Chapter 734: The Call of the Fellow Tribe

After the demise of the United States, the world situation was generally not so chaotic. Because basically most countries can share some benefits, which also makes the people of many countries slightly expect that at least their future is hopeful.

But this does not represent all countries. There are still some countries that are still in dire straits, and the situation in some regions is still in chaos, or even war.

This does not refer to Germany, which has become accustomed to chaos, nor Russia, whose economy and industry are still collapsing, but to Portugal, a country that has not much presence in Europe and has been gradually marginalized.

Why is Portugal mentioned extra? This country is a typical country in Europe that has transformed from a kingdom to a republic.

It is worth mentioning that the last dynasty of Portugal is Arthur's family, the famous Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Dynasty.

Even going back further, the fall of the Kingdom of Portugal also has Australasia as a reason. It was precisely because of the disastrous defeat in the war with Australasia, coupled with the poor rule of the then Portuguese King Carlos I, that the Portuguese people were very dissatisfied with the king's rule, which led to the outbreak of the revolution and directly ruined the kingdom.

Of course, more than 20 years have passed, and Arthur has long forgotten this small-scale war, and the Portuguese do not hold too many grudges.

But the Portuguese are not in a good situation now. The economic crisis has caused Portugal to suffer heavy losses. In addition, the so-called republican government is actually very chaotic, making the country suffer the most chaotic moment in a hundred years.

Speaking of this, we have to mention the Greek kings who were jointly supported by Arthur and George V.

The fate of Greece and Portugal is similar. Both were destroyed by the revolution, and the country was very chaotic after entering the republic.

Even Portugal is worse than Greece.

Although the people supported the republican government at the time, Portugal's republic was too bad.

How exaggerated? In the 20 years since the establishment of the republic, the Portuguese government has changed nearly 46 different governments, including democratic parties, republican parties, socialist parties, dictatorships and military governments.

There was even a short period of fascist dictatorship. If this period of rule had not lasted too long, I am afraid that Portugal's fate would have changed greatly.

46 governments in 20 years, with an average of less than 160 days in power for each government. Arthur actually didn't believe such an exaggerated situation if it hadn't really happened.

Think about it carefully, what can be done in 160 days? A policy from discussion to formulation, to implementation and completion takes at least half a year, and a larger policy even takes several years to promote.

160 days is less than half a year, which also means that Portugal has not implemented too many effective policies and constructions in these 20 years.

It is not surprising that the country has suffered huge trauma in the economic crisis without any construction in 20 years.

You know, these 20 years directly spanned the entire First World War, and human technology has made rapid progress in these 20 years.

Portugal has stagnated in development in these 20 years, which is equivalent to their construction level remaining before the First World War.

Coupled with the frequent changes of government, which has led to people's distrust of the government, it can be said that Portugal is currently suffering from the most severe crisis, which will even directly affect the fate of the First Republic of Portugal.

The reason why Arthur is concerned about the situation in Portugal is not that Arthur has an idea about Portugal.

To be honest, Arthur didn't have too many ideas about this country that had fought a war with Australasia and had a good relationship with Britain.

But helplessly, someone from Portugal came to Arthur, which forced Arthur to pay attention to this country.

Speaking of Portugal, it was actually Manuel II, a member of the extinct royal family of Portugal, who came from the same family as Arthur.

The reason why Manuel II sent someone to find Arthur was to ask Arthur to help him restore the throne and restore the rule of the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family in Portugal.

Arthur was clear about the demise of the Kingdom of Portugal. Although King Carlos I did not die in the assassination due to the intervention of the war.

But the subsequent Kingdom of Portugal did not last long, and the angry Portuguese people overthrew the rule of Carlos I.

After that, the throne fell into the hands of Manuel II. But unfortunately, Manuel's immature rule was obviously no match for the various political parties, and his rule lasted less than a year before it perished.

In total, Manuel has been away from the throne for nearly 20 years. It seems a bit strange that he found Arthur to ask for restoration after 20 years, which also made Arthur start to pay attention to the situation in Europe again.

Well, after some investigation, Arthur is not surprised.

The real reason why Manuel II thought of restoration 20 years later was that the Portuguese people were very dissatisfied with the royal rule before.

