Andalusia Andalusia Andalusia ' onMouseout='HidePop("6597")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Spain">Spain
Spain , 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...]
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 ruleHabsburg Spain refers to the history of Spain over the 16th and 17th centuries , when Spain was ruled by the major branch of the Habsburg dynasty...
in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The opposition of the affected regions - in particular,
AragonAragon is an autonomous community of Spain. Located in northeastern Spain, the region comprises three provinces from north to south: Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza .Aragon's northern province of Huesca borders France and is positioned in the middle of the Pyrenees...
, Navarra, and
CataloniaCatalonia is an Autonomous Community in northeast Spain. The capital city is Barcelona.Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an official population of 7,364,078. It borders France and Andorra to the north, Aragon to the west, the Valencian Community to the south, and the...
- shared in the king's antipathy for the liberal government. The anticlerical policies of the
Progresista government led to friction with the
Roman Catholic ChurchThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
, and the attempts to bring about industrialization alienated old trade
guildA guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade.The earliest guilds were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel and a secret society...
s. The
InquisitionThe Spanish Inquisition was an ecclesiastical tribunal started in 1478 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. It was intended to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms, and to replace the medieval inquisition which was under papal control...
—which had been abolished by both
Joseph Bonapartealign=right|Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte, King of Naples and Sicily, King of Spain and the Indies, Comte de Survilliers was the elder brother of Napoleon I of France, who made him King of Naples and Sicily and later King of Spain as Joseph I of Spain...
and the
Cádiz CortesThe Cádiz Cortes were sessions of the national legislative body which met in the safe haven of Cádiz during the French occupation of Spain during the Napoleonic Wars...
during the French occupation—was ended again by the
Progresista government, summoning up accusations of being nothing more than
afrancesadoAfrancesado was the term used to denote Spanish and Portuguese partisans of Enlightenment ideas, Liberalism, or the French Revolution, who were supporters of the French occupation of Iberia and of the First French Empire.-Origins:In Spain, the term afrancesado surfaced during the reign of Charles...
s (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
republicansRepublicanism is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, where the head of state is appointed by means other than heredity, often elections. The exact meaning of Republicanism varies depending on the cultural and historical context. The sometimes contrary definitions are all covered in...
were suppressed, though the incident served to illustrate the frail coalition that bound the
Progresista government together.
The election of a
radicalThe term Radical was used during the late 18th century for proponents of the Radical Movement. It later became a general term for those favoring or seeking political reforms which include dramatic changes to the social order...
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
MadridMadrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. It is the third-most populous municipality in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its metropolitan area is the third-most populous city by urban area in the European Union after Paris and London.The city is located on the river...
had to be suppressed. The Jesuits (who had been banned by
Charles IIICharles III was the King of Spain and the Spanish Indies from 1759 to his death in 1788.Eldest son of Philip V of Spain and his second wife, Princess Elisabeth of Parma, he became the Duke of Parma and Piacenza under the name of Charles I ; later on in 1734 while Duke of Parma he conquered...
in the eighteenth 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 stateHead of state is the generic term for the individual or collective office that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state...
) lived under virtual
house arrestIn justice and law, house arrest is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to his or her residence. Travel is usually restricted, if allowed at all...
in Madrid.
The
Congress of ViennaThe Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by the Austrian statesman Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from November, 1814 to June, 1815. Its objective was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic...
ending the
Napoleonic WarsThe Napoleonic Wars were a series of conflicts declared against Napoleon's French Empire and changing sets of European allies by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionized European armies and played...
had inaugurated the "Congress system" as an instrument of international stability in
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
. Rebuffed by the "
Holy AllianceThe Holy Alliance was a coalition of Russia, Austria and Prussia created in 1815 at the behest of Tsar Alexander I of Russia, signed by the three powers in Paris on September 26 1815....
" of
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
,
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
, and
PrussiaPrussia was a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries this state had substantial influence on German and European history...
in his request for help against the liberal revolutionaries in 1820, by 1822 the "
Concert of EuropeThe Concert of Europe was the balance of power that existed in Europe from the fall of Napoleon in 1815 to the end of the Crimean War. Its founding members were the UK, Austria, Russia and Prussia who were also members of the 6th Coalition responsible for the downfall of Napoleon I; in time...
