Third Carlist War
| Third Carlist War | |||||||
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| Part of the Carlist Wars | |||||||
 The Battle of Treviño, 7 July 1875, Francisco Oller | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Liberals Republicans |
 Carlists | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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See list
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The Third Carlist War (
Leading up to the war, Queen
The call for rebellion made by the Carlists was echoed in
, but failed to seize them.The Third Carlist War saw a series of regime changes in Spain, beginning with the declaration of the
After four years of war, on 28 February 1876, Carlos VII was defeated, and went into exile in France. On the same day, King
The war resulted in between 7,000 and 50,000 casualties.[1]
Introduction
The Third
After some internal dissensions in 1870–1871, ending with the removal of
Some contemporary authors described the Third Carlist War as deadly, especially for civilians on the sidelines of the conflict.
The bell rings to the dead across the heroic town of Igualada...Horrible details...People death by bayonets, burned houses, factories attacked at dawn, robberies, rapings, insults...
About the Carlists' entrance on Vendrell thousands atrocities are told, done by the followers of absolutism... If our brothers fell to the edge of the Carlist dagger, why we the liberals have to be considered with them?... It is necessary to fight the war with war and to employ all kind of resources to exterminate the bandits that burn, steal and kill in the name of a religion and a peace.
Opposing parties
Carlists
The
In the deeply religious and conservative atmosphere of 19th century Spain, Carlism attracted a large number of followers, particularly among sections of society which resented the growing liberalism of the Spanish state. Carlism found most of its supporters in rural areas, especially in places which had previously enjoyed special status before 1813, such as Catalonia and especially the Basque Country. In these parts of the country, Carlists enjoyed support from the Catholic peasantry and minor nobles, with occasional support from the major nobility.
Liberals
After
The Liberals promoted
Background
First and Second Carlist war
First Carlist War
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After Ferdinand's death, the government undertook a division of Spain into provinces and "historic regions" with the 1833 territorial division of Spain. The division overruled the traditional administration of the Basque districts, who held a specific autonomous status within Spain. For example, Navarre was still a Basque-based kingdom with its own decision-making bodies and customs on the Ebro river. The unilateral decision was regarded as a hostile government move by the Basque people, precipitating a general uprising in the Basque Provinces and Navarre in support of the traditionalist Carlists, resulting in the First Carlist War. The resulting success allowed Carlists to gain control of the countryside, although cities like Bilbao, San Sebastián, Pamplona and Vitoria-Gasteiz stayed in Liberal hands. The insurrection spread to the Castilla la Vieja, Aragon and Catalonia, where Carlist armies and guerrillas operated until the end of the war. Expeditions outside these areas resulted in limited success.
The Basque Country was subdued on August 31, 1839, with the Convenio de Vergara and Abrazo de Vergara signed between the Liberal general Baldomero Espartero and the Carlist general Rafael Maroto. Carlos, the pretender, crossed the Bidasoa river into France for exile, but Carlists in Catalonia and Aragon continued fighting until July 1840, when they escaped to France led by the Carlist general Ramón Cabrera.
Prominent figures emerged on both sides during the war. On the Liberal side, Baldomero Espartero rose to prominence and replaced Maria Cristina as regent in 1840, although his subsequent unpopularity meant that he was later overthrown by a coalition of politicians and moderate military figures. On the Carlist side, Ramón Cabrera rose to become the head of the Carlist party, a position he would hold until 1870. His future move to change his allegiance to the Spanish regime during the Third Carlist War would prove crucial to the government's success.
Second Carlist War
The
Another critical factor was the presence of lingering trabucaires, or Carlist fighters, from the First Carlist War who had neither surrendered to the government nor fled to exile. Those circumstances resulted in the creation of the first Carlist parties in 1846, usually consisting of no more than 500 men and always directed by a cabecilla, or chief, often a veteran from the first war. These groups attacked politicians and military units.
