19th Century Spanish Agricultural and Industrial Transformations
1. Agricultural Transformations in 19th Century Spain
1.1. Consolidation of Private Land Ownership
Nineteenth-century liberal governments prioritized the shift from Old Regime structures (lordship, primogeniture, commons) to private land ownership, a cornerstone of the new capitalist system. Influenced by agrarian problems and the need for modernized agriculture, they enacted liberal agrarian reforms. These reforms abolished feudal rights, separated ownership, and confiscated Church and municipal lands, transforming land into a freely tradable commodity. This legal framework was further solidified by fencing regulations, ending livestock privileges, and liberalizing leases.
1.2. Effects of Land Reform
The abolition of feudalism didn’t diminish the land rights of former lords. While peasants were freed from manorial rents, their overall situation improved little, becoming tenants or employees. The confiscations of 1836 (Mendizábal) and 1855 (Madoz) significantly altered land ownership. However, the hoped-for rise of small and medium-sized farms didn’t materialize, as those with existing resources acquired the land. While not a complete failure, the confiscations missed an opportunity for a more equitable ownership structure. They did, however, finance the Carlist War, alleviate treasury burdens, encourage railway construction, and marginally improve cultivation through slightly better techniques.
1.3. Limits to Agricultural Growth
The primary agricultural focus was expanding cultivated land to reduce cereal imports and support population growth. Cereals dominated (80%), followed by the export-oriented vine, corn, and potatoes. Sheep farming declined due to reduced wool exports, the abolition of Mesta privileges, and land reclamation. Pig farming, conversely, increased. Cultivation techniques lagged behind European innovations. Slow productivity growth, a key factor in Spain’s agricultural backwardness, stemmed from topography, soil, climate, and especially a property structure that discouraged improvements. Smallholdings in the north and central plains contrasted with large estates (latifundia) in Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura, and Andalusia, fueling peasant conflict throughout the century.
2. Changes in the Andalusian Countryside
2.1. The Confiscations
Andalusia’s pre-existing landowning structure was further shaped by confiscations, impacting about one-fifth of the region. Land ownership concentrated in Baja Andalucía (Seville, Cordoba, Cadiz), while medium and small properties grew in Upper Andalusia. Production increased with a 5% rise in cultivated area, but traditional practices persisted. The system benefited owners with high profits and low investment, except in regions like Jerez, where investments boosted productivity. The balance of winners and losers varied geographically. Nobility joined an agrarian bourgeoisie of former renters, church officials, businesspeople, professionals, and even industrialists in acquiring land. While some settlers gained ownership, many day laborers and farmers became employees or lost access to resources.
2.2. Land Crisis and Modernization
The European agricultural crisis reached Andalusia around 1868, intensifying in the early 1860s and lasting into the 20th century. The cereal crisis, linked to grain imports from Latin America and Australia, was met with state protectionism and cheap labor. Phylloxera, arriving in Malaga in 1798, devastated Andalusian vineyards over two decades, impacting grape and wine production, though Jerez recovered. Olive cultivation expanded from 1880, replacing vineyards, but lost international markets during World War I. These crises fueled intense social conflict in Andalusia, where 70% of the workforce depended on the primary sector in a deeply rural society.
3. Causes of the 1868 Revolution
3.1. The Economic Crisis
Economic expansion under Isabel II ended in 1866 with a major international capitalist crisis. A financial crisis, triggered by underperforming railways, coincided with an industrial crisis, particularly in Catalonia. The textile industry, reliant on US cotton, suffered from the “cotton famine” during the American Civil War. Rising prices and falling demand hit small industries hard. A subsistence crisis from 1866, marked by poor harvests and wheat shortages, drove up food prices, leading to hunger, social unrest in rural areas, and urban unemployment.