" was at sufficient unease with Spain's liberal government and its surprising hardiness that they were prepared to intervene on Ferdinand's behalf. In 1822, the
Congress of VeronaThe Congress of Verona met at Verona on October 20 1822 as part of the series of international conferences or congresses that opened with the Congress of Vienna in 1814-15, which had instituted the Concert of Europe at the close of the Napoleonic Wars....
authorized France to intervene.
Louis XVIII of FranceLouis XVIII , Louis Stanislas Xavier de France, was King of France and Navarre from 1814 to 1824, omitting the Hundred Days in 1815. Louis XVIII spent twenty-three years in exile, from 1791 to 1814, due to the French Revolution, and was exiled again in 1815, upon the return of Napoleon Bonaparte...
- himself an arch-
reactionaryReactionary refers to any political or social movement or ideology that seeks a return to a previous state . The term originated in the French Revolution, to denote the counter-revolutionaries who wanted to restore the real or imagined conditions of the monarchical Ancien Régime...
- 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
PyreneesThe Pyrenees are a range of mountains in southwest Europe that form a natural border between France and Spain...
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 to be fulfilled.
Although
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
had been in revolt in 1811 under Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, resistance to Spanish rule had largely been confined to small
guerrillaGuerrilla warfare is the irregular warfare warfare and combat in which a small group of combatants use mobile military tactics in the form of ambushes and raids to combat a larger and less mobile formal army....
bands in the countryside. The coup in Spain put many Mexican conservatives at unease with the liberal policies of the
Progresista government. In 1821, conservatives in
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
led by
Agustin de IturbideAgustín Cosme Damián de Iturbide y Aramburu was a Mexican Army General who built a successful political and military coalition that was able to march into Mexico City on 27 September 1821; decisively ending the Mexican War of Independence...
and Vincente Guerrero presented the Plan de Iguala, calling for an independent Mexican monarchy, in response to fears of the liberalism and anticlericalism in Spain coming to her colonies. The liberal government - which showed less interest in the reconquest of the colonies than Ferdinand had - recognized Mexican independence with the
Treaty of CórdobaThe Treaty of Córdoba gave Mexico independence from Spain at the conclusion of the Mexican War of Independence. It was signed on August 24, 1821 in Córdoba, Veracruz, Mexico. The signatories were Mexican insurgent Agustín de Iturbide and, acting on behalf of the Spanish King Ferdinand VII, the last...
.
Jose de San MartinJosé Francisco de San Martín Matorras, also known as José de San Martín , was an Argentine general and the prime leader of the southern part of South America's successful struggle for independence from Spain....
, who had already helped to liberate
ChileChile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
and
ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
, entered
PeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.Peruvian territory was home to the Norte Chico...
in 1820. In 1821, the inhabitants of
LimaLima is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, on a coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It forms a contiguous urban area with the seaport of Callao...
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 BolivarSimón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte Blanco, commonly known as Simón Bolívar was a South American political leader...
and
Antonio José de SucreAntonio José de Sucre y Alcalá was a Venezuelan independence leader. Sucre was one of Simón Bolívar's closest friends, generals and statesmen.-Ancestry:...
in 1823 that the Spanish royalist forces were defeated at the battles of
JuninThe Battle of Junín was a military engagement of the Peruvian War of Independence, fought in the highlands of the Junín Region on August 6 1824. The preceding February the royalists had regained control of Lima, and having regrouped in Trujillo, Simón Bolívar in June led his rebel forces south to...
and
AyacuchoThe Battle of Ayacucho was a decisive military encounter during the Peruvian War of Independence. It was the battle that sealed the independence of Peru, as well as the victory that ensured independence for the rest of South America....
, where the entire Spanish Army of Peru and the Viceroy were captured. The Battle of Ayacucho signified the end of the
Spanish EmpireThe Spanish Empire was one of the largest empires in world history, and one of the first global empires. It included territories and colonies in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania, from the 15th century through—in the case of its African holdings—the latter portion of the 20th century...
on the American mainland.
The Ominous Decade (1823-1833)
Immediately following the restoration of absolutist rule in Spain, King
Ferdinand|align=right|Ferdinand VII was King of Spain twice, in 1808, and from 1813 to 1833...
embarked on a policy intended to restore old conservative values to government; the Jesuit Order and the
Spanish InquisitionThe Spanish Inquisition was an ecclesiastical tribunal started in 1478 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. It was intended to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms, and to replace the medieval inquisition which was under papal control...
were reinstated once more, and some autonomy was again devolved to the provinces of
AragonAragon is an autonomous community of Spain. Located in northeastern Spain, the region comprises three provinces from north to south: Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza .Aragon's northern province of Huesca borders France and is positioned in the middle of the Pyrenees...
