Chapter 202: Turmoil in the Ottoman Empire and Turbulent Balkans

In mid-February 1876, the compulsory primary education development plan voted by the Spanish cabinet government was officially made public and began to be implemented.

This news immediately caused a sensation and attracted the attention of a large number of people in Spain.

According to government documents and announcements, this compulsory education, which focuses on primary schools, will completely waive tuition and miscellaneous fees, and provide free three meals a day to primary school students.

The government also specifically mentioned in the announcement that the three meals a day were funded by the royal family, which also caused a wave of gratitude and praise for the royal family among the people.

What the people are most concerned about is their actual interests. If the royal family provides three meals a day for school students, it also means that the Spanish people do not have to bear the cost of school meals for their children.

A day's meal may be just a small expense, but if you look at the whole year or even the entire six years of primary school, it is definitely not a small expense.

For ordinary Spanish families, one less meal a day means a large amount of expenses. If this expense is used elsewhere, it can effectively improve the quality of life of all family members.

Carlo is of course always paying attention to the public opinion in Spain. After learning that the people are grateful to the royal family and himself, Carlo already knows that his move is right.

The more grateful the people are to the royal family, the more stable the royal family's position will be. This is not only about Carlo, but also about all future monarchs.

The more stable the position of the Spanish royal family is, the less the future king will have to worry about his throne. Otherwise, any small accident may lead to the subversion of the throne, which will also make Carlo's hard work go to waste.

After announcing the development plan for compulsory primary education, the education department has begun to plan to renovate primary schools in the Madrid region and Catalonia region.

The Madrid region and Catalonia region have the two largest cities in Spain, Madrid and Barcelona, ​​which is also the place where these two regions have become pilot areas for compulsory education.

But because of this, the population of Madrid and Catalonia is not small, adding up to more than 2 million people.

How to smoothly promote the operation of compulsory education and solve all problems in the process of compulsory education is what the education department needs to pay attention to at all times.

If some unresolved problems occur during the implementation of the compulsory education pilot, it will affect the implementation of compulsory education throughout the country.

Not only the education department is very concerned about the compulsory education pilot in Madrid and Catalonia, but the public is also very concerned about it.

Although Madrid and Barcelona both have a large number of workers, the income of ordinary workers in this era is not that high. Compulsory education with complete exemption of tuition and miscellaneous fees is extremely attractive to the working and peasant classes in Spain.

The promotion of compulsory education in the two pilot areas is jointly carried out by the education department and the regional governments of Madrid and Catalonia.

Carlo also specifically instructed Education Minister Gerard Wilson and Deputy Prime Minister Canovas to require the government to strictly control the quality of construction in the reconstruction of primary schools and eliminate any phenomenon of reuse of dangerous buildings.

Once any phenomenon of reuse of dangerous buildings or shoddy projects is found, as well as any corruption in the promotion of compulsory education, the cabinet government and the Senate will deal with it seriously as quickly as possible and hold all officials involved in the above incidents accountable.

Gerard Wilson and Count Canovas naturally would not treat Carlo's instructions as an ordinary conversation. From Carlo's facial expression, it can be seen that Carlo's attitude is absolutely serious when he said that he would immediately deal with it severely if it happened.

The two dared not be careless at all. Not only did they repeatedly instruct their officials to strictly control the quality of the rebuilt and newly built primary schools, but they also went to the reconstruction site to supervise in person to ensure that there would be no quality problems.

Whenever any of the above incidents occurred, even if the cause had nothing to do with them, they would definitely bear certain responsibilities.

More importantly, if an accident occurred even though Carlo had already given instructions in advance, it would make them lose Carlo's trust.

There is no need to say more about what it means to lose Carlo's trust under the current Spanish cabinet government system.

Even though Canovas, as the deputy prime minister, is already a sure candidate for the next prime minister, if he loses Carlo's trust because of the quality of the primary school building, I am afraid that everything he has will disappear.

Under the premise that Prime Minister Primo does not come out and Archduke Serrano does not stand up to oppose Carlo, the current Spanish government is ruled by Carlo alone.

Carlo already has a very high reputation among the people, which is also the confidence of Carlo to control the government through the upper and lower houses. Not to mention the fledgling Count Canovas, even if Prime Minister Primo re-enters the political arena, he may not be able to compete with Carlo.

Of course, this is only in the case of political struggle. If the fierce struggle triggers the mobilization of the army, it will evolve into a new Spanish Civil War, and the outcome will naturally be hard to predict.

The education department acted quickly. In just over three months, the number of renovated primary schools has reached more than a dozen.

