bardem swiftly took the surrounding towns, and cut off Barcelona. He was then assigned to the defeat of the French. It was also around this time that he married Monica Zaida Ayala y Cojuanco, a 25 year old Castilian Catholic from Leon.
While Bardem went to defeat the French, the Carthaginian beachhead expanded and hooked up with the Granada rebels. Southern Aragon and parts of La Mancha were now controlled by the Carthaginians, along with the Balearics. Carthaginian general Hamilcar Bunabar expertly defeated Republican forces in the south, and would continue to be a thorn in the side of the Spanish Republic.
Bardem would first defeat the siege of Barcelona, before striking north and quickly capturing lightly-defended Narbonne. The slow French forces were trapped by his fast movements and success, and were ground down from both directions. Although France could have sent more troops, the heretofore uninvolved King demanded peace (his third and youngest son had died as a young officer at the Battle of Empuries).
The French and Basques would, after their defeats, make peace with the ineffectual Directory in Toledo. This allowed the Spaniards considerable breathing room. Bardem, for his victories, gained significant popularity and was allowed command in the south against the Carthaginians, as part of a two-pronged assault against the rebels and the Carthaginians.
The rebels had been slowly ground down for years by General Lluis Melcer. In 1775, as Bardem fought Bunabar in La Mancha, he decided for a larger strike. This strike would succeed- the Devil's Columns, as they were called, would ravage the villages of the Granadan countryside. In particular, Muslim villages and citizens were targeted, mainly because Melcer was part of the Islamophobic party in government, despite his lax Catholicism.
Bardem, despite his significant talents, had trouble defeating Bunabar. Bunabar, a Corsican, was a general the equal of Bardem, although a good 14 years older. The two would fight many large battles, until Bunabar was defeated not by Bardem but by politics. Much like the intrigues of the Directory in Toledo, and in contrast to the healthier politics in Britain, the Carthaginian Senate was full of jealousy and schemes. Bunabar was called back by the Senate, to be replaced with the incompetent, nepotism-appointed General Balu Fisbig. Bunabar, whose armies were largely loyal to him and who were composed of the famous Carthaginian Foreign Legion, Granada rebels fleeing the Devil's Columns, Tuaregs and an elite contingent of Carthaginian infantry, were absolutely incensed. Bunabar quickly sent for his family and their most valuable belongings. Bunabar took his troops (including his loyal navy contingents), his family and his possessions and wealth to Monomotapa, where he would be of service against the Viceroy's many enemies. Fisbig, on the other hand, would be an utter failure against Bardem, famously being killed by a gunshot in the Siege of Cartagena in 1776.
Before Bunabar left, he would actually meet with Bardem. By the accounts of both men, they liked each other, and noted how they both more Catholic than their rulers. Bunabar respected the younger mans talents, and Bardem enjoyed his discussions with his strategic equal. In many respects, Bunabar would be Bardem's sole equal for a long period of time- but more on that later.
Spain was afterwards secure- the reactionaries had been defeated, the moderate royalists were back in government, the Directory was stable, and the borders were secure. Bardem benefited from his victories, and was definitely the most popular man in the country at the time.
For 4 years, the Directory would run the country as a stable republic. While foreign propaganda railed against the radicals, the country was on the whole returned to sanity. Spanish institutions began to develop- common law and political freedoms were ensured. The economy and the people were beginning to recover. Britain even signed an alliance with the Directorate under the more radical Consul Selwyn Evans. But behind the surface lay rot.
The Council of 400 that ran the Directorate was corrupt and ineffective. The rights established back in 1771 were ill-defined and haphazardly established. The economy continued to stagnate. The Portuguese, under the aging King João III, were becoming more threatening on the border. Rule by committee did not work. An insurrection was brewing in the cities- bread was getting... more scarce. The Castilians felt under-represented. And so, a faction of 24 men, led by Bernat Noy, approached Bardem and his loyal cohorts that made up a majority of the military officers to save the Republic. And so, Bardem acted.
