Spain
in the 19th century was a country in turmoil. Occupied by
Napoleon
from 1808 to 1814, a massively destructive "
liberation war
" ensued. Following the
Spanish Constitution of 1812
, Spain was divided between the 1812 constitution's liberal principles and the
absolutism
personified by the rule of
Ferdinand VII
, who repealed the 1812 Constitution for the first time in 1814, only to be forced to swear over the constitution again in 1820 after a liberal
pronunciamiento
, giving way to the brief
Trienio Liberal
(1820?1823).
Economic transformations throughout the century included the privatisation of communal municipal lands?not interrupted but actually intensified and legitimised during the Fernandine absolutist restorations
?as well as the confiscation of Church properties. The early century saw the loss of the bulk of the
Spanish colonies
in the
New World
in the 1810s and 1820s, except for
Cuba
and
Puerto Rico
.
The regency of
Maria Christina
and the reign of
Isabella II
brought reforms repelling the extremes of the absolutist
Ominous Decade
(1823?1833). Civil wars broke out in the country?the so-called
Carlist Wars
?pitting the government forces against the reactionary
Carlists
, a legitimist movement in favour of the
ancien regime
. Disaffection with Isabella's government from many quarters led to repeated military intervention in political affairs and to several revolutionary attempts against the government, including the 1854 revolution. The
1868 Glorious revolution
deposed Isabella and installed a provisional government, leading up to the election of a constituent assembly under
universal manhood suffrage
that elaborated the
1869 constitution
. The brief spell of
Amadeo of Savoy
as constitutional monarch was followed after his abdication by the proclamation of the
First Spanish Republic
, which was replaced after a 1874 coup by the
reign of Alfonso XII
, bringing the Bourbon dynasty back to power.
Abdications of Charles IV and Ferdinand VII (1808)
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The reign of
Charles IV
was characterized by his lack of interest in governing. His wife
Maria Luisa
dominated him, and both husband and wife backed
Manuel de Godoy
as first minister. Many of Godoy's decisions were criticised and increasingly Charles's son and heir,
Ferdinand
gathered support against his detested father. A mob supporting Ferdinand attacked Godoy at the palace of Aranjuez, arresting him. Charles IV under pressure abdicated in favor of his son, now
Ferdinand VII
. Napoleon had already invaded Portugal 1807, and had troops on the ground in Spain already. Napoleon called on Ferdinand to come to
Bayonne
, where he was currently situated. Ferdinand went, expecting Napoleon to affirm his status as king of Spain. Unbeknownst to Ferdinand, Napoleon also summoned Charles IV. Napoleon called on Ferdinand to abdicate in favor of his father, who had abdicated under pressure. Charles did not want to leave a path open for his detested son to be his heir, and abdicated in favor of Napoleon himself. Napoleon at this point designated his older brother,
Joseph Bonaparte
as king of Spain. An assembly of Spaniards ratified the
Bayonne Constitution
, Spain's first, which Joseph I signed. Although the constitution never came into full force, the fact that it provided for representation from regions of Spain and elsewhere in the
Spanish Empire
, namely Spanish America and the Philippines, set an important precedent.
Napoleon's 1808 invasion and Spanish resistance, (1808?1814)
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Although there were a few Spaniards who supported Napoleon's seizure of power in Spain, many regional centers rose up and formed
juntas
to rule in the name of the ousted Bourbon king,
Ferdinand VII
. Spanish America also created juntas to rule in the name of the king, since
Joseph I
was considered an illegitimate sovereign. Bloody warfare raged in Spain and Portugal in the
Peninsular War
, much of which was fought using guerrilla tactics.
Spain's first national assembly (1810?1814)
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The
first Spanish Constitution
was established by the
Cortes of Cadiz
Constitution of 1812
The
Cortes of Cadiz
was the first national assembly to claim sovereignty in Spain and the Spanish Empire. It represented the abolition of the old kingdoms and the recognition of overseas components of the Spanish Empire for representation. The opening session was held on 24 September 1810.
In November 1809, the army of the Central Junta was routed at the
Battle of Ocana
. French forces took control of southern Spain and the Junta retreated to
Cadiz
.
Cadiz was besieged by the French from 5 February 1810 to 24 August 1812
but never captured. The Central Junta dissolved itself on 29 January 1810, and set up a five-person Regency. The five regents then convened the meeting of the "
Cortes
of Cadiz", operating as a government in exile.
The delegates to the
Cortes
were to be representatives of the provinces and colonies, but the Regency was unable to hold elections in much of Spain or the Americas. The Regency therefore tried to establish interim territorial representation in the assembly, which approved a decree that it represented the Spanish nation, with sovereignty over Spain and Americas.
The
Cortes
opened its session in September 1810 on the
Isle of Leon
. The
Cortes
consisted of 97 deputies, of whom 47 were Cadiz residents serving as alternates.
The
Spanish Constitution of 1812
was established on 19 March 1812 by the
Cortes
of Cadiz. It abolished the
Inquisition
and
absolute monarchy
, and established the principles of universal male suffrage, national sovereignty, constitutional monarchy, and freedom of the press, and supported land reform and free enterprise.
Reaction (1814?1820)
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King
Ferdinand VII of Spain
(r. 1808, 1814?1833)
On 24 March 1814, six weeks after returning to Spain, Ferdinand VII abolished the constitution. King
Ferdinand VII
's refusal to agree to the liberal
Spanish Constitution of 1812
on his accession to the throne in 1814 came as little surprise to most Spaniards; the king had signed on to agreements with the clergy, the church, and with the nobility in his country to return to the earlier state of affairs even before the fall of
Napoleon
. The decision to abrogate the Constitution was not welcomed by all, however. Liberals in Spain felt betrayed by the king whom they had decided to support, and many of the local
juntas
that had pronounced against the rule of
Joseph I Bonaparte
lost confidence in the king's rule. The army, which had backed the pronouncements, had liberal leanings that made the king's position tenuous. Even so, agreements made at the
Congress of Vienna
(where Spain was represented by
Pedro Gomez Labrador, Marquis of Labrador
) starting a year later would cement international support for the old,
absolutist
regime in Spain.