Of course, the so-called renovation process is actually very simple.

The first step is to select a building suitable for a primary school campus, and the second step is to complete the cleaning and separate the classrooms and dormitories one by one.

The biggest move during this period was to repair the broken windows and doors, which is why the primary school was renovated so quickly.

Even half of these three months were spent looking for a building, and the actual renovation work took less than a month and a half.

Judging from the current progress, by September this year, the two regions are expected to renovate more than 60 primary schools, and compulsory education can also be officially launched in the two regions.

60 primary schools are definitely not enough, but it is not impossible to squeeze in the early students. When there are not enough schools, priority can be given to enrolling school-age children between 6 and 12 years old.

Once there are enough schools, enrollment can be opened to all age groups.

Yes, compulsory primary education in Spain will be open to all ages, and even adults can participate in compulsory primary education.

But for the sake of fairness, and also for the healthy development of primary school students between the ages of 6 and 12, these older "primary school students" will not be in the same school as primary school students under 12 years old.

After all, compared with young people in their teens and 20s, real primary school students aged 6 to 12 are not yet fully mentally mature, and will definitely be at a disadvantage in the competition for scholarships.

While education was developing, in May 1876, the situation in Europe also changed slightly.

Not the European powers, but the changes within the Ottoman Empire, a huge empire that once spanned Europe, Asia and Africa.

Because the Ottoman Empire spanned three continents in Europe, Asia, and Africa, and controlled the Strait of Constantinople, an extremely important strait in Europe, the changes in the Ottoman Empire attracted close attention from European countries, especially the United Kingdom, Austria-Hungary, and Russia.

In fact, it is easy to understand. Austria-Hungary and Russia had well-known ambitions for the Balkans, and the owner of the Balkans was the Ottoman Empire.

The British are also very concerned about the situation around the Straits of Constantinople. After all, Europe's reputation as a troublemaker is not for nothing.

The changes in the situation in the Ottoman Empire stemmed from the decline of the empire. This huge empire that once spanned three continents has now become a decayed and weak old man.

Although the empire is still breathing its last breath, it is just hanging on. Compared with the traditional European powers, the Ottoman Empire was like a piece of fat meat with divisions, or fat meat with its hair shaved clean, without pricking its mouth at all.

As early as the end of last year, a great famine occurred in the central and northern regions of the Asia Minor Peninsula, causing chaos throughout the Ottoman Empire.

However, European countries only paid close attention to the situation in the Ottoman Empire, and they were trying to suppress each other. No one power had the confidence to interfere in the situation in the Ottoman Empire while other powers were paying attention.

But since May of this year, the situation in the Ottoman Empire has changed again.

Abdelaziz, who was the Ottoman Sultan at the time, was deposed by the wise people of the Ottoman Empire headed by Midhat and replaced Murad V as the Ottoman Sultan.

This was originally just a change of power within the Ottoman Empire, and logically it would not cause a change in the situation.

What the Ottoman people hoped for was a sultan who could bring a new constitution, move the Ottoman Empire towards a constitutional monarchy, become more democratic, and promote reforms to make the country rejuvenated and strong.

Logically speaking, Murad V was deeply influenced by France and was expected to complete the above steps.

But Murad V was not interested in the Ottoman Empire's northern neighbor, the Russian Empire, and was even very hostile.

One enemy was the Ottoman Sultan of the Russian Empire, which naturally aroused the attention and dissatisfaction of the Russians. The Tsarist Empire had long wanted to control the Strait of Constantinople to control the Black Sea Fleet's outlet to the Mediterranean. Naturally, it took pleasure in the chaos of the Ottoman Empire, and even wished that the Ottoman Empire would become more and more chaotic.

An Ottoman Sultan who was hostile to the Russian Empire was obviously a good excuse, which also allowed the Russian Empire to become more actively involved in the affairs of the Ottoman Empire in terms of diplomacy, such as supporting the independence of Serbia, which was also a Slavic brother.

The chaos in the Ottoman Empire was not only concerned by Russia, but also by Britain and Austria-Hungary.

Russia's unabashed involvement in Balkan affairs made the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which also longed for the Balkans, very dissatisfied, and expressed a completely opposite attitude to Tsarist Russia, which was more supportive of maintaining the status quo in the Balkans. After all, a decadent Ottoman Empire was more conducive to Austria-Hungary penetrates the Balkans.

In fact, as early as late last year, Russian Foreign Minister Gorchakov started secret discussions with the Austria-Hungary Empire to discuss how Russia and Austria would jointly put pressure on the Ottoman Empire to force it to allow the uprising-prone provinces of Herzegovina and Bosnia to realize the autonomy.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire naturally understood Russia's intentions, so it did not agree to the proposal of the Russian Foreign Minister.

