In all these discussions of the Confederacy expanding into Cuba I haven't seen a thread which talks about the ramifications of Spain losing it's most valuable colony to the CSA. For now, let's sidestep any opinions regarding if it's plausible for the CSA to defeat Spain and focus solely on how this affects Spanish politics and culture.
With that out of the way, let's presume that the CSA unexpectedly captures Cuba sometime around 1878 and wins a resulting war with Spain, shocking the European world. In OTL losing the Spanish-American war was a traumatic experience for the Spanish which lost nearly all of its colonial empire to the Americans and caused the generation of 98 but it also freed up capital for Spain who were previously holding it in Cuba.
Now this 20 years earlier and Spain still retains the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico. What would happen in this scenario? Would Spain have a larger part in the Scramble for Africa, or even less involvement there? Will there be a renaissance of Spanish culture as seen the generation of 98? Would this undermine King Alfonso's XII reign?
With that out of the way, let's presume that the CSA unexpectedly captures Cuba sometime around 1878 and wins a resulting war with Spain, shocking the European world. In OTL losing the Spanish-American war was a traumatic experience for the Spanish which lost nearly all of its colonial empire to the Americans and caused the generation of 98 but it also freed up capital for Spain who were previously holding it in Cuba.
Now this 20 years earlier and Spain still retains the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico. What would happen in this scenario? Would Spain have a larger part in the Scramble for Africa, or even less involvement there? Will there be a renaissance of Spanish culture as seen the generation of 98? Would this undermine King Alfonso's XII reign?