The
Spanish Empire
in the New World had largely supported the cause of Ferdinand VII over the Bonapartist pretender to the throne in the midst of the
Napoleonic Wars
. Joseph I had promised radical reform, particularly the centralization of the state, which would cost the local authorities in the American empire their autonomy from Madrid. The Spanish Americans, however, did not support
absolutism
and wanted self-governance. The juntas in the Americas did not accept the governments of the Europeans, neither
the French
or Spaniards.
Trienio Liberal (1820?1823)
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The
cortes
of the
Trienio Liberal
(1820?1823), a period of liberal rule in Spain
A conspiracy of liberal mid-ranking
officers
in the expedition being outfitted at
Cadiz
mutinied
before they were shipped to the Americas. Led by
Rafael del Riego
, the conspirators seized their commander and led their army around
Andalusia
hoping to gather support; garrisons across Spain declared their support for the would-be revolutionaries. Riego and his co-conspirators demanded that the liberal
Constitution of 1812
be restored. Before the coup became an outright revolution, King Ferdinand agreed to the demands of the revolutionaries and swore by the constitution. A
"
Progresista
"
(liberal) government was appointed, though the king expressed his disaffection with the new administration and constitution.
Three years of liberal rule (the
Trienio Liberal
) followed. The
Progresista
government
reorganized Spain into 52 provinces
, and intended to reduce the regional autonomy that had been a hallmark of Spanish bureaucracy since
Habsburg rule
in the 16th and 17th centuries. The opposition of the affected regions ? in particular,
Aragon
, Navarre, and
Catalonia
? shared the king's antipathy for the liberal government. The
anticlerical
policies of the
Progresista
government led to friction with the
Roman Catholic Church
, and its attempts to bring about industrialization alienated ancient trade
guilds
. The
Inquisition
?which had been abolished by both
Joseph Bonaparte
and the
Cortes of Cadiz
during the French occupation?was ended again by the
Progresista
government, summoning up accusations of being nothing more than
afrancesados
(Francophiles), who only six years before had been forced out of the country. More radical liberals attempted to revolt against the entire idea of a monarchy, constitutional or otherwise, in 1821; these
republicans
were suppressed, though the incident served to illustrate the frail coalition that bound the
Progresista
government together.
The election of a
radical
liberal government in 1823 further destabilized Spain. The army ? whose liberal leanings had brought the government to power ? began to waver when the Spanish economy failed to improve, and in 1823, a mutiny in
Madrid
had to be suppressed. The
Jesuits
(who had been banned by
Charles III
in the 18th century, only to be rehabilitated by
Ferdinand VII
after his restoration) were banned again by the radical government. For the duration of liberal rule, King Ferdinand (though technically
head of state
) lived under virtual
house arrest
in Madrid.
The
Congress of Vienna
ending the
Napoleonic Wars
had inaugurated the "
Congress system
" as an instrument of international stability in Europe. While Ferdinand had been rebuffed by the "
Holy Alliance
" of Russia, Austria, and
Prussia
in his request for help against the liberal revolutionaries in 1820, by 1822 the "
Concert of Europe
" was sufficiently uneasy with Spain's liberal government and its surprising hardiness that they were prepared to intervene on Ferdinand's behalf. In 1822, the
Congress of Verona
authorized France to intervene.
Louis XVIII of France
? himself an arch-
reactionary
? was only too happy to put an end to Spain's liberal experiment, and a massive army ? the "
100,000 Sons of Saint Louis
" ? was dispatched across the
Pyrenees
in April 1823. The Spanish army, fraught by internal divisions, offered little resistance to the well organised French force, who seized Madrid and reinstalled Ferdinand as absolute monarch. The liberals' hopes for a new
Spanish War of Independence
were not fulfilled.
The "Ominous Decade" (1823?1833)
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The execution of Torrijos
, by
Antonio Gisbert Perez
.
Ferdinand VII
, after his restoration as
absolute monarch
in 1823, took repressive measures against the liberal forces in his country.
Immediately following the restoration of absolutist rule in Spain, King
Ferdinand VII
embarked on a policy intended to restore old conservative values to government; the
Jesuit Order
and the
Spanish Inquisition
were reinstated once more, and some autonomy was again devolved to the provinces of
Aragon
, Navarre, and
Catalonia
. Although he refused to accept the loss of the American colonies, Ferdinand was prevented from taking any further action against the rebels in the Americas by the opposition of the United Kingdom and the United States, who voiced their support of the new Latin American republics in the form of the
Monroe Doctrine
. The recent betrayal of the army demonstrated to the king that his own government and soldiers were untrustworthy, and the need for domestic stability proved to be more important than the reconquest of the Empire abroad. As a result, the destinies of Spain and her empire on the American mainland were to permanently take separate paths.
Although in the interests of stability Ferdinand VII issued a general
amnesty
to all those involved in the 1820 coup and the liberal government that followed it, the original architect of the coup,
Rafael del Riego
, was executed. The liberal
Partido Progresista
, however, continued to exist as a political force, even if it was excluded from actual policy-making by Ferdinand's restored government. Riego himself was hanged, and he would become a
martyr
for the liberal cause in Spain and would be memorialized in the
anthem
of the
Second Spanish Republic
,
El Himno de Riego
, more than a century later.
The remainder of Ferdinand's reign was spent restoring domestic stability and the integrity of Spain's finances, which had been in ruins since the occupation of the
Napoleonic Wars
. The end of the wars in the Americas improved the government's financial situation, and by the end of Ferdinand VII's rule the economic and fiscal situation in Spain was improving. A revolt in Catalonia was crushed in 1827, but at large the period saw an uneasy peace in Spain.