,
NavarreNavarre is a region in northern Spain, constituting one of its autonomous communities - the "Chartered Community of Navarre" .-History:...
, and
CataloniaCatalonia is an Autonomous Community in northeast Spain. The capital city is Barcelona.Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an official population of 7,364,078. It borders France and Andorra to the north, Aragon to the west, the Valencian Community to the south, and the...
. 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 KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
and the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, who voiced their support of the new
Latin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish, Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,501 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
n republics in the form of the
Monroe DoctrineThe Monroe Doctrine was a United States policy that was introduced on December 2, 1823, which said that further efforts by European governments to colonize land or interfere with states in the Americas would be viewed by the United States of America as acts of aggression requiring US intervention...
. 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 issued a general
amnestyAmnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent persons. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the offense. The word has the same root as amnesia...
to all those involved in the 1820 coup and the liberal government that followed it, the original architect of the coup,
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 ....
, was executed. The
liberalLiberalism is the belief in the importance of individual freedom. This belief is widely accepted today throughout the world, and was recognized as an important value by many philosophers throughout history...
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 hanged, though he would become a
martyrA martyr is somebody who suffers persecution and death for refusing to renounce a belief, usually religious.-Meaning:...
for the liberal cause in Spain and would be memorialized in the
anthemThe term anthem means either a specific form of Anglican church music , or more generally, a song of celebration, usually acting as a symbol for a distinct group of people, as in the term "national anthem" or "sports anthem".-Etymology:The word is derived from the Greek ἀντίφωνα through the Saxon...
of the
Second Spanish RepublicThe Second Spanish Republic was the system of government in Spain between April 14, 1931, when King Alfonso XIII left the country following local and municipal elections in which republican candidates won the majority of votes in urban areas and April 1, 1939, when the last of the Republican ...
,
El Himno de RiegoEl Himno de Riego is a song dating from the Spanish Civil War of 1820-1823 and named in honour of Colonel Rafael del Riego. It was the national anthem of Spain during the Trienio Liberal and the First and Second Spanish Republics .- Trivia :...
, 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 WarsThe Napoleonic Wars were a series of conflicts declared against Napoleon's French Empire and changing sets of European allies by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionized European armies and played...
. The end of the wars in the Americas improved the government's financial situation, and by the end of Ferdinand'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.
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
successionSuccession is the act or process of following in order or sequence.Succession may further refer to, within the context of "order" and "sequence":...
law of
Philip V of SpainPhilip V of Spain , fils de France and duc d'Anjou, was king of Spain from 1700 to 14 January 1724, when he abdicated in favor of his son, Louis I of Spain, and from 31 August 1724 to 1746, assuming the throne again upon his son's death. Philip was the first Bourbon king 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
reactionaryReactionary refers to any political or social movement or ideology that seeks a return to a previous state . The term originated in the French Revolution, to denote the counter-revolutionaries who wanted to restore the real or imagined conditions of the monarchical Ancien Régime...
and an authoritarian who desired the restoration of the traditional
moralismMoralism is often used ambiguously and in this vague sense it generally refers to a belief in morality for a reason other than religiosity. However, there is a group which clings to this idea and they define themselves as firm believers in the ideology that humans are instilled with innate moral...
of the Spanish state, the elimination of any traces of
constitutionalismConstitutionalism has a variety of meanings. Most generally, it is "a complex of ideas, attitudes, and patterns of behavior elaborating the principle that the authority of government derives from and is limited by a body of fundamental law." These ideas, attitudes and patterns of behavior,...
, and a close relationship with the
Roman Catholic ChurchThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
. Though surely not a liberal, Ferdinand was fearful of Carlos's extremism. War had broken out in 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...
in 1828 as a result of just such a conflict between reactionary and moderate forces in the royal family - the
War of the Two BrothersWar of the Two Brothers refers to two different civil wars, one in Peru and one in Portugal. It may refer to:* The Inca Civil War in Peru of 1529-32* The Liberal Wars in Portugal of 1828-34...
.
In 1830, at the advice of his wife, Maria Christina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Ferdinand decreed a
Pragmatic SanctionA pragmatic sanction is a sovereign's solemn decree on a matter of primary importance and has the force of fundamental law. In the late history of the Holy Roman Empire it referred more specifically to an edict issued by the Emperor....
