Spain's Peninsular War and the 1812 Constitution

The Reign of Carlos IV and the French Revolution

Carlos IV's reign began in 1788. He initially seemed to follow in his father's footsteps, favoring a reformist monarchy based on the principles of the Enlightenment. However, with the start of the French Revolution, his government panicked and repressed all revolutionary ideas through the Inquisition. When Louis XVI of France, Carlos IV’s cousin, was tried and executed, Spain sent troops to fight the National Convention, but they had little success.

When Napoleon came to power in 1799, Spain’s new Prime Minister, Manuel Godoy, returned to the policy of alliances with France, following the 18th-century tradition of the Pactos de Familia. The Spanish fleet joined forces with the French to implement the Continental Blockade against Great Britain. However, the British defeated the combined fleets at the naval Battle of Trafalgar (1805). Two years later, Godoy and Napoleon signed the Treaty of Fontainebleau (1807), allowing French troops to cross Spain to attack Portugal, an ally of England. Napoleon, however, made it clear that his plan was not merely to cross Spain to reach Portugal, but for his troops to occupy the country.

Napoleon's Invasion and the Abdications of Bayonne

The heir to the throne, Fernando, opposed Prime Minister Godoy and organized an uprising, the Motín de Aranjuez (March 1808), against his own father, demanding his abdication. Godoy was forced to resign and almost lost his life in the uprising. Carlos IV had to abdicate in favor of his son.

Napoleon used this incident to summon Carlos IV and his son, now King Fernando VII, to a meeting in France to negotiate a solution. Father and son were taken prisoner in Bayonne, France, and forced to abdicate in favor of Napoleon’s brother, Joseph Bonaparte, who was named King of Spain, José I. This event is known as the Abdications of Bayonne. Napoleon tried to legitimize his brother's reign by granting Spain some of the liberties and rights from the revolutionary movement in the Estatuto de Bayona. However, José I did not have the support of the Spanish people, who, on May 2, 1808, started an uprising in Madrid against the French troops occupying the capital.

The Peninsular War (1808-1814)

The uprising soon spread from Madrid to the rest of the country. In the main provinces, Juntas de Defensa (Defense Committees) were formed to organize the Peninsular War against France. A Junta Central was created as the government. The French army was very powerful and had been invincible in Europe until then. The Junta Central was therefore forced to ally with its traditional enemy, Great Britain, which sent troops to the Peninsula.

The Spanish army's initial defeats led the people to form guerrillas, armed groups that made surprise attacks on the French army, impeding their movements, supplies, and communications. This military tactic played a key role in the victory over the French.

In 1814, after six years of extreme violence, pillaging, and destruction, the French army withdrew from Spain.

The Cortes de Cádiz and the Constitution of 1812

In 1809, in the midst of the war, the Junta Central met in Seville and decided to hold elections to bring together the people’s representatives at the first parliament (Cortes Generales). By 1810, representatives met in the city of Cádiz, the only place not under French control. Influenced by liberal ideas, they immediately declared national sovereignty and began writing a constitution. On March 19, 1812, a Constitution was approved, the first in the history of Spain.

Key Liberal Principles of the Constitution

The Spanish Constitution of 1812 included liberal principles that marked the end of the Old Regime:

• Sovereignty resides in the nation (on both sides of the Atlantic), which therefore establishes the fundamental laws. They recognized Fernando VII as the rightful monarch; the monarchy itself was not questioned, but its powers were limited.
• Separation of powers: Legislative power was held by a single chamber, the parliament (Cortes), which drafted laws with the king; the executive power consisted of the king and the ministers he appointed; and the judicial power consisted of the courts established by law.
• Rights included universal manhood suffrage, equality before the law, a progressive fiscal system, and private property.
• The only concession to tradition was that Catholicism was recognized as the official and only permitted religion.

Additional Reforms by the Cortes de Cádiz

The Cortes de Cádiz also approved a series of laws to modernize Spain:

• Abolition of jurisdictional feudal estates, meaning the right of noblemen to administer justice in their feudal lands. These powers were transferred to state authorities.
• Suppression of the Inquisition.
• Freedom of expression and of the press.
• Freedom of commerce and suppression of guilds.

The Return of Absolutism

When the war ended in 1814, Fernando VII, known as El Deseado (The Desired), returned to Spain as king. He received a warm welcome as a symbol of the nation’s restored freedom. However, the king was a supporter of absolutism. As soon as he returned, he sought the support of conservative elites (who backed him in the Manifiesto de los Persas) and the army to suppress the Constitution of 1812 and all the reforms made by the Cortes de Cádiz. Absolutism was restored.