The Spanish succession crisis of 1868 actually has its roots in 1700, that is, the succession crisis of Charles II of Spain 168 years ago.

On November 1, 1700, King Charles II of Spain died without an heir to the throne. According to kinship, it could be inherited by people from the Habsburgs of Austria and by people from the Bourbon dynasty in France.

Because Charles II himself belongs to the side line of the Habsburg dynasty, but he is also the brother-in-law of the French Emperor Louis XIV, and Europe is different from China, without the shackles of the so-called family blood, women can be queens, and it is also common for wives to inherit the throne.

The French Emperor Louis XIV at that time continued this relationship and actively engaged in diplomacy with Spain, and finally Charles II's will confirmed that the throne would be passed to Philip Anjou, one of Louis XIV's grandsons.

Louis XIV's wishful thinking could not have been known to other kingdoms, when Charles II ruled not only Spain itself, but also a small principality of Italy, part of the territory of modern-day Belgium, including countless vast colonies in the Americas, Asia, and Africa.

Once Louis XIV's grandson ascended the throne, he naturally received the most benefits from these territories, when France was in its prime, and India, Madagascar, Canada, and the colonies along the Mississippi River were all acquired at that time.

It was precisely because of such a strong national power that Louis XIV dared to build the magnificent Palace of Versailles.

Now he has put his black hand into Spain's pocket again, if he controls the Spanish colonies in disguise, then France's national power will be boundless.

Because of this, Britain, the Netherlands, Austria, and Prussia in Germany rebelled, and they formed an alliance and decided to fight France. Thus, from 1701 onwards, the War of the Spanish Succession broke out.

The war lasted from 1701 to 1713, and both sides won and lost each other, but on the whole it was the combined forces of Britain, Austria, and Prussia that prevailed, and if it were not for Russia in the north, I am afraid that neither side would have ceased fire and concluded a treaty by 1713.

On April 11, 1713, the Peace of Utrecht was signed, with France and Spain on the one hand, and England, the Netherlands, Brandenburg, Savoy and Portugal on the other. In 1714, Austria signed the Peace of Rushtat.

After this war, the momentum of rapid expansion of France's national power was severely crushed, and a large number of colonies, including territories, were ceded. In fact, North America lost the most colonies, and even parts of Italy and South Germany were ceded away.

But France retained Philip's throne, the Bourbons finally took control of Spain, and the British, in order to prevent France and Spain from uniting into one country, deliberately stated in the treaty that Philip and his descendants could never inherit the throne of the French king, and Spain and France could never merge.

This was the root of Spain's chaotic succession, and Europe had a very complex aristocratic genealogy, which even required the training of specialized officials to spend their lives studying, and sometimes the kings of various countries did not know how to make sense of their relationship with other kings, and they had to rely on professionals to calculate little by little from the thick archives.

Why European aristocrats have very long names, it is not meaningless, every word represents an identity of this person, and people who really know how to do it can touch each other's family relations from the name.

The Spanish succession crisis in the 18th century was repeated in the 19th century, Queen Isabella's reign really couldn't continue, ** the incompetent Isabella has made a mess of Spain, and now even if France provides her with more military and financial support, she can't stand her from losing the war again and again, the people's will is gone, and the mud can't support the wall.

Now all countries are thinking about the heir after her, and the French side of course wants Isabella's son Alfonso to succeed to the throne, although rumors say that this child was born of Isabella's affair with the guard officer, but the Europeans don't care about those bloodlines, they only care about titles.

As long as Alfonso was Isabella's own son, he was a Bourbon child, born pro-French. But the rebellious Spanish Provisional Government had become completely disillusioned with the Bourbons, and of course they feared future retaliation from Alfonso, so they set their sights on another legitimate system of succession to the Spanish throne.

That was the Habsburg dynasty, and through the vast genealogical data, the Provisional Government finally identified two candidates, one was an Italian nobleman and the other was Prince Leop, who lived in Prussia, and the two men were closest to the Spanish royal family.

The Italian candidate was apparently only used to make up the numbers, and there were only two people who really had the strength to compete for the Spanish throne, one was Alfonso, who was supported by France, and the other was Prince Leop, who was supported by the Prussian and Spanish provisional governments.

The fuse of the Franco-Prussian War was finally lit at this moment, but no one thought that it was a Chinese woman who lit the fuse, she was Fang Guan.

Fang Guan, under the secret order of Prussia's iron-blooded Prime Minister Bismarck, with the assistance of a large number of intelligence officers, deliberately revealed in the Netherlands that Prussia was preparing to support Prince Leop to inherit the Spanish throne.

The French intelligence officers began to act that evening, and the whole of Europe was in an uproar, and under the deliberate leakage of Prussia, a few top secrets were quickly transmitted to Britain and France.

Napoleon III was furious, he did not expect that Prussia actually made a plan to secretly escort Leop back to Spain, and the Prussian Navy secretly escorted Leop to A Coruña, Spain, in the name of entering the Atlantic for training.

Where did Leop begin to make secret contacts with the Provisional Government, and began to hire troops and even elite Prussian veterans, and when the situation reached a certain point, he would send troops into Madrid with the Provisional Government to declare the succession to the throne.

"Shameless!Prussia...... You are all bastards! France and Spain will not allow you to touch it...... Ordered to go to the first level of alert of the French navy, and to block the English Channel for me, and keep an eye on the Prussian navy......"

"Inform the British side that Prussian ambitions must be suppressed, and that a united Germany is absolutely not in our interests!"

The entire French military was mobilized, and the main fleet of the port immediately went out to sea to blockade the Bay of Biscay, the English Channel, and the southern part of the North Sea.

French diplomats went into action, nine protest cables arrived in Berlin over three days, demanding an explanation from Prussia, and the ambassador in London talked privately for four hours at the British Prime Minister's residence, and then the British Royal Navy joined the French blockade.

The smell of gunpowder suddenly wafted over Europe!

Note: The second shift is over, and there are three shifts today!