Spain in the 19th Century: From Napoleonic Wars to the Carlist Wars
The King Charles IV appointed Godoy as Prime Minister. Once Louis XVI was executed in France, Spain broke the alliance with this country and took part in the War of the Convention.
In general, the war evolved in favor of France, and their armies entered the Basque Country and Catalonia, taking control of a part of the territory.
The defeat of Spain was definitive. As a consequence, Spain signed the Peace of Basel in which it was agreed that part of Santo Domingo Island should be given to France. In addition to this, they returned to the alliance with France against Britain in the Treaty of San Ildefonso.
The arrival to power of Napoleon, coupled with the weakness of the Spanish government, led to an increasing dependence on France.
The alliance with France resulted in losses for Spain, but Godoy continued with the alliance, signing the Treaty of Fontainebleau. In this treaty, they allowed the entrance of French military troops into Spain to take Portugal.
The War of Independence.
French troops were acting as occupation troops. Godoy planned the flight of the Spanish Royal Family to Andalusia (Aranjuez) where his plans failed when in 1808 the Aranjuez Mutiny, organized by Prince Ferdinand, took place. Godoy was dismissed and Charles IV abdicated in favor of his son Ferdinand VII.
Napoleon called both to Bayonne where he convinced them to abdicate in his favor, and he gave the Spanish crown to his brother Joseph.
Trying to attract enlightened Spaniards, Joseph gave the Bayonne Statute a letter that allowed more freedoms than absolutism (press freedom, commerce freedom, equal tax system).
French-fried (afrancesados), a small group of Spanish intellectuals, cooperated with Joseph I, because in their opinion, he was the appropriate person to rule Spain. But the Bayonne Statute did not come into force because Spaniards did not accept the foreign king and the War of Independence against the French began.
As the French invasion was evident, people from Madrid mutinied against the French. The following days the mutinies expanded to the rest of the country. It was the beginning of the War of Independence (1808-1812).
The Old Regime’s monarchy was defeated. To confront the invaders, Provincial Juntas were created. They assumed sovereignty in the name of the absent king. These Juntas constituted the Central Junta. The members of this Junta were mainly in favor of the Old Regime, but the war situation convinced them of the need for revolutionary measures such as the call for Cortes.
In the war, Spaniards defeated the French in battles such as Bailen. Napoleon himself came, but the guerrillas started acting against the French in the mountains.
The French army, with the assistance of the French-fried, had to fight against the guerrilla formed by old military and backed by the British Army, now their ally.
The British general Wellington, with the assistance of Spaniards and Portuguese, defeated successively the French in San Marcial (1812). Napoleon, now weakened, returned the Spanish crown to Ferdinand VII in the Treaty of Valencay. French troops left the country, and the War of Independence was over.
When the French troops were withdrawing to France, the city of San Sebastian was put under siege and the city caught fire.
Cadiz Courts: Provincial Juntas and Junta Central.
The Bayonne Abdications left the Spanish authority empty. To complete the fight against the French, sovereign Provincial Juntas were created.
Provincial Juntas in 1808 constituted the Central Junta which, in the absence of the legitimate king, assumed the regency. The Extraordinary Juntas of Cadiz was where the revolutionary progress started, and in 1810 they made the call for Cortes.
Citizens reached power through assemblies that were new power institutions created with representatives of the citizens. Assemblies were created in all the provinces.
Representatives of each provincial assembly created a Supreme Central Assembly. This became the highest organization of government and they settled in Aranjuez. The Supreme Central Assembly had to escape to Cadiz, which was protected by the British army.
The 1812 Constitution.
Approved in 1812, this text was the first liberal constitution of the country, called “La Pepa”.
It had national sovereignty (the power belongs to the nation), separation of powers, universal suffrage (only men over 25), the government would be a Constitutional monarchy, Catholicism is the only religion allowed, elimination of the Inquisition…
Once Ferdinand VII returned, he started governing as an absolutist king and declared the constitution null. Only during the Three Years Liberal (1820-1823) was the Constitution abolished.
Ferdinand VII’s Restoration.
After the Treaty of Valencay, the king prepared himself to return to a country at that moment governed by liberals opposed to absolutism. Confrontation between absolutism and liberalism began.
Finally, the king decreed the dissolution of the Cadiz Courts, the abolishment of the constitution and all the legislative work of the Courts, and he re-established absolutism.
The Absolutist Six Years (1814-1820).
Napoleon gave back the Crown of Spain to Ferdinand VII in Valencay. He eliminated the reforms made by the Courts and restored the Old Regime and absolutism.
The economic situation was dramatic after the war, and Ferdinand VII did not try any tax reform to increase the revenue of the State. The king forced the French-fried to leave the country.
Many military became liberal and took part in pronunciamientos (military uprisings) to try to force the king to change his policy.
The Three-Year Liberal (1820-1823).
One pronunciamiento was successful: Riego proclaimed the 1812 Constitution and urged the king to accept it.
The king tried to obstruct the work of the liberals. His attitude led to divisions inside the liberals:
– Doceañistas: were in favor of giving more power to the king (moderates).
– Veinteañistas: wanted the strict application of the constitution (progressives).
The division of the liberals resulted in a great political instability.
The absolutist created the Supreme Regency of Spain in Urgel, near the French border. Their aim was to create an absolutist government. Their failure demonstrated that the absolutists were not able to finish with the liberal without international support.
After Napoleon´s defeat in 1815, the great absolutist potencies (Prussia, Austria, Russia and France) met in Vienna Congress and, together with the Holly Alliance reached an agreement to intervene in any European country where there was liberal risk. They wanted to back the absolutism and Old Regime.
The members of the Congress, in 1823, sent a French Army, the One Thousands Sons of Saint Louis, which entered in Spain and dominated it easily and restored Ferdinand VII as an absolute king.
The Omnious decade.
When Ferdinand VII was restored, he eliminated all the legislation of the Three-year liberal and returned to the absolutism and the Old Regime. Politicians, civil servants, army officers were hunted and thousands of Spaniards took the way to exile.
The succession problems.
The King accepted his brother Carlos Maria Isidro as his heir. The Salix Law was in force in Spain since the arrival of the Bourbon dynasty and this implied that the king should be always a man.
When the Queen was pregnant, Ferdinand VII published a Pragmatic Sanction, a document that eliminated the Salix Law (taking into account that the child to be born could be a girl).
When Isabella princess was born, Don Carlos was separated from the succession. Ferdinand VII died and Maria Cristina (his wife) became the regent. In order to obtain the support of the liberals, she was prone to accept a constitution.
Carlos Maria Isidro did not accept to be separated from the power and the Carlist Wars started. The two confronted groups were the Carlists, Carlos Maria Isidro´s supporters, and Isabelins, Isabella II´s supporters.