Maria Cristina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies
, Queen Consort (1822?1833) and Queen Regent (1833?1840) of Spain
Ferdinand's chief concern after 1823 was how to solve the problem of his own succession. He was married four times in his life, and bore two daughters in all his marriages; the
succession
law of
Philip V of Spain
, which still stood in Ferdinand's time, excluded women from the succession. By that law, Ferdinand's successor would be his brother,
Carlos
. Carlos, however, was a
reactionary
and an authoritarian who desired the restoration of the traditional
moralism
of the Spanish state, the elimination of any traces of
constitutionalism
, and a close relationship with the
Roman Catholic Church
. Though surely not a liberal, Ferdinand VII was fearful of Carlos's extremism. War had broken out in neighboring Portugal in 1828 as a result of just such a conflict between reactionary and moderate forces in the royal family ? the
War of the Two Brothers
.
In 1830, at the advice of his wife,
Maria Christina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies
, Ferdinand VII decreed a
Pragmatic Sanction
that had the effect of fundamental law in Spain. As a result of the sanction, women were allowed to accede to the Spanish throne, and the succession would fall on Ferdinand's infant daughter,
Isabella
, rather than to his brother Carlos. Carlos ? who disputed the legality of Ferdinand's ability to change the fundamental law of succession in Spain ? left the country for Portugal, where he became a guest of
Dom Miguel
, the absolutist pretender in that country's civil war.
Ferdinand VII
died in 1833, at the age of 49. He was succeeded by his daughter
Isabella
under the terms of the Pragmatic Sanction, and his spouse,
Maria Christina
, became
regent
for her daughter, who at that time was only three years of age. Carlos disputed the legitimacy of Maria Christina's regency and the accession of her daughter, and declared himself to be the rightful heir to the Spanish throne. A half-century of civil war and unrest would follow.
Spanish American independence (1810?1833)
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The
Caracas
junta replaces the Spanish
Captaincy General
, 19 April 1810
Already in 1810,
Caracas
and
Buenos Aires
juntas declared their independence from the Bonapartist government in Spain and sent ambassadors to the United Kingdom. The British alliance with Spain had also moved most of the Latin American colonies out of the Spanish economic sphere and into the British sphere, with whom extensive trade relations were developed.
The victory of General
Jose de San Martin
over Spanish forces at the
Battle of Chacabuco
, 12 February 1817
Spanish liberals opposed to the abrogation of the
Constitution of 1812
when
Ferdinand VII
's rule was restored, the new American states were cautious of abandoning their independence, and an alliance between local elites, merchant interests, nationalists rose up against the Spanish in the New World.
Although Ferdinand was committed to the reconquest of the colonies, along with many of the Continental European powers, the British government was opposed to the move which would hinder her new commercial interests. Latin American resistance to Spanish reconquest of the colonies was compounded by uncertainty in Spain itself, over whether or not the colonies should be reconquered; Spanish liberals ? including the majority of military officers ? already disdainful of the monarchy's rejection of the constitution, were opposed to the restoration of an empire that they saw as an obsolete antique, as against the liberal revolutions in the New World with which they sympathized.
The
Battle of Ayacucho
, 9 December 1824. The defeat of the Spanish army at Ayacucho was the definitive end of Spain's empire on the South America mainland.
The arrival of Spanish forces in the American colonies began in 1814, and was briefly successful in restoring central control over large parts of the Empire.
Simon Bolivar
, the leader of revolutionary forces in
New Granada
, was briefly forced into exile in the British colony of
Jamaica
, then to the
Republic of Haiti
. In 1816, however, Bolivar found enough popular support that he was able to return to South America, and in a daring march from Venezuela to New Granada (
Colombia
), he defeated Spanish forces at the
Battle of Boyaca
in 1819, ending Spanish rule in Colombia.
Venezuela
was liberated on 24 June 1821 when Bolivar destroyed the Spanish army on the fields of Carabobo on the
Battle of Carabobo
.
Argentina
declared its independence in 1816. Chile was retaken by Spain in 1814, but lost permanently in 1817 when an army under
Jose de San Martin
, crossed the
Andes Mountains
from Argentina to Chile, and went on to defeat Spanish royalist forces at the
Battle of Chacabuco
in 1817.
Mexico,
Peru
,
Ecuador
, and Central America still remained under Spanish control in 1820. King Ferdinand VII, however, was dissatisfied with the loss of so much of the Empire and resolved to retake it; a large expedition was assembled in
Cadiz
with the aim of reconquest. However the army was to create political problems of its own.
Jose de San Martin
, who had already helped to liberate Chile and
Argentina
, entered
Peru
in 1820. In 1821, the inhabitants of
Lima
invited him and his soldiers to the city. The viceroy fled into the interior of the country. From there he resisted successfully, and it was only with the arrival of
Simon Bolivar
and
Antonio Jose de Sucre
in 1823 that the Spanish royalist forces were defeated at the battles of
Junin
and
Ayacucho
, where the entire Spanish Army of Peru and the Viceroy were captured. The Battle of Ayacucho signified the end of the
Spanish Empire
on the American mainland.
Although Mexico had been in revolt in 1811 under
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla
, resistance to Spanish rule had largely been confined to small
guerrilla
bands in the countryside. The coup in Spain did not change the centralized policies of the government of Trieno Liberal in Madrid and many Mexicans were disappointed. In 1821, Mexico led by
Agustin de Iturbide
and
Vincente Guerrero
presented the
Plan de Iguala
, calling for an independent Mexican monarchy, in response to the centralism and fears of the liberalism and anticlericalism in Spain. The liberal government of Spain showed less interest in the military reconquest of the colonies than Ferdinand, although it rejected the independence of Mexico in the failed
Treaty of Cordoba
. The last bastion of
San Juan de Ulua
resisted to 1825, and
Isidro Barradas
tried to recapture Mexico from Cuba in 1829. With the king Ferdinand VII's death in 1833 Spain finally abandoned all plans of military re-conquest.
The Carlist War and the Regencies (1833?1843)
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Carlos Maria Isidro, Infante of Spain
, the leader of the
Carlist
cause and pretender to the
Spanish throne
.
After their fall from grace in 1823 at the hands of a French invasion, Spanish liberals had pinned their hopes on Ferdinand VII's spouse
Maria Cristina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies
, who bore some marks as a liberal and a reformer. However, when she became regent for her daughter
Isabella
in 1833, she made it clear to the court that she intended no such reforms. Even still, an alliance of convenience was formed with the
progresista
faction at court against the conservatives, who backed the rebel
Infante Carlos of Spain
.
