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So Pedro has got his throne all too himself now? Let us see what he can do with it...
Great update and story.
Problems are alway's good for a story. The Piratini was a small fry. Wait thill england means buisness with you.
Problems are alway's good for a story. The Piratini was a small fry. Wait thill england means buisness with you.
I see "United Kingdom cracking" and I get delusions of a British AAR where Britain falls, and I see a Chamber of Deputies and think of Junta, and I see a king named Pedro and think this AAR is awesome.
A somewhat unusual political system in Portuzil (which is clearly a better name than Bragal), though it seems to be working well for them.
El Pip said:A somewhat unusual political system in Portuzil (which is clearly a better name than Bragal), though it seems to be working well for them.
Down in Bragal rock!
And that is exactly why Portuzil, despite sounding like the kind of monster Godzilla would fight in down town Tokyo, is a far better name.phargle said:
Sweet scenario, you must see this one to the end!
Oh, and are you planing on using historical Monarchs past Pedro IV? Because I can only imagine what kind of suffering would his Workohoolic grandson Pedro V endure if he had not one but two countries to rule
And the name is Reino Unido de Portugal, Brazil e dos Algarves you silly Portuzil and Bragal people!
Oh, and are you planing on using historical Monarchs past Pedro IV? Because I can only imagine what kind of suffering would his Workohoolic grandson Pedro V endure if he had not one but two countries to rule
And the name is Reino Unido de Portugal, Brazil e dos Algarves you silly Portuzil and Bragal people!
I'm almost finished with the next update, far far too much work has been piling up on my desk as of late, plus as usual the moment I start writing an AAR, other projects start popping into my head
Yeah, that's a curse. Writing one AAR is hard. ;-)
Post the update when it's good and fermented.
Post the update when it's good and fermented.
Don't say that! This is Jape we're talking about, he's a serial abandoner. We must encourage him to develop some will-power and stamina by pretending it's very easy to keep going on one if only he tried a bit harder.
Enewald:
robou: Indeed, it should be quite the ride.
Colonel Bran: Tensions with Portugal's oldest 'ally' were always tense in OTL, add Brazil into the mix and it'll be... interesting.
phargle: :rofl: Well that's definately going in my sig.
El Pip, phargle & Sir H: Hush
Treppe: Oh trust me, it wont take much to keep up with my breakneck speed (in that my AARs have all the speed of someone with a broken neck)
th3freakie: Finally someone who knows what they're talking about!. Monarchs wise, this will be following the Brazilian royal line so after Pedro II/V I'm not to sure, I'm tempted to have Prince Afonse, Pedro's first child survive infancy as he died in OTL due to tropical diseases he's unlikely to find in Europe, plus it gives me total freedom with roleplaying once Pedro goes towards the end of the century.
phargle & El Pip: I've done it now!
robou: Indeed, it should be quite the ride.
Colonel Bran: Tensions with Portugal's oldest 'ally' were always tense in OTL, add Brazil into the mix and it'll be... interesting.
phargle: :rofl: Well that's definately going in my sig.
El Pip, phargle & Sir H: Hush
Treppe: Oh trust me, it wont take much to keep up with my breakneck speed (in that my AARs have all the speed of someone with a broken neck)
th3freakie: Finally someone who knows what they're talking about!
. Monarchs wise, this will be following the Brazilian royal line so after Pedro II/V I'm not to sure, I'm tempted to have Prince Afonse, Pedro's first child survive infancy as he died in OTL due to tropical diseases he's unlikely to find in Europe, plus it gives me total freedom with roleplaying once Pedro goes towards the end of the century.phargle & El Pip: I've done it now!
Probably best that way indeed. Full freedom. Although the OTL provides some decent chaps for a HoI2 port (I was/am working on a Brazilian Empire HoI2 mod).th3freakie: Finally someone who knows what they're talking about!