As 1847 ended with an escalation of fighting, Carlists, backed by progressives and republicans, gathered 4,000 men in
Spain's political situation before the war
Amidst opposing political ideals in Spain, the growing
,_Congreso_de_los_Diputados_(2).jpg)
Political reforms, carried out between 1833 and 1872 by moderate liberals such as
Institutions specific to certain territories, such as
Finally, the constant political unrest during the reign of
Spain's finances at the outbreak of war and during the war
Prior to the war, the Spanish government struggled to balance its finances. The Treasury's leeway in 1871 was virtually non-existent. It was unable to buy gold or silver to earn solvency because it would require further loan requests from international financiers,
Successive Spanish governments during La Gloriosa attempted to combat financial woes by making new loan requests to pay back existing debt, accepting ever-higher interest rates. At the outbreak of the Third Carlist War in 1872, half of the Spanish Treasury's overall revenue was destined to pay interest on public debt, with rates as high as 22.6%.[3] At any moment, the government could officially declare bankruptcy.
The House of Rothschild, a major beneficiary of this arrangement, soon lost hope of a recuperation of the Spanish finances, and refused to engage in any further major operations. The government turned to Paribas for new loans, which agreed to a loan of 100 million francs, signed in September 1872, six months after the outbreak of the Third Carlist War.
The Rothschilds and Ignacio Bauer came back to Spain in November 1873. They found the situation of public finances so ruinous that they avoided embarking in any financial operations. The Spanish government took emergency measures aimed at collecting the funds necessary for their campaign against the Carlist outbreak in the north, some of which broke the boundaries of what could be ethical and economically viable.[5]
In 1874, after General Serrano's military victory in Bilbao, Alphonse Rothschild wrote to his cousins in London:
The fall of the Carlists will be a great victory for the government... [However,] it would be a better victory to discard all this cancer of financiers that devour the country. That does not seem very probable though, and soon there will be no wealth in Spain. It is not really in our interest to associate with this looting more or less legal.[6]
War
The most important fronts of the war were the
Opposing plans
Carlist battle dispositions
As in previous Carlist Wars, the Carlists focused on raising war parties commanded by provisional commanders. These war parties would carry out irregular warfare, focusing on guerrilla or partisan activities, attacking telegram posts, railways, outposts using hit and run tactics. The Carlists tried to avoid large cities such as Bilbao or San Sebastian, because they were not powerful enough to commit to the siege and capture of such cities. Instead, they showed great skill in attacking undefended towns or isolated outposts, employing their knowledge of the terrain to their benefit.
In addition to guerilla parties, there were also several Carlist armies operating in the main theaters of the war under the command of
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Liberals' plans
In response to Carlist weaknesses, the Liberals planned to conduct a pacification war to drive the Carlists into a direct confrontation where the Liberals' superior training, equipment and leadership would prove decisive. These advantages included the control of the railway system, which enabled the transport of troops and supplies from one critical sector to another within days, the experienced troops and officers of the regular Spanish army, the support of large cities such as Bilbao, and superior weapons and manpower. These advantages were, however, somewhat negated by the political instability of the government the lack of available resources, such as financing, to suppress the Carlist uprising.
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The guerrilla attacks carried out by the Carlists were challenging for the Liberals to deal with because of the Carlists' ability to use the terrain to their benefit. All the aforementioned Liberal advantages were largely irrelevant in this kind of warfare, putting both sides on similar footing. However, the Carlist emphasis on guerilla warfare restricted the fighting to specific areas of Spain, limiting the Carlist range of action. Regardless, the suppression of Carlist guerrillas was a hazardous and costly task that required enormous amounts of manpower and resources that, in the first stages of the war, the Liberals were unable to provide. Only with the stabilization of the government under King Alfonso XII in 1874, were the Liberals able to start turning the tide of the war in their favor.