At present, the Russians are strongly supporting the uprisings of various ethnic groups in the Balkan Peninsula, which naturally arouses the fear and preparedness of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The most powerful ally of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was Germany, but Germany, Russia and Austria were in the Three Emperors Alliance. Germany's diplomatic attitude in this regard is very vague. It neither supports Russia's intervention in the Ottoman Empire nor supports the Austro-Hungarian Empire to maintain its status quo. It has a relatively neutral attitude.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire could only turn its attention to another ally, which was Spain, which had initially implemented reforms.

Although Spain is also an extremely weak empire, the current reforms have restored Spain's health, and it is not an exaggeration to call it a European power.

In the absence of direct support from Germany, the most reliable ally of Austria-Hungary was Spain.

Of course, the hope of maintaining the status quo in the Balkans would not be placed solely on Spain. The most important thing is that the British did not want to see Russia expand its sphere of influence in the Balkans, let alone control Constantinople and the Straits.

After the diplomatic ambassadors of the Austro-Hungarian Empire contacted the Spanish government, the cabinet held an emergency meeting and invited Carlo to participate.

Carlo had also heard about this history. In the end, a war broke out between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, which was known in history as the Tenth Russo-Turkish War.

The Tenth Russo-Turkish War in history ended with Russia's victory, but the results were shared by Britain, Austria and Russia.

It is worth mentioning that this war allowed the Austro-Hungarian Empire to obtain Bosnia and Herzegovina, which in turn triggered the First World War.

After all, the fuse of the First World War was very famous, that is, the assassination of Crown Prince Ferdinand in Sarajevo. Sarajevo is a city in Bosnia, and the reason why Crown Prince Ferdinand was assassinated was due to the conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia over the two provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire hoped that Spain would fulfill its covenant and provide diplomatic support to ensure that Austria-Hungary had enough confidence to oppose Russia's forced interference in the situation in the Balkans.

Carlo was familiar with the development of this period of history, and naturally understood that Austria-Hungary did not participate in this war. It would not be a loss for Spain to support Austria-Hungary at the diplomatic level.

Although this would offend Russia, Russia is at the easternmost part of Europe and Spain is at the westernmost part of Europe. There is no interest between the two countries, so it is okay to offend them.

What's more, the life of the Tsarist Russian Empire is not long. The Ottoman Empire was a decadent old empire, and so was the Tsarist Russian Empire?

The incomplete reform gave Tsarist Russia a breath of fresh air, but Carlo knew very well how long this breath could last.

Although the surface data of the five traditional European powers are very exaggerated, there are only three truly powerful countries, namely Britain, France and Germany.

Britain, France and Germany crushed Russia and Austria in terms of industry and economy, and are also the top three powerful powers in the world.

Russia won the war with the Ottoman Empire, but eventually had to give in to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Britain. The fundamental reason was the weakness of Russia and the strength of Britain.

If the dispute in the Balkans involved only the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia, Russia would even have the confidence to go to war with the Austro-Hungarian Empire after defeating the Ottoman Empire and completely control the situation in the Balkans.

But unfortunately, Germany stood behind the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Britain stood behind the Ottoman Empire. It is extremely difficult for Russia to completely control the Balkans, just as Spain now wants to control Gibraltar.

After the cabinet meeting, the Spanish government officially gave its attitude, which is to agree to support the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the diplomatic level and support the powers not to interfere in the situation in the Balkans.

After receiving the support of the Spanish government, the Austro-Hungarian government finally breathed a sigh of relief. Although Spain is not as good as the five traditional powers in Europe, it is definitely a strong country in Europe.

Spain's diplomatic support is still very important to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. I believe it will also allow Russia to consider some issues more carefully when planning for the Balkan Peninsula.

While the Austro-Hungarian Empire was relieved, Carlo was already preparing the military factory to produce a batch of new weapons and artillery shells.

The scale of the Tenth Russo-Turkish War was quite large, with more than one million troops and more than 4,000 artillery pieces on both sides.

In this war, large corps of troops appeared on both sides, equipped with rifled guns and artillery, and used railways and battlefield telegraphs for communication.

This also made the scale of the battlefield larger, and the way of war changed from the previous battlefield. The battles of this war, as well as the wide frontal battle and the large depth, are worthy of learning for the Spanish army.

The warring parties will definitely need a large number of weapons and equipment. For the Spanish arms factory, this is a potential opportunity to export arms.