Carlos, who declared his support for the ancient, pre-
Bourbon
privileges of the
fueros
, received considerable support from the
Basque country
, Aragon, and
Catalonia
, which valued their ancient privileges from
Madrid
. The insurrection seemed, at first, a catastrophic failure for the Carlists, who were quickly driven out of most of Aragon and Catalonia, and forced to cling to the uplands of Navarre by the end of 1833. At this crucial moment, however, Carlos named the
Basque
Tomas de Zumalacarregui
, a veteran
guerrilla
of the
Peninsular War
, to be his
commander-in-chief
. Within a matter of months, Zumalacarregui reversed the fortunes of the Carlist cause and drove government forces out of most of Navarre, and launched a campaign into Aragon. By 1835, what was once a band of defeated guerrillas in Navarre had turned into an army of 30,000 in control of all of Spain north of the
Ebro River
, with the exception of the fortified ports on the northern coast.
Carlist
General
Tomas de Zumalacarregui
. Zumalacarregui, a
Basque
, saved the Carlist cause from the brink of disaster in 1833.
The position of the government was growing increasingly desperate. Rumors of a liberal coup to oust
Maria Cristina
abounded in Madrid, compounding the danger of the Carlist army which was now within striking distance of the capital. Appeals for aid did not fall on deaf ears; France, which had
replaced
the
reactionary
monarchy of
Charles X
with the liberal monarchy of
Louis-Philippe
in 1830, was sympathetic to the Cristino cause. The
Whig
governments of
Viscount Melbourne
were similarly friendly, and organized volunteers and material aid for Spain. Still confident of his successes, however, Don Carlos joined his troops on the battlefield. While
Zumalacarregui
agitated for a campaign to take Madrid, Carlos ordered his commander to take a port on the coast. In the subsequent campaign, Zumalacarregui died after being shot in the calf. There was suspicion that Carlos, jealous of his general's successes and politics, conspired to have him killed.
Having failed to take Madrid, and having lost their popular general, the Carlist armies began to weaken. Reinforced with British equipment and manpower, Isabella found in the
progressista
general
Baldomero Espartero
a man capable of suppressing the rebellion; in 1836, he won a key victory at the
Battle of Luchana
that turned the tide of the war. After years of vacillation on the issue of reform, events compelled Maria Cristina to accept a
new constitution
in 1837 that substantively increased the powers of the Spanish parliament, the
cortes
. The constitution also established state responsibility for the upkeep of the church, and a resurgence of
anti-clerical
sentiment, led to the disbandment of some religious orders which considerably reduced the strength of the
Church
in Spain. The
Jesuits
? expelled during the
Trienio Liberal
and readmitted by
Ferdinand VII
? were again expelled by the wartime regency in 1835.
Spanish
progresista
statesman
Juan Alvarez Mendizabal
. Mendizabal proposed the
sale of church property (
desamortizacion
)
by the state as a solution to Spain's financial woes.
The Spanish government was growing deeper in debt as the Carlist war dragged on, nearly to the point that it became insolvent. In 1836, the president of the government,
Juan Alvarez Mendizabal
, offered a program of
desamortizacion
, the
Ecclesiastical Confiscations of Mendizabal
, that involved the confiscation and sale of church, mainly monastic, property. Many liberals, who bore
anti-clerical
sentiments, saw the clergy as having allied with the Carlists, and thus the
desamortizacion
was only justice. Mendizabal recognized, also, that immense amounts of Spanish land (much of it given as far back as the reigns of
Philip II
and
Philip IV
) were in the hands of the church lying unused ? the church was Spain's single largest landholder in Mendizabal's time. The Mendizabal government also passed a law guaranteeing
freedom of the press
.
After Luchana, Espartero's government forces successfully drove the Carlists back northward. Knowing that much of the support for the Carlist cause came from supporters of regional autonomy, Espartero convinced the Queen-Regent to compromise with the
fueros
on the issue of regional autonomy and retain their loyalty. The subsequent
Convention of Vergara
in 1839 was a success, protecting the privileges of the
fueros
and recognizing the defeat of the Carlists. Don Carlos again went into exile.
Freed from the Carlist threat,
Maria Cristina
immediately embarked on a campaign to undo the Constitution of 1837, provoking even greater ire from the liberal quarters of her government. Failing in the attempt to overthrow her own constitution, she attempted to undermine the rule of the municipalities in 1840; this proved to be her undoing. She was forced to name the
progressista
hero of the
Carlist War
,
General Espartero
, president of the government. Maria Cristina resigned the regency after Espartero attempted a program of reform.
In the absence of a regent, the
cortes
named
Baldomero Espartero
to that post in May 1841. Although a noted commander, Espartero was inexperienced with politics and his regency was markedly authoritarian; it was arguably Spain's first experience with military rule. The government wrangled with Espartero over the choice of
Agustin Arguelles
, a radical liberal politician, as the young queen's tutor. From Paris, Maria Cristina railed against the decision and attracted the support of the
moderados
in the
cortes
. The war heroes
Manuel de la Concha
and
Diego de Leon
attempted a coup in September 1841, attempting to seize the queen, only months after Espartero was named regent. The severity with which Espartero crushed the rebellion led to considerable unpopularity; the
cortes
, increasingly rebellious against him, selected an old rival,
Jose Ramon Rodil y Campillo
, as their chief minister. Another uprising in
Barcelona
in 1842 against his
free trade
policies prompted him to bombard the city, serving only to loosen his tenuous grip on power. On 20 May 1843,
Salustiano Olozaga
delivered his famous "Dios salve al pais, Dios salve a la reina!" (God save the country, God save the queen!) speech that led to a strong moderate-liberal coalition that opposed Espartero. This coalition sponsored a third and final uprising led by generals
Ramon Narvaez
and
Francisco Serrano
, who finally overthrew Espartero in 1843, after which the deposed regent fled to England.
