The events of Spain’s revolution and establishment of a provisional government drew the attention of many European countries.
After the Spanish parliament announced it would not abolish the monarchy and would search for a new king, many countries adopted a bystander mentality, curious as to which lucky individual would serve as the new Spanish King.
But soon, the French government could no longer smile.
According to news from Spain, among the various candidates for the Spanish throne, Prince Leopold of the House of Hohenzollern ranked at the top and was very likely to become the next King of Spain.
(Note: There were several Prince Leopolds in Germany.
The candidate for the throne here is Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern, not the one from Bavaria.
Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern is the father of King Ferdinand I of Romania.) For the French, this was lethal.
A single Prussia already posed a massive threat to France.
Especially after defeating Austria, the threat Prussia posed to France was unprecedented.
If someone from the Hohenzollern family obtained the Spanish crown, France would face a situation of being squeezed from both sides by Prussia and Spain.
Although Spain wasn’t a powerful country and could barely be considered a second-rate nation in Europe, Spain was located to the south of France, separated by the natural defense line of the Pyrenees.
Prussia would only need to stockpile less than a hundred thousand troops in Spain to cause extreme trouble for the French and threaten numerous cities in southern France.
On June 21, 1869, the furious French government expressed strong opposition to both the Spanish and German governments, declaring that the moment Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern was crowned King of Spain would be the moment France declared war on Prussia and Spain.
The threat from the European hegemon was very effective.
Prussian King Wilhelm I also retreated somewhat under such a threat, even publicly stating he did not approve of his cousin Prince Leopold inheriting the Spanish throne.
The Spanish government panicked a bit too.
If their choice of king led to a war with France, the losses would undoubtedly outweigh the gains.
Wilhelm I’s retreat heavily satisfied the French government, and they relaxed their vigilance against Prussia, which had just defeated Austria.
The French ambassador to Prussia even sought an audience with Wilhelm I in early July, conveying French Emperor Napoleon III’s attitude: hoping Wilhelm I could guarantee he would never demand the renounced candidacy in the future.
Such a demand was absolutely rude, which caused the originally willing-to-retreat Wilhelm I to feel some dissatisfaction.
The French could absolutely never have imagined that, even when Wilhelm I took the lead in backing down, there was an even more stubborn guy within Germany who was already preparing for war with France ahead of time.
Wilhelm I, angered by the rude treatment from the French ambassador, sent an urgent telegram that same day to his Prime Minister, Bismarck, hoping Bismarck could come up with a reasonable way to resolve the crisis facing Prussia.
But Wilhelm I didn’t expect that Bismarck’s so-called way of resolving the crisis was to defeat France through war; that is, to solve the source of the problem itself.
Upon receiving Wilhelm I’s telegram, Bismarck showed no panic; a hint of a smile even appeared on his face.
After asking Chief of General Staff Moltke if they had certainty of victory in a war against France and receiving an affirmative answer, Bismarck decided not to wait anymore.
He heavily edited the content of Wilhelm I’s telegram, deleting all the words regarding taking a long-term view and politely backing down.
At the end of the telegram, he added words intended to provoke the French government and officials: “Due to your country’s unreasonable demands and attitude, His Majesty King Wilhelm I has decided from now on to refuse to interact with the French ambassador, and solely through this telegram informs your country that there is nothing left to discuss between our two nations.” Although this telegram meant to provoke the French government was not sent directly to the French government’s radio station, it was published as news across major newspapers in Prussia and spread to the rest of Europe through all of Prussia’s foreign missions.
The firm attitude of the Prussians caused an uproar within the French government, thoroughly enraging the previously smug French administration.
Carlo probably hadn’t expected either that a tiny action of his directly influenced the world and brought the Franco-Prussian War forward by a year.
On July 11, 1869, the furious French government, after a few days of preparation, expelled the Prussian ambassador to France and expressionlessly declared war between the two nations to the Prussian ambassador.
But the French did not see the panic and nervousness they expected on the Prussian ambassador’s face.
They could only watch as the Prussian ambassador walked out of the embassy with a relaxed expression and boarded a train back to Prussia.
Even more bewildered than the French was Prussian King Wilhelm I.
Although Wilhelm I was angry about the French’s rudeness, he genuinely hadn’t intended to start a war with the French at this moment.
But with things reaching this stage, Wilhelm I couldn’t stop the war from proceeding.
On July 12, Wilhelm I announced a general mobilization in the North German Confederation and called upon all member states to fight for Germany.
Prussia called this war the German-French War, attempting to use the unification of Germany to demand troops and resources from the various states.
The French, however, called this war the Franco-German War.
The grievances between the French and the German regions hadn’t built up in just a day or two.
This war, on a much larger scale than the Austro-Prussian War, broke out with the speed of lightning, somewhat catching the Spanish government—which was theoretically the direct cause of the Franco-Prussian War—by surprise.
However, having reached this situation, regardless of who won the Franco-Prussian War, Prussia’s Prince Leopold was no longer suitable to continue as King of Spain.
Coupled with Prince Leopold publicly stating his own refusal to inherit the Spanish throne—though it was mostly because Wilhelm I stood up to oppose it—it was, after all, Prince Leopold himself who gave it up.
After all these events, the originally five candidates for the Spanish throne were left with only the two princes from Italy’s House of Savoy.
Whether Amedeo or Carlo became the King of Spain, Savoy would be the ultimate victor.
Setting aside the advantage of the Savoy dynasty which both possessed, Amedeo’s advantage was being slightly older, and appearing more mature and stable.
Carlo’s advantages were possessing a friendly reputation that might be more accepted by the Spanish people, and a higher likelihood of supporting reform.
If acting from the perspective of reform, Prim undoubtedly supported Carlo more to become the King of Spain.
After all, although Prim supported the monarchy, he was a thoroughgoing reformist.
Serrano, on the other hand, was more of a moderate situated between the reformists and conservatives, and could also be categorized with the royalist faction connected to the nobility.
Neither man could make a firm decision between Amedeo and Carlo.
For the stability of the Kingdom of Spain, Prim decided to personally go to Italy to evaluate the two princes and to finalize the choice of the Spanish King during this investigation.
Serrano agreed with Prim’s proposal, stating he would support either Amedeo or Carlo becoming the King of Spain and was willing to pledge loyalty to the new King.