Charles II don't have the fault of be... Well have that condition. But Fernando... Let's say he need be slapped with the open hand 666 times
Un Dios, Un Imperio, Un Rey | Alternate TL.
- Thread starter Paladín Wulfen
- Start date
Philippist
Banned
If you want to make an alternative history in which Spain is even more powerful than in OTL, i would have the sucession war not happening and the Habsburgs just accepting that they can't thrown Philip V out
Very nice chapter, while Spain has lost some land(more critically, the northern part of Italy) they managed to keep Gibraltar and their colonial empire intact, especially now that the French are allies and protecting their only door into Europe, the new Bourbon monarchs can focus on rebuilding, reforming and restrengthening the military and navy for the next war where they will conquer Italy again.
Also, with a Spain that went much better in war and managed to keep Iberia mostly free of foreign invasions would have a much better hand at the negotiating table both for itself and it's allies, I would've expected Bavaria to be expanded and that France would've gained the Austrian Netherlands and parts of Savoy, especially given they lost part of their colonial empire despite a better military situation on Europe.
Also, with a Spain that went much better in war and managed to keep Iberia mostly free of foreign invasions would have a much better hand at the negotiating table both for itself and it's allies, I would've expected Bavaria to be expanded and that France would've gained the Austrian Netherlands and parts of Savoy, especially given they lost part of their colonial empire despite a better military situation on Europe.
It's tragic the fate of Louis I but lovely how Louisa take care of his husband without fear to smallpox
El Borbon Español.
«La ultima vez que vi a mi abuelo, me dijo... Sed Español. Ese es vuestro unico y principal deber.».
«The last time I saw my grandfather, he told me... Be Spanish. That is your only and main duty.».
— Attributed to Philip IV Of Spain.
The new Emperor of Spain: Felipe IV de Borbon, began his reign in a turbulent way. After the War of Succession, he saw how Northern Italy was stolen from his dominions, however he kept a large part of his Colonial Empire in America. However, he saw the need to reform some Spanish institutions that had lagged behind, compared to France, for example. One of the simplest solutions and even well seen by some parts of the nobility was the Law of Fundamental Succession, in which women could only inherit the throne if there were no male heirs in the main line (children) or lateral (brothers and sisters). nephews), which was intended to block the access of foreign dynasties to the Spanish throne, a solution to the Salic Law. Felipe IV also carried out a complete modernization of administrative techniques. This would be possible thanks to the professionalism of the civil servants brought from France and the elaboration of laws and clear indications. The rendering of accounts to the pertinent authorities became regular and periodic, and the supervision was carried out permanently, being able to replace the official who did not fulfill his functions, reaching the point of imposing a prison sentence in case of being too negligent or corrupt. This at the same time strengthened and regulated economic activities. Improving the tax system that increased taxes and created new customs, in charge of collecting taxes on domestic and foreign trade while mercantilist measures were ratified, such as the prohibition of importing textile manufactures or the export of grain; and attempts were made to revive colonial trade through the creation of privileged trading companies (in the style of the Netherlands or the Kingdom of Great Britain). The largest and most prominent of these privileged trading companies would be the Compañía Gaditana de Negros, dedicated to the slave trade between Africa and Spanish America.«The last time I saw my grandfather, he told me... Be Spanish. That is your only and main duty.».
— Attributed to Philip IV Of Spain.
Others would be the Real Compañia de la Havana (Cuban sugar monopoly), Real Compañia de las Filipinas (monopoly of direct trade between the Philippines and the metropolis together with the use of armed ships called Coast Guards, used to prevent trade with any other unauthorized ship or individual by the company) and finally the Real Compañia Minera Asturiana del Peru (Monopoly of the extraction and transformation of the mines of the Viceroyalty of Peru). However, there were other companies for colonization purposes that will be discussed later. Emperor Felipe IV would stand out when together with French military advisors, he would carry out a profound modernization of the army with fundamental aspects: the king would be in charge of supervising and directing the actions of the army, it would be under the direction of a corporately organized noble officers and all military life would be meticulously regulated while the massive incorporation of the nobility to which officer jobs had been reserved, established a harsh disciplinary framework in relations between officers and subordinates, and the consideration of military life as a permanent and not temporary profession, something that had been gradually abandoned throughout the 16th century. With these reforms initiated during the War, an organic transformation of the army began, although inevitably many of the old customs of the Habsburg army would continue to exist, which would continue until well into the century. XIX, such as the custom of the General to grant his own name to the regiment under his command, as could be the case of the Marquis of San Blas. During the reforms, the nomenclature and the system of organizing the army were adopted according to the French model. At the same time, the old Austrian Guards were replaced by 3 companies of Guardias de Corps (Spanish, Italian and Portuguese), 2 regiments of Infantry Guards (Spanish and Portuguese), and a company of Halberdiers.
