The Liberal Movement in Spain: from the Constitution of Cádiz to the Broadsword of Pavia

The liberal movement in Spain: from the Constitution of Cádiz to the broadsword of Pavia. Part III

Monthly Strategy Report May 2017

Alejandro Vidal Crespo Director of Market Strategies Monthly Strategy Report. May 2017

The liberal movement in Spain: from the Constitution of Cádiz to the broadsword of Pavia. Part III

In 1836, Bilbao was in the hands of those loyal to Carlos María Isidro, the brother of Ferdinand VII and rival of young Isabel II for the crown of Spain, when a combined Spanish-British fleet at Castro Urdiales awaited the arrival of 14 of Isabel’s battalions from the Mena Valley in Burgos. At the helm of the party was the commander-in-chief of Isabel’s troops, Joaquín Baldomero Espartero, a veteran of the War of Independence and the colonial wars in America.

Espartero’s army reached Castro Urdiales and embarked for Portugalete, where it arrived on 27 November and advanced on the hills of Baracaldo, at which point Espartero was besieged by heavy fire from the Carlists. Against the advice of his generals, he ordered a barge bridge to be built over the Nervión, but once having crossed the river, his troops were met with a ferocious attack that lasted until 19 December, when reinforcements arrived. On that day, with support from the navy artillery, a final offensive was launched on Bilbao, with Espartero and his forces entering the city triumphantly by the Luchana Bridge on Christmas Day 1836. From that moment, the Carlists would retreat until the end of the war, which was ultimately formalised by the Embrace of Vergara in 1839, when they surrendered their arms in exchange for official membership in Isabel’s army and a commitment from the State to maintain home rule of Gipuzkoa, Álava, Biscay and Navarre, which is still valid today.

In 1872, this agreement earned Espartero the title of Prince of Vergara, with the distinction of Royal Highness. But let us not get ahead of ourselves. The Battle of Luchana and the final victory over the Carlists had elevated Espartero to the height of his popularity, prompting both progressives and moderates to offer him a position in the government as Minister. Espartero ultimately opted for the former, probably due to his enmity of another general, Ramón María Narváez, a.k.a. the Broadsword of Loja (Espadón de Loja). After the mutiny at La Granja de San Ildefonso, the Regent Maria Cristina was exiled and Espartero took over the regency, facing a progressive undercurrent that advocated a shared power structure between three regents, a position championed by Agustín Argüelles, but which was defeated owing to a contingent of moderates that voted in favour of Espartero.

This egotistic manoeuvre, frowned upon by progressive liberals, would incite a deep division in the party that would lead to several military campaigns, including the O’Donnell uprising of 1841, which María Cristina instigated from France against Espartero and which was led by moderate military men like Diego de León, who lost his life in the revolt. Barcelona would also take up arms in 1842 in reaction to a crisis in the cotton industry that triggered widespread disruption. Espartero went to Barcelona and ordered the city to be bombarded from Montjuic, causing extensive damage. This would signify the end of his regency, as it would lead to the uprisings of Generals Prim, Narváez and Serrano (the latter two, both moderates). Espartero was exiled to England where he was welcomed with great affection.

In Spain, the government remained in the hands of General Narváez, who advocated a new, moderate constitution in 1845. The Cortes and the King, who gained an important margin of autonomy, would again share sovereignty.

This Constitution would also mark the end of the regency period by declaring Queen Isabel II of age at 13, and would remain in effect throughout her reign, until 1869.

From 1844-1854, Spain experienced a moderate decade (década moderada), with a total pre-eminence of conservatism, marked by the two presidencies of General Narváez, Istúriz and Bravo Murillo. In all three cases, the presidents would try to reverse several of the most radical measures of the revolutionary era and improve the relationship with the Church by signing a new Vatican Concordat (1851), to prevent Monthly Strategy Report. May 2017 further confiscations like those of Mendizábal. Nevertheless, that same year Napoleon III staged a coup d’état against the Second French Republic, took control of France, and changed the political map of Europe by declaring the Second Empire. Bravo Murillo reacted by shuttering the Cortes and advocating a return to absolutism with a new constitution in 1852, but it failed and another military uprising broke out in a town near Madrid, Vicálvaro, known as La Vicalvarada, which led to a new government under Espartero, known as the Progressive Biennium (bienio progresista). This era would see the Railways Act, the initial phases of the labour movement in industrial regions, and new confiscations—those of Madoz—to finance all of the above. Bad blood between Espartero and O’Donnell, who had secretly assembled the Liberal Union, would almost spark a civil war and Espartero’s resignation in 1856.

The Liberal Union, led by O’Donnell at different periods, controlled the government from 1856-1863. Socially, the environment remained extremely turbulent, with uprisings orchestrated by the Carlists and the burgeoning movements of workers and peasants. The government sought to defend its position with an aggressive foreign policy that aimed to uphold the already long-lost image of Spain as an imperial power, in contrast to the rapid colonial expansion of England and France, that divided up the world while enraging central European powers like Russia, Austria, and Germany. The first sparks flew during the Crimean War. But Spain embarked on rather minor campaigns, such as the African wars, and offensives in the Pacific against Chile and Peru, until 1863 when the party founded by O’Donnell, which brought together the most kindred factions of the progressive and moderate liberals, imploded.