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,
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...
, 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 died in 1833, at the age of 49. He was succeeded by his daughter Isabella under the terms of the Pragmatic Sanction, and his wife, Maria Christina, became
regentA regent, from the Latin regens "reigning", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Thus, the common use is for an acting deputy governor....
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.
The Carlist War and the Regencies (1833-1843)
See also: First Carlist WarThe First Carlist War was a civil war in Spain from 1833 to 1839.-Historical background:At the beginning of the 18th century, Philip V, the first Bourbon king of Spain, promulgated the Salic Law, which declared illegal the inheritance of the Spanish crown by women...
After their fall from grace in 1823 at the hands of a
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
invasion,
SpanishSpain , 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...]
liberalsLiberalism is the belief in the importance of individual freedom. This belief is widely accepted today throughout the world, and was recognized as an important value by many philosophers throughout history...
had pinned their hopes on Ferdinand VII's wife, 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
progressista faction at court against the conservatives, who backed the rebel Infante Carlos of Spain.
Carlos, who declared his support for the ancient, pre-
BourbonThe House of Bourbon is an important European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty. Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples & Sicily, and Parma...
privileges of the
fueros, received considerable support from the
Basque countryThe Basque Country is an Autonomous Community of northern Spain.The Basque Country was granted the status of historical region within Spain with the Spanish Constitution of 1978...
,
AragonAragon is an autonomous community of Spain. Located in northeastern Spain, the region comprises three provinces from north to south: Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza .Aragon's northern province of Huesca borders France and is positioned in the middle of the Pyrenees...
, and
CataloniaCatalonia is an Autonomous Community in northeast Spain. The capital city is Barcelona.Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an official population of 7,364,078. It borders France and Andorra to the north, Aragon to the west, the Valencian Community to the south, and the...
, which valued their ancient privileges from
MadridMadrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. It is the third-most populous municipality in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its metropolitan area is the third-most populous city by urban area in the European Union after Paris and London.The city is located on the river...
. 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
BasqueThe Basques are the native people of the Basque Country .The Basques as an ethnic group primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country, a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-eastern Spain...
Tomás de ZumalacárreguiTomás de Zumalacárregui , Spanish Carlist general, was born at Ormaiztegi in Guipúzcoa , Basque Country, on the December 29, 1788. His father, Francisco Antonio Zumalacárregui, was a lawyer who possessed some property, and the son was articled to a solicitor.- From Peninsula War to Ferdinand...
, a veteran
guerrillaGuerrilla warfare is the irregular warfare warfare and combat in which a small group of combatants use mobile military tactics in the form of ambushes and raids to combat a larger and less mobile formal army....
of the
Peninsular WarThe Peninsular War was a contest between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars...
, to be his
commander-in-chiefA commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the...
. Within a matter of months, Zumalacárregui 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
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...]
north of the Ebro River, with the exception of the fortified ports on the northern coast.
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
replacedThe French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution, saw the overthrow of King
Charles X of France, the French
Bourbon monarch, and the ascent of his cousin
Louis-Philippe, the
Duc d'Orléans,...
the
reactionaryReactionary refers to any political or social movement or ideology that seeks a return to a previous state . The term originated in the French Revolution, to denote the counter-revolutionaries who wanted to restore the real or imagined conditions of the monarchical Ancien Régime...
monarchy of
Charles XCharles X ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. His short rule of almost six years came to an end when he instituted his July Ordinances in July 1830, suspending most of the liberties granted in the Charter of 1814...
with the liberal monarchy of Louis-Philippe in 1830, was sympathetic to the Cristino cause. The Whig governments of
Viscount MelbourneWilliam Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, PC, FRS was a British Whig statesman who served as Home Secretary and Prime Minister , and was a mentor of Queen Victoria...
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 Zumalacárregui agitated for a campaign to take Madrid, Carlos ordered his commander to take a port on the coast. In the subsequent campaign, Zumalacárregui 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 LuchanaThe Battle of Luchana occurred at Bilbao and its vicinities during the night of December 23, 1836 and went on until December 24, 1836. The Carlists were besieging Bilbao and controlled the water and land routes towards the city...
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
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...
