Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 580 Happy birthday!

Although this lynching has caused a huge uproar in the United States, the white Americans who participated in the lynching clearly do not think that what they did was wrong.

Under Texas law, lynching is illegal and can be punishable by death.

However, the lynching of Jesse Washington that day attracted a large number of white high-ranking officials, including the mayor and police chief.

Sheriff Fleming, who was in charge of the case, even told his subordinates that they did not need to stop the lynching or arrest any white Americans involved in it.

American police viewed this as a demonstration of their firm stance against crime, and the police chief even hoped to gain the trust of white people through this lynching, thereby increasing his chances of winning the next election.

Such a horrific lynching has become a means for white politicians to gain support from the white population, which only shows that white Americans in this era truly do not regard black people as human beings.

Unlike the lively public opinion environment in the local area, this lynching caused a strong reaction in other states and regions of the United States. The Black community was terrified, and a large number of people of color also expressed their concern about the lynching case.

By the time the news reached Europe across the ocean, several days had already passed.

Although only a Black man was executed in the lynching, the act of burning a living person to death in such a public and with such cruel methods is clearly too cruel.

Carlo was happy to cause trouble for the Americans, as this would at least completely ruin their diplomatic reputation and reduce the United States to an image of nouveau riche and barbarians in Europe.

Prominent Spanish newspapers and media outlets such as El Sol de la Salle, El País, and La Madrid Times reported on the Jesse Washington lynching case, portraying the American as a cruel butcher.

It's just bad luck for Americans. If this had happened in the last century, there wouldn't have been much of a problem with them doing this.

Especially in the first half of the 19th century, before most countries in the world abolished slavery, it was perfectly normal to execute a lowly black slave in any way, and it would not attract any attention from the outside world.

Let alone executing one black slave, what difference would it make if we executed a whole bunch of them? Isn't that what everyone does?

The problem is that we are now in the 20th century, and the First World War has already ended.

With the continuous progress of civilization and technology, European countries have long since disguised themselves, presenting themselves to the outside world as peaceful, prosperous, and gentlemanly nations.

Now that such a scandal has broken out in the United States, European countries will naturally not stand with the United States. Instead, they will only continue to condemn the United States to express that they are not on the same side as the United States.

Especially countries like Germany, which was the first to use poison gas during the World War.

Because Germany was the first to use poison gas, its diplomatic reputation was severely damaged, and the word "cruel" has been associated with the German government ever since—a bad reputation that cannot be washed away in a short time.

Just as the German government was fretting over its terrible reputation, the US government offered it a convenient way out, and the German government naturally wouldn't let such a good opportunity pass.

At the behest of the German government, major German media outlets gave extensive coverage to the lynching, condemning the United States for such cruelty and denouncing it as a barbaric nation uncontrolled by the League of Nations and a disgrace to all civilized European countries.

If it were just news reports from Germany, even if some people believed them, most people would still have doubts.

With many European countries reporting on the news and condemning the United States, even if the European people were unwilling to believe it, they had no choice but to accept the fact.

The good reputation that the United States had cultivated for so long has finally collapsed, and collapsed so quickly.

Perhaps even the US government did not expect that a perfectly normal case of lynching would actually damage the US government's reputation in Europe.

What the US government didn't expect was that almost all European countries condemned the US. Had these countries forgotten what they had done in their colonies?
The practice of discrimination against Black people by white Americans is actually a legacy of that of white Europeans. Even the large number of Black people in the United States were brought to the Americas by Europeans through the slave trade.

Now, Europeans are condemning the United States, which has left the US government feeling incredibly frustrated, as if it has been betrayed.

Before World War I, the United States wielded immense influence over most Europeans.

All immigrants from all European countries combined, on average, at least five out of every ten immigrants choose to go to the United States.

If it weren't for Spain's sudden rise attracting some immigrants to Spain, the United States would probably have attracted even more immigrants.

Under such circumstances, once the positive image that the United States has painstakingly built collapses, its attractiveness to immigrants from Europe will inevitably be greatly affected.

While not enough to directly defeat the United States, it is certain that the United States is far weaker than it was at the same time in history, and it is virtually impossible for it to become a world superpower after World War II.

It must be admitted that the United States is indeed developing at the fastest pace in the world. Even though Carlos tried everything he could to weaken the United States, it only had a negligible effect.

We must find a more suitable opportunity to directly incite division or internal strife in the United States in order to completely eliminate this threat.

Spain will have to wait a long time to achieve this, and the time is not yet ripe.

The focus shifts back to Spain. Following the brief episode of Jesse Washington's execution, the timeline becomes June 1916.

For Spain, there is an extremely important holiday in June that cannot be missed: the birthday of one of the greatest monarchs in Spanish history, the current King Juan Carlos.

Carlo has ruled this country for decades. Born on June 2, 1851, Carlo will soon be 65 years old.

Carlos has been King of Spain for nearly 50 years, and he is still very emotional about these 50 years and quite satisfied with his achievements.

If it weren't for the worries about the establishment of the Spanish Empire and the future World War II, Carlos would probably have passed the throne to his son, Prince Juan Fernando, long ago and enjoyed his remaining years.

Although Carlo knew his body was still relatively strong, he was unwilling to hold the throne indefinitely. Regardless of whether a second world war broke out, Carlo would slowly begin to transfer power to his son after the establishment of the Spanish Empire.