Outbreak of the hostilities
The Carlists' plans called for a general uprising across
In response to the uprising, thousands of sympathetic volunteers, most without training and some without weapons, gathered in Orokieta-Erbiti (Oroquieta-Erbiti), north of
The government's victory at Orokieta was a huge setback for the Carlists, but the war was not yet ended. Following their defeat at Orokieta, Carlists from
However, in other areas of
Meanwhile, in
The Carlist advance
With the failure of the uprising in the
1873
In February, after the abdication of King
The Carlist advance continued with the inconclusive battle of
Eastern Front
Unlike the situation in the
1874
1874 would be the turning point of the war in this region, marking the limit of the Carlist advance with the failure of the siege of Bilbao and the battles near Estella. Carlists, encouraged by their recent successes and the instability of the republican government, decided to attempt a critical blow on the government by laying siege to the important city of Bilbao. At the same time, a strong Carlist force was ordered to Gipuzkoa to secure the region, which it finally did after capturing Tolosa on February 28. The siege of Bilbao would last from February 21, 1874, until May 2, 1874, and was the turning point of the Third Carlist war in the Basque Provinces and Navarre, with brutal fighting between both sides for possession of the city.
Siege of Bilbao
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The Carlist siege of
Government commanders, determined to lift the siege and liberate
, the city on the brink of surrender of starvation due to food shortages caused by the Carlist siege.Government advance against Estella
With the Carlist siege of
Eastern Front
As it had been in the
In the meantime, Carlist forces in
Stalemate in the Basque Country and the fall of Catalonia
1875
The
Basque Country
| "We know without a doubt that triggered by the extermination policy of the Charles VII surrender in the battlefield shrouded in his glorious flag."
|
| Weekly periodical La bandera carlista, 19/09/1875[7]: 82 |
The restoration of the monarchy and internal dissensions promoted by the royal sympathizer, Ramon Cabrera, in the Carlist ranks proved fatal for the Carlist cause. Many high-ranking Carlist officers defected and joined the government army, spreading mistrust and suspicion at the Carlist headquarters. Although shaken by recent events, Carlists demonstrated that they had not been defeated yet. On February 3, General Torcuato Mendiri was able to surprise a government column near Lácar, east of Estella, recently captured by government forces. In the subsequent battle, the Carlists captured some pieces of artillery, 2,000 rifles and 300 prisoners. 1,000 men died during the battle, most of whom were government troops. The Carlists missed an opportunity for more decisive success when King Alfonso XII, who was traveling with the column, escaped capture. Once again, the Carlists showed their effectiveness in ambushes.
The defeat at Lácar did not stop the Spanish government, however, which launched another offensive in the summer of 1875. This time, the central government's force, advancing into
Eastern Front
After the defeat at
End of the war
1876
Having lost the war in
The battle began with a government attack on February 17, which forced Carlist soldiers to withdraw from their defensive positions. The defense inflicted many casualties on government forces, but it did not change the course of the battle. An estimate sets the number of Basque Carlist volunteers at 35,000, while Spanish troops numbered at 155,000.
Aftermath
The end of the conflict marked the dawn of a new political system and a new social reality that affected the entirety of Spain. The new constitutional monarchy, established in 1876, was created amidst much violence and little negotiation.[10] The new regime based its power on the military and the paramilitary police force, which were solidified during the 19th century through the defense of the centralist state and the stamping-out of popular uprisings. Thus, the new regime guaranteed the preservation and extension of the interests of Spain's political and economic oligarchy, i.e. the agrarian aristocracy and the industrial bourgeoisie.[11]
A new political ideology of Spanish Nationalism also emerged, linked to the need for a modern Spain. This ideology pivoted on the premises of centralization and homogeneity. As pointed out by Adam Shubert, this idea was rejected by many Spanish citizens, laying the foundations for a contentious "national problem" that persists in Spain to this day.[12]
Abolition of self-government
The relentless centralizing drive of the Spanish Crown after the
However, in May 1876, pragmatic considerations left the Spanish Prime Minister
After a number of heated debates in the Spanish parliament
The duties that the politic Constitution has imposed upon the Spanish people to do the military service when they call the law and, to contribute in proportion of their assets to the state expenditures, to the inhabitants of the Provinces of Biscay, Gipuzkoa and Álava, just as others of the Nation.
