historia

Posted on Apr 21, 2023 in History

Six years of democracy: In September 1868, the crisis of the monarchy led to the ‘Glorious Revolution’, an insurrection to overthrow Isabella it and establish a democratic political system.

  • THE REVOLUTION AND THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT (1868-1869):The Revolution of 1868 was triggered by the progressives and democrats, who were joined by unionists and led by Admiral Topete, General Prim (progressive) and General Serrano (unionist).Revolutionary Juntas were formed all over the country. In September 1868, the Battle of Alcolea finally forced Queen Isabella I and her heir Alfonso into exile.The same year, a provisional government was formed to establish a democratic political system. The Cortes drafted a new constitution based on democratic principles, and it was ratified in 1869. The Constitution established national sovereignty and universal male suffrage, recognised the individual’s rights and decreed the separation of Church and state.
  • THE MONARCHY OF AMADED I (1870-1873): Amadeo of Savoy, who was from a liberal monarchy that had contributed to the unification of Italy, was chosen to take the throne. A few days before his arrival, his main supporter, General Prim, was assassinated. Amadeo I was supported by progressives, unionists and democrats, and the government introduced new measures to help economic recovery and Spain’s democratisation process. However, he had two strong opponents: the moderates and some representatives of the Church who remained loyal to the Bourbons. new war began when the Carlists declared Charles VIl as king and the republicans aspired to establish a republic. Many problems, which culminated in a war on the island of Cuba (1 869), forced Amadeo I to abdicate and leave the country.
  • THE FIRST REPUBLIC (1873-1874): When Amades I abdicated in February 1873, the Cortes voted to form a republic. However, most of the deputies were monarchists and did not support the new form of government. The lower social classes were happy with the result of the vote and the republicans prepared a programme of social and economic reforms. The 1873 elections were won by the federal republicans. The Cortes drafted a federal constitution that divided the legislative powers between the central government and the federal republics, but this never took effect. The Republic had four presidents (Figueras, Pi y Margall, Salmerón and Gestslar),
  • The divisions between trie unitary and federal republicans and between moderates and intransigents, who wanted a greater social revolution.
  • Dealing with the Cuban insurrection and the beginning of a new Carlist war in 1872.
  • As social unrest increased, Cartagena proclaimed itself an independent canton of the state in 1873.
  • The monarchist opposition that conspired to restore the monarchy through Alfonso, the son of Isabella Il.

In January 1874, a coup led by General Pavía dissolved the Cortes and made General Serrano head of state. Serrano tried to establish a conservative republican regime.

Ferdinand VII: the restoration of absolutism: The French troops withdrew in 1814 and Ferdinand VII, known as ‘the Desired’, returned to Spain. His aim was to re-establish an absolutist monarchy.

  • Six years of absolutism (1814-1820): After reclaiming the throne with the support of absolutists (Manifiesto de los Persas), Ferdinand VII repealed the Constitution of 1812 and the reforms proposed by the Cádiz Cortes. Spain returned to absolutism. Liberals, who had hoped for a constitutional monarchy, were persecuted. Even so, groups of liberals organised pronunciamentos. The defence of absolutism demanding the reinstatement of the Constitution, but they were not successful. Many liberals were forced into exile and others were executed.
  • The Liberal Triennium (1820-1823): In 1820, a pronunciamento led by Colonel Rafael del Riego in Cabezas de San Juan (Seville) was successful, and the king was forced to reinstate the Constitution of 1812. The National Militia, made up of armed liberal volunteers, was created to defend the Constitution and oppose absolutism. Ferdinand VI felt intimidated by the liberals and appealed to other European absolute monarchs to defend Spain against them. In 1823, a coalition of European monarchs called the Holy Alliance sent troops (the Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis) that restored absolutism under the command of the Duke of Angoulême.
  • The Ominous Decade (1823-1833): The return to absolutism during the last ten years of Ferdinand VIl’s reign annulled all the legislation of the Liberal Triennium. The war against the French had made Spain bankrupt, and the independence of the colonies in the Americas caused a major loss of revenue. A fiscal reform that would make the privileged classes pay taxes was proposed to overcome the economic crisis. The crisis intensified in 1830 with the birth of Ferdinand VIl’s daughter, Isabella, who was prevented from reigning because of Salic Law, which excluded women from the right to inherit the throne. In order to ensure his daughter’s reign, Ferdinand VIl issued the Pragmatic Sanction of 1830, which repealed Salic Law. The most intransigent absolutists opposed it, and argued that the throne belonged to the king’s brother Charles, a fervent absolutist.

