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He didn't agree with the ideas of the French Revolution.

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England Vs Spain and France at sea

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1793-1795: Spain was defeated by the French Convention

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1793-1795: Spain was defeated by the French Convention

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This article was most recently revised and updated by

National Convention, French Convention Nationale, assembly that governed France from September 20, 1792, until October 26, 1795, during the most critical period of the French Revolution. The National Convention was elected to provide a new constitution for the country after the overthrow of the monarchy (August 10, 1792). The Convention numbered 749 deputies, including businessmen, tradesmen, and many professional men. Among its early acts were the formal abolition of the monarchy (September 21) and the establishment of the republic (September 22).

National Convention; Thermidorian Reaction Cci/Shutterstock.com

The struggles between two opposing Revolutionary factions, the Montagnards and the Girondins, dominated the first phase of the Convention (September 1792 to May 1793). The Montagnards favoured granting the poorer classes more political power, while the Girondins favoured a bourgeois republic and wanted to reduce the power of Paris over the course of the Revolution. Discredited by a series of defeats in the war they promoted against the anti-Revolutionary European coalition, the Girondins were purged from the Convention by the popular insurrection of May 31 to June 2, 1793.

The Montagnards controlled the Convention during its second phase (June 1793 to July 1794). Because of the war and an internal rebellion, a revolutionary government with dictatorial powers (exercised by the Committee of Public Safety) was set up. As a result, the democratic constitution approved by the Convention on June 24, 1793, was not put into effect, and the Convention lost its legislative initiative; its role was reduced to approving the Committee's suggestions.

Reacting against the Committee's radical policies, many members of the Convention participated in the overthrow of the most prominent member of the Committee, Maximilien Robespierre, on 9 Thermidor, year II (July 27, 1794). This Thermidorian Reaction corresponded to the final phase of the Convention (July 1794 to October 1795). The balance of power in the assembly was then held by the moderate deputies of The Plain (La Plaine). The surviving Girondins were recalled to the Convention, and the leading Montagnards were purged. In August 1795 the Convention approved the constitution for the regime that replaced it, the bourgeois-dominated Directory (1795-99).

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Michael Ray, Editor.

France: Political tensions

...universal male suffrage of a National Convention. It would judge the king, draft a new republican constitution, and govern France during the emergency. The constitution of 1791 had lasted less than a year, and the second revolution dreaded by the Feuillants had begun....

Napoleon I: The Jacobin years

...progressively more radical, and the National Convention, the Revolutionary assembly that in the preceding fall had abolished the monarchy....

French Revolution: Counterrevolution, regicide, and the Reign of Terror

...day, a new assembly, the National Convention, met. The next day it proclaimed the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of the republic....

date

September 20, 1792 - October 26, 1795

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National Convention | History, Definition, & Reign of Terror

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National Convention, assembly that governed France from September 20, 1792, until October 26, 1795, during the most critical period of the French Revolution. Among its early acts were the formal abolition of the monarchy (September 21) and the establishment of the republic (September 22).

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It allowed French troops to cross Spain to conquer Portugal.

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Treaty of Fontainebleau | French-Spanish history

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Other articles where Treaty of Fontainebleau is discussed: house of Bourbon: Solidarity and discord: ...treaty and the similarly conceived Treaty of Fontainebleau (1743) are sometimes called the First and the Second Family Compact, and the term Family Compact, or Pacte de Famille, was actually used in a third treaty, signed in Paris in 1761, during the Seven Years' War.

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They demanded the dismissal of Godoy and Carlos IV because they didn't want the Frech troops in Spain permanently.

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Prince Fernando VII took the throne

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23.2.3: Abdication in Spain

In an attempt to control the Iberian Peninsula, in 1808 Napoleon forced the abdications of Charles IV and Ferdinand VII of Spain and granted the Spanish crown to his brother Joseph, provoking a violent conflict that overlapped with the Peninsular War.

Learning Objective

Determine why Napoleon pushed for the abdication of the Spanish monarchy

Key Points

In the aftermath of the War of the Fourth Coalition, one of Napoleon's major objectives became enforcing the Continental System against the British. He decided to focus his attention on the Kingdom of Portugal, which consistently violated his trade prohibitions.

Internal political struggles and an economic crisis in Spain made the country vulnerable to the increasing impact of France. In addition, under terms of the 1807 Treaty of Fontainebleau, Charles IV and his unpopular prime minister Godoy allowed Napoleon's troops to cross Spain to attack Portugal. This move was extremely unpopular with the Spanish people, who saw the entry as a humiliating invasion.

Under the pretext of reinforcing the Franco-Spanish army occupying Portugal, French imperial troops entered Spain. Napoleon turned on his ally and ordered French commanders to seize key Spanish fortresses. Barcelona was taken in February 1808 and the Spanish Royal Army found itself paralyzed.

The events led to what is known as the Mutiny of Aranjuez, an 1808 uprising against Charles IV. The mutineers made Charles dismiss Godoy and the court forced the King to abdicate in favor of his son and rival, who became Ferdinand VII. Napoleon, under the false pretense of resolving the conflict, invited both Charles and Ferdinand to Bayonne, where he forced them both to renounce the throne. He then named his brother Joseph Bonaparte king of Spain.

