Spain, Alfonso XII, 25 pesetas, 1878
Historical
Alfonso XII. (1857 - 1885) was King of Spain from 1874 until his death.
As a result of the September Revolution of 1868, Alfonso XII went into exile in Paris at the age of ten with his parents Queen Isabell II and his father Francisco de Asís de Borbón. During his childhood and youth, he enjoyed an extensive education abroad and in public educational institutions such as the College Stanislas Paris.
Due to the Battle of Sedan in 1870 and the invasion of France by German troops, the family fled first to Geneva in Switzerland and later to Austria's capital Vienna, where he attended the famous Theresian Academy Gymnasium.
In 1874, Alfonso then entered the British military academy at Sandhurst. Here he was particularly encouraged by the former minister Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, who had already been instrumental in deciding on a new king during the royal election of 1870, in order to strengthen the rule of the Spanish monarchy. After long wartime negotiations for the crown, Alfonso was able to return to Madrid in 1876 as victor and announce the end of the Carlist Wars. A new monarchy was born and stood strengthened against all doubters.
In 1883, the new king undertook an important journey through the states of Central Europe with great encouragement from the Spanish population. Thus, in the negotiation dispute of 1885 with the German Empire over the Caroline Islands, and his good personal relations with Kaiser Wilhelm I, he achieved a peaceful solution. The dispute was consequently settled at Bismarck's suggestion by a conciliatory judgement of Pope Leo XIII.
In the same year and before the birth of his son Alfonso XIII, the young King Alfonso XII died unexpectedly in the Prado Palace in Madrid as a result of tuberculosis. The regency of the Spanish monarchy was then continued by his wife Maria Christina of Austria until 1902.