Carlists, defenders of the Ancien Régime:

A: THE ISABELINOS: On the death of Ferdinand VIl in 1833, the absolutists refused to recognise his three-year-old daughter, Isabella, as a legitimate successor to the Crown, and instead backed Infante Carlos. They started an uprising against the government of Maria Christina of Bourbon, who acted as regent on behalf of her daughter. Maria Christina had the support of liberals (called isabelinos or cristinos), who formed a moderate liberal government and implemented reforms to build a new constitutional monarchy in Spain. The new liberal government had the support of some. of the privileged classes and most of the army, but above all, they were supported by the bourgeoisie and most of the urban population.

B: THE SOCIAL BASES OF CARLISM: Carlism was a political movement of people of different social groups who were reluctant to accept liberalism. The privileged (the rural nobility and the clergy) feared having to pay taxes on their land and losing some of their property. The Church was also worried about its loss of power and social influence. There were also many peasants who feared losing access to the common land if the liberals privatised them, and worried about the implications of the abolition of manorialism. Most Carlists came from the more traditional rural areas. They were strongest in the Basque Country and Navarre and in the mountainous areas of Catalonia, Aragón and Valencia, where they defended their ancient traditions and regional privileges. Major cities on the other hand remained loyal to Isabella It and the liberal government.

C: THE IDEALS OF CARLISM: ‘GOD, COUNTRY, FUEROS AND KING’: was the motto of Carlism, which defended the divine origin of the monarchy, the absolute power of the king, the active presence of the Church in public life and the maintenance of the fueros. They represented a rural society, mistrusfful of the new, liberal urban society. Their roots in the Basque Country and Cataionia were linked to the recognition of fueros. They demanded the continuation of the rights and privileges of the kingdoms of the Crown of Aragon and Navarre, i.e. their traditional institutions, their own tax system and exemption from military conscription (quintas).

  • The First Carlist War (1833-1839) began in the Basque Country and, despite having experienced commanders like Zumalacárregui, the Carlists were defeated by the Liberal army of General Espartero. Peace was signed at the Convention of Vergara (1839).
  • Despite their defeat, the Carlists continued to exist as defenders of tradition, with significant popular support and their own line of succession. Between 1846 and 1848 there were significant Carlist uprisings in Catalonia (Revolt of the Matiners)

Why was there imperial expansion?: European countries began to use their advanced economies, armies and technology to take over territories with no state organisation. Between 1870 and 1914, they created colonial empires, mainly in Africa and Asia.

  • ECONOMIC INTERESTS: Industrialised European countries were in search of new markets where they could sell their surplus products. They also wanted to obtain raw materials (coal, iron, cotton, rubber, etc.) and colonial products (sugar, chocolate, tea, etc.) at the best possible prices. Lastly, they wanted to invest their excess capital in places outside Europe where cheap labour brought them increased profits.
  • A GROWING POPULATION: The economic changes of the 19 century led to a huge rise in Europe’s population, which by 1900 had reached 450 million. This demographic growth caused overpopulation, especially in rural areas, which encouraged people to emigrate to colonies on other continents. Migration provided a solution for the metropole (the occupying state), since it could avoid social problems like unemployment, strikes, etc.
  • AVALRY BETWEN THE OVERS: imperial expansion also occurred because the industrial powers wanted to expand their areas of influence to increase their political power and hinder their competitors’ expansion. After the unifications of Italy and Germany, which stabilised European borders, European countries could only increase their political power by occupying other continents. Creating colonial empires was a way to demonstrate their influence in international diplomacy. This led to a race is control new territories before rival powers did. The main European political leaders considered colonial expansion a necessity, since it formed the strategic basis of their military power and impeded their rivals’ expansion.
  • THE MYTH OF THE MASTER RACE: The root causes of imperialism are impossible to understand without examining them in the context of racist and nationalistic attitudes of the time. The idea of a white master race, whose intelligence and industriousness gave it the right to impose itself on other races, was presented as scientific fact in almost all European countries. Philosophers, scientists, writers and politicians subscribed to this idea and convinced much of the population of its legitimacy. They also imposed the idea that this justifiable domination could be exerted by any means, including war. It was considered a way of reasserting the power and cultural superiority of each country. As a result, people started to believe that Evropeans had a duly to spread their culture and Civilisation among peoples who were considered inferior.