The abdications led to what the Spanish-speaking world calls the Spanish War of Independence (1808-1814), which overlaps with the Peninsular War. Marshal Murat led 120,000 troops into Spain and the French arrived in Madrid, where riots against the occupation erupted just a few weeks later (The Dos de Mayo of 1808 Uprising). Resistance to French aggression soon spread throughout the country.

The years of fighting in Spain were a heavy burden on France's Grande Armée, but the burden of war destroyed the social and economic fabric of Portugal and Spain and ushered in an era of social turbulence, political instability, and economic stagnation that lasted until the mid 19th century.

Key Terms

Mutiny of Aranju

An 1808 uprising against Charles IV that took place in the town of Aranjuez. The mutineers made Charles dismiss unpopular prime minister Godoy and two days later, the court forced the King himself to abdicate in favor of his son and rival, who became Ferdinand VII.

Peninsular War

An 1807-1814 military conflict between Napoleon's empire and the allied powers of Spain, Britain, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war started when French and Spanish armies invaded and occupied Portugal in 1807 and escalated in 1808 when France turned on Spain, its ally. The war lasted until the Sixth Coalition defeated Napoleon in 1814, and is regarded as one of the first wars of national liberation, significant for the emergence of large-scale guerrilla warfare.

El Escorial Conspiracy

An attempted coup d'état led by the Crown Prince Fernando of Asturias that took place in 1807, but was quickly discovered and led to an investigation known as the Process of El Escorial.

The Dos de Mayo

An 1808 rebellion by the people of Madrid against the occupation of the city by French troops, provoking the repression by the French Imperial forces and triggering the Peninsular War.

1807 Treaty of Fontainebleau

An 1807 treaty between Charles IV of Spain and Napoleon I of France regarding the occupation of Portugal. Under this treaty, Portugal was divided into three regions- the Entre-Douro-e-Minho Province for the King of the Etrúria, the Principality of the Algarves under Spanish minister D. Manuel Godoy and the remaining provinces and overseas territories to be distributed under a later agreement.

Abdications of Bayonne

The name given to a series of forced abdications of the Kings of Spain, Charles IV and his son Ferdinand VII, that led to what the Spanish-speaking world calls the Spanish War of Independence (1808-1814), which overlaps with the Peninsular War.

In the aftermath of the War of the Fourth Coalition (1806-07), one of Napoleon's major objectives became enforcing the Continental System against the British. He decided to focus his attention on the Kingdom of Portugal, which consistently violated his trade prohibitions. After defeat in the War of the Oranges in 1801, Portugal adopted a double-sided policy. At first, John VI agreed to close his ports to British trade. The situation changed dramatically after the Franco-Spanish defeat at Trafalgar in 1805. John grew bolder and officially resumed diplomatic and trade relations with Britain. Unhappy with this change of policy by the Portuguese government, Napoleon sent an army to invade Portugal in 1807. The attack was the first step in what would eventually become the Peninsular War, a six-year struggle that significantly sapped French strength.

The prime minister under Charles IV, Manuel de Godoy, became unpopular among both the nobles and the Spanish people. The nobility resented how Godoy had attained power even though he was born in poverty and obscurity. Most notable among them was the King's own son Ferdinand, who had led the El Escorial Conspiracy (an 1807 attempted and quickly discovered coup d'état led by Ferdinand)a few months earlier. The people were upset about Godoy's ambitious nature and his willingness to have Catholic Spain make treaties with atheist Revolutionary France against Christian (Anglican) Great Britain.

Furthermore, an economic crisis affecting the country was heightened after Spain lost its navy in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. This impaired trade with the American colonies, causing food shortages and affecting industrial production. In addition, under terms of the 1807 Treaty of Fontainebleau, the King and Godoy allowed French Emperor Napoleon's troops to cross Spain to attack Portugal (see above). This move was extremely unpopular with the Spanish people, who saw the entry as a humiliating invasion. Under the pretext of reinforcing the Franco-Spanish army occupying Portugal, French imperial troops entered Spain. Napoleon turned on his ally and ordered French commanders to seize key Spanish fortresses. Barcelona was taken in February 1808 and the Spanish Royal Army found itself paralyzed.

These events led the Mutiny of Aranjuez, an 1808 uprising against Charles IV that took place in the town of Aranjuez, where the royal family and the government were staying on their way south to flee an anticipated French invasion from the north. Soldiers, peasants, and members of the general public assaulted Godoy's quarters and captured him. The mutineers made Charles dismiss Godoy and two days later, the court forced the King himself to abdicate in favor of his son and rival, who became Ferdinand VII. Ferdinand ascended the throne and turned to Napoleon for support.

Throughout the winter of 1808, French agents became increasingly involved in Spanish internal affairs, attempting to incite discord between members of the Spanish royal family. Secret French machinations finally materialized when Napoleon announced that he would intervene to mediate between the rival political factions in the country.Napoleon, under the false pretense of resolving the conflict, invited both Charles and Ferdinand to Bayonne, France. Both were afraid of the French ruler's power and thought it appropriate to accept the invitation. Once in Bayonne, Napoleon forced them both to renounce the throne and grant it to him. The Emperor then named his brother Joseph Bonaparte king of Spain. This episode , known as the Abdications of Bayonne, led to what the Spanish-speaking world calls the Spanish War of Independence (1808-1814), which overlaps with the Peninsular War.

