Spanish War of Independence and the Reign of Ferdinand VII

The War of Independence (1808-1814)

The Crisis of Charles IV's Monarchy

Great power struggle: Godoy versus the emerging antigodoyista or aristocratic group.

• Spain permits entry of French troops to control Portugal. French troops occupy main Spanish cities.
• Motín de Aranjuez (1808): Ferdinand VII becomes king, fall of Godoy.
• The royal family is forced to move to Bayonne.

The Uprising Against the French

• May 2, 1808: The village of Madrid rises up, beginning the war against France.
• Abdications of Bayonne: Joseph I becomes King of Spain.
• The revolt extends through resistance juntas.
• Bailén (July 1808): French defeat. Napoleon's defeat in Spain.

The Development of the War

• A British army under the command of Wellington lands on the Peninsula.
• Ocaña: French victory (1809). Apogee of French domain (1810-1812).
• Battle of Salamanca (1812): Joseph I flees from Madrid.
• Vitoria: French defeat (1813). The French leave Spain.

Patriots, Liberals, and Francophiles

• Without a central Spanish government, juntas are formed.
• The failures of the Spanish army caused another kind of resistance: the guerrillas.
• The central board convened the Cortes of Cádiz.

Las Cortes de Cádiz

Composition and Functioning

• Members are from diverse backgrounds: clergy, lawyers, officials, soldiers, traders.
• Reforms made by the middle classes.
• They meet in Cádiz, where liberalism has great strength.
• The sessions begin on 24/9/1810 and last three years.
• Ordinary Cortes: 1813-1814.

Legislative Work

• Radical break with the old regime.
• National sovereignty.
• Abolition of the institutions of the Old Regime: Inquisition, Mesta, lordships, guilds.
• Freedom of the press and economic freedom.

The Constitution of 1812

• First Spanish constitution, a model for Europe and America.
• National sovereignty, rights and civil liberties, universal suffrage.
• Catholicism as the state religion.
• Moderate constitutional monarchy.
• It was applied during the war.

Ferdinand VII

Sexenio Absolutist (1814-1820)

• Financial bankruptcy of the monarchy.
• Ferdinand VII annuls the legislative work of Cádiz.
• Restoration of the Old Regime: Treasury of privilege system, Inquisition, lordships, councils, Mesta, guilds.
• Repression against liberals and Francophiles.
• Liberal pronouncements to restore the constitutional system: the Triumph of General Riego in 1820.

Liberal Triennium (1820-1823)

• Introduction of a liberal political system.
• Measures: Freedom for the prisoners, suppression of the Inquisition, elections to parliament, the National Militia.
• Division among liberals: Moderates wanted to soften the Liberal constitution of 1812; Exaltados fully defend the constitution of 1812.
• Constant colonial war, pressure from the Holy Alliance, internal crises.
• Hundred Thousand Sons of St. Louis: restoration of absolutism.

Decade Absolutist or "Ominous" (1823-1833)

• Strong political pressure against the Liberals.
• 20,000 exiled to England and France.
• Attempts to solve the chronic crisis of the Treasury: Administration reform, creation of a public bank, reform the tax system, the state budget.
• Succession issue.
• Division inside absolutism: Carlos María Isidro, brother of the king, leading a faction that claims the throne (Carlists).
• Isabel, named heir against his uncle Carlos.
• Events in La Granja (1832): Ferdinand VII confirms her daughter.

The Process of American Emancipation

Factors of Independence

• Bourbon reformism marginalizes American creoles.
• Influence of American and French revolutions.
• Commercial interests in the UK.

The Process of Emancipation

• Two phases of the war:
• 1808-1815: juntas in 1810 (Caracas) and peasant revolt in Mexico.
• 1816-1824: More organized. Ferdinand VII more interested in suppressing the revolt.
• 1824: Ayacucho. The Spanish defeat in most of the American colonies (except Cuba and Puerto Rico) became independent.