Baldomero Espartero
You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Spanish. (February 2009) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
Ángel Saavedra | |
---|---|
Succeeded by | Leopoldo O'Donnell |
Personal details | |
Born | Joaquín Baldomero Fernández-Espartero y Álvarez de Toro 27 February 1793 Granátula de Calatrava, Spain |
Died | 8 January 1879 Logroño, Spain | (aged 85)
Resting place | Co-Cathedral of Logroño |
Political party | Progressive Party |
Spouse | |
Signature | |
Baldomero Fernández-Espartero y Álvarez de Toro (27 February 1793 – 8 January 1879) was a Spanish marshal and statesman. He served as the
A "
Associated with the
Despite retiring from political life after his exit from government in 1856, Espartero maintained a cult following largely nurtured by the popular classes throughout the 1860s and, following the 1868 Glorious Revolution and subsequent overthrow of Isabella II, he emerged as popular candidate to become the head of state of the country, either as president of a republic or as king.[2]
Early life
Espartero was born at Granátula de Calatrava, a village of the province of Ciudad Real. He was the ninth child of Manuel Antonio Fernández-Espartero y Cañadas, a master carpenter, who wanted him to become a priest, and wife Josefa Vicenta Álvarez de Toro y Molina.
In November 1809, age 16, Espartero enlisted in the Regiment of Infantry "Ciudad Rodrigo" in
During 1815 he went to South America as a captain serving with General Pablo Morillo, who had been made commander-in-chief to quell the rebellions of the colonies on the Spanish Main. For eight years, Espartero distinguished himself in the struggle against the colonists. He was wounded several times, and was made major and colonel on the battlefields of Cochabamba and Sopahuy.[citation needed]
Espartero returned to Spain, and, like most of his companions in arms, was socially discredited for some time. He was sent to the garrison town of Logroño, where, on 13 September 1827 he married María Jacinta Martínez de Sicilia y Santa Cruz , an orphan since 16 raised by her maternal grandfather, the most important landowner in Logroño.[6] The marriage did not have issue, but they went on to adopt Espartero's niece, Eladia, who was designated as their principal heir.[6] Thenceforth, Logroño became the home of the most prominent of the Spanish political generals of the 19th century.[7]
Carlist War
Espartero became, on the death of King
Defeat of the Carlists
His military duties as commander of the principal national army did not prevent Espartero from showing for the first time his political ambition. He displayed such radical and reformist inclinations that he became popular among the lower and middle classes; his popularity lasted more than a quarter of a century. During this time, the Progressives, Democrats and Liberals considered him their adviser. In November 1836, he once again forced the Carlists to end the siege of Bilbao. His troops included the
Espartero pursued the enemy, and obliged him to hurry northwards, after several defeats. Espartero won the Battle of Ramales on 12 May 1839, earning him the title of Duque de la Victoria.
During 1839, Espartero carefully began negotiations with Maroto and the principal Carlist chiefs of the Basque provinces. These ended with the commanders' acceptance of the general's terms as part of the convention of Vergara, which secured the recognition of the ranks and titles of almost 1,000 Carlist officers. Twenty thousand Carlist volunteers surrendered at Vergara; only the irreconcilables commanded by Cabrera persevered for a while in the central provinces of Spain. However, in 1840, the pro-Isabelle general defeated the last forces of the Carlist insurgency, which had lasted seven years. He was styled El pacificador de España, was made a grandee of the first class, and received two dukedoms.[7]
Political life
Espartero's political opponents, the moderates, desired to amend the progressive Constitution of 1837. In particular, the moderates' proposal to abolish democratically elected local councils threatened to destroy the power base of the progressives. This threat was checked by the radical revolution of 1840, after which the conservatives became marginal and Espartero became the master of the destiny of Spain.
During the last three years of the war, Espartero, who had been elected a
Forcing the
Rule of Espartero
While continuing as regent, Espartero ruled Spain as its 18th Prime Minister for two years from 16 September 1840 to 21 May 1841, in accordance with his radical and conciliatory dispositions, giving special attention to the reorganization of the administration, taxation and finances, declaring all the estates of the church, congregations and religious orders to be national property, and suppressing the diezma, or tithe. He suppressed the Republican rebellions with as much severity as he did the military pronunciamientos of Generals Concha and Diego de León. The latter was shot in Madrid.[7]
Espartero defeated a
Although Espartero's regime (1840–1843) in reality had done little for Spain's poor, the anti-radical reaction of the moderates made the former regent a folk hero to many workers. Therefore, it was logical that he should become director of the short-lived "
The old marshal vainly endeavoured to keep the demands of his own Progressists reasonable in the Cortes of 1854–1856 and in the great towns, but their excessive demands for reforms and liberties played into the hands of a clerical and reactionary court and of the equally retrograde governing classes. The growing ambition of General
He was the 42nd
Retirement
After 1856 Espartero resolutely refused to identify himself with active politics, but was frequently asked to become involved. On 14 July 1858, he resigned as Premier. He refused to allow himself to be named as a candidate when the Cortes of 1868, after the Revolution, sought a ruler. Espartero, strangely enough, adopted a laconic phrase when successive governments on their advent to power invariably addressed themselves to him. To the Revolution of 1868, the Constituent Cortes of 1869,
King Amadeo made him Prince of Vergara. Along with Manuel Godoy, Espartero has been the only person other than the Prince of Asturias to have held the title of prince in the Kingdom of Spain, traditionally reserved for the heir to the throne.[11]
The Restoration caused a statue to him to be built near the gate of the
In popular culture
- Pedro Armendáriz, Jr plays General Espartero in the 1997 movie Amistad.
Arms
-
Coat of arms
(1839-1879)
See also
- Prince of Vergara
- Monument to General Espartero (Madrid)
- Mid-nineteenth century Spain
- First Carlist War
- Espartero's regency
- Ayacuchos
References
- Citations
- ^ Fernández Urbina 1979, p. 53.
- ^ Shubert 2015, pp. 211–213.
- ^ Vidal Delgado 2001, p. 179.
- ISSN 0482-5748.
- ISSN 0211-0849.
- ^ a b Shubert 2017, p. 752.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Espartero, Baldomero". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 9 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 772–773. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ Robert Sencourt, Spain's Ordeal: A Documented History of the Civil War (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1940), p. 8
- ^ Illustrated London News. Vol. 3. William Little. 1843. p. 76.
- ^ "Espartero - Marx".
- ISBN 9788400044107.
- Bibliography
- Fernández Urbina, José Miguel (1979). "Un centenario. Baldomero Espartero" (PDF). Tiempo de Historia. VI (61): 52–69.
- Sáez Miguel, Pablo (2011). "Espartero o el cincinato español. Historia de la candidatura a Rey del Duque de la Victoria (1868-1870)" (PDF). Berceo (160). Logroño: Instituto de Estudios Riojanos: 227–260.
- Shubert, Adrian (2015). "Being and Staying Famous in 19th-Century Spain: Baldomero Espartero and the Birth of Political Celebrity". Historia y Política: Ideas, Procesos y Movimientos Sociales. 34 (34): 211–237. ISSN 1575-0361.
- Shubert, Adrian (2017). "Baldomero and Jacinta: Scenes from a Nineteenth-Century Spanish Marriage, 1827–18". S2CID 149325794.
- Further reading
- Minkels, Margret Dorothea: Reisen im Auftrag preussischer Könige gezeichnet von Julius von Minutoli, Norderstedt 2013, S. 73, 76, 101, 133–144.