. The constitution also established state responsibility for the upkeep of the church, and a resurgence of
anti-clericalAnti-clericalism is a historical movement that opposes religious institutional power and influence, real or alleged, in all aspects of public and political life, and the involvement of religion in the everyday life of the citizen...
sentiment, led to the disbandment of some religious orders which considerably reduced the strength of the
ChurchThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
in Spain. The Jesuits - expelled during the Trienio Liberal and readmitted by Ferdinand - were once again expelled by the wartime regency in 1835.
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 Álvarez MendizábalJuan Álvarez Mendizábal, born Juan Álvarez Méndez , was a Spanish economist and politician....
, offered a program of
desamortización, the (
Ecclesiastical Confiscations of MendizábalThe Ecclesiastical Confiscations of Mendizabal also known as the Desamortizacion Ecclesiastica de Mendizabal ecompasses a set of decrees from 1835-1837 that resulted in the expropriation, and privatization, of monastic properties in Spain....
, that involved the confiscation and sale of church, mainly monastic, property. Many liberals, who bore
anti-clericalAnti-clericalism is a historical movement that opposes religious institutional power and influence, real or alleged, in all aspects of public and political life, and the involvement of religion in the everyday life of the citizen...
sentiments, saw the clergy as having allied with the Carlists, and thus the
desamortización was only justice. Mendizábal recognized, also, that immense amounts of Spanish land (much of it given as far back as the reigns of
Philip IIPhilip II was King of Spain and Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, during his wife Mary Tudor's reign, King of England and Ireland...
and
Philip IVPhilip IV was King of Spain between 1621 and 1665, sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands, and King of Portugal until 1640. On the eve of his death in 1665, the Spanish empire reached its territorial zenith spanning almost 3 billion acres...
) were in the hands of the church lying unused - the church was Spain's single largest landholder in Mendizábal's time. The Mendizábal government also passed a law guaranteeing
freedom of the pressFreedom of the press consists ofconstitutional or statutory protections pertaining to the media and published materials.With respect to governmental information, any government distinguishes which materials are public or protected from disclosure to the public based on classification of information...
.
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 VergaraThe Convention of Vergara was a treaty successfully ending the major fighting in Spain's First Carlist War. The treaty—also known by many other names including the Embrace of Vergara was signed by Baldomero Espartero for the Isabelines and Rafael Maroto for the Carlists.The two generals met at...
in 1839 was a success, protecting the privileges of the
fueros and recognizing the defeat of the Carlists. Don Carlos once 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 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
Agustín ArgüellesAgustín Argüelles was a Spanish liberal politician.He studied Law at the University of Oviedo and worked as secretary of the bishop of Barcelona. In 1809 he was appointed secretary of the patriotic Royal Junta of the Treasury and Legislation...
, a radical liberal politician, as the young queen's tutor. From
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...
, 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,
José Ramón Rodil y CampilloJosé Ramón Rodil y Campillo, was a Spanish general and statesman, born in Santa María del Trovo, Galicia region...
, as their chief minister. Another uprising in
BarcelonaBarcelona is the capital, most populous city of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia and the second largest city in Spain, with a population of 1,615,908 in 2008. It is the 11th-most populous municipality in the European Union and sixth-most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris,...
in 1842 against his
free tradeFree trade is a type of trade policy that allows traders to act and transact without interference from government. According to the law of comparative advantage the policy permits trading partners mutual gains from trade of goods and services....
policies prompted him to bombard the city, serving only to loosen his tenuous grip on power. On 20 May 1843, Salustiano Olózaga delivered his famous "Dios salve al país, 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 Ramón Narváez and Francisco Serrano finally overthrew Espartero in 1843, after which the deposed regent fled to
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Moderado rule (1843-1849)
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 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...
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 Olózaga was named the first president of the government after Espartero's fall. His commission to form a government was, however, highly unpopular with the
cortes; he asked for and 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 Olózaga's opponent in the
cortes, Luis González Bravo. Olózaga received a stunning and unexpected indictment of his policies, including an accusation that Olózaga had only obtained the order of dissolution by violence to Queen Isabella. Olózaga shortly thereafter resigned, having only been President of the Government for an ephemeral fifteen days. Olózaga, a liberal, was succeeded by Luis González Bravo, a moderate, inaugurating a decade of
moderado rule. The incident as a whole set the tone for Isabella's unstable administration, policies, and governments – in 1847, for instance, she went through five Presidents of the Government.
