Empire Rising: Spain

Of course, the so-called renovation process is actually very simple.

The first step is to select buildings suitable for small school campuses, and the second step is to clean them up and partition the classrooms and dormitories.

The biggest task during this period is the repair of damaged windows and doors, which is also the reason for the rapid speed of the conversion into primary schools.

In fact, half of these three months were spent on searching for buildings, and the actual renovation work took less than a month and a half.

According to the current progress, there is hope to convert over 60 primary schools before September this year, and compulsory education can officially start in the two major regions.

Sixty primary schools are definitely not enough, but it is possible for students to squeeze together at first. Under the circumstances where schools are insufficient, priority can also be given to enrolling children aged 6 to 12.

Once the number of schools becomes sufficient, the enrollment scope can then be opened to all age groups.

Yes, Spain’s primary education will be open to all age groups, even adults can participate in primary education.

But for fairness, and also for the healthy development of real students aged 6 to 12, these older "students" will not be in the same schools as those under 12 years old.

After all, genuine primary school students aged 6 to 12 still have immature minds compared to teenagers and young adults in their teens and twenties, and they would definitely be at a disadvantage in scholarship competition.

Alongside educational developments, in May 1876, the situation in Europe also experienced some changes.

It wasn’t because of the European Powers, but rather due to the changes within the once enormous empire spanning Asia, Africa, and Europe—the Ottoman Empire.

Because the Ottoman Empire spanned these three continents and controlled the extremely important Strait of Constantinople in Europe, its changes drew close attention from various European countries, especially the United Kingdom, Austria-Hungary, and Russia.

This is actually quite understandable. Austria-Hungary and Russia have ambitious designs on the Balkan Peninsula, and the master of the Balkans is the Ottoman Empire.

The British are also very concerned about the situation around the Strait of Constantinople, as the title of "Europe’s troublemaker" is well-earned.

The changes in the Ottoman Empire’s situation stem from the empire’s decline. This once formidable empire spanning three continents has now become a decrepit and feeble old entity.

The empire is barely maintaining its last gasp, but that’s all there is. Compared to the traditional European powers, the Ottoman Empire is like a piece of meat ready to be divided, with the fur cleanly shaven, not causing any trouble.

As early as the end of last year, chaos was triggered throughout the Ottoman Empire due to a severe famine in the central and northern regions of the Asia Minor Peninsula.

But European countries are merely closely watching the situation within the Ottoman Empire, while also restraining each other, with none of the powers confident enough to intervene in the Ottoman Empire’s situation under the watch of others.

However, since this May, the Ottoman Empire’s situation has once again welcomed changes.

The then reigning Ottoman Sultan Abdul Aziz was dethroned by Ottoman Empire’s enlightened figures led by Midhat, with Murad V being established as the new Ottoman Sultan.

This was originally just an internal power shift within the Ottoman Empire, which theoretically wouldn’t trigger a change in the situation.

The Ottoman people hoped for a Sultan who could bring a new constitution to guide the empire towards constitutional monarchy, making it more democratic and driving reforms to revive and strengthen the nation.

Logically, Murad V, deeply influenced by France, seemed promising to complete the aforementioned steps.

But ironically, Murad V was not fond of the Ottoman Empire’s neighbor to the north, Tsarist Russia, and even was very hostile.

An Ottoman Sultan hostile to Tsarist Russia, naturally attracted attention and dissatisfaction from the Russians. Tsarist Russia had long wanted control over the Strait of Constantinople to manage the Black Sea Fleet’s access to the Mediterranean, and naturally felt schadenfreude over the Ottoman Empire’s chaos, even hoping for more disorder.

An Ottoman Sultan hostile to Tsarist Russia is clearly a good excuse, which also led Tsarist Russia to become more active in interfering with Ottoman Empire’s affairs, like supporting the independence of their Slavic brethren in Serbia.

The chaos in the Ottoman Empire is not only under Russian scrutiny, but also being watched by the United Kingdom and Austria-Hungary.

Tsarist Russia’s blatant intervention in Balkan affairs greatly displeased Austria-Hungary, which also has strong desires towards the Balkans, expressing an attitude completely opposite to Tsarist Russia’s, supporting the Balkans to maintain the status quo. After all, a corrupt Ottoman Empire is more conducive for Austria-Hungary to infiltrate the Balkans.

In fact, by late last year, Russian Foreign Secretary Gorchakov had started secret talks with Austria-Hungary, discussing the ways for both countries to jointly put pressure on the Ottoman Empire, forcing it to allow the frequently uprising provinces of Herzegovina and Bosnia to achieve autonomy.

Austria-Hungary naturally understood Russia’s plan, hence did not agree to the Russian Foreign Secretary’s proposal.

Currently, the Russians’ vigorous support for the uprisings of various nationalities in the Balkan Peninsula naturally causes Austria-Hungary’s apprehension and precaution.

Austria-Hungary’s strongest ally is Germany, but the three countries Germany, Russia, Austria are under the Triple Alliance. Germany’s diplomatic attitude in this regard is quite ambiguous, neither supporting Russian involvement in the Ottoman Empire nor Austria-Hungary maintaining status quo, adopting a relatively neutral stance.