From then on, Basques were forced to enrol in the Spanish military on an individual basis, not in separate groups or corps. Basque soldiers in the Spanish army were often exposed to stressful experiences; many Basques spoke little Spanish and were thus unable to communicate with fellow soldiers.
Navarre was affected by the law, but for the moment, it was spared from further constraints due to the 1841 "Compromise Act" (Ley Paccionada) that had already officially turned the semi-autonomous Kingdom of Navarre into a Spanish province.
Basque Economic Agreement
The abolition of Basque charters and the requirement for Basques to "contribute in proportion of their assets to the state expenditures" raised the question of how to collect taxes from the Basque Provinces. The Basque Liberal elite, based in the capital cities, initially wanted to retain home rule and their pre-war political status. However, in the midst of military occupation, negotiations between the Canovas government and the Liberal officials of the Basque Provinces resulted in the signing of first Basque Economic Agreement in 1878. Under the new system, Spanish tax collectors would not directly collect contributions from the Basque people. Rather, the newly established Provincial Councils would be responsible for tax collection in their province as they saw fit, and would then remit a portion of the revenues, as decided by the State Treasury, to the central government. Though designed to be provisional, the system is still in use today.
Through this agreement, the Spanish government theoretically diffused the lingering regionalist sentiment, and created a solid basis for both industrial development and political and administrative consolidation of the central government.[10]
Industrial expansion in the Basque Country
Another consequence of the Carlist defeat and ensuing abolition of the Basque institutional system was the liberalization of the industries in the Basque Provinces, especially in Biscay. The liberalization of the mines, industries and ports attracted many companies, especially British mining companies, that were established in Biscay along with small local societies, such as Ybarra-Mier y Compañía. Large mining companies, such as the Orconera Iron Ore Company Limited and the Societé Franco-Belge des Mines de Somorrostro (the Franco-Belgian Society of Somorrostro Mines), were created, leading to an industrial society based on iron ore mining.
The industrial expansion of
Restoration
In December 1874, in the midst of the war, Major
Before the restoration,
The Constitution of 1876
In the first months of the
- The sovereignty of the state would be shared between the monarchy (the king) and the legislature.
- The King would be the major power and he had more executive power than the government.
- The legislature was to be bicameral, elitist, and guaranteed the control of executive power by the privileged minority.
- Some individual rights and freedoms would be introduced, although the latter would be regulated by other laws.
- Catholicism would be the official state religion.
The entrance of Alfonso into Spain and the proclamation of the constitutional monarchy began a long period of political stability founded on conservative values, property, monarchy, and a liberal state. The new system only provided for two parties; all other parties were barred from participating. The Conservative Party, led by Antonio Canovas del Castillo, represented the interests of the landowners, bourgeoisie, Catholic groups, and the aristocracy of the former regime. The Liberal Party, led by Práxedes Mateo Sagasta, represented those who did not accept the new law of the 1876 Constitution, radicals, and groups of moderate republicans. Both parties supported the monarchy.
The government was chosen through a process known as the turno system, agreed upon by Conservative leader Canovas and Liberal leader Sagasta. The ideologically similar Liberal and Conservative parties would decide election results in advance, taking alternating turns serving in government to ensure support for the monarchy and to prevent radical parties from taking power. The parties were unresponsive to voters, and instead relied on electoral fraud and the support of the oligarchy and political bosses (Caciquism) to attain desired results.
Basque nationalism
One consequence of the
Jaungoikoa eta Lagi zaharra ("God and Tradition").
The Basque Nationalist Party was ideologically conservative, opposing liberalism, industrialization,[citation needed] Spanishness and socialism. However, it attracted diverse personalities concerned with the loss of Basque identity and institutions, such as Ramón de la Sota, a Basque industrialist born in Santander. At the end of the 19th century, the Basque Nationalist Party won its first seats in local and regional councils. Many votes came from the rural areas and the middle class, who were worried by industrialization and the growth of socialism.