3.2. Political Deterioration
Businesses demanded government intervention, industrial protectionism, while workers and peasants protested their hardship. Following the harshly repressed San Gil barracks revolt, the Moderate Party ruled by decree, ignoring the nation’s problems. Excluded from power, the Progressive Party, led by Prim, and the Democratic Party formed the 1867 Pact of Ostend, advocating for universal suffrage and an end to Moderate rule. Unionists, with military support, joined the pact. The 1868 uprising, despite revolutionary rhetoric, functioned as a military coup.
4. The 1868 Revolution and its Aftermath
4.1. Revolution and the Provisional Government
On September 19, 1868, Brigadier Topete’s squadron in Cadiz launched an uprising against Isabel II. Prim and Serrano joined the rebels, gaining popular support with their manifesto “Long live Spain with honor!”. The Queen’s forces were defeated at Alcolea on September 28th, forcing her exile to France. Revolutionary committees formed in cities. Serrano became regent, and Prim, the head of government.
4.2. The 1869 Constitution and the Regency
The provisional government decreed press and assembly freedoms, called elections under universal male suffrage (over 25), and formed a Constituent Assembly. The government coalition won, with Carlist and Republican minorities. The 1869 Constitution established rights and freedoms, including religious freedom while maintaining Catholicism. It declared a monarchy with legislative power residing in the Cortes (Congress and Senate). Overseas provinces (Cuba, Puerto Rico) gained equal rights, while the Philippines had separate governance. Republicans protested, Carlists resurfaced, the economy struggled, and a new monarch was needed.
4.3. Economic Renewal Attempt
The “Glorious Revolution” aimed to reshape economic policy, protecting national and foreign investors. The peseta became the currency. The 1871 Mining Act facilitated foreign capital. Trade liberalization in 1869 ended Spain’s protectionist tradition.
4.4. Popular Frustration
Social conflict persisted, with peasants demanding land redistribution and urban unrest over rising prices. The nascent labor movement radicalized, demanding better wages and conditions. Republicans initially channeled discontent, but after 1868, the First International’s influence (anarchism, socialism) spurred worker and peasant organization.
5. The Reign of Amadeo of Savoy (1871-1873)
5.1. A Monarch for a Democratic System
Prim sought a suitable monarch, choosing Amadeo of Savoy, popular for unifying Italy. Elected in November 1870, Amadeo arrived in December. Prim was assassinated days earlier.
5.2. Difficulties of the New Dynasty
Amadeo lacked broad support, facing opposition from the aristocracy, parts of the army (especially during the Carlist conflict and the Cuban war), and rising public debt. Moderates, seeking a Bourbon restoration under Alfonso (Isabel II’s son), gained support from the Church and elites, opposing Cuban abolitionism and child labor regulation. Carlists revolted, hoping for Charles VII’s ascension. Federalist uprisings, influenced by internationalist ideas, occurred in 1872. The Ten Years’ War in Cuba began in 1868. The government favored Cuban reforms, but Spanish economic interests blocked a peaceful resolution. Amadeo’s reign ultimately collapsed due to the government coalition’s disintegration. He abdicated in February 1873, leaving an impression of Spain as ungovernable and resistant to democratic monarchy.
6. Political Forces: The Rise of Republicanism
6.1. The New Political Landscape
Post-1868, four main political forces emerged. The right comprised Carlists and Moderates, supporting Isabel II’s return, backed by the agrarian bourgeoisie, with Canovas del Castillo rising as a leader. The center included Unionists, Progressives (Prim, Sagasta), and monarchists, advocating for a monarchy under national sovereignty, supported by financial and industrial bourgeoisie, urban middle classes, the military, intellectuals, and professionals. The left consisted of Federal Republicans (Pi y Margall, Figueras), divided between moderates and radicals. Castelar led a conservative, unitary republican faction.
6.2. Federal Republicanism
Republicanism drew support from the petty bourgeoisie, urban workers, and the nascent worker and peasant movements, attracted to anarchist and socialist ideas. The first “Federal Republic or Death” calls arose in Cadiz in December 1868.
7. The First Spanish Republic (1873-1874)
7.1. Proclamation of the Republic
Amadeo’s abdication paved the way for the First Republic, proclaimed by the Cortes on February 11, 1873.