Empire Rising: Spain

In May 1877, Carlo’s attention shifted from the fiery bullfighting matches to the construction of railroads in Spain.

Since Carlo was crowned King of Spain, a wave of railroad construction erupted in Spain, with the railway mileage continuously increasing.

According to current statistics from the transportation department, the existing railway mileage within Spain has officially exceeded 9,100 kilometers, with expectations to reach the goal of 9,500 kilometers this year.

Compared to the slightly over 5,000 kilometers of railway when Carlo was newly crowned, the total railway mileage has nearly doubled.

Carlo achieved this goal in less than ten years, a dramatic change compared to the period under Queen Isabella’s reign.

The changes brought by railway construction to Spain are not limited to increased railway mileage but also include industrial development and economic growth.

To date, Spain’s industrial scale has grown by more than sixty percent compared to the time when Carlo was newly crowned. In less than ten years, thousands of enterprises have sprung up, and among them, over a hundred have developed into well-known factories and construction companies in Spain, which is quite an astonishing figure.

The number of workers in Spain has grown from a small fraction at the time of Carlo’s coronation to nearly one million today, and workers have become an extremely important group in Spain, a target that Carlo intends to win over.

The idea of a king winning over workers may seem incredible, but it is indeed a goal that Carlo aims to accomplish.

Under the premise of ensuring the interests and income of workers in royal enterprises, the newspaper controlled by Carlo vigorously publicizes the benefits offered by royal enterprises to workers and Carlo’s protection of workers’ interests, smoothly maintaining the Spanish workers’ affection and recognition towards the royal family.

The workers hold resentment against capitalists, specifically those wicked capitalists who exploit workers’ interests and withhold their salaries.

However, official capital like that of Carlo is not among them, as official capital in Spain still provides some protection to workers, at least considerably better than the income and various treatments of workers in capitalist factories.

Returning to the current state of railway construction in Spain, the results are quite impressive.

Looking at the entire Spanish railway map, it resembles more of a slanted letter Y. The junction of the three lines is Madrid, the capital of Spain, home to one of Spain’s busiest train stations.

The three edges of the letter Y correspond to the capital city Santiago de Compostela of the Galicia Region, the capital city Barcelona of the Catalonia Region, and the capital city Seville of the Andalusia Region respectively.

These three major railway lines forming the Y, besides the aforementioned three regions, also pass through the capital city Valladolid of the Leon Region, the capital city Zaragoza of the Aragon Region, and the capital city Toledo of the La Mancha Region.

And the branches extending from these three major railway lines pass through more regions and more cities.

Together, these railways form Spain’s railway network, with the three main lines forming the letter Y remaining the busiest among them.

If one talks about the busiest railway, it is undoubtedly the line between Madrid and Barcelona. Madrid and Barcelona are the two largest cities in Spain, and Zaragoza, which is also along this route, is one of the major cities in Spain.

Madrid and Barcelona also stand as two of Spain’s few major industrial cities, and the industrial output of these two cities accounts for more than half of Spain’s total industrial output.

The reason Carlo focused on Spain’s railway construction is naturally a piece of good news from the transportation department, which is the successful opening of the railway from Madrid to the Extremadura Region.

The Extremadura Region is Spain’s frontier region, and to the west, it’s Portugal’s territory.

The reason Carlo paid attention to the completion of this railway is mainly because westward from the Extremadura Region is Portugal’s Portalegre District, further west is Santarem, and then Lisbon, which is the capital of Portugal.

Spain had previously reached a cooperation agreement with the Portuguese Government regarding the connection of railways. This railway stretching from Madrid to the capital city Merida of the Extremadura Region is primarily intended to connect with Portugal’s railway and directly run through to Portugal’s capital, Lisbon.

The connection of the railways between Spain and Portugal is a significant event for both countries.

Except for the non-sovereign little country of Andorra, there are only two countries on the Iberian Peninsula, namely Spain and Portugal.

France, the only country bordering the Iberian Peninsula, has a significant difference in railway gauge width with Iberian countries. This also makes economic exchange between the Iberian Peninsula and the European Continent extremely difficult, often having to rely on maritime transport for solutions.

Within the Iberian Peninsula, there is likewise a difference in railway gauge width between Portugal and Spain. If it weren’t for the robust shipbuilding capabilities in both Iberian countries, the hindrance from economic non-connectivity alone could impede the development of these two countries.

With the railway connection established between Spain and Portugal, the economic development of both countries can accelerate. For Spain, with its larger population, the benefits will surely be greater.

Unless controlled by the Portuguese Government, there will undoubtedly be more Portuguese people flowing into Spain.