Chapter I: Growing Pains
Part II
Rio de Janiero flourished in the mid-19th century as Latin America's undisputed trading hub
Part II
Rio de Janiero flourished in the mid-19th century as Latin America's undisputed trading hub
One of the crucial changes that the formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal and Brazil brought was its removal of international trading barriers to Brazilian agriculture. Whereas previously the bounties of the colony would have to pass through Lisbon (and any duties that were imposed along the way) before being released onto the world market, as an equal kingdom, the centre of exporting radically switched to Rio de Janeiro in the south and Belem in the north. Although Portuguese merchants still dominated trade, albeit with aggressive competition from their British and later American counterparts, the removal of middlemen destabilised Portugal’s economy, particularly when the state was often in on it. A heavy reliance on internal tariffs and the so-called ‘silver stream’ from South American mines had by the late 18th century effectively crippled economic growth, as the Crown was happy to live off the impressive spoils of the colonies. This ‘Iberian system’ was the very basis of the Spanish Empire’s rise and fall, and with the sudden change in Portugal, centuries old complacency was swept away by market forces.
Ironically the dependence on colonial goods left Portugal relatively open to an Industrial Revolution. The sheer amount of silver and sugar flowing through Lisbon into Europe had meant Portugal was quite capable of relying on foreign imports for manufactured goods, which in turn greatly weakened and dissolved the native artisans’ guilds. By the 1840’s two decades of more or less liberal government had seen a rolling back of tariffs and taxes that created a boom time for entrepreneurs. The wartime junta had also seen British investment become imbedded in Portugal; while the loss of the Brazilian monopoly had seen aristocrats and merchants look in other directions, further propelling a new commercial trend. By the mid-1840s, Lisbon was a thriving centre of light industry, dominated by lumber and textiles and easily outstripping Southern European rivals in Spain and Sardinia-Piedmont in the matter of only a few years. Meanwhile in Brazil itself the steady mechanisation of farming and a massive boom in coffee production in the southern plantations had seen exports double since 1836. The wealth of the ‘second kingdom’ was made abundantly clear in 1841, when King Pedro made his first journey to Rio de Janeiro. An elaborate military parade and lavish public celebrations had marked his arrival, all orchestrated by the Rio elites to show off the country’s affluence to their young monarch. All in all Lisbon was in its strongest economic position globally since the 16th century.
King Pedro V of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves c.1850
Not all were enjoying the times however. During the civil war constitutionalists and legitimists had allied against Dom Miguel for different reasons and by the 1840s any sense of solidarity had evaporated. Most conservative politicians, legitimist aristocrats and moderate ‘cartista’* Deputies alike, had been supportive of Prime Minister Bandeira’s ousting of the regents, however they soon had grown suspicious of his own relationship with the King. They were in almost constant contact discussing the affairs of state. While not necessarily abnormal for a monarch and his head of government, many feared his was indoctrinating Pedro with ‘radical thought’. Combined with the decline of rural Portugal (its small-scale farms unlike the plantations of Brazil were ill-suited to handle the growing free trade), which many of the conservatives represented or were very much apart of, and soon resentment and rumours combined to undermine Bandeira. It must be remembered Portuguese politics was dominated by loose factions, as much based on patronage and personal relationships as ideology. As ‘liberals’ too began to hear tales of their leader conspiring to make King Pedro a puppet despot, Bandeira’s authority soon began to evaporated. It merely took an ill-worded proposal to increase Portuguese anti-slave trade patrols in the Atlantic and Bandeira was forced to step down amid claims of being a ‘radical abolitionist’**.
As such 1841 was an election year. Conservatives swept the board, with Portuguese rural gentry and representatives from the Brazilian plantations dominating the Cortes. The left meanwhile was scattered, divisions between moderate and radical and pro and anti Bandeira making them all but ineffective. Bandeira himself gathered his supporters, numbering less than 100 deputies and attempting to improve their efficiency formed an ‘Association of Progress’, officialising their position and laying the groundwork for Portugal-Brazil’s first true political party. The King meanwhile, given the task of appointing the new Prime Minister, chose the Duke of Terceira. A veteran of the civil war and staunch constitutionalist, Terceira was trusted and moderate enough for the young King’s liberal leanings.