Among the Privileged companies that were created, I would highlight the Royal Company of the Californias. The Royal Company of the Californias was founded by Basque merchants who obtained permission to mine in the Californias region and to expand the Spanish dominions there. The company obtained the monopoly to manage the trade of the Mines that were found or built in the Californias. In exchange, the Company agreed to install, at its expense, a minimum of 25,000 settlers and their families, to administer the colony, to defend the territory, and equally to devote itself to dealing with the local Indians, either through their enslavement or their extermination. The one hundred shareholders each had to advance a capital of 3,000 reais, which was an initial capital abundant enough for the purpose of the Company. At that time, the Company managed to obtain the help of the leather dragons: a body of defensive troops created for the defense of the presidios of New Spain. The leather dragons differed from the regular Spanish army by their hiring and equipment. Most were born in America, usually Creoles or mestizos. They were, of course, on horseback and carried more powerful weapons. While a regular Spanish soldier had a rifle or pike and a sword; leather dragons were equipped with a spear and shield. Besides, they had the support of the Jesuit Missions who served to build some 21 outposts or religious missions that were connected by a land route that would later be known as the Camino Real that went from San Diego de Alcala to San Francisco Solano near San Francisco de Asis, San Rafael Archangel and San Jose.
Common Religious Mission in California.
However, the rise of the Bourbon dynasty in Spain came at the dawn of the Golden Age of Piracy when Anglo-American sailors and corsairs unemployed after the War of the Spanish Succession turned to piracy en masse. With the end of this conflict thousands of sailors, including corsairs, were removed from their military duties. The result was a large number of unemployed sailors trained in naval warfare at a time when trade across the Atlantic was beginning to flourish. In addition to this, many Europeans who had been spurred by unemployment to participate in the slave trade sometimes alternated slavery with piracy. As part of an agreement after the War of the Spanish Succession, England was granted the "Asiento de Negros" by the Spanish government to provide slaves to the Spanish colonies in the new world, opening the doors to traffickers and merchants. British to the traditionally closed Spanish markets in America. This arrangement also contributed heavily to the spread of piracy in the western Atlantic. Trade in the colonies exploded at the same time as there was an abundance of experienced seamen after the war. The merchants used this surplus supply of sailors to lower wages and thus maximize their profits, creating precarious conditions inside their ships. Merchant ship sailors suffered from low morale. Living conditions were so poor that many sailors preferred a free existence as pirates. This caused a large number of bandits to stalk them. This at the same time gave rise to the Pirate Republics as the most important of them: Nassau (New Providence Island in the Bahamas). This Republic from the outside was in chaos but inside it was governed by the self-proclaimed pirate code where pirates governed their ships democratically, sharing the loot and selecting and deposing their captains by popular vote. Some of the pirates were also Jacobins, who had turned to piracy for their support of the deposed Stuart dynasty.
In the middle of the reign of Philip IV, the Great Northern War would end. A conflict that took place almost at the same time as the War of the Spanish Succession and took place throughout the territories of Eastern and Northern Europe where he faced the Swedish Empire of Charles XII against the Russia of Peter I with some nations supporting one or the other. The origin of the war was the clash of territorial interests between Sweden and her neighbors Denmark-Norway, Russia and Poland, which triggered an alliance between these three States against the Swedish power. Sweden, between 1560 and 1658, had forged an empire in the Baltic through conquests of territories from neighboring countries and had become a world power with predominance in Northern Europe. This made her old enemies wait for the right moment to recover the lost territories and expand her regional influence. When Carlos XII ascended after the death of his father, he inherited a strengthened country, with an army that, although relatively small compared to the English or even French, was one of the best trained and prepared in Europe. While the Russian Tsardom was a poor country with visible signs of backwardness. The government of Pedro I from 1696 (on the throne from 1682) meant great changes for the country. The tsar introduced a series of reforms in the most diverse fields: culture, politics, society, economy and army, which were aimed at modernizing the country following the patterns of Western Europe. To promote trade with the West and create a powerful naval force, Peter faced rivalry from the Ottoman Empire, then a regional power that dominated the Black Sea. He attempted to forge an alliance with European powers to combat the Turks, but lack of success made him turn to the Baltic and accept Danish offers of an alliance against Sweden.
The fighting period was divided between Scandinavia, the Baltic, Poland and Russia.
