Revanchist Spain (Alternate Fascism?)

[Murica1776]

I recently started wondering if Spain could have gone down a revanchist/more imperialist/proto-fascist path after the defeat they suffered in the Spanish-American War. The ingredients are all there; a humiliating defeat to a new power and the loss of much of the Empire, especially the treasured province of Cuba. Maybe the Carlists radicalize and depose Alfonso XII to create a new Kingdom that's got a bad case of the Crusader mentality? If that happens, I could see them trying to harness Spain's industrialization to build a new war machine and go after the Ottomans. They're a nearby empire that's fairly weak, promotes a non-Christian faith, and not very well loved by the European powers. It would be a perfect target for a resurgent nation that feels the need to prove its imperialist vigor. What do y'all think?

EDIT: The Carlists probably wouldn't be Fascist as we would recognize it due to their ideology, which focused on regionalism and patriotism, but I do think it could be Fascist-adjacent if you will.

 

[Mitridates the Great]

There are two problems with this. First, that the hypothetical Carlist government would have to waste a lot of time "pacifying" the country (depending on when they seize power, they would have to face strong opposition from the liberal, the workers, or both). Then there is the matter of diplomatic recognition. These Carlists are people who have taken over a country by force. Europe would view them with suspicion. Especially if they decide to attack another country (even the Ottoman Empire). Most likely this would end in an anticipated Civil War, in which the UK, perhaps France, support the anti-Carlist rebels against a Carlist government, perhaps (though not certain) supported by Germany (to have an ally in the South and with access to the Atlantic and Mediterranean). The only "positive" thing is that there would be no fascists or communists in whoever wins the war and forms the new government.

 

[GuildedAgeNostalgia]

It would be interesting to see Spain acquire Libya from the Ottomans in the 1900s instead of Italy. They technically have a claim on Tripoli since they had captured in the past from the Ottomans (although that was centuries beforehand).

How would this revanchist Spain react to the Morocco Crisis?

Great Britain wouldn't like them because of Gibraltar nor would Portugal. And even if they're revanchist, outside of Italy, Portugal, and a isolated Ottoman Libya, there's no European Country that they could win a war against and the ones they can beat have allies.

You probably need a earlier pod

 

[JorgeGG]

The Cartlist coup is a pipe dream and I would give it another twist. Thought, it is true that all condition were there for a proto-fascism or authoritarian government. It sort of happened with Primo de Rivera's Dictadorship (1923 -1930) and Maurism - the major radical conservative movement of the 1910s and 1920s.

For example the Generation of 1898 was the liberal reaction not for losing Cuba and its military humiliation but the inadequate, amateur, parochial, electoral clientelism and premodern outlook of the governing elites (liberals and conservatives) . Lets say this critique is split a the liberal group and a conservative one that advocates a more authoritarian and centralized solution and back to pre 1810 society. They gather support among the Army and nascent Maurism with a more effective leadership and perhaps leads to a longer and dictatorship supported by Alfonso XIII, more akin to Latin american dictatorships of the same period in suppressing opposition but being more institutionalized and solving the problem of the succession of the leadership.

By the way, the effects of the Spanish–American War (1898) would be better placed in the post-1900 forum

 

[Thomas1195]

If that happens, I could see them trying to harness Spain's industrialization to build a new war machine and go after the Ottomans.

If industrialization is what you want then the Carlists are worst choice to bet on.

 

[Comte de Dordogne]

What distinguishes authoritarian regimes from totalitarian regimes is that the latter have the will to create a new man within the framework of a society totally rebuilt around the ideology in place (and often accompanied by a cult of personality, a police regime, etc.).
This is why Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany and Stalinist USSR are totalitarian regimes, whereas Franco's Spain is an authoritarian and military regime, claiming to be Catholic and fantasising the old Spanish empire.
My point is that your basic hypothesis imagining Carlists taking power is not facism (at best a proto-facism).
Carlism would have to become a radical ideology advocating the creation of a new man within the framework of a regime that would centre society around its ideology (but can we still speak of Carlism then?).

 

[Murica1776]

If industrialization is what you want then the Carlists are worst choice to bet on.

Gotcha. So almost more of a proto-fascist state would have to emerge, with maybe the Carlists as a faction rather than the actual government. Maybe a military junta.