Moderado rule (1843?1849)
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Salustiano Olozaga
,
President of the Council of Ministers
The
cortes
, now exasperated by serial revolutions, coups, and counter-coups, decided not to name another regent, and instead declared that the 13-year-old
Isabella II
was of age. Isabella, now inundated with the competing interests of courtiers espousing an array of ideologies and interests, vacillated as her mother did between them, and served to aggravate those genuinely interested in progress and reform.
Salustiano Olozaga
was named the first president of the Council of Ministers after
Espartero
's fall. His commission to form a government was, however, highly unpopular with the
cortes
; he allegedly received the authority to dissolve the
cortes
from the queen, but the queen within days withdrew her support for the plan, and cast her lot behind Olozaga's opponent in the
cortes
, the Minister of State
Luis Gonzalez Bravo
. Olozaga was accused of obtaining the order of dissolution by forcing Queen Isabella to sign against her will. Olozaga had to resign, having only been president of the Council of Ministers for an ephemeral fifteen days. Olozaga, a liberal, was succeeded by
Luis Gonzalez Bravo
, a moderate, inaugurating a decade of
moderado
rule. President Luis Gonzalez Bravo was Isabella's first stable president during her effective kingdom, ruling for 6 straight months (from that moment on he would remain loyal to the queen until the end of her kingdom, acting as her very last president decades later at the outbreak of the
1868 Revolution
). Isabella's kingdom was to include unstable administration, policies, and governments, due to the various opposition parties that continuously wanted to take over her government ? in 1847, for instance, she went through five presidents of the Government.
Luis Gonzalez Bravo
, leading the moderate faction, dissolved the
cortes
himself and ruled by royal decree. He declared Spain to be in a state of siege and dismantled a number of institutions that had been set up by the
progressista
movement such as elected
city councils
. Fearing another
Carlist
insurrection in northern Spain, he established the
Guardia Civil
, a force merging police and military functions to retain order in the mountainous regions that had been the Carlists' base of support and strength, so as to defend Isabella's rightful kingdom from her enemies.
Queen
Isabella II of Spain
(r. 1833?1868). Isabella's rule was a chaotic and troubled chapter in Spain's history, wracked by civil wars, coups, and scandal that ended with a successful revolution against the monarchy.
A new constitution, authored by the
moderados
was written in 1845. It was backed by the new Narvaez government begun in May 1844, led by General
Ramon Narvaez
, one of the original architects of the revolution against
Espartero
. A series of reforms promulgated by Narvaez's government attempted to stabilize the situation. The
cortes
, which had been uneasy with the settlement with the
fueros
at the end of the
First Carlist War
, were anxious to centralize the administration. The law of 8 January 1845 did just that, stifling local autonomy in favor of
Madrid
; the act contributed to the revolt of 1847 and the revival of
Carlism
in the provinces. The Electoral Law of 1846 limited the suffrage to the wealthy and established a property bar for voting. In spite of
Bravo
and Narvaez's efforts to suppress the unrest in Spain, which included lingering Carlist sentiments and
progressista
supporters of the old Espartero government, Spain's situation remained uneasy. A revolt led by
Martin Zurbano
in 1845 included the support of key generals, including
Juan Prim
, who was imprisoned by Narvaez.
Narvaez ended the sale of church lands promoted by the
progresistas
. This put him into a difficult situation, as the
progresistas
had had some progress in improving Spain's financial situation through those programs. The Carlist War, the excesses of
Maria Cristina
's regency, and the difficulties of the Espartero government left the finances in a terrible situation. Narvaez entrusted the finances to the minister
Alejandro Mon
, who embarked on an aggressive program to restore solvency to Spain's finances; in this he was remarkably successful, reforming the tax system which had been badly neglected since the reign of
Charles IV
. With its finances more in order, the government was able to rebuild the military and, in the 1850s and 1860s, embark on successful infrastructure improvements and campaigns in Africa that are often cited as the most productive aspects of Isabella's reign.
Isabella was convinced by the
cortes
to marry her cousin, a Bourbon prince,
Francis, Duke of Cadiz
. Her younger sister
Maria Louisa Fernanda
was married to the French king
Louis-Philippe
's son
Antoine, Duke of Montpensier
. The
Affair of the Spanish Marriages
threatened to break the alliance between Britain and France, which had come to a different agreement over the marriage. France and Britain nearly went to war over the issue before it was resolved; the affair contributed to the
fall of Louis-Philippe
in 1848.
[2]
[3]
[4]
Fury raged in Spain over the queen's nonchalance with the national interest and worsened her public image.
The builders of the first railway in
Peninsular Spain
, the Barcelona?
Mataro
line, which was inaugurated in 1848. Another railway?the Havana?Guines line?had been already opened in Cuba in 1837.
[5]
Partly as a result of this, a major rebellion broke out in northern
Catalonia
in 1846, the
Second Carlist War
. Rebels led by
Rafael Tristany
launched a guerilla campaign against government forces in the region and pronounced themselves in favor of
Carlos, Conde de Montemolin
, carrier of the Carlist cause and son of
Infante Carlos of Spain
. The rebellion grew, and by 1848 it was relevant enough that Carlos sponsored it himself and named
Ramon Cabrera
as commander of the Carlist armies in Spain. A force of 10,000 men was raised by the Carlists; in response to fears of further escalation
Narvaez
was again named President of the Council of Ministers in Madrid in October 1847. The biggest battle of the war, the
Battle of Pasteral
(January 1849) was inconclusive; Ramon Cabrera, however, was wounded and lost confidence. His departure from Spain caused the rebellion dissolve by May 1849. The Second Carlist War, though contemporaneous with the
revolutions of 1848
, is rarely included as part of the same phenomenon, since the rebels in Spain were not fighting for liberal or
socialist
ideas, but rather conservative and even absolutist ones.
Rule by Pronunciamento (1849?1856)
[
edit
]
Ramon Narvaez
was succeeded by
Juan Bravo Murillo
, a practical man and a seasoned politician. Murillo carried the same authoritarian tendencies as Narvaez but made serious efforts to advance Spanish industry and commerce. He surrounded himself with technocrats who attempted to take an active role in the advancement of the Spanish economy. An aggressive policy of financial reform was coupled with an equally aggressive policy of infrastructure improvement enabled by
Alejandro Mon
's financial reforms in the preceding decade. A serious effort to build a rail network in Spain was begun by the Murillo government.