Much to the horror of the ‘landed interest’ however, Terceira was also strongly connected with the commercial interests of Lisbon and Rio. As early as 1842, new legislation lowering tariffs to an all time low required liberal support to pass the Cortes, quickly alienating Terceira from his apparent base. Fears of British domination of the economy and the destruction rural Portugal fuelled many a backbencher speech, however the continued growth of the economy, agriculture included, could not be ignored. Internationally, the government oversaw the recognition of Paraguayan independence in 1843, and in 1844, a mission to Calcutta oversaw reassurances of the Goa enclave and Portuguese trade in the Indian sub-continent from the British East India Company. That same year Lisbon’s position was strengthened in Africa after almost two centuries of decline, with the reestablishment of settlements along the Angolan coast. Despite fears of native unrest, the Ovimbundu tribes of the interior see resistance to be pointless and accept the new arrivals to their shores.
1845 saw scandal rock the political scene, as the new Diario de Rio newspaper, inspired by the radical Lisbon press of the 1820s, revealed evidence of electoral fraud in many southern provinces. Regions such as Sao Paulo had extremely low restrictions on electoral eligibility, barring none except the poorest and slaves. However this meant a lot of illiterate peasants held the vote yet little interest or knowledge of politics. As such the literal purchasing of votes was endemic***, and even in the halls of government an open secret. However the public revelation sent shockwaves through the Cortes and discredited several Brazilian deputies. King Pedro, perhaps somewhat naively, was surprised and horrified at such conduct and ordered new elections to take place. Once more support swung away from the government. Partly brought on by a strong economy weakening the ‘country’ argument that had brought so many conservatives into the Cortes, and partly due to a growing educated urban population winning seats in marginal areas for liberal candidates, Portugal fell mostly to Bandeira’s Progressivo. In Brazil meanwhile, the electoral scandal saw many ‘honest’ populist candidates take seats, shattered the landowner political monopoly which divided the Brazilian deputies, despite a general conservative consensus. As such a shaky alliance of liberals and independent conservatives took power, with Bandeira accepting Terceira’s continued leadership in return for the position of Minister of Finance.
*Supporters of the ‘Carta’, as the Constitutional Charter was known in Portuguese. Originally united against the reactionaries, this ‘broad church’ quickly split between left and right once the threat had vanished.
**IOTL, the Portuguese due to their close relationship with Britain were quite involved in the anti-slave trade patrols despite not abolishing the practice in their African colonies until 1869 (and then a very long period of indentured “bond slavery” ensued). This hypocrisy was attacked and hounded by London for decades. Their feet dragging was down to the combination of their poor colonies needed all the free labour they could get and the influence of colonial representatives in the cortés. Now ITTL the economic benefits of slavery in Angola for instance are marginal to Lisbon’s bulging coffers, however there is a vast slave-owner lobby from Brazil to contend with. The attempts by the government to please Britain are therefore 1) even more hypocritical and 2) looked on with worry by Brazilians, meaning opposing pressures from London and Rio will be very intense as time drags on.
***Same as IOTL, and I thought ‘treating’ in Victorian Britain was sketchy.
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Hmm, what Portugal really needs is a more firm political structure, with cement parties and laws that apply from Oporto all the way down to the Rio Grande do Sul. It is all just too irregular at the moment for the nation to be able to properly function its new found wealth...
It seems that there are any number of rocks on which Portugal-Brazil could be wrecked. Particulary the slave issue.
Still, if it can be held together, we're looking at an undoubted superpower!
Any chance of some screenies?
Still, if it can be held together, we're looking at an undoubted superpower!
Any chance of some screenies?
What is wrong with the old absolute monarchy?
Noobs.
Elections never work. Unless everyone votes.
Trade booming again in Lissabon???
How big is the population?
Owning a CoT in eu2 should have affected it.
Noobs.
Elections never work. Unless everyone votes.
Trade booming again in Lissabon???
How big is the population?
Owning a CoT in eu2 should have affected it.
Portuzil continues to grow, despite internal growing pains. This is promising, though the shaky progressive/conservative government will doubtless have many hurdles to overcome, if only from amongst their own party!