The
Glorious Revolution (Spanish
La Gloriosa) took place in
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
in 1868,
deposing
Queen Isabella IIIsabella II was Queen regnant of Spain She was Spain's first and so far only queen regnant, although she is sometimes considered the third Queen Regnant of Spain, as previous monarchs of Leon and Castile were counted...
.
An 1866 rebellion led by General
Juan PrimJuan Prim, Marquis of los Castillejos, Count of Reus, Viscount del Bruch was a Spanish Catalan general and statesman.-Life:Prim was the son of Lieut.-Colonel Pablo Prim...
and a revolt of the sergeants at San Gil barracks (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||-||-||}Ostend is a Belgian city and municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke, Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the largest on the Belgian coast....
in 1866 and
BrusselsBrussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the de facto capital city of the European Union and the largest urban area in Belgium...
in 1867. These agreements laid the framework for a major uprising, this time not merely to replace the president of the government with a liberal, but to overthrow Isabella herself, whom Spanish liberals and republicans began to see as the source of Spain's inefficacy.
Her continual vacillation between liberal and conservative quarters had, by 1868, outraged
moderados,
progresistas, and members of the
Unión Liberal and enabled a front that crossed party lines. Leopoldo O'Donnell's death in 1867 caused the
Unión 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 TopeteJuan Bautista Topete , Spanish naval commander and politician, was born in San Andrés Tuxtla, Mexico.His father and grandfather were also Spanish admirals...
mutinied in
CadizCádiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Cádiz Province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
– the same place that
Rafael del RiegoRafael del Riego y Nuñez was a Spanish general and liberal politician, who played a key role in the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War of 1820-1823 ....
had launched his coup against
IsabellaIsabella II was Queen regnant of Spain She was Spain's first and so far only queen regnant, although she is sometimes considered the third Queen Regnant of Spain, as previous monarchs of Leon and Castile were counted...
's father a half-century before. Narváez deserted the queen, as did her chief minister, Luis González Bravo. Generals
Juan PrimJuan Prim, Marquis of los Castillejos, Count of Reus, Viscount del Bruch was a Spanish Catalan general and statesman.-Life:Prim was the son of Lieut.-Colonel Pablo 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
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, where she would remain until her death in 1904.
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
CortesThe Cortes Generales is the legislature of Spain. It is a bicameral parliament, composed of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate . The Cortes has power to enact any law and to amend the constitution...
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
Cortes. The republicans were, on the whole, willing to accept a monarch if he was capable and abided by a constitution.
Juan PrimJuan Prim, Marquis of los Castillejos, Count of Reus, Viscount del Bruch was a Spanish Catalan general and statesman.-Life:Prim was the son of Lieut.-Colonel Pablo Prim...
, a perennial rebel against the Isabelline governments, was named regent in 1869 and remarked that "to find a democratic king in Europe is as hard as to find an atheist in Heaven!" (Pierson 25) 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. (Esdaile 302) Many proposed Isabella's young son Alfonso (the future
Alfonso XII of Spain|align=right|Alfonso XII was king of Spain, reigning from 1875 to 1885, after a coup d'état restored the monarchy and ended the ephemeral First Spanish Republic.Alfonso was the son of Isabella II of Spain, and allegedly,...
), 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
PortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east...
, was sometimes raised as a possibility. A nomination offered to Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen would trigger the
Franco-Prussian WarThe Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between France and Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and Bavaria...
.
In August 1870, an Italian prince,
Amadeo of SavoyAmadeo was the only King of Spain from the House of Savoy...
, was selected. The younger son of
Victor Emmanuel II of ItalyVictor Emmanuel II was the King of Piedmont, Savoy, and Sardinia from 1849 to 1861. On 18 February 1861, he assumed the title King of Italy to become the first king of a united Italy, a title he held until his death in 1878...
, Amadeo had less of the troublesome political baggage that a German or French claimant would bring, and his liberal credentials were strong. He was duly elected King as
Amadeo I of SpainAmadeo was the only King of Spain from the House of Savoy...
on November 3, 1870. He landed in
CartagenaCartagena is a Spanish Mediterranean city and naval station in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula in the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia....
on November 27, the same day that
Juan PrimJuan Prim, Marquis of los Castillejos, Count of Reus, Viscount del Bruch was a Spanish Catalan general and statesman.-Life:Prim was the son of Lieut.-Colonel Pablo Prim...
was assassinated while leaving the
Cortes. Amadeo swore upon the general's corpse that he would uphold Spain's constitution. He only lasted two years, leading to the establishment of the
first Spanish RepublicThe First Spanish Republic was the political regime that existed in Spain between the parliamentary proclamation on 11 February 1873 and 29 December 1874 when General Martínez Campos's pronouncement marked the beginning of the Bourbon Restoration in Spain...
. That in turn also lasted two years, but no political force was willing to restore Isabella; instead Isabella's son was proclaimed King
Alfonso XII|align=right|Alfonso XII was king of Spain, reigning from 1875 to 1885, after a coup d'état restored the monarchy and ended the ephemeral First Spanish Republic.Alfonso was the son of Isabella II of Spain, and allegedly,...
in 1875.