Republic of Castile
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| National motto: ... | |
| Languages | |
| Official | Castilian |
| Other | Galician. |
| Capital | Valladolid |
| Important Cities | Toledo, Sevilla |
| Area | ... |
| Population | 30,000,000 |
| Establishment | 1925 |
| Defunct | 1939 |
Official Name of Castilian Spain during the republican period..
History
A reactionary wing in the National Army, supported by Republican Conservatives was behind the plot. There was no majority coalition in the Courts, and the government was formed by a plurality of radical Liberals, moderated Conservatives, Anarchist-Syndicalists, Ecotopians and Christian Democrats. Several bills have been passed with a plurality of themes while important reforms had not prospered. In this chaotic situation, the radical Conservatives had asked Juan for a more direct intervention, something that would have violated the Constitution.
Juan pretended to be a progressive democrat, something that was too leftist for the Conservatives and even some moderated Liberals, but was still a monarch, something that was too rightist for the radical Liberals and the Anarchist-Syndicalists. And he was the king of a parliamentary democracy, something that was the same as nothing for most people, which either mean someone to weak to be a monarch for the Conservatives, and a costly institution for the more liberals.
Republicanism was winning adepts, even in the Conservative party. This Republican branch of the Conservative party had the most voted lists in several provinces both in Europe, in Africa and in the Americas, and was, overall, the most voted branch in Europe. Ditto for the Republican Liberals, and, of course, the Anarcho-Syndicalists where anti-monarchists. An amend proposing elimination of the monarchy would probably had passed in the Courts, but: a few provinces, mainly in Central America and Africa, considered the King as a symbol of the union threatening to leave; but mainly no party agreed in what would replace the king and other related reforms.
An insurrection in the Philippines in 1919 was controlled by a very high coast, mostly given vacillation in the command structure of the army, and just lack of competence of the officers. The symbolic defeat during the Great War, the defeat in Mueva Sefarad (that nobody really understood why was Castile there, in the first place), the prolonged warfare against Florida the last half of the previous century, the independence crisis in the first half of the 19th century where most of the Castilian-American colonies were lost, etc. There has been the impression that during the last century the military might of Castile and Leon, once important to defeat the Moors, to conquer the Americas, to protect Europe from the Turks and referee on other European affairs: that might was over. Many military people blamed a weak monarchy over it.
Those who deposed Juan, wanted a more powerful Castile, based on the traditional values that asked that each Castilian is a Poet, a Priest and a Soldier. Die hard Catholics, they resented most liberal reforms, so after they deposed the king they disbanded the courts and arrested the government. King Juan was deported to Germany (where his family came from) and they accommodated trials against the members of the government. They elected a triumvirate with two Colonels and the chief of the Republican Conservatives to rule by decree over Castile.
Most of these actions took place in European Castile, but the government also deposed any non-Conservative in the overseas provinces. This lead to some uprisings. In Western Sahara, Costa Rica and Panama, the uprisings were crushed by the military, while in the Philippines a general insurrection finally led in few years to the end of the Spanish control on those islands. Cundinamarca got divided, with the Junta controlling Santa Fe and the rebels controlling most of Boyaca. In Magdalena and Nicaragua, the rebels took control of the situation. Places like Popayan and Guatemala, as in most of the European Castile, the Junta took control almost bloodlessly.
Soon there came some definitions and most rebel provinces in the Americas, with the exception of Chiapas, recognized Juan as the king and the deposed government as the legitimate government. Chiapas declared the illegality of the Junta and their reactionary policies, even if they were not monarchists. The royalists provinces signed in a especial congress held in Cadiz la Nôva, that they represented the legal Kingdom of Castile and Leon and made arrangements with the German government to grant the arrival of Juan to the American territory.
When Juan arrived to Cadiz la Nôva in 1924, the Kingdom was represented by Magdalena, Antioquia, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and Quito. Most of the situation was in calm, except for Cundinamarca where the war was still hot. The Junta had control on Europe and Africa, and nominally they controlled also Panama, Costa Rica and Popayan. It was an armed peace. The leftist parties in Europe, and the monarchists in the Americas were a constant threat to the Junta who used represive policies to attempt to control the situation.
The situation broke in Madrid in the summer of 1925. A general strike paralyzed the city and the police repression just complicated everything. Soon the strike extended to most important cities: Cadiz, Seville, and many minor ones. The Junta resigned after three weeks of complete paralysis. Soon, Popayan, Costa Rica, Panama and the Canary Islands declared their loyalty to the Kingdom and the Junta sympathizers in Santa Fe resigned. In Western Sahara and European Castile, the monarchist movement did not prospered and a new Republican constitution was proclaimed as the Republic of Castile. Chiapas issued its own constitution and asked to be a protectorate of the Kingdom of Castile and Leon, but outside the Kingdom.
The Philippines were lost.
The relationship between the Republic of Castile and the Kingdom of Castile and Leon was cordial from the beginning. They both recognized themselves as one nation divided by politics, never as enemies. Barely representation issues, like which of them would used the embassy building in certain country led to some cordial and diplomatic arguments.
The Republic underwent a democratic transition, and the leftist parties soon got a majority. The Radical Liberal party with the Anarcho-Syndicalists formed a majority coalition government in 1930. Governments in the Kingdom, changed from moderated Conservative to moderated Liberal in 1934.
The leftist government in the Republic soon attempted a series of radical changes, which polarized the political climate and revived the Junta conservatives.
In 1935, General Tascon arrested President Gonzalez, and a long civil war started.
By 1938, the reactionary militaries, and the Phalangist (name that the Republican Conservatives adopted) had practically won the war. Only a few cities, including Toledo and Valladolid, resisted. The Kingdom could not be neutral in all that bloodshed, and supported the legitimate Republican government as far as there was a port controlled by the Republicans. Some people criticized this, given that some monarchists were fighting with Tascon, but king Juan and Prime Minister Gutierrez de Piñeres, knew that Tascon would not mean any return of the monarchy to the European Castile.
