Empire Rise: Spain-Chapter 28: Royal Military Academy Of Madrid

Carlo was extremely troubled after his coronation.
For Spain to achieve revival, it must have a large number of talents striving for the expansion of all sectors in Spain.
However, for Spain, where the illiteracy rate is as high as seventy percent, what it currently lacks the most is talent, especially high-quality talent cultivated in regular universities.
Speaking of which, Spain has a very long history of establishing universities.
The earliest University of Salamanca was established in 1218, which has a history of 651 years to date. In addition, there are many other universities that have been established for hundreds of years, far better than those European countries that have only a few regular universities.
But the problem lies here.
Although it possesses so many time-honored universities, Spain’s emphasis on cultivating university student talent is far inferior to that of great powers such as Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Austria.
Previously, the Spanish Government preferred to waste its annual fiscal budget on places of little use rather than investing in education to encourage more Spaniards to apply to universities.
The major institutions also lacked sufficient education funds support, and the cultivation of high-quality talent in Spain could be described as a complete mess.
Even in the army, the talent shortage problem was constantly affecting Spain.
During Isabella’s rule previously, most of the senior officers in the Spanish Army were controlled by nobles, making it extremely difficult for ordinary people to become high-level figures in the army.
Although the current army has transformed from the revolutionary army and temporarily eliminated this problem, the inability to sustain mid- and low-level officers remains a huge trouble.
Moreover, Carlo understood in his heart that this time node involves significant changes for the military. The line infantry tactics that could dominate Europe during the Napoleonic era have now become tactics of lining up to be shot.
Although the French had superior overall strength to Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War, relying solely on the large number of French line infantry established by Napoleon III emulating his uncle Napoleon doomed the French to a difficult fight.
Therefore, Carlo not only wanted to expand the scale of the Royal Military Academy but also to learn some excellent ideas and systems in the army from the Germans, who would become the world’s number one army, to establish a more powerful army and officer cultivation system for Spain.
Of course, France has not completely weakened now, and a Spain fully emulating Prussia would also be a huge threat to the French.
For the current Spain, doing less is certainly better than doing more. The new military academy, while learning some systems and ideas from the Prussian Army, would also absorb some ideas from the French Army, combining the strengths of the German and French armies.
After Carlo proposed to Primó the idea of emphasizing university development, Primó gladly agreed and stated that the Spanish Government would prepare more funding budget for the education department in the new year.
Carlo took the opportunity to obtain ownership of the Royal Military Academy from the government with 3 million pesetas in funds.
Primó, of course, understood the importance of the military academy. But for Primó at this time, it was better to hand over ownership of the military academy to Carlo, while he himself focused all his energy on reforms in Spain.
Although this might allow Carlo to infiltrate influence into the army through the officers cultivated by the military academy, that would at least be several years or even more than a decade later.
By then, Primó would be over 60 years old, and whether he could continue to serve as Prime Minister of Spain would be a question.
Precisely because he was already at the advanced age of 55, achieving revival for Spain was Primó’s only wish, and power struggles were no longer important to him.
Carlo, having obtained ownership of the Royal Military Academy, was in a great mood and changed from initial superficial courtesy to genuine respect toward Primó.
Regardless of how Primó is evaluated in history, in Carlo’s eyes, the current Primó is indeed a heroic figure like Garibaldi.
Italy’s fortune is to have given birth to Garibaldi, and Spain’s fortune is to have given birth to Primó.
The only difference is that Garibaldi faced hostility from the Italian Government and the King due to his history of joining the republic. Primó, because of his support for the monarchy and support for Carlo becoming King of Spain, gained Carlo’s trust and strong support.
In a great mood, Carlo and Primó, from an officer family background, discussed a lot about the future development of Spanish military academies and invited Primó to become the honorary vice principal of the Spanish Royal Military Academy.
Carlo himself would become the honorary principal of the Royal Military Academy, ensuring that all graduates of the military academy understand exactly who cultivated them as officers.
Considering the different needs of the Spanish Army for officers, the Royal Military Academy would be dispersed into two parts.
The main campus of the Royal Military Academy would remain in Madrid, with the role of cultivating excellent junior officers for Spain. The student sources for the military academy headquarters consist of two parts: one is students from Spanish civilians willing to apply to the military academy, and the other is excellent soldiers selected from the Spanish Army.
The other part after dispersion would establish a new military academy in Zaragoza in the Aragon region, fully named the Royal Military Academy Zaragoza Branch.
The purpose of the Zaragoza Royal Military Academy is to cultivate senior officers for Spain, and it could also be called the cradle of Spanish generals.
The two military academies with different goals would continuously cultivate excellent backbone and grassroots officers for the Spanish Army, allowing the Spanish Army to maintain excellent combat effectiveness and flexible tactical thinking, becoming a first-class army in Europe.
While cultivating Spanish officers, Carlo could also ensure these cultivated officers have higher loyalty to him.
After all, as King of Spain, Carlo is the nominal commander and leader of the Spanish Army.
In the future, the first lesson at the Madrid Royal Military Academy and the Zaragoza Royal Military Academy upon enrollment would be loyalty to the king and the country.
With these officers baptized in the ideology of loyalty to the monarch and love for the country, Carlo could exert greater influence over the future Spanish Army.
If the ideology of loyalty to the monarch and love for the country is interspersed into the education of Spaniards from childhood to adulthood, it could achieve a perfect closed loop, increasing the loyalty of all Spaniards to the monarchical system and to Carlo.
This is also Carlo’s ultimate goal for Spanish education. Only through subtle influence and baptism from childhood to adulthood can Spaniards truly accept the monarchy from the heart and develop genuine fanaticism and loyalty to Carlo.
Having received education from the Turin Royal Military Academy, Carlo was very familiar with the processes of military academies.
After investing over 1 million pesetas in the Madrid Royal Military Academy, the Royal Military Academy soon underwent expansion and conducted a large-scale enrollment after simple screening within the Spanish Army and among civilians.
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