Luis González Bravo, leading the moderate faction, dissolved the
cortes himself and ruled by royal decree as a ministerial dictator. He declared Spain to be in a state of siege and dismantled a number of institutions that had been achievements of the
progressista movement such as
electedAn election is a formal decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy since the 17th century. Elections may fill offices in the legislature, sometimes in the executive and...
city councilA city council is the legislative body that governs a city, municipality or local government area.-Australia:Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council may vary slightly...
s. Fearing another
CarlistCarlism is a traditionalist and legitimist political movement in Spain seeking the establishment of a separate line of the Bourbon family on the Spanish throne. This line descended from Carlos V and was founded due to widespread dissatisfaction with the Alfonsine line of the House of Bourbon...
insurrection in northern Spain, he established the Guardia Civil (Spain), a force merging police and military functions to retain order in the mountainous regions that had been the Carlists' base of support and strength.
A new constitution, authored by the
moderados was written in 1845. It was backed by the new Narváez government begun in May 1844, led by General Ramón Narváez, one of the original architects of the revolution against Espartero. A series of reforms promulgated by Narváez'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 WarThe First Carlist War was a civil war in Spain from 1833 to 1839.-Historical background:At the beginning of the 18th century, Philip V, the first Bourbon king of Spain, promulgated the Salic Law, which declared illegal the inheritance of the Spanish crown by women...
, were anxious to centralize the administration. The law of 8 January 1845 did just that, stifling local autonomy in favor of
MadridMadrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. It is the third-most populous municipality in the European Union after Greater London and Berlin, and its metropolitan area is the third-most populous city by urban area in the European Union after Paris and London.The city is located on the river...
; the act contributed to the revolt of 1847 and the revival of
CarlismCarlism is a traditionalist and legitimist political movement in Spain seeking the establishment of a separate line of the Bourbon family on the Spanish throne. This line descended from Carlos V and was founded due to widespread dissatisfaction with the Alfonsine line of the House of Bourbon...
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
Martín ZurbanoMartín Zurbano Baras was a Spanish military figure. A guerrilla leader, he is considered a "martyr to Spanish liberty"....
in 1845 included the support of key generals, including
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...
, who was imprisoned by Narváez.
Narváez ended the sale of church lands promoted by the
progressistas. This put him into a difficult situation, as the
progressistas 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. Narváez 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 IVCharles IV was King of Spain from 14 December 1788 until his abdication on 19 March 1808.-Early life:...
. 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, Francisco de Asis. Her younger sister
Maria Louisa FernandaInfanta María Luísa Fernanda of Spain was Infanta of Spain and Duchess of Montpensier. She was the youngest daughter of king Ferdinand VII of Spain and his fourth wife Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, the queen-regent, who was also his niece.When her elder sister Isabella II of Spain succeeded...
was married to the French king Louis-Philippe's son Antoine, duc de Montpensier. The
Affair of the Spanish MarriagesThe Affair of the Spanish Marriages was a series of intrigues between France, Spain, and the United Kingdom relating to the marriages of Queen Isabella II of Spain and her sister the infanta Luisa Fernanda in 1846...
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. Fury raged in Spain over the queen's nonchalance with the national interest and worsened her public image.
Partly as a result of this, a major rebellion broke out in 1846 principally in
CataloniaCatalonia is an Autonomous Community in northeast Spain. The capital city is Barcelona.Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an official population of 7,364,078. It borders France and Andorra to the north, Aragon to the west, the Valencian Community to the south, and the...
, called the Del Matiners' War or
Second Carlist WarThe Second Carlist War, or the War of the Matiners or Madrugadores , was a short civil war fought primarily in Catalonia by the Carlists under General Ramón Cabrera against the forces of the government of Isabella II...
. Catalan 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 CabreraRamon Cabrera y Griñó was a Carlist general of Spain.He was born at Tortosa, province of Tarragona, Spain. As his family had in their gift two chaplaincies, young Cabrera was sent to the seminary of Tortosa, where he made himself conspicuous as an unruly pupil, ever mixed up in disturbances and...
as commander of the Carlist armies in Spain. A force of 10,000 was raised by the Carlists; in response to fears of another civil war like the First Carlist War, Narváez was once again named president of the government in Madrid in October 1847. The major battle of the war, the Battle of Pasteral, fought in January 1849, was inconclusive. Cabrera, however, was injured in the fighting and lost confidence. His departure from Spain caused the rebellion to fade into nothing by May 1849. The Del Matiners' War, though contemporaneous with the
revolutions of 1848The European Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations, Springtime of the Peoples or the Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout the European continent...