Marshal Murat led 120,000 troops into Spain and the French arrived in Madrid, where riots against the occupation erupted just a few weeks later (The Dos de Mayo of 1808 Uprising). The appointment of Joseph Bonaparte as the King of Spain enraged the Spanish. Resistance to French aggression soon spread throughout the country. The shocking French defeat at the Battle of Bailén in July gave hope to Napoleon's enemies and partly persuaded the French emperor to intervene in person. The French army, under the Emperor's personal command, crossed the Ebro River in November 1808 and inflicted a series of crushing defeats against the Spanish forces. After clearing the last Spanish force guarding the capital at Somosierra, Napoleon entered Madrid in December with 80,000 troops. He then unleashed his soldiers against Moore and the British forces.

The French occupation destroyed the Spanish administration, which fragmented into quarreling provincial juntas. In 1810, a reconstituted national government, the Cádiz Cortes-in effect a government-in-exile-fortified itself in Cádiz but could not raise effective armies because it was besieged by 70,000 French troops. British and Portuguese forces eventually secured Portugal, using it as a safe position from which to launch campaigns against the French army and provide whatever supplies they could get to the Spanish, while the Spanish armies and guerrillas tied down vast numbers of Napoleon's troops. These combined regular and irregular allied forces prevented Napoleon's marshals from subduing the rebellious Spanish provinces by restricting French control of territory, and the war continued through years of stalemate.

The years of fighting in Spain were a heavy burden on France's Grande Armée. While the French were victorious in battle, their communications and supplies were severely tested and their units frequently isolated, harassed, or overwhelmed by partisans fighting an intense guerrilla war of raids and ambushes. The Spanish armies were repeatedly beaten and driven to the peripheries, but would regroup and relentlessly hound the French. This drain on French resources led Napoleon, who had unwittingly provoked a total war, to call the conflict the "Spanish Ulcer." The Spanish people continued to rally around the cause of "Ferdinand the Desired" who, imprisoned in France, became a national hero. In 1813, Napoleon reinstated him as Ferdinand VII.

The burden of war destroyed the social and economic fabric of Portugal and Spain and ushered in an era of social turbulence, political instability, and economic stagnation. Devastating civil wars between liberal and absolutist factions led by officers trained in the Peninsular War persisted in Iberia until 1850. The cumulative crises and disruptions of invasion, revolution, and restoration led to the independence of most of Spain's American colonies and the independence of Brazil from Portugal.

Attributions

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In an attempt to control the Iberian Peninsula, in 1808 Napoleon forced the abdications of Charles IV and Ferdinand VII of Spain and granted the Spanish crown to his brother Joseph, provoking a violent conflict that overlapped with the Peninsular War.

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1808: Carlos IV and Fernando VII abdicated so the other one wouldn't take the throne

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1808: Carlos IV and Fernando VII abdicated so the other one wouldn't take the throne

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Napoleon then gifted the throne to his brother, Jose I

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1808-1813: Jose I on the throne (Pepe Botella)

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1808-1813: Jose I on the throne (Pepe Botella)

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People from Madrid attacked the French troops because they thought that Carlos IV and Fernando VII were prisioners of France.

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1810: The Cortes met in Cadiz and agreed on a liberal constitution

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1810: The Cortes met in Cadiz and agreed on a liberal constitution

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Cortes de Cádiz (Cadiz Courts) and the Constitution of 1812

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On 19 March 1812, Spain's first constitution was drawn up in Cadiz, enshrining the rights of Spanish citizens and limiting the power of the monarchy. Although it was not enacted for some years, its influence was considerable, both within peninsular Spain and its territories around the world.

What's its background?

September 1810: It is almost five years after the Battle of Trafalgar, at which the English defeated the Spanish fleet, then allied to the French. Napoleon's troops are now occupying France, the Peninsular Wars (known as the Guerra de Independencia) are raging, and the English and Portuguese are helping to drive the French out of Spain. The Spanish King is Napoleon's brother Joseph, placed on the throne by the French Emperor in 1808, replacing the legitimate monarch Carlos IV.

The Cortes Generales (General Courts), Spain's national legislative assembly, has taken refuge from the French in the city of Cadiz. A group of liberals, who refused to support the king imposed on them by the French occupiers, forms the majority of the deputies (members of parliament), while the Church, landowners and aristocracy are in the minority.

March 1812: Napoleon's troops are besieging Cadiz. The Gaditanos fear that they can't hold out much longer.

In a vehement desire to protect the fundamental rights of the Spanish people, the 300-odd deputies devote themselves to drawing up a liberal constitution proclaiming a democratic parliamentary monarchy.

What does it say?

The constitution, promulgated (formally proclaimed) on 19 March 1812, has three initial main points: to confirm the legitimacy of the monarch; to enshrine the inviolability of the deputies; and to establish national sovereignty. It's a clear statement to Napoleon: this is still Spain, and we are still Spanish. But the constitution also says to the succession of corrupt monarchs who have been in power: enough! We want to rule ourselves now.

As well as being designed to limit the absolute power of the monarch and outlawing corruption, it reduces the Church and nobility's influence; and it protects the rights of the citizens, threatened by a foreign occupier. It makes all men equal, giving them the right to vote; protects the freedom of the press; and supports reform of tax and land law (the removal of the feudal system). The constitution also states that one ayuntamiento must be created for every 1,000 people, in all Spanish lands.