In February 1700, the Saxon army invades Swedish Livonia; in March, it is the Danes who gain access to Gottorp and besiege Tønning. Charles XII decides to take care of Denmark first since he has just signed the Treaty of The Hague with England and Holland, the main maritime powers. Thanks to this agreement, in June of that same year, an Anglo-Dutch fleet with the help of the Swedish one surpasses the Danish navy, which takes refuge in Copenhagen. Simultaneously, the Swedish-German army advances towards Holstein. Charles XII invades the island of Zealand, so Frederick of Denmark signs the Peace of Tarvendal in August. After the campaigns of the previous months, Sweden manages to get Norway and Denmark out of the war. Months later, in October, Carlos decides to take charge of Livonia, and lands his army in Pernau. Likewise, he deals with the Russians, who were besieging Narva, and liberates the city in the homonymous battle, despite the enormous Russian superiority. Despite the victories, Charles XII refuses to make peace with Augustus II of Poland, since he thinks that this would keep the peace but only for a short time, so he continues with the war. In the year 1700 a civil war takes place in Poland, in which the Sapieha family, contrary to Augusto, is defeated, so Carlos wants what remains of this family to help him in the conflict. In January 1702, Charles XII of Sweden invaded the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and won in Kliszow, getting Stanislaus Leszczynski to be proclaimed king in 1705. In the same year, 1702, Peter I of Russia took Nöteborg. Meanwhile, Carlos is dedicated to expelling Russians from Poland-Lithuania. Five years later, after a series of battles and events with the Swedish army, Russia offers peace to Sweden. Carlos tries to invade Russia, but is forced to move to the south of the Ukraine. At this stage of the war the Battle of Poltava takes place, decisive for the future of the Baltic and St. Petersburg. In this confrontation, who is defeated is the Swedish army, which surrenders in Perevdochna.
After numerous battles and altercations, Carlos is trapped in Turkey by a plague from 1709 to 1714, an event that Frederick of Denmark and Augustus of Poland take advantage of to resume their posts in the war. Denmark declares war in October 1709. Meanwhile, the maritime powers on the Swedish side are busy with the War of the Spanish Succession, so the Danish army lands unopposed in Scania. At the Battle of Helsinborg in March 1710, Sweden defeated the Danes. At the beginning of that same year, Augusto returns to Warsaw. Unfortunately for Sweden, Riga, Pernau and Reval fall into Russian hands. In September 1713, they also seize Stettin, which the Russians use to tempt Prussia into entering the war on the Allied side. Between the years 1712 and 1714, Peter of Russia had taken over Finland. Carlos knew that he could not obtain a total victory, but the concessions that he proposes to his enemies are not enough for them. Sweden launches a diplomatic offensive in order to divide the enemies. In 1715, Prussia and Hannover join the conflict, something that influences the failed invasion of Norway by the Swedes in the following year. On December 11, 1718, Charles XII of Sweden was shot dead in front of the Swedish vanguard in the advance towards Oslo, leaving the throne empty and without an heir, which would be occupied in 1720 by Frederick of Hesse. In 1719, peace is signed with Hannover and Prussia; and, the following year, with Denmark, although forced by Great Britain. After the naval battle of Grengam, the Russian attacks on the Swedish coast ceased, but in 1721 they resumed, causing the surrender of Sweden. The Treaty of Nystadt is signed in September 1721 and, through it, Sweden recovers Finland, renounces Ingria, Estonia and Swedish Livonia, and loses the Karelian Isthmus to the Russians. The war with Poland continued until the renewal of the Treaty of Oliva ten years later, in 1731. The Treaty of Nystadt made Russia the substitute for Sweden, becoming the hegemonic power in the Baltic.
The conflict had lasted for almost twenty years and had brought the contenders to total exhaustion, but it was not until the death of the Swedish monarch that peace negotiations began, which lasted until 1721, the year of the official end of the war. . Subsequently, and as a reaction to the military undertakings of Charles XII, a new constitution, in practice republican, would be implanted in the country with the aim of limiting royal power while ending Sweden's hegemony in the Baltic. Henceforth, she would be forced to become one more pawn in the game of alliances that the great powers disputed on the European chessboard, among which Russia would be counted. After (and during) the war there was a major demographic crisis, not so much because of the deaths caused by the war but because of the spread of infections, the seizure and destruction of crops or the suspension of economic activity in rural areas, as a result of the flight of labor and the requisition of draft animals and crop seeds. In Poland the social situation returned to what it was before the war, if not even more extreme. A society weakened by disease and war, with conflicts on the borders with Ukraine, whose peasants (both Poles and Ukrainians) would take the opportunity to riot and rise up violently, fueled by the crisis in the political and judicial order. For their part, the United Provinces had ceased to be a great power. The failure of the British anti-Russian project was both a cause and a consequence of the success achieved by Pedro I. By the middle of the 18th century, Russian hegemony was already established, on the other hand due to marriage alliances with the Germans. Pedro I planned to modernize Russia and be a greater power, especially in the western terrain, but it would not be until the time of Catherine the Great when her southern projects would materialize.
The Russian victory, which upset the political stability of Eastern Europe, changed the entire system of international relations on the continent. The Nystad Treaty clearly signaled Russia's entry among the great European powers and the removal of Swedish and Polish rivals as a serious threat. Peter himself abandoned the old name "Muscovy" and adopted instead the grander title of "Russian Empire", and his senate proclaimed that Russia had joined the community of political nations.
