WI: Portuguese Civil War in 1822

I was always curious about what it would be like if Portugal and Brazil remained united in the same empire.

It is possible that instead of declaring Brazil's independence, Pedro IV (Pedro I of Brazil) starts a Portuguese civil war claiming that the liberal government in Lisbon is illegitimate and the decisions of the Cortes could lead to the secession of Portuguese America. In order to prevent the loss of Brazil, Pedro IV declares himself king of the United Kingdom of Portugal-Brazil and starts the conflict.

Is it possible that Peter IV can win such a conflict?
Would he get support from both Brazilians and Portuguese unhappy with the liberal government?
Would the Portuguese accept Brazilians as equals after the end of the conflict?
Could the capital stay in Rio de Janeiro, or in any city in the new world?
 
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That's a hard one. The main problem is that his father is still the King of Portugal, and the pretext of rebelling against the Cortes will in any case mean rebellion against King John. Something like that might happen somewhat later, during the Miguelist war, if Peter is still King in Brazil (if we avoid the whole abdication debacle).

This war, if it happens, will begin not unlike a de facto independence war, considering that Peter is in Brazil, and will make an effort to neutralize loyalist Portuguese forces inside Portuguese America. Then, after the situation has been pacified inside Brazil, he'll have to invade Portugal, something I find rather unlikely. More possible is a detente of sorts in which he is recognized as a Viceroy of sorts in Brazil, until his father dies and he actually inherits Portugal. In this scenario, he won't have abjured his claim to the homeland, so we could avoid Miguel's usurpation, as it happened, IOTL, against his daughter.

Now, I suppose that Peter will be much more liberal than any of his predecessors; even if he seeks a strong monarchy, he won't be reactionary to the point of restoring the tarnished absolutism doctrine. Constitutional monarchy will be the norm, but with significant power vested to his authority (that which Victoria 2 names "Prussian Constitutionalism", perhaps).

I figure the capital will remain in Lisbon, as it is the center of the Portuguese Empire - and he is not the Emperor of Brazil - but he'll be spending a lot of time in Brazil, and likely his children will receive many titles referring to Brazil. This might see a greater integration of Brazil itself in the grand scheme of European geopolitics, very much unlike what will happen in the neighboring American republics, but I don't believe it will permanently avoid emancipation, only delay it by some decades until a Brazilian-born Braganza gets more interested in Brazil than in Portugal, or a Portuguese-born monarch fails to quench the inevitable autonomist and nativist trends. But then, this might be avoided by having Brazil granted a de facto (but not de jure) sovereignty, with the Portuguese Empire existing in paper, similar to Australia and Canada inside the British Commonwealth, in which the Portuguese King is recognized as head of state, but the country will be practically independent.
 
Well,Brasil was mostly ok in being a United kingdom with Portugal,the brazilians,the elites were ripping the benefits of commerce and trade inside the empire,it was the Porto revolution of 1820 that wanted unchanged that situation and pushed for brazilian independence.If the Portuguese cortex of 1810 were less stupid in their positions regarding Brazil,the independence would probably have been delayed.
 
That's a hard one. The main problem is that his father is still the King of Portugal, and the pretext of rebelling against the Cortes will in any case mean rebellion against King John. Something like that might happen somewhat later, during the Miguelist war, if Peter is still King in Brazil (if we avoid the whole abdication debacle).

This war, if it happens, will begin not unlike a de facto independence war, considering that Peter is in Brazil, and will make an effort to neutralize loyalist Portuguese forces inside Portuguese America. Then, after the situation has been pacified inside Brazil, he'll have to invade Portugal, something I find rather unlikely. More possible is a detente of sorts in which he is recognized as a Viceroy of sorts in Brazil, until his father dies and he actually inherits Portugal. In this scenario, he won't have abjured his claim to the homeland, so we could avoid Miguel's usurpation, as it happened, IOTL, against his daughter.

Now, I suppose that Peter will be much more liberal than any of his predecessors; even if he seeks a strong monarchy, he won't be reactionary to the point of restoring the tarnished absolutism doctrine. Constitutional monarchy will be the norm, but with significant power vested to his authority (that which Victoria 2 names "Prussian Constitutionalism", perhaps).

I figure the capital will remain in Lisbon, as it is the center of the Portuguese Empire - and he is not the Emperor of Brazil - but he'll be spending a lot of time in Brazil, and likely his children will receive many titles referring to Brazil. This might see a greater integration of Brazil itself in the grand scheme of European geopolitics, very much unlike what will happen in the neighboring American republics, but I don't believe it will permanently avoid emancipation, only delay it by some decades until a Brazilian-born Braganza gets more interested in Brazil than in Portugal, or a Portuguese-born monarch fails to quench the inevitable autonomist and nativist trends. But then, this might be avoided by having Brazil granted a de facto (but not de jure) sovereignty, with the Portuguese Empire existing in paper, similar to Australia and Canada inside the British Commonwealth, in which the Portuguese King is recognized as head of state, but the country will be practically independent.

My idea was really to avoid the miguelist war and a (successful) war of independence in Brazil. If the kingdom's capital remained in the Americas, the independence movement would not happen anyway.

So it is more plausible that Peter did not declare himself king, but act in the interest of the kingdom, while his father is a "hostage" of the Cortes.
If Dom John IV dies at some point in the war, a few years earlier than iOTL, would Peter get support in Europe?

A "Prussian constitution" would be accepted, given that this war was against abusive liberals, the constitution may be more conservative than in iOTL, but due to Peter's liberal tendencies the constitution will bring more rights to citizens, and if Peter does not abuse of the fourth power will have support from conservatives and moderate liberals.

The idea of a Portuguese commonwealth is interesting, Brazil would basically be a Canada.

Would a Kingdom of two capitals be plausible?

Well,Brasil was mostly ok in being a United kingdom with Portugal,the brazilians,the elites were ripping the benefits of commerce and trade inside the empire,it was the Porto revolution of 1820 that wanted unchanged that situation and pushed for brazilian independence.If the Portuguese cortex of 1810 were less stupid in their positions regarding Brazil,the independence would probably have been delayed.

I know there were many elitists supporting the kingdom to remain united as long as there was proper autonomy.
What can Cortes lose to this support?
What decisions could cause this to happen?
 
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