The military overthrew first the opposing officers, who were imprisoned. Then, the army left their barracks and pacified the cities. Many of the officers and soldiers were Castilians, pacifying those who thought that Castile was being dominated (it was). And then Bardem took control of the government as Prime Citizen. Consul was not used due to the British use of the term in a different manner.
Bardem would, over the ensuing months, purge his enemies from the top posts of state. He would also end the religious restrictions, which had been eased away after Fonda but which had never been ended. This was applied differently in different places- while Catholicism was largely restored, radical strains of Mayorianism were not allowed. Bardem kept his faith to himself, mainly to keep the Mayorians pacified (they hated Popery).
The Republic, within those months between April 1780 and February 1781, was slowly turned into a one-man show. Notably, Bardem was offered the title of Dictator in 1782, and he accepted. Much like the early Roman emperors, the title was not one of a monarchy initially, and Bardem's title was "Dictator of Spain, Father of the People and Guardian of Liberty".
Bardem would avoid becoming a monarch, although royalist and radical plots in 1782 and 1783 did prompt him to become an autocrat. The Roman salute soon became common in connection with Bardem, and the Dictatorship centralized itself in Toledo.
But Bardem was not content with just being Dictator. His centralization and aggressiveness soon prompted a Third Coalition being formed in 1784. Portugal, France, Provence, Carthage and the various Italian states all joined. Bardem had Britain and Scandinavia among his allies. The latter alliance was sealed with the betrothal of Alarigo Bardem to the sole daughter of the Scandinavian King, Ursula Maria. Alarigo, 9 at the time, was four years younger than the 13 year old Ursula Maria.
Germany continued to stay neutral, in part because Germany felt confident. Despite the loss (with a few token territorial losses) in the Five Years War, Germany was already establishing itself as the quiet hegemon of Continental Europe. The German population was loyal, and the rights guaranteed to the Germans were the best among the traditional monarchies of Europe. Eastern Europe largely ignored the developments in the West, although this would not be the case forever. In particular the "Eurasian" powers, Rome and Russia, were focusing on Indian affairs and, in Russia's case, the Orient. The Basques, recognizing their great losses in the last war, stayed neutral.
And so, in 1784, the Dictator marched to war against Portugal. Generals Melcer and Roig would focus on the French, while Admiral Juan Duran y Duran would focus on thwarting Carthaginian and Italian invasion attempts.
The War of the Third Coalition would be one of the longest- it would also cement Bardem as a master commander. While Melcer and Roig did manage to take most of Aquitaine and Tolouse, their advance was a slow grind against the competent French Duke of Poitou. Bardem, on the other hand, managed to beat a well-prepared and still moderately wealthy Portugal. Portugal had played the long game, and it was Guinean and colonial troops that faced the brunt of Bardem's initial assault. Even against overwhelming numbers and naval superiority, Bardem managed to win. However, this ignores the internal politics of Portugal.
King João III had had two children. The sickly son, Infante Pedro, died in 1772. This left the Infanta Clara as the sole heir. However, Portugal had not had a Queen since Santa Maria I in the 14th century. Furthermore, Clara was the unofficial head of the significant liberal faction in Portuguese society. This faction of lower nobles, sympathetic higher nobles and merchants wanted to enact basic political rights and modernize the country. They were opposed by Pedro, Duke of Braganza, himself a member of a distaff branch of the Tangerines (descended from the bastard of Sebastião's youngest brother's eldest son).
Pedro was supported in his claim by more of the high nobility, and had quietly prepared military forces in the north to stake his claim. Pedro, a cavalry man, also had military experience. Clara knew this, and Clara also knew that, while she commanded the loyalties of more of the colonial lords and much of the Armada, she lacked the land forces (although she had command of the feared Royal Guard and other famous infantry units) and domestic support to enforce her claim. Instead, she married the son of the Viceroy of Monomotapa, Principe Alejandro. She also, unlike Pedro, recognized the threat of Bardem. She had ownership of the Palace of the Moors, and had slowly prepared that art to be moved with her, along with other royal treasures, in case of attack.
