Unit 5.

Spain in the 18th and

the 19th centuries
CARLOS II (1665-1700) was the last monarch of the Hapsburg dynasty.
Even though he married twice, he had no children. At the end of the 17th
century, Spain didn’t have a successor for the throne.
There was one candidate, José Fernando of Bavaria, prince of Asturias
since 1692, but he died in 1699. After his death, two other candidates had the
possibility of getting the throne:
○ The Archduke Carlos of Austria, son of the emperor of the Holy
Roman Empire and part of the Habsburg family
○ Felipe of Bourbon, Duke d’ Anjou: Louis XIV' s grandson; Felipe IV’
s great grandson.
Felipe d’Anjou was elected as the successor following the advice of some
parts of the court and became the monarch under the name Felipe V. He was,
without taking into account Juana I, the longest monarch in the throne in Spain.

War of the Spanish succession (1701-1713)

European courts didn’t like this crowning because it would create a strong
Franco-Spanish alliance, so a civil and international war took place., known as
the War of the Spanish succession.
It confronted Felipe D’Anjou, supported by Castilla, France and Bavaria
against the Archduke Carlos, supported by Aragon, Austria, Great Britain,
Netherlands, Portugal, Prussia.
The war ended with the Treaty of Utrecht-Rastatt (1713-1714), in
which Felipe V was recognised as the new king of Spain, but he had to renounce
to his rights to the French throne and give some territories to Great Britain
(Gibraltar, Menorca) and to Austria(Naples, Sardinia, Milan…).
In the 18th century, after Felipe V, there were also other monarchs in
Spain, like Luis I, Fernando VI or Carlos III.
Under the rule of the first four monarchs, there were different reforms
implemented in Spain.

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 Political reforms
A new type of state was created, following the French model. It was a
centralized state in which the differences between Castilla and Aragon were not
respected anymore. A process of “castilianisation” took place by ending with the
privileges (fueros) some of the kingdoms enjoyed, implementing the Decretos de
Nueva Planta (in Aragón, Valencia, Mallorca, Cataluña), that imposed in those
territories the Castilian laws (but not to Navarra or the Basque provinces). In
addition, only Spanish was allowed, there were not other languages permitted.
With the arrival of the Bourbons, Spain became an absolute monarchy.

Economic reforms
Different reforms took place to improve the economic situation of Spain:
canals to irrigate the lands to improve agriculture, royal manufacturers that
developed craftworking or new infrastructures are bridges and roads to make
trading easier, including a radial road that connected Madrid with the rest of the
Spanish territories. These improvements made the population increase from 7.5
to 10.5 million people in the 18th century.
In addition, the treasury was reformed to collect more taxes. For the first
time, a large-scale census was accomplished by the Marquis of Ensenada in
1749, with the objective of knowing the actual wealth of the country and
recording the number of estates and neighbors.

Social reforms
New laws were created to promote work and industry and Carlos III
abolished the law that didn’t allow noblemen to work, called “La deshonra legal
del trabajo”.
Esquilache, Carlos III minister, passed an act that prohibited the use of
traditional long cloaks and wide brimmed hats. Instead, people had to wear
short cloaks and three cornered hats. It was a law to identify criminals or
weapons and it brought along a rebellion known as the Esquilache Riots (1766).

Religious reforms
In the 18th century, the power of the Inquisition in Spain was reduced.
In addition, the order of the Jesuits was expelled from Spain (1767). They
were accused of having lots of power, blamed for causing the Esquilache riots

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and considered to be against the reforms carried out by the Enlightened
ministers.

Enlightenment in Spain
The ideas of the Enlightenment were not very successful in Spain and just
affected some elite groups. The monarch behind these ideas coming to Spain
was Carlos III, an example of Enlightened Despotism.
In the 18th century in Spain, only some intellectuals and politicians
followed the enlightened ideas, mainly because most of the people didn’t
understand them and clergy and upper nobility, social groups with power in
Spain, opposed them because they attacked their privileges.
The measures implemented in Spain were lead by the “Sociedades
económicas de amigos del país”, that promoted innovations. Also, schools and
universities were reformed, Royal Academies were created and public spaces for
leisure and research appeared: the Royal Botanic Garden, the Observatory, the
Prado Museum…
The main representatives of Enlightenment in Spain were: Father Feijoó,
Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, Marquis of Ensenada, Count of Aranda, Count of
Floridablanca, Campomanes.

Carlos IV (1788-1808)
Carlos IV was Carlos III’ s son and he ruled while the French Revolution
took place. Afraid of what could happen, he put into practice actions to cut any
influence of the Enlightenment in Spain.
Carlos IV was a weak monarch, and his prime minister, Manuel Godoy,
ruled Spain on his behalf. He was behind the Treaty of Fontainebleau, signed
in 1807 with Napoleón. Thanks to this treaty, he was allowed to cross Spain in
order to invade Portugal. Once this had been done, they would divide Portugal
between Napoleón (north), Carlos IV (center) and Godoy (south).
Fernando, Carlos IV 's son, tired of the power Manuel Godoy had in Spain,
instigated a riot against Godoy and his father, know as the “Motín de Aranjuez”.
Godoy was dismissed and Carlos abdicated in favor of his son.
Carlos IV moved to France instigated by Napoleón, who was intelligent
enough to convince him to cede Bonaparte the rights of the Spanish crown. This
way, Napoleón name his brother José (José I) King of Spain, who rule with the

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support of the afrancesados.
However, the 2nd of May 1808, people of Madrid rose up against the
French invasion, example followed by the rest of the territories in Spain that led
to the War of Independence (1808-1813)
All the Spanish territories but Cádiz were conquered by the French, whose
army was stronger than the Spanish. However, Spanish people put into practice
a guerrilla war, in which paramilitary forces (composed by former soldiers and
peasants) focused on cutting French supplies or ambushing the Napoleonic army.
The Spanish leaders of this war were El Empecinado and El cura Merino, but they
also had the help of the British led by the general Wellington.