Murillo, facing the issue of anti-clericalism, signed a
concordat
with the Vatican on the issue of religion in Spain; it was conclusively decided that
Roman Catholicism
remained the
state religion
of Spain, but that the contribution of the church in
education
would be regulated by the state. In addition, the state renounced
desamortizacion
, the process of selling church lands. Murillo's negotiations with the Papacy were aided by Narvaez's role in the
Revolutions of 1848 in the Italian states
, where he had led Spanish soldiers in the pope's defense against revolutionaries.
Murillo, flush with economic and international successes, announced a series of policies on 2 December 1852 to the
cortes
. Prominent among the reforms he suggested were the reduction of the powers of the
cortes
as a whole in favor of Murillo's office as President of the Council of Ministers, and the ability for the executive to legislate by decree in times of crisis. Twelve days later, the
cortes
successfully convinced the queen to sack Juan Bravo Murillo and find a new minister.
The next President of the Council of Ministers,
Federico Roncali
, governed briefly, and did well to maintain a civil atmosphere with the
cortes
after Murillo's flamboyance. The army, dissatisfied with Roncali a few months later, convinced the queen to oust him, replacing him with General
Francisco Lersundi
. The
cortes
, which by then were unsatisfied with the army's intervening in government affairs, arranged for
Luis Jose Sartorius
, the
Count of San Luis
, to be named President of the Council of Ministers. Sartorius ? who had gained power only by betraying
Luis Gonzalez Bravo
and following the fortunes of General
Narvaez
? was notorious for falsifying election results in favor of his co-conspirators and himself. His appointment as President of the Council of Ministers drew violent agitation from the liberal wing of the Spanish government.
Episode of the 1854 revolution in
Puerta del Sol
, by
Eugenio Lucas Velazquez
.
In July 1854, a
major rebellion
broke out bringing together a wide coalition of outrages against the state. The
Crimean War
, which had broken out in March of that year, had led to an increase in grain prices across Europe and a
famine
in Galicia. Riots against the
power loom
erupted in the cities, and
progresistas
outraged at a decade of
moderado
dictatorship and the corruption of the Sartorius government broke out in revolution. General
Leopoldo O'Donnell
took the lead in the revolution; after the indecisive
Battle of Vicalvaro
, he issued the
Manifesto of Manzanares
that pronounced himself in favor of Spain's former
progresista
dictator,
Baldomero Espartero
, the man that O'Donnell had actively rebelled against in 1841. The
moderado
government collapsed before them and Espartero returned to politics at the head of an army.
Espartero was appointed as President of the Council of Ministers, this time by the very queen for whom he had been regent ten years before. Espartero, indebted to O'Donnell for restoring him to power but concerned about having to share power with another man, tried to get him installed to a post as far away from Madrid as possible ? in this case, in Cuba. The attempt failed and only alienated Baldomero Espartero's colleague; instead, O'Donnell was given a seat in Espartero's cabinet as war minister, though his influence was greater than his
portfolio
.
The two
caudillos
, who came into power with immense popularity, attempted to reconcile their differences and form a coalition party that crossed the
progresista-moderado
lines that had dominated and restricted Spanish politics since the
Peninsular War
. The "
Union Liberal
", as it was called, attempted to forge a policy based on progress in industry, infrastructure, public works, and a national compromise on constitutional and social issues.
Baldomero Espartero
attempted to rebuild the
progresista
government after ten years of
moderado
reform. Most of Espartero's tenure was absorbed into promulgating the new constitution he intended to replace the
moderado
constitution of 1845
. The resistance of the
cortes
, however, meant that most of his term was spent deadlocked; the coalition that Espartero relied on was built on both liberals and moderates, who disagreed fundamentally on the ideology of the new constitution and policies. Espartero's constitution included provisions for the
freedom of religion
,
freedom of the press
, and, most importantly, a more liberal suffrage than the Constitution of 1845 allowed for. Even before the constitution had been passed, Espartero endorsed
Pascual Madoz
's
desamortizacion
against communal lands in Spain; the plan was strongly opposed not only by the
moderados
in the
cortes
, but also by the queen and General O'Donnell. Espartero's coalition with O'Donnell collapsed, and the queen named
Leopoldo O'Donnell
President of the Council of Ministers. He too proved unable to work with the government in any meaningful way; he attempted to compromise Espartero's constitution with the 1845 document by, in a bald assertion of power, declaring the 1845 constitution restored with certain specified exceptions, with or without the approval of the
cortes
. The act led to O'Donnell's ousting; the "Constitution of 1855" was never successfully put into place.
The end of the old order (1856?1868)
[
edit
]
Leopoldo O'Donnell
, Spanish general and statesman. O'Donnell led the
Union Liberal
party in the court of
Isabella II
, a fusion of
progresista
and
moderado
elements that would alternate in power with
Ramon Narvaez
's hardline
moderado
faction.
Again,
Ramon Maria Narvaez
, the symbol of reaction, returned to politics and was named President of the Council of Ministers by Isabella II in 1856, who switched her favor to the
moderados
; Espartero, frustrated and bitter with political life, retired permanently to
Logrono
. Narvaez's new government undid what little Baldomero Espartero had been able to accomplish while in office; the Constitution of 1845 was restored in its entirety and the legislation that Espartero had put forward was entirely reversed in a matter of months. Isabella grew weary of this, too, and a moderate conservative with a less offensive authoritarian character was found in
Francisco Armero Penaranda
, who took power in October 1857. Without Narvaez's authoritarian touch, however, Penaranda found that it was now as difficult for conservative policies to be successfully enacted by the
cortes
as it was for Espartero's
progresista
policies; the
moderado
faction was now divided, with some favoring Leopoldo O'Donnell's
Union Liberal
ideal. Isabella then sacked Penaranda ? to the ire of the
moderados
? and replaced him with
Francisco Javier Isturiz
. Isturiz, though Isabella admired him, lacked any support from the conservative wing of the government, and was adamantly opposed by
Juan Bravo Murillo
. Isabella was then disgusted with the
moderados
in any form; O'Donnell's faction was able to give the
Union Liberal
another chance in 1858.