A few months into Bardem's invasion, the King died. Clara, recognizing the imminent threat to her life and the lives and livelihoods of her faction, called for the exodus to Monomotapa. Most of Portugal's intellectual elite, many of her richest merchants and some of her brightest nobles all accompanied Clara across the ocean. where the recently ascendant Viceroy Alejandro awaited. Clara urged Alejandro to declare independence, and so he did. He became King Alejandro II of Monomotapa (using the old Viceroys as part of the numbering system). Immediately, Monomotapa began to liberalize, and, soon after, the Portuguese territories of Asia swore fealty to Alejandro and Clara (who ruled as co-rulers until her death).
At a swift stroke, Portugal had lost a large swath of its navy, most of its best and brightest, and untold amounts of physical wealth. When Bardem visited the Palace of the Moors, he noticed the absence of some of the art and some of the books. Pedro, who was only getting older, never got to be King. Instead, he died in the siege of Lisbon on the day he was supposed to be crowned.
Portugal would be captured. Pedro's son, Filipe, would flee across the oceans. The nobles of the Guinea elected one of their own as an interim governor, loyal to the King of Portugal. However, Filipe was never coronated, and so he was not allowed into Guinea with his court. Filipe, a petty absolutist, would execute the surviving "traitors" upon his return.
Bardem, upon capturing Portugal, made it the Province of Lusitania, and extended a limited program of reform and rights to the people. The Church was allowed to keep its privileges, and would notably support Bardem for this mercy. The Jews were also extended mercy. The Muslims, however, feared another Granadan Rebellion. Those who had fled Aragon, and those who had supported the Muslims in Granada, largely fled to the Republic of Sale.
He then declared war upon the Basques, and quickly conquered them by early 1786. He now controlled the entire Iberian peninsula and the Duchy of Tangiers. Bardem then went north, into France. With his reinforcements, Melcer and Roig beat the Duke of Poitou, who was killed in battle (some say in personal combat) by Bardem. Melcer went to Provence, while Roig launched a naval expedition to Naples.
The Carthaginians had been defeated at sea, and Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily had been seized by the amphibious forces under Admiral Duran y Duran. They sued for peace, and thus left the war.
After Provence was conquered by Melcer, the Italian states and France began to panic. Bardem was advancing through France, and Naples was being invaded. Naples would fall in 1787, and the various Northern Italian states would fall in late 1787.
Britain and Scandinavia would largely defeat the French navy, before stealing foreign stations overseas from the French and the Portuguese. Despite the profitability of the alliance, the British recognized the danger of Bardem, and would let the alliance lapse in 1791. The Scandinavians, more closely bound to Bardem, would remain steadfast allies.
The fall of France was helped by British raids and embargoes, but also by the Parisian Revolution. The 1780s were lean ones in France, and the Parisian people tired of constant wars against the revolutionaries and absolutist incompetence. In early 1789, Paris erupted into revolt. The royalists were thrown out of the city, fleeing directly into the spearhead of Bardem's invasion. The royalists were defeated, and the French king was killed by the Parisian mob. The rest of the country mourned the martyred King, while the "radical cities" of Lyon and Paris rejoiced. The Radicals tried to seize power, but were defeated and executed with the help of Bardem. Aquitaine and Toulouse were integrated into Hispania along with Provence, whilst the rest of France became "The Republic of France". Brittany was liberated as a client of the British. Thus ended the War of the Third Coalition. Bardem now controlled Iberia, France and Italy.
Despite all this, the German hegemon remained neutral. It was pleased to see its enemies in the West humbled, and the war-torn landscape of Western Europe would have trouble producing the food and men necessary to take down the Reich.
For a period of two years, there was peace. Bardem integrated more territories into his domains. Northern Italy became the Republic of Etruria. The Papal States became a vassal of Bardem, and Naples became a client Kingdom under the puppet boy-king Giovanni I- although it was a de-facto Republic.
During this time, Bardem prepared his planned invasion of the Hungarian Commonwealth. He planned to encircle Germany completely before invading it, recognizing the inherent difficulties in invading the strong, internally stable and formidable Reich.