Cortes de Cádiz (1810-1814)

When the French occupation took place, the “Junta Suprema Central”,
representing the different regions of Spain, met in Cádiz, thanks to the
protection of the British, with the objective of writing a Constitution. The
members of this “Junta” were elected by universal suffrage and met, for the
first time, on 24 September 1810.
The 19th of March 1812, the first Constitution of Spain was passed, known
as “la Pepa”. It established:
○ Constitutional monarchy
○ Separation of powers
○ National sovereignty
○ Equality under the law
○ Catholicism as the official Spanish religion
The first Constitution in the history of Spain was not accepted by
everyone. Spanish people, in the 19th century, were very conservative and
thought it was too liberal, very French-like.

Fernando VII (1813-1833)

When Fernando VII came back to Spain, he annulled the Cortes de Cádiz,
the Constitution of 1812 and restored absolutism. His monarchy was divided in
three periods:
○ ABSOLUTIST SEXENNIUM (1814-1820): the main characteristics of
this period were the bankruptcy, attempts of coup d’états and the

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 independence of the American colonies. In 1820, a revolution took
place: Fernando VII was force to reestablish the Constitution of
1812
○ LIBERAL TRIENNIUM (1820-1823)
○ OMINOUS DECADE (1823-1833): the liberals were executed and
new measures were implemented: he created the National Police
(1824), he reformed the education (only nine universities were
allowed), he created the “Banco de San Fernando” in 1829
(nowadays “Banco de España”) and the Madrid Stock Exchange
Market (1831).
The succession of Fernando VII became a problem in Spain. When Felipe V
became the monarch of Spain, he established the Salic law, a law that prohibited
women from inheriting the throne, and Fernando had two daughters. That’s why
he enacted the Pragmatic Sanction (1830) to abolish it, what would allow Isabel
to become queen. However, Carlos Carlos María Isidro (his brother) didn’t
accept this and created a faction to get the crown for himself, knows as
“CARLISTAS”.

Isabel II (1833-1868)
Isabel II inherited the throne when she was only 3. As she was a child,
two regents ruled Spain on her behalf: her mother, María Cristina (1833-1840)
and General Espartero (1840-1843).

Regency of María Cristina (1833-1840)

While María Cristina was regent, the First Carlist War (1833-1840) took
place. They defended absolutism and had the support from Basque provinces,
Navarra, Aragón, Cataluña. Their motto was God, Fatherland and King.
In 1835, the minister Mendizábal, under the rule of María Cristina, put into
practise the Confiscation of ecclesiastical goods (1835), a law by which the
religious orders suppressed with the objective of getting money to pay 100000
soldiers and solve financial problems, but they didn’t obtain the money
expected, they found out that there were not many large estates in the north,
they lost religious art pieces and finally, money not invested in industry.
In 1837, a new Constitution was passed.

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 Regency of Espartero (1840-1843)
María Cristina was forced to leave Spain and General Espartero took her
place. The most important episode under his rule took place in Cataluña, where,
to stop the uprisings provoked by the workers of the textile industry, he decided
to bomb Barcelona. These actions made him very unpopular and Isabel became
queen in 1843 being 13 years old.

Isabel II (1843-1868)
The rule of Isabel II was a very unstable period with lots of changes and
revolutions.
In the first years of her rule, known as the Moderate Decade (1844-1854),
a new Constitution was passed in 1845, she promoted public works, she created
Guardia Civil to control the rural areas… During this period she was called a
”liberal dictator”.
In the following years, she opened to more liberal ideas and her minister
Madoz put into practice, again, a new confiscation of goods from the Church
(1855). It was deeper than the one by Mendizabal and lots of councils got
ruined.
In 1868, the Glorious Revolution took place and Isabel II was forced to
leave Spain.

The Democratic Sexennium (1868-1874)

The Glorious Revolution (1868) took place because of a political crisis:
progressive liberals were not accepted by the queen, republicanism grew and
new political ideas appeared, like federalism.
A Provisional government (1869-1871) was created. They passed a
new Constitution in 1869, which established universal male suffrage. Its aim was
to find a new king, Amadeo de Saboya (1871-1873). During his rule, the Third
Carlist War took place, Spain fought a War of Independence in Cuba and there
were uprisings of federalist soldiers. He couldn’t face all the problems in Spain,
so he abdicated and left Spain.
The First Republic was declared in 1873. It only lasted 11 months and
had 4 different presidents. It was a very unstable period and, on the 2nd
January 1874 a coup d’état by General Pavía restored the monarchy and Alfonso

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XII, Isabel II’s son, came back to Spain and took the throne.

Alfonso XII (1875-1885)

A constitutional monarchy was established in Spain. There were two main
parties: the Conservative, led by Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, and the Liberal,
led by Práxedes Mateo Sagasta. The main problem was that, during Alfonso XII’s
rule, the elections were manipulated and the two political parties alternated in
power.
A new Constitution was passed in 1876.
Alfonso died in 1885, his wife was pregnant. As his son hadn’t been born
yet, María Cristina of Habsburg was regent until 1902. This was a period full of
problems: Regionalism became popular and new political parties appeared (Lliga
Regionalista, ERC, PNV), Socialism gained power (PSOE 1879) and the “Desastre
del 98” took place, in which Spain lost the the last colonies it had (Cuba, Puerto
Rico, Philippines).
At the end of the 19th century, Spain was not a leading country anymore.
It lost the international markets, working class protests became popular and
different attacks to the political system took place.