, is rarely included as part of the same phenomenon, since the revolutionaries in Spain were not fighting for liberal or
socialistSocialism refers to various theories of economic organization advocating public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterized by equal access to resources for all individuals with a method of compensation based on...
ideas.
Rule by pronunciamento (1849-1856)
Ramón Narváez was succeeded by Juan Bravo Murillo, a practical man and a seasoned politician. Murillo carried the same authoritarian tendencies as Narváez 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
concordatA concordat is an agreement between the Holy See and the government of a country on religious matters This often included both recognition and privileges for the Catholic Church in a particular country...
with the Vatican on the issue of religion in Spain; it was conclusively decided that Roman Catholicism remained the
state religionA state religion is a religious body or creed officially endorsed by the state. Practically, a state without a state religion is called a secular state. The term state church is associated with Christianity, and is sometimes used to denote a specific national branch of Christianity...
of Spain, but that the contribution of the church in education would be regulated by the state. In addition, the state renounced
desamortización, the process of selling church lands. Murillo's negotiations with the Papacy were aided by Narváez's role in the
Revolutions of 1848 in the Italian states-The Italian states in 1848:As with Germany, there was no "Italy" at the time of the Revolutions of 1848, but a collection of independent 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 government, 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 Murillo and find a new minister.
The next president of the government, 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 José Sartorius, the Count of San Luis, to be named president of the government. Sartorius - who had gained power only by betraying Luis González Bravo and following the fortunes of General Narváez - was notorious for falsifying election results in favor of his co-conspirators and himself. His appointment as President of the Government drew violent agitation from the liberal wing of the Spanish government.
In July 1854, a major rebellion broke out bringing together a wide coalition of outrages against the state. The
Crimean WarThe Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire on one side and an alliance of the British Empire, France, the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Sardinia on the other. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
, which had broken out in March of that year, had led to an increase in
grainGRAIN is an international non-governmental organization based in Barcelona, Spain, which works toward sustainable agriculture. It was formed upon the realization that the genetic diversity of the world's food crops are being drastically eliminated...
prices across
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
and a
famineA famine is a widespread scarcity of food that may apply to any faunal species, which phenomenon is usually accompanied by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality...
in Galicia.
RiotA riot is a form of civil disorder characterized by disorganized groups lashing out in a sudden and intense rash of violence against people or property. While individuals may attempt to lead or control a riot, riots are typically chaotic and exhibit herd behavior.Riots often occur in reaction to a...
s against the
power loomThe first power loom, a mechanized loom powered by a drive shaft, was designed in 1784 by Edmund Cartwright and first built in 1785, it was refined over the next 47 years till a design by Kenworthy and Bullough, made the operation completely automatic. This was known as the Lancashire Loom By 1850...
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 Vicálvaro, 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 named president of the government once again, 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
CubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island country in the Caribbean. It consists of the island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city. Cuba is home to over 11 million people and is...
. The attempt failed and only alienated 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 WarThe Peninsular War was a contest between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars...
. The "Unión 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.
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 religionFreedom of religion is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; the concept is generally recognized also to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any...
,
freedom of the pressFreedom of the press consists ofconstitutional or statutory protections pertaining to the media and published materials.With respect to governmental information, any government distinguishes which materials are public or protected from disclosure to the public based on classification of information...
, and, most importantly, a more liberal suffrage than the Constitution of 1845 allowed for. Even before the constitution had been passed, Espartero endorsed
Pascual MadozPascual Madoz , Spanish politician, statistician, was born at Pamplona.In early life he was settled in Barcelona, as a writer and journalist. He joined the Progresista party formed during the First Carlist War, 1833-40...
's
desamortización 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 O'Donnell president of the government. 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)
Once again, Ramón María Narváez, the symbol of reaction, returned to politics and was named president of the government by Isabella in 1856, who switched her favor to the
moderados; Espartero, frustrated and bitter with political life, retired permanently to
LogroñoLogroño is a city in northern Spain, on the Ebro River. It is the capital of the autonomous community of La Rioja, formerly known as Logroño Province.The population of Logroño in 2006 was 147,036...