If there really is a world war, the end of World War II will be the time for Carlo to abdicate and give way to his son.

If it weren't for World War II, Carlos would probably have abdicated within ten years at most, thus beginning the succession to the Spanish throne.

The Spanish government and people were clearly unaware of Carlo's thoughts, and many Spaniards were unwilling for Carlo to hand over the throne to his son at this time.

Although Prince Juan Fernando has demonstrated considerable ability over the years, he, like his father Carlo, has shown a caring and decisive approach to governance.

But for the Spanish people, no matter how much a successor to the throne resembles Carlo, he can never compare to Carlo on the throne.

It was Carlo who led Spain back to the ranks of the great powers, and it was Carlo who led Spain to defeat Britain and its allies in succession, allowing Spain to reclaim Gibraltar after more than a century and annex Portugal once again.

Such a great achievement is unprecedented for any monarch in Spanish history. Today, Spain's territory has reached its zenith, encompassing the entire Iberian Peninsula and Morocco in the northwest corner of Africa. Its land area surpasses that of any European country except Russia.

The Spanish government began preparations well in advance for Carlo's 65th birthday.

For Spain today, besides Christmas and New Year's Day, which are celebrated by all Europeans, the most important holidays are National Day on November 23 and Celebration Day on June 2.

Because these two holidays fall at the end of the year and the middle of the year, National Day and Celebration Day are also known as the National Day at the end of the year and the National Day in the middle of the year, respectively.

For Carlos today, he has long since embodied the phrase "I am the nation." Carlos represents Spain, and his birthday is naturally Spain's National Day.

This can be considered a benefit for all workers, as both the actual National Day and Carlos's birthday are legal public holidays recognized by the Spanish government.

The holiday is three days for the National Day holiday at the end of the year and one day for the National Day holiday in the middle of the year. Employees who work overtime during holidays should be entitled to double pay.

While enjoying long-awaited leisure time during the two national holidays, people are also grateful for the tremendous changes Carlos brought to Spain.

During Juan Carlos's nearly 50 years as King of Spain, the Spanish people have personally experienced tremendous changes in the country, the biggest of which are the minimum wage law and the worker protection law.

These two laws have been amended multiple times as Spain's economy and industry have continued to develop.

The former defines the minimum legal income range for Spanish workers, while the latter defines their legal rights, including holiday benefits, overtime pay, and salary guarantees.

All workers in Spain are aware that Carlo was behind these two laws, and they are grateful for his contributions whenever they receive related benefits and subsidies.

Today, there is a clear voice in Spain that most people believe that Carlos has surpassed all previous monarchs in Spanish history and is the greatest Spanish monarch, even greater than the two protagonists of the Iberian Wedding.

Spain enjoyed a period of great prosperity under Carlos's rule, and today Spain can be considered one of the most powerful countries in Europe, with only the United Kingdom being able to rival it.

Although the French still proclaim their greatness, most European countries are already aware that France is outwardly strong but inwardly weak.

The Spanish people are well aware that France is no longer the France of the past, and Spain has long surpassed France, making it arguably the second strongest country in Europe today.

Preparations for Carlo's birthday began as early as May 1916, when the Spanish government and people were already preparing for it.

Over the decades, the Spanish people have developed a tacit understanding. Every year on June 2nd, the Spanish people gather in the square in front of the Royal Palace in Madrid to sing the Royal March for their greatest monarch.

Some people also held up banners and marched through the streets of Madrid like in a parade, shouting slogans such as "Long live Spain!" and "Long live His Majesty Carlo!" to celebrate Carlo and Spain.

On this point, the public and the government had already reached a tacit understanding. In fact, the initial related activities were initiated by the Spanish government and organized by the public.

This wasn't to curry favor with Carlo, but rather to use this method to enhance national cohesion in Spain.

For a monarchical state, personality cult is not necessarily a bad thing. Only when the people worship their ruler can the country be united, making both production and foreign wars more efficient.

Carlos clearly deserves such a personality cult, and the Spanish government is happy to guide the public to worship Carlos, which also reduces the difficulty of the government's work.

For the Spanish people, they do not reject the worship of Carlo, after all, Carlo's actions and achievements are obvious to the naked eye, and no one is allowed to refute this.

If we don't even worship a monarch who brought about such a huge change to Spain, then who can the Spanish worship? Should they worship Queen Isabella, who weakened Spain to the extreme and almost fell from her throne as a weak power?
At 8:6 a.m. on June 2, 1916, as in previous years, people gathered in the square in front of the Royal Palace of Madrid and sang the Royal March on time.

Carlo also appeared amidst cheers from the crowd, accompanied by his crown prince and princess, smiling and interacting with the people present.

Although Carlo knew that as the King of Spain, he needed to maintain an air of mystery in order to inspire awe in the people.

However, on very rare occasions each year, such as National Day and his own birthday, Carlo is still willing to celebrate with the people and show his benevolent side.

After all, if it's just about mystery, the people will eventually be disappointed when they discover that the king is just an ordinary person.

But if a monarch is mysterious yet benevolent, ordinary yet great, the people will still worship him from the bottom of their hearts, even if they know that the king is an ordinary person. After all, it is such an ordinary person who led the country to strength and enabled them to live a good life.

　This is a slightly late birthday wish. Also, if there are any duplicates at the end of the chapter, please refresh the page. Thank you!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)