Spain in the 19th Century:

building a liberal regime

✤ What are we going to study in this unit?

✤ During French Revolution, Napoleonic Empire and

Industrial Revolution, we will see what happened in
Spain.

✤ Spain suffered a series of wars and political

struggle to consolidate liberalism.

✤ After Ferdinand VII, his daughter Isabella II reigned

a few years until 1st republic of Spain was set up.
Later, Bourbon dynasty came back to Spain.
Spanish War of Independence
Spain at the end of 18th
Century
 Charles IV became king of Spain in 1788.

 French Revolution. After the execution of

Louis XVI, Charles IV joined the coalition
against France. They both clashed (1793-95)
but Spain finally signed the peace.

 Manuel Godoy (Charles IV´s prime minister)

made an alliance with Napoleon against
England. They wanted to invade Great
Britain.

A consequence of this alliance was the

Battle of Trafalgar (Cádiz) in 1805 against
England. British won the battle thanks to
admiral Nelson, who died during the battle.
The beginning of the war

 In 1807 Godoy signed with France the Treaty of Fontainebleau, which allowed french troops to
pass through Spain to invade Portugal (British ally).

 In 1808 several facts took place:

 March: Mutiny of Aranjuez: Charles IV´s son Ferdinand intrigued against his father and he
became king.

 2 May: After French army entering in Spain and occupy several cities, popular revolts took place
and the war began.

 4 May:Abdications of Bayonne. Napoleon persuaded Charles IV and Ferdinand VII to abdicate

and he gave the crown to his brother who became Joseph I of Spain.
 The Family of Charles IV, 1800 by Francisco Goya Abdications of Bayonne, engraving 1808

Constitution of 1812, La Pepa

The shootings of May 3 (1808), by Francisco Goya

The Constitution of 1812 and the
end of the war

 During the war the king of Spain was Joseph I but most of Spanish didn’t accept him. So they
created local Juntas and a Supreme Central Junta in Cádiz, with convened a Cortes in Cádiz
and began to draft a Constitution.

 They create the Constitution of 1812, known as La Pepa (19 March). It established: national
sovereignty, separation of powers, universal male suffrage, recognized several rights and
freedoms and abolished the feudalism and the Inquisition.

 The war lasted until 1814 with Treaty of Valençay (1813) and Ferdinand VII (el Deseado) came
back to Spain and the absolutism returned.