European migrants in the 19th century:

  • THE POPULATION EXPLOSION IN EUROPE: Throughout the 19 century, agricultural reforms, industrialisation and advances in medicine and hygiene (e.g. vaccines and drugs) had caused a huge reduction in the death rate in Europe. However, the birth rate did not decline at the same pace until the start of the 20th century. The gap between the birth and death rates caused population explosion, first in industrialised countries and then across the whole continent. The European population doubled and a portion of this population migrated to other continents.
  • TRANSOCEANIC JOURNEYS: Migration was made possible by new means of transport, especially Iransoceanic steamships. Travel times decreased dramatically. At the start of the 194 century, the journey from Europe to the Americas took a month, but by the start of the 20h century, the same journey took just over five days. Thousands of people from all social classes sailed on the ships. Some passengers were assigned to the upper cabins, which had bunges and restaurants, but most travelled in holds. These were the cheapest tickets, but cost them most of their savings.
  • POOR MIGRANTS AND COLONIAL ELITES: The people who left Europe did not all belong to the same social class. The majority were poor peasants, people without a trade and middle-class people in search of better opportunities. There was a difference between migrants from countries with large colonies such as Britain, who settled in the new lands as farmers or became part of the colonial administration, and those from countries without colonies (e.g). Poland, Italy, etc.), whose conditions in the new lands were worse and many of whom became ordinary wage earners.

Isabella I and the building of the liberal state: The building of the liberal state began in Spain when Isabella I/ was a child (1833-1843).

A: The regency of Maria Christina (1833-1840): Initially, Maria Christina supported the moderate liberals, who began making small reforms. However, a series of military uprisings (the Mutiny of La Granja, 1836) and popular revolts forced her to hand power over to the progressive liberals. Juan Alvarez Mendizábal, the leader of the progressive liberals? began the abolishment of the Ancien Régime by introducing fiscal reform, dissolving manorialism, and through the disentailment of property and the confiscation of Church property. The payment of tithes, the Mesta, internal custom duties and guilds were also abolished. A new progressive Constitution was drafted in 1837.It recognised national sovereignty with census suffrage, the separation of powers and the two chambers (the Congress of Deputies and the Senate); and it granted many rights and individual liberties.

B: The regency of Espartero (1840-1843): In 1837 moderate liberals with increasingly conservative policies took control of the government. Maria Christina was forced to step down and the progressive General Espartero was appointed regent. Espartero’s authoritarian ideas and his introduction of free trad measures that were damaging to the emerging Spanish industry created strong opposition. Isabella lI was then declared of age in 1843, at 13 years of age, and she was proclaimed queen.

C: The Moderate Decade (1843-1854): During almost the entire reign of Isabella I as an adult, Spain’s Moderate Liberal Party, led by General Narvez, remained in power. The new Cortes adopted a moderate Constitution (1845), in which suffrage was highly restricted, civil liberties were limited and sovereignty was shared between the Cortes and the Crown. State and municipal administration was reorganised and only the Basque Country and Navarre held on to their statutory laws. The moderate liberals also adopted measures to centralise taxes, create a penal code (1848) and develop a national education System. in 185, the state signed the Concordat with the Holy see, in which it agreed to finance the Church and stop the privatisation of its properties In 1844 the Guardia Civil was set up to maintain law in the countryside. The authoritarian tendencies of political leaders like Narvaez and Bravo Murillb, the influence of the political cliques (camarillas) and electoral fraud caused another progressive military revolt.

D: The Progressive Biennium (1854-1856): In 1854, the Vicálvaro pronunciamento (also known as the Vicalvarada or the Spanish Revolution of 1854), led by General O’Donnell, brought the progressive liberals to power. The National Militia fought in the Vicalvarada and revolutionary Juntas were formed.Isabella II was pressured to give power to the progressives who turned to Espartero’s leadership again/ The Cortes drafted a new Constitution (1855), which was not approved, and the government made major economic reforms concerning three fundamental laws:

  • The confiscation of common and municipal property (Confiscations of Madoz, 1855).
  • The General Railway Law and the Mining Act to boost the railway system and the mining industry, although they were financed by foreign capital.

E: The system in decline (1856-1868): A new crisis in Espartero’s government caused Isabella (I to hand the government over to O’Donnell, who had created a new centralist party called the Liberal Union. From 1856, unionists and moderates alternated in power, while progressives stayed in the sidelines. The government remained very authoritarian, acting without the authorisation of the Cortes and repressing opposition. During this period, a colonialist foreign policy was implemented, as seen in the military campaigns in Morocco, Indochina and an international military intervention in Mexico. Opposition to the moderate regime grew and new political groups emerged: the democrats, who defended universal male suffrage, and the republicans, who aspired to end the monarchy and establish a republic. In 1866, Isabella’s reign deteriorated as an economic crisis led to further social unrest and a new military revolt.

