Rise of Empires: Spain

The scale of this wedding is huge. The nobles invited to the wedding are all marquises, and the officials are at least leaders of the cabinet government and core departments.

Of course, this grand wedding has also attracted the attention of many domestic and foreign media, and it has become the front-page headlines of major Spanish newspapers since a month ago.

The person who presided over Carlo's wedding was Pedro, the Archbishop of Toledo, who is also the highest-ranking archbishop in Spain.

What surprised Carlo was that the church chose to remain neutral in the previous reforms of the government and did not directly stand up against the government.

Although this also made the church lose a lot of interests, including most of the land controlled by the church. But at least for the current church, they can continue to exist instead of being replaced by new candidates by the government and the royal family.

Spain is a Catholic country, but the problem is that the current Catholic Pope is not in such a good situation, let alone intervening in the affairs of the Spanish Church.

With the Carlos rebellion having been completely resolved, even if the church wants to incite a rebellion, the success rate is unlikely to be high.

After all, this is no longer an era of religiousism, and the influence of religion on Europeans has become increasingly low. If it were 100 years ago, there might be a chance of success, but religion is no longer the main factor in Spain.

Of course, as the saying goes, a big stick in the left hand and a sweet date in the right hand. It is impossible to oppress the church, which is a very influential force in Spain.

When Carlo met with Archbishop Pedro, he promised that he would consider establishing the title of Archbishop of Spain. In addition to being the highest bishop of the Spanish Catholic Church, the future Archbishop of Spain will also control the Spanish church and have certain restrictions on other religions.

As long as Archbishop Pedro is willing to cooperate with the government and the royal family, he will be the first Archbishop of Spain in the future.

Although he did not explicitly state another possibility, Archbishop Pedro knew it in his heart. If he was unwilling to cooperate with the government and the royal family, perhaps Carlo would support another Spanish Archbishop to counter the original status of Archbishop Toledo.

Although Archbishop Toledo is the most powerful and influential bishop in the Spanish Church, don't forget the existence of the Pope.

The Pope is still living in the Vatican and is under the control of the Italian government. If the Pope cooperates with the Spanish government under the coercion of the Italian government to create a Spanish archbishop, how much power will he have left as the Archbishop of Toledo?

After all, the power of the church is much weaker than that of the government. If the church is still divided into two factions because of the power struggle, it can only become a fish that can be slaughtered by the government.

Under the gaze of hundreds of nobles and senior officials, Carlo and Archduchess Sophie swore their oaths together.

In addition to the nobles of Spain, even King Vittorio Emanuele II of Italy and Archduchess Sophie's mother Princess Sissi came in person to this wedding.

In addition to these two noble nobles, King Louis I of Portugal and Carlo's sister Princess Maria Pia, as well as Carlo's eldest sister Princess Maria Clotilde, who married Napoleon Jerome Bonaparte, also came to the wedding.

In fact, in addition to these nobles, even the royal families of the powers such as Britain, Germany and Russia sent representatives to attend the wedding and presented their gifts.

In fact, whether it is Spain or the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it is enough to attract the attention of the governments of these countries. If these two countries unite, their attention will also increase. The representatives who come to the wedding are either the crown prince or the duke with a certain prestige in the military.

The royal families and governments of other countries are not stupid either. They are also thinking about the changes that this wedding will bring to the European pattern.

This marriage represents the closeness of the Spanish government and the Austro-Hungarian government. So, will the Italian royal family, which belongs to the same family as the Spanish royal family, join it?

If Spain, Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire form an alliance, what impact will it have on the situation in Europe?

Even if the possibility is small, this matter will cause other governments and royal families to think deeply and consider their own actions.

The people who care most about this are actually the British. The British deployment in the Mediterranean is well known. The Strait of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal are like two solid fortresses, trapping all the countries on the Mediterranean coast in the Mediterranean.

In addition to the British, Germany and Russia are more concerned about this matter. There are conflicts between Russia and Austria-Hungary in the Balkans, but the current conflicts are not that intense.

After all, the Balkans are still ruled by the Ottoman Sultanate, and many countries, including Bulgaria, have not yet gained independence. It is impossible to fight with Austria-Hungary for these countries that have not yet gained independence.

The most intense conflict between Austria-Hungary and Russia was when the Balkan countries became independent one after another and the two countries wanted to seek more control over the Balkans.

The current conflict between Austria-Hungary and Russia is not that intense, which is also the reason why the Three Emperors' Alliance was finally formed in history.

So why did the Three Emperors' Alliance break up after it was formed? First of all, the conflict between Austria-Hungary and Russia intensified, and the British also continued to provoke relations between the two countries.

In addition, the Germans, who were supposed to mediate, chose Austria-Hungary in the conflicts again and again, which also made the relationship between Germany and Russia go further.

But no matter what, although the relationship between Austria-Hungary and Russia is not so good now, it is not to the point of becoming mortal enemies.

For the Russians, if there are really signs of getting closer between Austria-Hungary, Italy and Spain, then the Russians will try to sign a non-aggression treaty with Austria-Hungary, temporarily end the dispute in the Balkans, and put more energy into the competition with the British.

For Germany, this marriage allows the Germans to see a possibility, a possibility of directly blocking the French.

Take a closer look at the location of Austria-Hungary, Italy and Spain, which just formed a solid line of defense in the east, south and southwest of France.

Coupled with Germany's own blockade of northeastern France, France was directly trapped in its homeland. This is a perfect match with Bismarck's policy of isolating France, and it is also the reason why the Germans pay attention to this marriage.

After all, Italy is also an ally of the Germans, and Germany also has some advantages in this regard. Since Austria-Hungary and Spain have the intention of forming an alliance, it is better to expand this alliance infinitely and directly form a four-nation alliance of Germany, Austria, Italy and Spain.