To put it simply, even if the government chaos has lasted for 20 years, the royal family has no hope of regaining the right to rule in these 20 years.

Because to put it bluntly, Portugal was not very strong during the reign of Carlos I, and the people did not want to have another king on their heads for no reason.

So why did Manuel II find Arthur now?

In fact, it was the difference in the political situation in Portugal.

If Portugal was switching back and forth between various governments before, trying to find a political system that is more suitable for Portugal.

Then the current political situation in Portugal is basically dominated by the military. On May 28, 1926, the Portuguese military launched a coup, abolished the government's republican rule, declared all political parties illegal, and established a national military government.

This was not the biggest blow to the Portuguese people.

With the outbreak of the economic crisis, Portugal's economy also suffered a heavy blow. Logically speaking, the government at this time should do everything possible to restore the economy, ensure that the unemployed can apply for relief food, and let them find jobs as much as possible.

But what is the Portuguese government doing at this time?

The Portuguese government is engaged in a new round of power struggles. Yes, there are also quite fierce power struggles in the military government.

In the end, after more than a year of power struggles, the dictator Antonio Carmona successfully became president and established a more extreme dictatorship.

Compared to the president of the country, Antonio Carmona is more like the uncrowned king of the country, holding more autocratic power than the absolute monarch.

Because he holds the army in his hands, Antonio is extremely cruel to those he dislikes, and even arbitrarily executes government officials.

The most serious result of this is actually the destruction of government order and social order.

In this way, the prestige of the government has dropped significantly, and the people not only do not trust the government, but also begin to distrust anything involving the government.

Of course, this is not the last straw that overwhelms the situation in Portugal.

After the war with the United States ended, Portugal was able to share a considerable amount of benefits because of the dispatch of troops.

Because it is clear that the Portuguese government has shared the benefits, a large number of Portuguese people who have lost their jobs and are hungry took to the streets, demanding that the government mortgage this part of the benefits, exchange food from other countries, and help the unemployed in the country.

For European countries, this should be a very ordinary march. But for Antonio, it is equivalent to the provocation of those damn civilians to his power rule.

The government should have the final say on what to do, rather than changing its views because of a demonstration by the people.

Compared with distributing relief food to the people, Antonio would rather buy more weapons and equipment to expand his army.

The difference in ideas naturally led to certain conflicts, and Antonio decided to suppress the Portuguese demonstration by force.

This seemed to ignite the anger of the Portuguese people, and Antonio completely lost the support of the people.

At this moment, the Portuguese people finally remembered the benefits of the monarchy.

They did not have demonstrations during the reign of Carlos I, but the worst result was that they were persuaded and could not achieve their desired goals.

Unlike now, they will face military suppression at any time, making the demonstrations that are very common in Europe become taboos that people dare not participate in.

In addition, the strength of the monarchy has also made the Portuguese royalists active again, and actively contacted Manuel II in London.

Manuel II was very happy to receive the news from the royalists in Portugal.

Although he can now live a life of a rich man, and the European royal family also recognizes his identity as a former king.

But after all, it is just recognition, and he has no status or power.

As a person who has been on the throne, Manuel II still desires the throne of Portugal.

If there is a choice, who would be willing to stay in London, live under someone else's roof, and endure occasional ridicule?

Manuel's first choice was to find the King of England, George V, who was once a member of the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family.

In Manuel II's view, although George V changed his surname, the two are still a family in terms of blood relationship.

Secondly, it is also good to support him to return to the throne of George V, and I believe George V is still very happy.

But unexpectedly, when Manuel excitedly found George V, he was greeted with George V's euphemistic refusal.

Seeing Manuel II with a disappointed face, George V was very embarrassed. To be honest, it was not that he wanted to refuse.

But the problem is that George V does not have such high prestige in the British cabinet that the British government can unconditionally support George V's decision.

What's more, when choosing a king for the kingdom of the United States, George V had already had a big conflict with the government.

Under this circumstance, the British cabinet will naturally not obey George V's orders. After all, after supporting Manuel to sit on the throne, the biggest beneficiary can only be George V.

After being rejected by George V, Manuel can only look for the next target. And the only monarchy country that ranks among the top three powers in the world is Australasia ruled by Arthur.

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