In addition, voting rights are afforded to all those with ancestry in Spain or the Spanish Empire. Of the deputies present, over 10 per cent (37 out of 303) were born in overseas territories, including Peru, Cuba, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the Phillippines. Deputies present from lands which later become Ecuador, Mexico, Chile and Peru all go on to be key figures in founding their own republics.

The exact date when this historic document was published (the equivalent of being included in today's BOJA), 19 March, is Dia de San Jose; for this reason, the constitution becomes known as La Pepa.

The legacy of La Pepa

As revolutionary as the new constitution was - it curtailed the monarch's power, affording ordinary people rights they had never had, and was commemorated in many Spanish towns and cities with an "Avenida de la Constitution" or "Plaza de la Constitution" - French occupation meant that it wasn't enacted for some years. Nor was its fate much happier later on.

When the monarchy was restored soon after, in 1814, one of the first acts of King Fernando VII de Borbon (son of Carlos IV) was to revoke the constitution. After this, its fortunes remained mixed: mostly unrecognised, it was reinstated from 1820-1823 and 1836-1837.

However despite its lack of immediate influence, La Pepa was an important document in the history of liberalism in Spain. It was also used as a model for liberal constitutions in Portugal and New World territories, who gained their independence from the Spanish crown in the early 19th century.

Spain has had seven constitutions since La Pepa; the current one was enacted in 1978, in the Transition years after Franco's death.

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History - La Pepa 1812: Spain's First Constitution | Andalucia.com

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On 19 March 1812, Spain's first constitution was drawn up in Cadiz, enshrining the rights of Spanish citizens and limiting the power of the monarchy. Although it was not enacted for some years, its influence was considerable, both within peninsular Spain and its territories around the world.

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Napoleon admited defeat. End of the conflict

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Treaty of Valencay, 11th December 1813, Treaty between Napoleon and King Ferdinard VII of Spain, signed in an attempt to extract France from Spain

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1823: Intervention of the One Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis

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1823: Intervention of the One Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis

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This was an army of French volunteers.

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En la Europa postnapoleónica se fijó la defensa del absolutismo basado en los principios de legitimidad y de la intervención en defensa del mismo. Fernando VII pidió ayuda a las potencias europeas para restablecerse en el poder absoluto. Estas potencias, reunidas en el Congreso de Verona (1822) encargan a Francia la intervención en España.

El gobierno francés lleva a cabo un intercambio de notas con el gobierno liberal, donde se pretende crispar a los liberales y provocar la entrada del ejército. La entrada de las tropas comandadas por el duque de Angulema (1775-1844) , los Cien Mil Hijos de San Luis, se produce el 7 de abril de 1823.

El gobierno moviliza las exiguas tropas de que dispone por todo el territorio, pero la resistencia no deja de ser puntual. De esta manera, el centro está defendido por Enrique José O'Donnell, I Conde de La Bisbal (1776-1834) . Asturias y Castilla son territorios de Pablo Morillo, y Francisco Espoz y Mina (1781-1836) resiste en Cataluña. Pero esta contención pronto se manifiesta ineficaz, dejando el camino libre hasta Andalucía. El Gobierno y las Cortes recurrirán al cambio de sede que ya practicaran en la Guerra de la Independencia. Se declara incapacitado al monarca, quien es retenido en Cádiz, lugar donde acabarán refugiándose. Finalizará el episodio con la capitulación y entrega del monarca el 1 de octubre de 1823. Si bien éste es obligado previamente a aceptar una serie de compromisos que incluyen el respeto a las leyes liberales, pero dicha obligación es olvidada por el rey. Fernando VII reestablece el sistema absolutista que sólo acabará tras su muerte en 1833, tras la llamada la Década Ominosa.

Este período se caracteriza por la persecución del liberalismo y el planteamiento de la cuestión sucesoria. La primera cuestión comienza con la derogación de toda la obra de los gobiernos del Trienio Liberal y continúa con la represión a los liberales. En noviembre de 1823 es ejecutado Riego y al año siguiente Francisco Tadeo Calomarde (Villel, Teruel, 1773-Toulouse, Francia, 1843) se hace cargo de la Secretaría de Gracia y Justicia, quien impone una persecución sistemática utilizando los métodos del secreto, delaciones e indefensión del acusado.

La cuestión sucesoria se plantea a partir de la boda de Fernando VII con María Cristina de Borbón (1806-1878) en 1829. La posibilidad de que Fernando tuviera un descendiente perjudicaba a su hermano el infante Carlos María Isidro (1788-1788). Se van perfilando los bandos de las próximas guerras carlistas, los partidarios del absolutismo defenderán al infante, mientras que los moderados y liberales lo harán por el vástago del rey.

Fernando VII promulga en abril de 1830 la Pragmática Sanción que había quedado pendiente de publicación desde su aprobación por las Cortes en 1789. De esta manera se derogaba la Ley Sálica y se permitía reinar a las mujeres. Unos meses más tarde nace su hija, la futura Isabel II (1830-1904).

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En la Europa postnapoleónica se fijó la defensa del absolutismo basado en los principios de legitimidad y de la intervención en defensa del mismo. Fernando VII pidió ayuda a las potencias europeas para restablecerse en el poder absoluto. Estas potencias, reunidas en el Congreso de Verona (1822) encargan a Francia la intervención en España.