The period from 1863-1868 would be the definitive undoing of the rotating system of generals, who alternated power one after another. In 1863, a coalition of progressives, democrats, and republicans won the election, though General Narváez would receive the commission to form the government, an assignment he undertook with dictatorial verve, turning his back on the Cortes. Seven governments would take shape by 1868, and the instability of the system, in conjunction with the corresponding economic crisis (cotton, railroad, and a food crisis in Andalucía), would ultimately lead to the Glorious Revolution of 1868 and the exile of Isabel II.

But this would not bring an end to the instability. Initially, a provisional government was instituted, led by General Serrano and other important figures, like Prim and Sagasta. For the first time, this government would implement universal male suffrage and would clash with openly republican sentiment, represented by Emilio Castelar and Francisco Pi i Margall, who disagreed about a centralist vs. a federalist approach. This provisional government implemented several sweeping measures, such as the aforementioned suffrage and the abolition of slavery, which would spark bitter disputes with Cuba and Puerto Rico and foster the independent movement among elites. It would also implement the metric system and a single currency for Spain, the Peseta. But the main function of the government was still to search for a new king, and it chose Amadeo de Saboya, who was approved by the Cortes as a Parliamentary Monarch.

He would reign for only two years, from January 1871 until February 1873. His strongest supporter and leader of the first political force in parliament, General Prim, would die on the day of his arrival, the victim of an infamous attack on Calle del Turco de Madrid (Calle del Marqués de Cubas today). The death of Prim and Sagasta’s ascent to the party leadership triggered the disintegration of the main political party, which fell into chaos with the internal election of a new leader. Moreover, the new King was unable to unify the three monarchical options, which included his followers, the Bourbonist backers of Alfonso, and the Carlists, who would take up arms again in 1872 in support of the de facto King Carlos VII, who restored pre-Philip V home rule in Catalonia, Valencia, and Aragón to win the favour of these territories. This resulted in an absolute lack of control that led the King to abdicate and return to his beloved Italy. The next day, 11 February 1873, the Cortes proclaimed the Spanish Republic.

The National Assembly, comprised of the Senate and Congress, proclaimed the Republic and named Estanislao Figueras president, but the choice of a Centralist or Federalist approach would be left to the future constituent Cortes. Elections were called and the Federalist Republicans emerged victorious. But Monthly Strategy Report. May 2017 naturally, things would not be easy…

There was infighting in the party among three factions: i) those who wanted to build the Federal Republic “from the bottom up”, known as Intransigentes, led by an assembly of figures who supported the formation and organisation of cantons which would, in turn, constitute the State; ii) the Moderados, led by Sagasta, who preferred to draft a Constitution and form a “top down” system of government, rejecting the concentration of State powers in the Cortes considered a revolutionary force; and in the middle, iii) the moderates who backed Pi i Margall, who would be elected president after Estanislao Figueras resigned, fearing the Intransigentes were plotting to assassinate him.

Pi i Margall decided to focus his efforts on ending the Third Carlist War, which prompted the Intransigentes to abandon the Cortes and form the cantons directly, thereby igniting the Cantonal Rebellion. The government of Pi i Margall lasted exactly 37 days. He was succeeded by the moderate, Nicolás Salmerón, who opted to quash the rebellion by appointing conservative generals like Pavía and Martínez Campos. They managed to suppress a good part of the revolt, but Salmerón resigned on 7 September (after less than two months) after refusing to sign the death sentences of the rebellion’s ringleaders, a practice to which he was radically opposed.

So, the presidency of the government—and I promise we’re nearly done—fell to Castelar. Having obtained extraordinary powers to govern by decree, he succeeded in suppressing the revolts and suspending the activity of the Cortes, until 2 January 1874, when they would reopen and subject Castelar to a vote of confidence. At the gates of Madrid, General Pavía waited with his troops to intervene should Castelar be defeated, thus officially triggering the cantonisation of Spain. And when exactly that happened, Pavía and his army entered Congress, dissolved the Cortes, and tried to restore the presidency of Emilio Castelar, who rejected the position, having obtained it undemocratically.

Though it would officially last for another year, the Spanish Republic and the liberal era had come to an end. The next year would usher in the period of the Unitary Republic, a dictatorship under Serrano, who seized control of the situation, and on 29 December 1874, Alfonso XII and the House of Bourbon returned to Spain, beginning the period of the Bourbon Restoration.

Spain left behind the most tumultuous period in its history, having definitively lost its position as a world power and devolved—for all intents and purposes—into a failed state. Political and institutional crises would accompany the nation for decades; the social, territorial, and ideological fractures would last equally as long. Some are still with us today. These deep-rooted social schisms and the fervour of their supporters led to deficits and shortcomings that it took a century to overcome. Without a doubt, the 19th century is full of history and hard truths.