In 1791, he invaded the Hungarian Commonwealth, and quickly seized Yugoslavia. He created a puppet kingdom out of Yugoslavia, giving the title King of Yugoslavia to victorious General Jordi Alcocer. His war into Hungary and Poland lasted until 1794. It was at this point that Germany invaded.
Bardem returned to France, to lead from the west, whilst Alcocer and Roig invaded from the East. Alarigo Bardem would accompany the Scandinavians from the North, and Melcer would strike from the South.
These assaults had varying levels of success. The campaign in the East was completely defeated, with Alcocer fleeing back to Yugoslavia and holding that territory against the German assault. The campaign from the south also failed, with Melcer being captured and executed. German forces flowed into Italy, and quickly captured the peninsula. The Carthaginians opportunistically took back their islands.
The assault led by Bardem was more successful- by mid-1795, the border was set at the Rhine. In the north, the Scandinavians had puppetized the Danish Republic and had seized Jutland. German assaults to retake these areas were largely unsuccessful, but more forces were coming. At the time of truce, the Germans were re-invading the Rhineland, and were initially succeeding.
A truce was made- status quo borders in the West and North, recognition of German success in the East and the restoration of the puppet king in Naples. The Republic of Etruria was disbanded, and the Pope remained a vassal of Bardem.
Bardem, at this point, was furious. He had finally failed in battle. He wished to remain at peace for a few years, to prepare another campaign against Germany. One advisor even said he should first strike East once more, and then take Russia- that person was discharged from the army. Invading Russia from the west, probably in winter or the mud season, Bardem said, was the height of military stupidity. To this day, in many languages, "invading Russia in winter" means something impossible or a very stupid idea.
However, the French Republic would force his hand. The overzealous man in France decided to invade Brittany in 1797. This brought in the British, led by a more conservative consul James Kennedy. Unbeknownst to Bardem, the British were already planning an opportunistic invasion. Kennedy would invade northern France and would defend Brittany. In early 1798, Paris was taken by the British. Scandinavia attempted to help their ally, but their navy was sunk in the North Sea, and their British invasion force was slaughtered at Lindisfarne. The Germans marched from Jutland and through the Danish Republic into Skane.
It was then that Bardem's reign began to disintegrate. The Germans suddenly struck, taking Naples and Provence (their monarchs either freed from puppet-ness or restored). Bardem attempted a campaign in Central France, only to be defeated by the new German Kaiser Friedrich II.
To add to his woes, a Portuguese royalist revolt in favor of Filipe I broke out. The Galician revolters soon seized Porto and Braganca, and the King, informed by faithful followers, returned to Portugal in late 1798 to assume control of the rebellion. By April 1799, Portugal was lost. Scandinavia would also sue for peace at the time, even with their General Alarik Bardem fighting for them.
Bardem was reduced to Castile and Aragon, and he continued to fight. For the next year, brutal, bitter war raged from north and west. The British freed the Basques, and also landed at Santander. The Germans captured Barcelona. But the tenacious Bardem would continue to fight, until finally he was left only with the most loyal core of troops. In August 1800, he and his loyal supporters, along with his beloved wife , would attempt to flee to Oran. They succeeded.
Bardem and his troops initially stayed in Oran, but Bardem's wife died of fever in October. The nihilistic and grieving Bardem, with support from the people (who wanted to continue the Republic), returned to Iberia. Troops were raised, and revolts soon pushed the Germans back to the Ebro, and the Portuguese back to their own borders. Bardem's last gasp would last until late 1800, when, on December 12th, he died in the siege of Toledo. His body was retrieved by supporters, and conveyed back to the cathedral he had built in Oran, where it was buried in a mournful ceremony on Christmas, next to his wife. Oran would surrender on December 29th. The Revolution, and the existence of "Spain" was over.
A Congress was to be held in the city of Aachen. And the reactionary forces of monarchy and old-style republicanism would attempt to undo the past 29 years of change and upheaval.