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1830: Fernando VII chose to issue the "Pragmatic Sanction"

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1830: Fernando VII chose to issue the "Pragmatic Sanction"

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Isabel II was now heir of the crown.

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Pragmatic Sanction of King Ferdinand VII, (March 29, 1830), decree of Ferdinand VII of Spain, which promulgated his predecessor Charles IV's unpublished decision of 1789 revoking the Salic law of succession, which had denied royal succession to females. The Pragmatic Sanction was intended to permit his unborn child to succeed to the throne, even if it were female.

Ferdinand, still childless on the death of his third wife, María Josefa Amalia, in 1829, married María Cristina I of the Two Sicilies in that year and, in so doing, threatened the mounting hopes of his brother Don Carlos regarding the succession. The birth of a daughter, Isabella, in October 1830 greatly complicated the issue. By the ancient law of Castile and Leon women could rule in their own right. This right had, however, been abrogated by an act of 1713 designed to prevent any union of the crowns of Spain and France; and, although Charles IV had restored the former position in 1789, his enactment had never before been published, and its validity was now hotly disputed. Hence the birth of Carlism, the movement by which the supporters of Don Carlos and his heirs were known, which was for more than half a century to be a disrupting factor in the history of Spain. When, on Sept. 29, 1833, Ferdinand died, his daughter was proclaimed queen as Isabella II. The First Carlist War (1833-39) broke out almost immediately.

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pragmatic sanction of king ferdinand vii

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Pragmatic Sanction of King Ferdinand VII | Spanish Succession, Bourbon Dynasty & War of Spanish Succession

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Pragmatic Sanction of King Ferdinand VII, (March 29, 1830), decree of Ferdinand VII of Spain, which promulgated his predecessor Charles IV's unpublished decision of 1789 revoking the Salic law of succession, which had denied royal succession to females. The Pragmatic Sanction was intended to permit

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1833-1840: María Cristina was named regent

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1833-1840: María Cristina was named regent

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Isabel was named queen, but she was just 3 years old, so her mother took the throne meanwhile.

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Popular protests forced Maria Cristina to hand the government over to the progressives.

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General Espartero made peace with Maroto.

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1840: Maria Cristina was forced to resign

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1840: Maria Cristina was forced to resign

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Bienio Progresista (1854-1856)

La Década Moderada finaliza con la Revolución de 1854. El partido moderado y el gobierno del conde de San Luis se encuentran desgastados. Espartero propone a la Reina la convocatoria de unas nuevas Cortes Constituyentes, y que éstas estén formadas solo por el Congreso de los Diputados, para impedir la presión conservadora del Senado.

Tras las elecciones, las nuevas Cortes Constituyentes abren sus sesiones el 8 de noviembre de 1854. En la Sesión Regia de apertura, el discurso de la Reina Isabel II recobra el apoyo popular al acercarse a los progresistas. Se nombra una Comisión Constitucional para que elabore un nuevo texto. En primer lugar, se discute el tema de la soberanía nacional, que es el punto conflictivo entre moderados y progresistas. Los derechos individuales quedan reforzados y garantizados. José María Orense no consigue introducir el sufragio universal. La cuestión religiosa es objeto de debate entre los partidarios de recoger en el texto la unidad católica de España y los que pretenden introducir la libertad de cultos. Se respetan las dos cámaras, pero el Senado pasa a ser electivo, para que sus miembros sean designados igual que los diputados. Las cuestiones más cercanas a los progresistas fueron las relacionadas con los municipios, la milicia nacional y la instauración del jurado.

Sesión Regia de Apertura de las Cortes Constituyentes el 8 de noviembre de 1854.
Llegada de la Comitiva Real al Palacio del Congreso de los Diputados.

La Constitución de la Monarquía española de 1856 ( parte 01) ( parte 02) no llega a regir en España, pues, discutida y votada por las Cortes constituyentes, antes de llegar a promulgarse, se publica el Real Decreto de 15 de septiembre de 1856, que reestablece la Constitución de 23 de mayo de 1845.

Destaca en este bienio la Ley Desamortizadora promulgada el 1 de mayo de 1855, conocida como la Desamortización de Madoz. Pascual Madoz es recordado por su obra Diccionario geográfico, histórico y estadístico de España y sus posesiones de Ultramar, 1848-1850, en 16 volúmenes, que representa el primer intento de recogida de datos estadísticos de toda la geografía política y social de España.

El 15 de septiembre de 1856, el presidente del Consejo de Ministros, Leopoldo O´Donnell, firma en Palacio, un Acta Adicional a la Constitución de la Monarquía Española de 1845. La vigencia del Acta Adicional es tan breve que queda sin efecto por otro Real Decreto de 14 de octubre del mismo año, que dispone que rija y se observe sólo la ley constitucional de 23 de mayo de 1845.

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Bienio Progresista (1854-1856) - Congreso de los Diputados

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Isabel II's reign last stage

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An insurrection to overthrow Isabel II

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Isabella II | Liberalism, Restoration, Glorious Revolution

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Isabella II queen of Spain (1833–68) whose troubled reign was marked by political instability and the rule of military politicians. Isabella’s failure to respond to growing demands for a more progressive regime, her questionable private life, and her political irresponsibility contributed to the

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The revolution that led to the dethronement of Isabella was the work of army oligarchs led by Francisco Serrano y Domínguez and Progressive conspirators behind Prim. The Democrats became active in setting up juntas after the revolution; for the most part they rapidly became Federal Republicans under the influence of the theories of the French anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon as presented by their leader, Francisco Pi i Margall. The Democratic intellectuals' main contribution was to add a radical democratic content to the demands of the military oligarchy.