This government ? the longest-lasting of all of Isabella's governments ? lasted nearly five years before it was deposed in 1863. O'Donnell, reacting against the extremism that came from Espartero's government and the
moderado
governments that followed it, managed to pull some results from a functional
Union Liberal
coalition of centrist, conciliatory
moderados
and
progresistas
, all of whom were exhausted from partisan bickering. Leopoldo O'Donnell's ministry was successful enough in restoring stability at home that they were able to project power abroad, which also helped to pull popular and political attention away from the
cortes
; Spain supported the
French expedition
to
Cochinchina
, the allied expedition sent in support of the
French intervention in Mexico
and
Emperor Maximilian
, an
expedition to Santo Domingo
, and most importantly, a
successful campaign
into
Morocco
that earned Spain a favorable peace and new territories across the
Strait of Gibraltar
. O'Donnell, even while President of the Council of Ministers, personally took command of the army in this campaign, for which he was named
Duque de Tetuan
. A new agreement was made with the Vatican in 1859 that reopened the possibility of legal
desamortizaciones
of church property. The previous year,
Juan Prim
, while a general, had either allowed Jews back onto Spanish territory for the first time since the
Alhambra Decree
in 1492, or he would do so in 1868.
[6]
[7]
The battle of Tetuan
by
Mariano Fortuny
. The government of
Leopoldo O'Donnell
launched a series of successful campaigns against
Morocco
,
Vietnam
, Mexico, and
Santo Domingo
in the early 1860s
The coalition broke apart in 1863 when old factional lines broke O'Donnell's cabinet: the issue of
desamortizacion
, brought up again, antagonized the two wings of the
Union Liberal.
The
moderados
, sensing an opportunity, attacked O'Donnell for being too liberal, and succeeded in turning the queen and
cortes
against him; his government collapsed on 27 February 1863.
The
moderados
immediately took to undoing
Leopoldo O'Donnell
's legislation but Spain's economic situation took a turn for the worse; when
Alejandro Mon
, who had already saved Spain's finances, proved ineffectual, Isabella turned to her old warhorse,
Ramon Narvaez
, in 1864 to make certain that things did not get out of hand; this only infuriated the
progresistas
, who were promptly rewarded for their agitation by another O'Donnell government. General
Juan Prim
launched a major uprising against the government during O'Donnell's administration that prefigured future events; the rebellion was crushed brutally by O'Donnell, prompting the same sort of criticism that had toppled Espartero's government years earlier. The queen, listening to the opinion of the
cortes
, again sacked O'Donnell, and replaced him with Narvaez, who had just been sacked two years earlier.
Narvaez's support for the queen by this time was lukewarm; he had been sacked and seen enough governments thrown out by the queen in his lifetime that he, and much of the
cortes
had great doubts about her ability. The consensus spread; since 1854, a
Republican
party had been growing in strength, roughly in step with the fortunes of the
Union Liberal
, and indeed, the
Union
had been in coalition with the Republicans at times in the
cortes
.
Sexenio Democratico (1868?1874)
[
edit
]
Glorious Revolution
[
edit
]
The
Puerta del Sol
in Madrid during the 1868 Revolution
The 1866 rebellion led by
Juan Prim
and the revolt of the sergeants at San Gil barracks, in Madrid, sent a signal to Spanish liberals and republicans that there was serious unrest with the state of affairs in Spain that could be harnessed if it were properly led. Liberals and republican exiles abroad made agreements at
Ostend
in 1866 and
Brussels
in 1867. These agreements laid the framework for a major uprising, this time not merely to replace the President of the Council of Ministers with a liberal, but to overthrow Isabella herself, whom Spanish liberals and republicans began to see as the source of Spain's ineffectuality.
Her continual vacillation between liberal and conservative quarters had, by 1868, outraged
moderados
,
progresistas
, and members of the
Union Liberal
and enabled, ironically, a front that crossed party lines.
Leopoldo O'Donnell
's death in 1867 caused the
Union Liberal
to unravel; many of its supporters, who had crossed party lines to create the party initially, joined the growing movement to overthrow Isabella in favor of a more effective regime.
The die was cast in September 1868, when naval forces under admiral
Juan Bautista Topete
mutinied in
Cadiz
? the same place that
Rafael del Riego
had launched his coup against
Isabella
's father a half-century before. Generals
Juan Prim
and
Francisco Serrano
denounced the government and much of the army defected to the revolutionary generals on their arrival in Spain. The queen made a brief show of force at the
Battle of Alcolea
, where her loyal
moderado
generals under
Manuel Pavia
were defeated by General Serrano. Isabella then crossed into France and retired from Spanish politics to Paris, where she would remain until her death in 1904.
Provisional Government
[
edit
]
The Provisional Government in 1869, by
J. Laurent
.
The revolutionary spirit that had just overthrown the Spanish government lacked direction; the coalition of liberals, moderates, and republicans were now faced with the incredible task of finding a government that would suit them better than Isabella. Control of the government passed to
Francisco Serrano
, an architect of the revolution against
Baldomero Espartero
's dictatorship. The
cortes
initially rejected the notion of a republic; Serrano was named regent while a search was launched for a suitable monarch to lead the country. A truly liberal constitution was written and successfully promulgated by the
cortes
in 1869 ? the first such constitution in Spain since 1812.
The search for a suitable king proved to be quite problematic for the c
ortes
. The republicans were, on the whole, willing to accept a monarch if he was capable and abided by a constitution.
Juan Prim
, a perennial rebel against the Isabelline governments, was named chief of the government in 1869 and remarked that "to find a democratic king in Europe is as hard as to find an atheist in Heaven!" The aged Espartero was brought up as an option, still having considerable sway among the
progresistas
; even after he rejected the notion of being named king, he still gained eight votes for his coronation in the final tally. Many proposed Isabella's young son Alfonso (the future
Alfonso XII of Spain
), but many thought that he would invariably be dominated by his mother and would inherit her flaws.
Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg
, the former regent of neighboring Portugal, was sometimes raised as a possibility. A nomination offered to Prince
Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
would trigger the
Franco-Prussian War
.
In August 1870, an Italian prince,
Amadeo
of the
House of Savoy
, Duke of
Aosta
, was selected. The younger son of
Victor Emmanuel II of Italy
, Amadeo had less of the troublesome political baggage that a German or French claimant would bring, and his liberal credentials were strong.
Reign of Amadeo
[
edit
]
Amadeo
, just landed in Spain, standing before the corpse of his main supporter in the country,
Juan Prim
.
Amadeo was duly elected King as
Amadeo I of Spain
on 3 November 1870. He landed in
Cartagena
on 27 November, the same day that
Juan Prim
was assassinated while leaving the
cortes
. Amadeo swore on the general's corpse that he would uphold Spain's constitution.
However, Amadeo had no experience as king, and what experience his father as King of Italy could offer was nothing compared to the extraordinary instability of Spanish politics. Amadeo was instantly confronted with a
cortes
that regarded him as an outsider, even after it had elected him King; politicians conspired with and against him; and a 1872?1876
Third Carlist War
erupted, chiefly in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. In February 1873, Amadeo declared the people of Spain "ungovernable" and abdicated.
First Spanish Republic (1873?1874)
[
edit
]
Following Amadeo's abdication, the
cortes
proclaimed the
First Spanish Republic
.
Economic and social impact
[
edit
]
The
Napoleonic Wars
had severe negative effects on Spain's economic development. The Peninsular war ravaged towns and countryside alike. There was a sharp decline in population in many areas, caused by casualties, outmigration, and disruption of family life. The demographic impact was the worst of any Spanish war. The marauding armies seized farmers' crops; more important, farmers lost much of their livestock, their main capital asset. Severe poverty was widespread, reducing market demand.
[8]
The disruption of local and international trade, and the shortages of critical inputs, seriously hurt industry and services. The loss of a vast colonial empire reduced overall wealth. Spain by 1820 had become one of Europe's poorest and least-developed societies. Illiteracy characterized three-fourths of the people. Natural resources such as coal and iron existed but the transportation system was rudimentary, with few canals and navigable rivers. Road travel was slow and expensive. British railroad builders were pessimistic about the potential for freight and passenger traffic and did not invest. Eventually a small
railway system was built
radiating from Madrid, and bypassing the natural resources.
[8]
The government relied on
high tariffs
, especially on grain, which further slowed economic development. For example, eastern Spain was unable to import inexpensive Italian wheat, and had to rely on expensive homegrown products carted in over poor roads. The export market collapsed apart from some agricultural products.
[8]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Naval flag, introduced as the national flag in 1843.
Citations
[
edit
]
- ^
Agnes de Stoeckl,
King of the French: A Portrait of Louis Philippe, 1773?1850
(New York: G.P. Putnam & Sons, 1957) pp. 146?160.
- ^
Albert Guerard,
France: A Modern History
, p. 286.
- ^
Georges Duveau,
1848: The Making of a Revolution
(New York: Vintage Books, 1968) p. 7.
- ^
Fernandez Sanz, F. (2001).
"El primer ferrocarril espanol se construyo en Cuba"
.
Revista Hispano Cubana
(9). Madrid: 75 – via
Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes
.
- ^
"Spain Virtual Jewish History Tour"
.
www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org
.
- ^
Rohr, Isabelle (2007).
The Spanish Right and the Jews, 1898?1945: Antisemitism and Opportunism
.
ISBN
9781845191818
.
- ^
a
b
c
Leandro Prados de la Escosura and Carlos Santiago-Caballero, "The Napoleonic Wars: A Watershed in Spanish History?" ["EHES Working Papers In Economic History, No. 130" 2018]
Bibliography
[
edit
]
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Bowen, Wayne H. (2011).
Spain and the American Civil War
. University of Missouri Press.
ISBN
978-0826219381
.
OCLC
711050963
.
- Bullen, Roger. "France and the Problem of Intervention in Spain 1834?1836."
Historical Journal
20.2 (1977): 363?393.
- Costeloe, Michael.
Response to Revolution: Imperial Spain and the Spanish American Revolutions, 1810?1840
(1986)
[
ISBN missing
]
- Esdaile, Charles. "Enlightened absolutism versus theocracy in the Spanish restoration: 1814?50." in David Laven and Lucy Riall, eds.
Napoleon’s Legacy: Problems of Government in Restoration Europe
(2000): 65?82.
- Fehrenbach, Charles Wentz. "Moderados and Exaltados: The Liberal Opposition to Ferdinand VII, 1814?1823."
Hispanic American Historical Review
50.1 (1970): 52?69.
online
- Jakobczyk-Adamczyk, Patrycja M., and Jacek Chelminiak.
Allies Or Enemies: Political relations Between Spain and Great Britain during the reign of Ferdinand VII (1808?1833)
(Peter Lang GmbH, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften, 2015).
- Lawrence, Mark.
Spain's First Carlist War, 1833?40
(Springer, 2014).
[
ISBN missing
]
- Lopez-Morillas, Juan
.
The Krausist Movement and Ideological Change in Spain, 1854?1874
(Cambridge UP, 1981).
[
ISBN missing
]
- Paquette, Gabriel. "Romantic Liberalism In Spain And Portugal, c. 1825?1850."
Historical Journal
58.2 (2015): 481?511.
online
- Vincent, Mary.
Spain, 1833?2002: People and State
(Oxford UP, 2007).
[
ISBN missing
]
Historiography
[
edit
]
- Hamnett, Brian. "Spain and Portugal and the Loss of their Continental American Territories in the 1820s: An Examination of the Issues."
European History Quarterly
41.3 (2011): 397?412.
- Luengo, Jorge, and Pol Dalmau. "Writing Spanish history in the global age: connections and entanglements in the nineteenth century."
Journal of global history
13.3 (2018): 425?445. online
[
dead link
]
- Simal, Juan Luis. "≪Strange Means of Governing≫: The Spanish Restoration in European Perspective (1813?1820)."
Journal of Modern European History
15.2 (2017): 197?220.