. Narváez's new government undid what little 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 Peñaranda, who took power in October 1857. Without Narváez's authoritarian touch, however, Peñaranda found that it was now as difficult for conservative policies to be successfully enacted by the
cortes as it was for Espartero's
progressista policies; the
moderado faction was now divided, with some favoring the O'Donnell's
Unión Liberal ideal. Isabella then sacked Peñaranda - to the ire of the
moderados - and replaced him with Francisco Javier Istúriz. Istúriz, though Isabella admired him, lacked any support from the conservative wing of the government, and was adamantly opposed by Bravo Murillo. Isabella was then disgusted with the
moderados in any form; O'Donnell's faction was able to give the
Unión 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
Unión Liberal coalition of centrist, conciliatory
moderados and
progresistas, all of whom were exhausted from partisan bickering. 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 Cochin China, the allied expedition sent in support of the
French intervention in MexicoThe French intervention in Mexico, also known as the Maximilian Affair and The Franco-Mexican War, was an invasion of Mexico by the army of the Second French Empire, supported in the beginning by the British and Spanish...
and
Emperor MaximilianMaximilian I of Mexico was a member of the Imperial House of Habsburg-Lorraine. After a distinguished career in the Austrian Navy he was proclaimed Emperor of Mexico, during the Second Mexican Empire, with the backing of Napoleon III of France and a group of Mexican monarchists on 10 April 1864...
, an expedition to
Santo DomingoSanto Domingo, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. Its metropolitan population was 2,084,852 in 2003, estimated at 2,253,437 in 2006. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River...
, and most importantly, a
successful campaignThe Spanish-Moroccan War of 1859, known as the African War in Spain , was a war from 1859-1860. It began with a conflict over the borders of the Spanish city of Ceuta and was fought in northern Morocco....
into
MoroccoMorocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in North Africa with a population of nearly 32 million and an area just under . Its capital is Rabat, and its largest city is Casablanca. Morocco has a coast on the Atlantic Ocean that reaches past the Strait of Gibraltar into the...
that earned Spain a favorable peace and new territories across the
Strait of GibraltarThe Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain from Morocco...
. O'Donnell, even while president of the government, personally took command of the army in this campaign, for which he was named
Duque de Tetuán. A new agreement was made with the Vatican in 1859 that reopened the possibility of legal
desamortizacións of church property. The previous year,
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...
, whilst a
generalA general officer is an officer of high military rank. The term or equivalent is used by nearly every country in the world. General can be used as a generic term for all grades of general officer, or it can specifically refer to a single rank that is simply called general.-All general officer...
, had either allowed
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
s back onto Spanish territory for the first time since the
Alhambra DecreeThe Alhambra Decree was an edict issued on 31 March 1492 by the joint Catholic Monarchs of Spain ordering the expulsion of Jews from the Kingdom of Spain and its territories and possessions by 31 July of that year.The edict was formally revoked on December 16, 1968.- Background :Beginning...
in 1492 , or he would do so in 1868 .
The coalition broke apart in 1863 when old factional lines broke O'Donnell's cabinet: the issue of
demortización, brought up once again, antagonized the two wings of the
Unión 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 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, Ramón Narváez, 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 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...
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 Narváez, who had just been sacked two years earlier.
Narváez'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
RepublicanRepublicanism is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, where the head of state is appointed by means other than heredity, often elections. The exact meaning of Republicanism varies depending on the cultural and historical context. The sometimes contrary definitions are all covered in...
party had been growing in strength, roughly in step with the fortunes of the
Unión Liberal, and indeed, the
Unión had been in coalition with the Republicans at times in the
cortes.
La Gloriosa (1868-1873)
The 1866 rebellion led by
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 the revolt of the sergeants at
San GilSan Gil is a town and municipality in the Santander Department in northeastern Colombia.-External links:...
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, who 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,
progressistas, and members of the
Unión Liberal and enabled, ironically, 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 AlcoleaThe Battle of Alcolea occurred on 27 September, 1868.-Description:General Francisco Serrano y Domínguez's revolutionary army decisively defeated a loyalist force under Manuel Pavía, Marquis de Novaliches at the bridge of Alcolea in Andalusia....
, 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
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
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 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
progressistas; 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|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 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 27 November, 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.
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 Carlist uprising was taking place. In February 1873, he declared the people of Spain to be "ungovernable" and abandoned his kingdom, leaving rebel
RepublicansRepublicanism is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, where the head of state is appointed by means other than heredity, often elections. The exact meaning of Republicanism varies depending on the cultural and historical context. The sometimes contrary definitions are all covered in...
and Carlists to battle over the country.