The generals were determined to keep the leadership of the revolution in their own hands by channeling it into a constitutional monarchy. Although they had to concede universal male suffrage in the constitution of 1869, they ruthlessly suppressed republican risings in the summer of that year. Their problem was to find a constitutional monarch. Prim's attempt to persuade a Hohenzollern to accept the throne was opposed by France and set off the Franco-German War in 1870. In November 1870 Amadeo ( Amadeus), second son of Victor Emmanuel, king of Italy, was elected king, and Prim, the kingmaker, was assassinated the day Amadeo entered Madrid.

Amadeo attempted to rule as a constitutional monarch. Opposed both by Republicans and by Carlists, he could form no stable government from the "September coalition" of former conservative Liberal Unionists, the ex-Progressives, and the moderate Democrats-now called Radicals. Once Amadeo called the Radicals to power, the conservatives deserted the dynasty. Amadeo abdicated after an attack by the Radicals on the army in February 1873, and subsequently the Cortes proclaimed Spain a republic.

The Republic of 1873 came into existence to fill the political vacuum created by Amadeo's abdication. The Republican Party was neither strong nor united. When the Republican leaders, on legal scruples, refused to declare for a federal republic, the provincial federal extremists revolted.

This Cantonalist revolt was serious in Cartagena, Alcoy, and Málaga. Simultaneously the authorities had to deal with a new uprising by the Carlists, the Second Carlist War (1873-76). The Republican leaders had allowed attacks on the army that had reduced it to impotence. To conservatives and other supporters of order, the country seemed on the verge of total dissolution; the Carlists were immensely strengthened by the "excesses" of the Cantonalists. Too late, Emilio Castelar y Ripoll, the last president of the republic, tried to recapture the loyalty of the army. In January 1874 General Manuel Pavía y Rodríguez de Alburquerque drove the Republican deputies from the Cortes building in the hope of creating a government of order. Pavía turned power over to General Francisco Serrano to form a coalition government.

General Serrano took over as president of a unitary republic ruled from Madrid. His main task was victory over the Carlists, now a strong force in northern Spain. In this he failed, and on December 29, 1874, a young brigadier, Arsenio Martínez Campos, "declared" for Alfonso XII, the son of Isabella.

There was no resistance. The extreme threat of anarchy in 1873 had resulted in a strong conservative reaction, strengthened by the religious policies pursued since 1868. The constitution of 1869 for the first time had allowed complete freedom of religion. Despite its failure to deliver political stability, the Revolution of 1868 bequeathed to Spain the model of a modern secular state based on universal suffrage. Anarchism pentrated Spain's extreme left, especially in rural Andalusia and in industrial Catalonia, where the lower classes deserted a long tradition of political action via the Democratic and Republican parties and moderate unionism. Although anarchists were persecuted after 1873, the movement was kept alive by small groups of enthusiasts.

The independence movement in Cuba, which, along with Puerto Rico, was the last possession of Spain in America, posed the worst problem for Spain in the period 1868-75. Cubans had long resented the failure to reform rule by captains general, to grant some autonomy, and to ease the economic sacrifices that were imposed by the Spanish tariff system. The Ten Years' War that began in October 1868 made great demands on Spain both in terms of manpower (100,000 by 1870) and money. The war made difficulties for all governments in power in Spain after 1868 and forced abandonment of the most popular of the pledges made by the rebels in 1868: the abolition of the arbitrary and socially selective recruitment system. Like the Carlist wars, the war in Cuba tended to favour the monarchical reaction.

The restored monarchy, 1875-1923

Once the Carlists had been defeated and the Cubans had accepted the peace settlement of El Zanjón (1878), the restored monarchy provided the most stable government Spain had known since 1833. This stability was sustained by an uneven but respectable economic growth.

Stability, 1875-98

The architect of the restoration itself and of the constitution of 1876 was Antonio Cánovas del Castillo. A superb politician, Cánovas had hoped for a civilian restoration; he accepted Martínez Campos's coup but used the young Alfonso XII to keep the military out of politics.

The Canovite system was artificial in that it required the contrived rotation in office ( turno pacífico) of a Liberal and a Conservative party; this in turn demanded governmental control of elections, which were run by caciques, or local political bosses, who controlled votes in their districts and delivered them in return for favours for themselves and their supporters. Only in this way could the government selected by the king and the politicians in Madrid obtain a parliamentary majority. Extensive corruption and the use of administrative pressures on electors were considered the only ways to make the parliamentary system work in an underdeveloped society. This system survived the death of Alfonso XII (1885) and began to falter only in the 1890s, toward the end of his wife's regency. The Carlist threat weakened with defeat, and the majority of Republicans in Spain were domesticated and reconciled to the use of "legal" means.