Why did war break out in Europe in 1914?

A: Colonial conflicts: The Berlin Conference (1885) had tried to establish rules for the colonisation of the African continent by European empires. However, the rise of powers such as the German Empire, one of the last to join the colonial race, reopened conflicts between European countries.At the beginning of the 20th century. Morocco was the main scene of international tension, as European powers competed to control it. The possibility of war was constantly present.

B: Rivalry Between Powers and nationalism: European powers also became increasingly nationalistic in order to defend their interests in Europe and their colonial empires. The promotion of national identity and values caused a general climate of mistrust, Some European peoples had nationalist aspirations and wanted to become independent states, while others defended their status as great traditional empires. The Balkans, still ruled by the Ottoman Empire as it had been for centuries, was the centre of heightened international tension. The German Empire annexed the French region of Alsace Lorraine following its victory in the Franco Prussian war. There was also strong rivalry between the British and German Empires over economic control.

C: The balkan wars: As the Ottoman Empire was in a stale of collapse, the Austro-Hungarian Empire vas planning to gain power over the Balkans. However, Serbia and Russig also wanted to increase their influence there, and to occupy the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits, which would give them control over the Medierranean Sea, The annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary (1908] increased kensions in the Balkans, which would result in the Balkan Wars in 1912 and 1913 Serbia allied with Russia and emerged as the victor. As Serbia was clearly becoming stronger, Austria-Hungary, fearing a general Slav uprising while under is control, looked to the Germans for support.

D: Military alliances and the arms race: The Great Powers divided into two opposing military alliances in preparation for a possible confrontation. In 1882, the German Empire signed an agreement with Austria-Hungary and Italy, known as the Triple Alliance. Mistrust between the Great Powers also caused an arms race. The countries spent vast amounts of money on manufacturing new weapons, building warships, and strengthening their armies They all prepared themselves for war, which could be started by any future conflict. The assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 triggered the First World War

The phases of a war:

A: The outbreak of war: On 28 June 1914, Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was assassinated in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, which had been occupied by Austria-Hungary since 1908. The assassin was a Bosnian student who had links with Serbian nationalist organisations. Austria-Hungary, encouraged by Germany, accused Serbia of the assassination and declared war on 28 July. Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary to protect Serbia, and Germany declared war on Russia and France. Great Britain declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary after the German army invaded Belgium. Only Italy remained neutral. The confrontation between Austria-Hungary and Serbia had become a European war.

B: The war of movement: The war began on the Western Front when the German army suddenly attacked France through Belgium and Luxembourg (the Schlieffen Plan). The Germans hoped to win quickly so it would be able to then concentrate on the Eastern Front. By the beginning of September 1914, the Germans were 40 km from Paris. However, the French and British armies stopped the advance at the Battle of the Marne. On the Eastern Front, Germany beat Russia at the Battle of Tannenberg, but the Russians recovered and reached the border of the Austro-Hungarian Empire: In the Balkans, Serbia stopped Austria-Hungary’s advance.

C: Trench warfare: the Western Front became immobile, Trenches were built from Switzerland to the North Sea. Even the smallest advances made during this phase resulted in enormous casualties. From that point on, both the Central Powers (allies based on the Triple Alliance agreement) and the Allied Powers (allies based on the Triple Entente agreement) had to find new allies. The Ottoman Empire entered the war in late 1914, followed by Italy and Bulgaria in 1915 and Romania in 1916. The French and British then attacked the German lines at the Battle of the Somme, Both offensives achieved very little despite.

D: 1917: the last phases of the war: 1917 was a decisive year for the war. On the one hand, the ferible conditions of trench warfare caused many soldiers is abandon their duties and many revolts took place on the front On the other, Russia signed the Brest-Litovsk Treaty with Germany (1918) after the Bolshevik Revolution and withdrew from the war. The United States joined the war in 1917 for various reasons, but mainly as a consequence of the sinking of the US ocean liner, the Lusitania, in 1915 by Germany. Although the war was already being fought in the colonies of the European empires, the intervention of the United States made it a truly global conflict. In 1918 the Allies defeated Austria-Hungary on the Eastern Front, and the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires surrendered and called for an armistice. The Germans were defeated on the Western Front at the Second Battle of the Marne. There were revolts in the German army and navy, as well as workers demonstrations against the government. As a result, the Kaiser abdicated and Germany surrendered. An armistice was signed.