Even if this alliance is not aimed at war, but only symbolically isolates the French, it is definitely enough for the French to drink a pot.

Because these four countries united to directly isolate France on such a small piece of land in Western Europe. In addition to the three low-lying countries, the only area where France can exert influence is Britain, which is separated by the English Channel.

Prime Minister Bismarck thought seriously and felt that such a four-nation alliance was possible. The biggest contradiction in the four-nation alliance is the contradiction between Germany and Austria-Hungary, and the contradiction between Italy and Austria-Hungary.

But in fact, these two contradictions have been properly resolved. The contradiction between Germany and Austria is actually the contradiction between Prussia and Austria. Since Prussia unified the German Empire, this contradiction has actually ceased to exist.

And the Austrians are constantly showing goodwill to Germany. I believe they also saw this point.

As for the contradiction between Italy and Austria-Hungary, it is actually almost resolved. The conflict between Italy and Austria-Hungary is about Venice and South Tyrol. Venice has been completely occupied by Italians, and the southern part of South Tyrol, where the Italians have the most people, has also been taken away by Italians.

The remaining northern South Tyrol is mostly inhabited by Austrians. Even if Italy has ideas, it is impossible to get it from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which is still in its heyday.

So from the current situation, these two conflicts have been eased, and there is not much resistance to the formation of the Quadruple Alliance.

Of course, if there is resistance, the British may not want to see the birth of the Quadruple Alliance. Because the Quadruple Alliance can not only target the French, but also the British.

If the four countries of Germany, Austria, Italy and Spain unite, what will happen to other countries? Not to mention the once powerful Britain, even if the two countries of Britain and France are added together, they may not be the opponents of these four countries.

Germany alone is enough for the French to have a headache, not to mention that the three countries of Germany, Italy and Spain can attack the French homeland from three directions.

Coupled with the equally powerful Austro-Hungarian army, the Quadruple Alliance was a huge threat to the French that could attack Paris at any time.

But this kind of external interference was no longer a big deal for Prime Minister Bismarck. If the Quadruple Alliance could be formed, the French government could be isolated indefinitely.

In this way, the idea that Germany was worried that France might launch a war to retaliate against Germany in a short period of time would disappear.

After all, if it was isolated by the Quadruple Alliance, it would be impossible to break through the blockade of the four countries unless it was during the Napoleonic Empire.

If the French still dared to declare war on Germany after the formation of the Quadruple Alliance, then Prime Minister Bismarck would not mind letting the French understand what it meant to score twice.

Carlo, who happily held his wedding in Madrid, did not know that perhaps because of his own reasons, the course of history had undergone some major changes.

On the day of the wedding, Madrid also showed a very pleasant atmosphere. In order to celebrate the wedding, Carlo reluctantly took out more than 2 million pesetas from his own treasury and distributed gifts to the Spaniards for free.

The value of the gift is not high, but everyone can participate. As long as the Spaniards line up at the gift distribution points set up by the government and offer their heartfelt wishes to the king and queen, they can receive a gift.

After the wedding ceremony, a larger celebration banquet was held in the largest banquet hall of the royal palace. As one of the three largest royal palaces in Europe, the largest banquet hall of the Royal Palace of Madrid is naturally quite large.

Even if there are hundreds of nobles and officials present, including foreign guests, it can still be easily accommodated.

In order to show the hospitality of the royal family, the banquet prepared rich food from all over Spain, as well as fresh seafood and fruits, including special red wine produced by the royal winery.

In order to celebrate the wedding of Archduchess Carlo and Sophie, the winery has already produced 1,872 barrels of wine in advance, of which 225 barrels of original wine will be sealed as a commemoration of the wedding.

Unless there is a big event, these 200 barrels of wine will be sealed for a long time. After all, the older the wine is, the more expensive it will be, just like the 1982 Lafite that has been popular in later generations.

But in fact, there are not so many 1982 Lafite, and most of them are counterfeit.

Under the publicity of newspapers outside, this wedding has been promoted as a strong alliance of Catholics.

Spain is a Catholic country, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire is also a Catholic country. Of course, Italy is also one of the Catholic countries.

Many newspapers have imagined the alliance of these three Catholic countries, and then called the alliance of these three countries the Catholic Alliance.

Faced with such reports, different people have different attitudes. Prime Minister Bismarck was naturally happy to see such reports.

The fact that such reports can be produced proves that the people of these three countries are also optimistic about the three countries getting closer to each other.

Doesn't this mean that the four-nation alliance conceived before is still possible?

For the British, the mood is not so wonderful.

The alliance between Austria-Hungary and Spain is already a headache. If Italy intervenes, it will really become the most troublesome trouble for the British in Europe.

The British government was originally worried about whether the Spanish government would have the idea of ​​regaining Gibraltar. After the marriage between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Spanish royal family, such concerns were exacerbated.

If the Triple Alliance of Austria-Hungary, Italy and Spain is really formed, it also means that it is impossible to be indifferent to Gibraltar.

If Gibraltar is lost, the British plan in the Mediterranean will be destroyed by half. But if Gibraltar is defended, it means that Britain will directly conflict with the so-called Triple Alliance, which is exactly what the British do not want to see.

Britain's policy is to pursue a regional balance policy, supporting two relatively balanced forces in a region to confront each other, rather than letting itself join in.

It would be fine if there was no idea of ​​forming this so-called Triple Alliance. If there is really an idea of ​​forming it, then it seems that Britain will also form a related alliance to ensure that the harm of the Triple Alliance is minimized.

Thinking of this, the originally smiling British representative gradually changed to a serious expression and began to scan the nobles attending the banquet, including some foreign guests.

A 4,000-word chapter to make up for yesterday's update. Two more chapters will be updated tomorrow. Please support!