"Without being a rich country," wrote an economist in the early 1880s, "Spain has become comfortably off." This prosperity, untroubled by the claims of organized labour, was the result of the demand for iron ore after the invention of the Bessemer process (England and France invested heavily in mineral production), the demand for Spanish wine after the devastations by phylloxera in France, and the resumption of railway construction in Spain. The third largest wool industry in Europe grew up alongside the older cotton mills in Catalonia. The boom did not break until the late 1880s, when an agricultural depression set in. A wave of economic pessimism preceded the political and intellectual reaction of 1898.

The loss of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines in 1898 following the Spanish-American War exposed the Spanish political system to severe criticism. No fiscal and political reform sufficient to satisfy Cuban demands could be effected within the framework of the monarchy, partly because of the pressure of the Spanish loyalist party in Cuba. A revolt in 1895 set off another costly war against Cuban guerrillas. The intervention of the United States could not be staved off by a last-minute grant of autonomy. Their humiliating and total naval defeat in 1898 became known to Spaniards as "the Disaster." Spain now lost the Philippines and the last of its possessions in the Americas at the very time when the great European powers were building their overseas empires. These events exacerbated an already existing pessimism among intellectuals about Spain's national and racial "degeneration."

Opposition movements, 1898-1923

Criticism of the restoration monarchy came from the Catalan and Basque regionalists, a revived Republican Party, the proletarian parties, the army, the more forward-looking of the Spanish politicians, and intellectuals.

Basque regionalism, though more akin in its ideas to extreme nationalist movements, was less a challenge than Catalan regionalism. With their own language and a revived cultural tradition, known as the Renaixença, Catalan nationalists moved from a demand for protection of Catalan industry against "Castilian" free trade to a demand for political autonomy. The Regionalist League (Catalan: Lliga Regionalista), founded in 1901 and dominated by the Catalan industrialist Francesc Cambó i Batlle and the theoretician of Catalan nationalism Enric Prat de la Riba, demanded the end of the turno and a revival of regionalism within a genuine party system. Cambó wished to solve the Catalan question "within Spain"-that is, by legal means and in cooperation with monarchist politicians. The revival of Catalanism, however, set off a "Castilian" reaction in which moderate Catalans were accused of selfishness or of hiding separatist aims under "respectable" regionalism.

Anti-Catalan sentiment was particularly strong among army officers, still smarting from the defeat of 1898. A string of antimilitary cartoons in Catalan periodicals led members of the Barcelona garrison to sack the offices of these publications (the Cu-Cut!) and demand the application of military law to insults against the military. The passage of the Law of Jurisdictions (1906), which largely met the officers' demands, led to the creation of Solidaridad Catalana, a united front of Catalanist parties.

In the 1907 election the Solidaridad Catalana defeated the establishment parties but then divided into a right wing (which accepted a solution within the monarchy) and a left wing (which was to drift to Republicanism). Cambó's cooperation with Madrid brought Catalonia no tangible concessions.

Republicanism, which had degenerated into local politicking and lived on its memories of 1873, was revived in a number of major cities: in Valencia by the novelist-politician Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, in Gijón by Melquíades Alvarez, and, most significantly, in Barcelona by the colourful demagogue and former journalist Alejandro Lerroux. Lerroux's Radical Party offered a program that appealed to the alienated working-class voter of Barcelona. Competing with a slow revival of anarchism, Lerroux veered between terrorism, educational propaganda, and union activity; the anarcho-syndicalist union, the National Confederation of Labour (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo; CNT), was founded in 1910. The socialist movement with its union (the General Union of Workers [ Unión General de Trabajadores; UGT], founded 1888) was relatively weak except in the mining districts of the north and in Madrid, where it was dominated by its French-influenced founder, Pablo Iglesias. In 1909 the socialists abandoned their boycott of "bourgeois" politics and allied themselves with the Republicans. This alliance gave the party a political leverage in excess of its voting strength.

The intellectuals' protest embraced the writers of widely differing ideas collectively known as the Generation of '98. Joaquín Costa, a voluminous writer, was an especially harsh critic of caciquismo (the system of electoral manipulation on the local level by political bosses); he wanted a revived, effectively democratic, modernized Spain. Miguel de Unamuno saw regeneration in terms of a return to "pure" Spanish values. The Generation of '98 distrusted politics as managed by professional politicians, who, they said, were out of touch with the "real" Spain. Although the defeat of 1898 loomed large in these intellectuals' thoughts, the cultural pessimism they expressed was far from a peculiarly Spanish affair. Rather, it was part of and shared many features with a more general European fin de siècle pessimism.

Among the politicians themselves, the conservative leaders Francisco Silvela and Antonio Maura and the democratic liberal José Canalejas sought to regenerate the system by widening the degree of political participation through "sincere" elections. Opposed by the professional party members, Maura only succeeded in confusing the party structure by splitting the Conservative Party. The danger of "sincere" elections to the political establishment was revealed by the Republican victories in 1903.

The call up of troops for Morocco, where Spanish troops were engaged in operations protecting the Spanish coastal possessions, set off the Tragic Week of 1909 in Barcelona. Public order collapsed, and anarchists and Radical Republicans burned churches and convents. Maura was driven from office because Alfonso XIII (who ruled in his own right from 1902) accepted the Liberals' estimate of the harm Maura's firm repression would inflict on the monarchy. Rather than resist a Liberal Party that had allied with the Republican parties, the king held that the Liberals were a useful "lightning conductor," protecting the monarchy from the threat on the left. Ever since Maura's fall, the king's diagnosis had been challenged by conservatives.

