The Liberal Triennium 1820-1823

The restoration of King Ferdinand VII in 1814 soon led to the repeal of the Constitution of 1812 and a return to absolutist rule with the enthusiastic support of Spanish Royalists, including nobles and clergy. Liberals were unceremoniously removed from power in Spain. In part, their removal from military and government offices had more to do with the financial crisis Spain experienced during this time. Most of the Spanish colonies in the Americas were already waging wars of independence on Spain and the revenue this empire formerly provided ceased to exist while the cost of fighting the rebels continued. At Cadiz, on January 1, 1820, some five thousand of the troops preparing to embark to the Americas instead supported a call to restore the Constitution of 1812 by one of their officers, Rafael del Riego y Nunez. They marched to San Fernando, hoping to gain more adherents to continue on to Madrid, but failed. The revolution might have faltered but for a supportive Liberal uprising a few weeks later in La Coruna, in northern Spain, that declared in favor of constitutionalism. After that the revolution spread quickly. Amid rioting in Madrid, Ferdinand VII announced he accepted the Constitution of 1812, on March 7th. It was an almost bloodless revolution.

The Liberal Triennia would not remain bloodless for long. Spanish Royalists organized for guerrilla warfare in opposition to constitutionalism while the Spanish Liberals soon divided into Moderates favoring constitutional monarchy and Radicals favoring republicanism. Ferdinand VII hoped for foreign intervention; Tsar Alexander I of Russia proposed as much in 1820 but the suggestion was strenuously opposed by the Austrians and British for different reasons. Meanwhile, the internal divisions among Spanish Liberals crippled the functioning of the government and discredited constitutionalism to many. Royalists gained widespread support among the peasantry. The violence continued to escalate with several cities facing Royalist uprisings, including Valencia and Seville. The loyalty of the armed forces became divided with some units fighting in support of Liberals while others sided with the Royalists. An indication of the extent of the civil war was the Royalist occupation of Seo de Urgel on June 21, 1822. An apparent attempt by the royal guards to restore absolutism in July 1822 resulted in Ferdinand VII being forbidden to leave Madrid.

While fighting continued, there were indications that neither side was capable of achieving a decisive victory. The question of a military intervention to restore the absolute rule of Ferdinand VII was raised again at the Congress of Verona in October 1822, at which time the French under King Louis XVIII were authorized to intervene by a majority of the powers (Austria, Prussia, Russia) with only Great Britain conditionally objecting. Opposition to war from the French king as well as the prime minister delayed a decision to act on the authorization. Months of pressure from royalists within the French leadership, favoring war with Spain proved decisive and the king and prime minister relented. On January 28, 1823, Louis XVIII informed the Chamber of Deputies of the decision for war with Spain. A French army of around 60,000 troops was mobilized (the “hundred thousand sons of Saint Louis”) under the command of Louis Antoine de Bourbon, the Duke of Angouleme.

On April 7, 1823, the French army crossed the Pyrenees into Spain meeting little resistance from the Basques and Catalonians. The French invasion had the active support of some Spaniards and the tacit cooperation of the majority. The Duke of Angouleme dispatched a force to besiege San Sebastian while he launched an attack on Madrid, the Spanish capital. Riego and the Cortes (the Spanish national assembly) – along with the imprisoned Ferdinand VII – withdrew to Cadiz. Meanwhile the military commander in Madrid secretly capitulated to the French, and fled to France. The leaderless Spanish garrison Madrid failed to keep out the French, who seized the city and installed a Spanish-chosen regent pending the return of Ferdinand VII. From there, the French moved south to besiege the liberal army under Riego at Cadiz. At the Battle of Trocadero on August 31st, the Spanish defenders were defeated and the fortified island, within the harbor of Cadiz, fell to French forces. After securing the fort of Santa Petri, on September 20th, the French began a bombardment of the city of Cadiz on September 23rd. The destructive effects of this bombardment as well as a revolt by the regiment of San Marcial, led to the Cortes to dissolve itself, surrender the city and release Ferdinand VII to the French to be restored to the throne on or about September 30th.

Renouncing his prior promise of amnesty for the revolutionaries and the 1812 constitution, Ferdinand VII ordered ruthless measures of reprisal against them. In November, the Duke of Angouleme returned to France, leaving behind an occupying force of 45,000. The last French soldiers were not withdrawn until 1828.

Notes

[1] The conventional initiation date is January 1, 1820. Correlates of War (CoW) divides the war into an intra-state beginning on December 4, 1821 (503/505) after the election gives Radicals victory and an inter-state war (1) beginning on April 7, 1823 when the French army crosses the border. Kohn also divides the war into a Spanish civil war and an French-Spanish war though, of necessity, the entries are very similar.

[2] There is very little information about battle deaths before the French invasion. CoW suggests a total of 1,500 during the intra-state war and these are here divided evenly among Liberals and Royals. Liberals are assumed to have incurred the battle deaths during the intervention by France.

References

Clodfelter, 284-5; COW1, 503/505; Jarrett, 338-43; Kohn, 175-6, 464; Spain - A Country Study; Stites, 88-121.

Charles Wentz Fehrenbach. Moderados and Exaltados: The Liberal Opposition to Ferdinand VII, 1814-1823. The Hispanic American Historical Review, 50(1). 1970.

Mark Jarrett. The Congress of Vienna and its Legacy: War and Great Power Diplomacy after Napoleon. I B Tauris. 2013.

Richard Stites. The Four Horsemen: Riding to Liberty in Post-Napoleonic Europe. Oxford University Press. 2014.

Thomas Wright. The History of France: from the Earliest Period to the Present Times, Volume III. London Printing and Publishing. 1856.

Category

Intra-State War/
Inter-State War

Region

Western Europe

Belligerents

France, Spanish Liberals, Spanish Royalists

Dispute

Governance

Initiation Date

January 1, 1820^[1]

Termination Date

November 13, 1823

Duration

3 years, 10 months, 13 days
(1413 days)

Outcome

Imposed Settlement
(Spanish Royalist, French)

Fatalities

Total: 1,500/6,500^[2]
France: 0/3,000
Spainish Liberals: 750/3,500 Spainish Royalists: 750/0

Magnitude

3.9