While these events were occurring, England was expanding its interests in America and Asia through the use of the English East India Company ("the Company") which was founded in 1600, as the London Company of Merchants trading in the East Indies. It gained a foothold in India with the establishment of a factory in Masulipatnam on the eastern coast of India. Later its facilities would expand to Sura (1612), Madras (1640), Bombay (1668) Calcutta (1688) fighting the other companies of Spanish, Dutch, French and Danish origin that were expanding in a similar way in the region. The Company would stand out for obtaining such power that it would not take long to build a small army to protect commerce. The force was christened the Honorable East India Company's Marine and would soon be noted for mapping the coasts of India, Persia and Arabia and even recruited many Indian loscars: Asian militiamen or sailors who reached the point that the number of Indian sailors employed on ships The United Kingdom became so large that the British tried to restrict this through the Shipping Acts that came into force in 1660, which required that 75 percent of the crew of a British-registered ship importing goods from Asia had to be English. Initially, the need arose because of the high rates of illness and mortality of European sailors on ships bound for India (a tropical climate and nowhere near that of England), and their frequent defections from India, leaving the bareboats for the return trip. Another reason was wars where the Royal Navy's recruitment of British sailors overtook the Company's priority.
A key date for the reign of Felipe IV would be in 1724 when he decided to abdicate in favor of his son Luis. The reasons for this official abdication was because of the strong depression that he suffered from adolescence. His wife Isabel Farnesio, whom he had married in 1714, tried to cure the king's melancholy with the song of the castrato Farinelli, but logically that did not work and sometimes it was common to see the Imperial Monarch walking naked through the Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso. His unofficial abdication was understood as the action of an insanely ill man who is aware that he is not fit to govern and chooses to withdraw from the responsibilities of government. However, the queen herself was always perfectly informed of what was happening at the court of Toledo. Tragically, Luis I of Spain called by the people as "the Well Beloved" or "the Liberal" after six months of government, fell ill with smallpox in August of that same year. Luis I hardly had time to father children because he married the French princess Luisa Isabel de Orleáns, daughter of Felipe II of Orleáns. When they married, he was fifteen and she was twelve. Luisa Isabel, as queen, made necessary a strong censorship for her extravagant behavior due to the emotional instability that she suffered from her. Luisa Isabel came to appear before the entire court dirty and smelly, she refused to wear underwear and tried to provoke the staff by exposing her private parts in a provocative way. She is also said to have refused to touch the food on the table, but then she would hide and compulsively gobble up whatever came to hand, whether it was edible or not. Her behavior could worsen over time, since overnight she was seen cleaning objects of all kinds in the palace. The subjects watched in astonishment as the sovereign came to undress, grab her dress and strive to clean the windows of the room with it. Even his husband was horrified by the situation.
However, Luisa Isabel diligently cared for her husband, exposing herself to contagion, as happened, although with a different outcome from her husband's. Seven months after ascending the throne, the monarch died of smallpox in Madrid on August 31, 1724, having just turned seventeen. While Luisa Isabel returned to France at the will of Queen Isabel Farnese.
Nice chapter, good reforms for the Spanish state. Piracy is abound throughout the Caribbean, will the Spanish deal with it? Sad that Sweden lost the Great Northern War like OTL, would've been nice to see a great Nordic power for Spain to deal with while also having a floundering Russia that lost. Keep up the good work.
So a bigger presence in California, so it seems California is a place where the population can grow quickly and naturally.
A group of small settlers at the beginning of the 18th century could give a large number for the beginning of the 19th century. Which is interesting, with California populated the Spanish can more easily claim the Nootka area.
Even in post Spanish times it would be something to see, I doubt that Mexico can keep it with its shitty policies and the US (if it exists) is too racist to annex it.
A group of small settlers at the beginning of the 18th century could give a large number for the beginning of the 19th century. Which is interesting, with California populated the Spanish can more easily claim the Nootka area.
Even in post Spanish times it would be something to see, I doubt that Mexico can keep it with its shitty policies and the US (if it exists) is too racist to annex it.
Oh wait bruh, I didn't see that, I guess Ferdinand VI is next?
Infante Gabriel, fourth son of Carlos III might become the hope of Bourbon Spain. He seems to be the most competent out of all his sons and also his favorite. That would only happen if Ferdinand VI remained childless just like in otl and Infante Gabriel doesn't die early.
Many empires committed atrocities in times past. What the evil version of the Spanish empire does is just use multiple methods at once.
Ahhh *Dramatic gesture of be stabbed* the third behind the English... That is personal.
Yeah well. Expect to see the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1840s
I gonna change that *I go to kitchen to make a assimilation via food*