Opposing centralism and the new proletarian ideologies, Arana founded the first Basque nationalist political program, which showed a striking resemblance to the Carlist movement. Arana's manifesto Bizkaya por su independencia ("Biscay for its independence") spoke specifically of Biscay, but pointed to a reality beyond the boundaries of each specific district: the Basque country as a whole.
Catalan nationalism
Catalan nationalism peaked when Spain lost most of its colonies in 1898, at the conclusion of the Spanish-American War. Earlier in the 19th century, however, the Catalan bourgeoisie worked with the central government, and even supported the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty in 1875.
Catalan federalist
The project, however, failed to progress very far. Even during the late 19th century, Catalan nationalism was not strong enough. One section of the moderate
Popular culture
Paz en la guerra (Peace in War) (1895), a novel by Miguel de Unamuno, explores the relationship of self and world through the familiarity with death. It is based on his experiences as a child during the Carlist siege of Bilbao in the Third Carlist War. The writer Benito Pérez Galdós also mentions some tales of the Third Carlist War in his books Episodios Nacionales (1872–1912), often showing them as religious bandits and mocking their leaders, who are often referred to as "wild beasts."
The Anglo-Polish novelist
Part of the film Vacas (1992) is set during the Third Carlist War.
See also
- 1873 Montejurra battle (celebrated each year since)
- Traditionalist Communion – the Carlist political party from 1869 to 1937
- General Marco de Bello's biography (in Spanish)
- Carlist anthem
- Carlist museum of Estella
Notes
References
- ^ "Nineteenth Century Death Tolls". Retrieved 16 August 2016.
- ^ López-Morell (2015), p. 225.
- ^ López-Morell (2015), pp. 227, 229.
- ^ López-Morell (2015), p. 229.
- ^ López-Morell (2015), p. 231.
- ^ López-Morell (2015), p. 232.
- ISBN 978-8493603793.
- ^ Watson (2003), p. 111.
- ^ a b c Uriarte, p. 68.
- ^ a b Watson (2003), p. 112.
- ^ Watson (2003), pp. 112–113.
- ^ Watson (2003), p. 113.
- ^ Uriarte, pp. 74–75, 79.
- ISBN 978-1571133472.
Bibliography
- The decline of Carlism, Jeremy MacClancy. University of Nevada Press, Reno (USA), 2000, 349 pages.
- A military history of modern Spain: from the Napoleonic era to the war on terror, Wayne H. Bowen, José E. Alvarez. Greenwood Publishing, 2007, 222 pages.
- Ferrer Melchor (1958–1959), Historia del tradicionalismo español, Editorial Católica, Sevilla, vols. 24–27
- Spain in the nineteenth century, Elizabeth Wormeley Latimer. A. C. McClurg & Co, 1907, 441 pages.
- López-Morell, Migule Á. (2015). Rothschild; Una historia de poder e influencia en España. Madrid: Marcial Pons, Ediciones de Historia, S.A. ISBN 978-8415963592.
- Amadeo I: El rey caballero, Villa San Juan. Planeta, Los reyes de España, 1997, 229 pages.
- Carlos VII: Duque de Madrid, Anonymous. Espasa Calpe, Vidas españolas del siglo XIX, 1929. 263 pages.
- Uriarte, Jose Luis. "El Concierto Económico; Una Visión Personal". El Concierto Económico. Publitas. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
- Watson, Cameron (2003). Modern Basque History: Eighteenth Century to the Present. University of Nevada, Center for Basque Studies. ISBN 1877802166.
- La Tercera Guerra Carlista 1872–1876, César Alcalá. Grupo Medusa Ediciones. 33 pages.
- Las Guerras Carlistas, Antonio M. Moral Roncal, Silex, 389 pages.
- España 1808–2008, Raymond Carr, Ariel, 972 pags.
External links
Media related to Third Carlist War at Wikimedia Commons- Information about the Third Carlist War
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