World War I produced increased strains. Real wages fell, making the unions restive, and in 1917 junior officers formed juntas and struck for better conditions. The ensuing crisis was exploited by Catalan politicians, who increasingly pressed for autonomy. The revolutionary coalition consisting of Radical Republicans and Catalan regionalists split, and a general strike frightened Cambó and the Catalans, who threatened to call a national convention that would unite all critics of the monarchy. The formation of a national government under Maura ended the last serious attempt to regenerate the political system and to make it respond to reformist and Catalan demands. No subsequent government was strong enough to face the anarchist agitation in Catalonia and the Moroccan War.

Spain, through negotiations with France, had obtained a protectorate in Morocco in 1912. In an effort to pacify Morocco, economizing politicians were ready for compromise with tribal leaders, but the generals saw conquest as the only solution. A bid by General Fernández Silvestre, reputedly backed by Alfonso XIII, for a crowning victory ended in the terrible massacre of Spanish troops at the Battle of Anual (Anwal) in 1921. Opposition politicians were determined to expose the king's action and criticize the army.

World War I had given the anarcho-syndicalist movement great power. At the same time there grew a terrorist fringe, which the leaders of the CNT could not control. Although CNT leaders Salvador Seguí and Angel Pestaña shared the anarchist contempt for political action, they wished to build unions powerful enough to challenge the employers by direct action. They mistrusted the libertarian tradition of spontaneous revolution as a means of toppling the bourgeois state. The great Barcelona strike of 1919 was the most impressive in Spanish history. When the employers' violent reaction discredited the moderates in the CNT, it was followed by a wave of assassinations by gangsters employed by both the anarchists and the employers.

Thus, when General Miguel Primo de Rivera staged his pronunciamiento in September 1923, he received the support of the conservative classes fearful for social order. For example, the Lliga became more concerned about suppressing strikes than about Catalan autonomy, for which it had campaigned from 1915 to 1918. He also had a tacit alliance with Alfonso XIII, who was tired of politicians who could not provide him with effective governments and afraid of being blamed for the disaster at Anual by a parliamentary committee that was scheduled to report in the fall of 1923.

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Spain - Revolution, Republic, 1868-1873: The revolution that led to the dethronement of Isabella was the work of army oligarchs led by Francisco Serrano y Domínguez and Progressive conspirators behind Prim.

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Cantonal rebellion (jul 12, 1873 – jan 13, 1874) (Timeline)

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The detailed information in this event refers to the period described in title.

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January 1874: Coup led by General Pavia dissolved the Cortes

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January 1874: Coup led by General Pavia dissolved the Cortes

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The presidency was handed to General Serrano.

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December 1874: General Martínez Campos made Alfonso de Borbón king 

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December 1874: General Martínez Campos made Alfonso de Borbón king 

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Texto del Real Decreto de 18 de enero de 1871, disponiendo que los jefes económicos formen la lista de los mayores contribuyentes que puedan ser elegidos senadores en cada provincia, conforme a la Ley electoral, con enlace a la Gaceta de Madrid.

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Ended the Cuban War

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Description

Portrait of Alfonso XII, King of Spain in uniform facing right

Biography

Alfonso XII became King of Spain in 1874 following a coup d'état that ended the First Spanish Republic. Eight years later, General Grant met the Spanish monarch in an environment that still suffered from political unrest. Their first meeting took place in Vittoria, King Alfonso XII's Capital of Spain. John Russell Young observed that the stress on the twenty year old sovereign from his unstable hold on the throne was evident. He appeared overwhelmed by the responsibilities as King. The King's beloved wife of five years had also previously passed away. He told Grant his labors as a sovereign kept his mind off his grief. His day was spent reviewing his military and fortifications from town to town. Grant and the King discussed the advantages and disadvantages of holding such a leadership position. The Grants enjoyed a dinner together with the King honoring their visit to Spain. Mrs. Grant also noted the tension between the Spanish public and their sovereign. After their Vittoria meeting, General and Mrs. Grant saw the King again in Madrid as he made a procession across a square by the Hotel de Paris. Mrs. Grant later commented in her memoirs the King did not receive even the slightest expression of loyalty from his people. It was during this same procession that General Grant witnessed an assassination attempt on King Alfonso XII. General Grant later told a reporter he saw the flash made by the pistol as the assassin raised it to fire a shot as the Kin. King Alfonso XII was unharmed in this attack.

Studio

Fernando Debras, Primer Fotografo de S.S.M.M. y de S.S.A.A.R.R, Madrid, Spain

Format (Original)

Cabinet Card

Physical ID

Grant_World_Tour_013

Digital ID

Grant_World_Tour_013

Digital Publisher

Mississippi State University Libraries (electronic version).

Repository

Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library, Mississippi State University Libraries.

Rights

Copyright protected by Mississippi State University Libraries. Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S. Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce is required.

Preferred Citation

[Title of Document], Ulysses S. Grant and Julia D. Grant Papers, Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library, Mississippi State University Libraries

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Portrait of Alfonso XII, King of Spain in uniform facing right

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1885: Maria Cristina became regent until her unborn child could take the throne

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1885: Maria Cristina became regent until her unborn child could take the throne

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Due to a lack of political reforms and economic autonomy.

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Independence of Cuba, the Phillippines and Puerto Rico