| Third Carlist War | |||||||
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| Part of theCarlist Wars | |||||||
 The Battle of Treviño, 7 July 1875,Francisco Oller | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 LiberalsRepublicans |  Carlists | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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TheThird Carlist War (Spanish:Tercera Guerra Carlista), which occurred from 1872 to 1876, was the lastCarlist War inSpain. It is sometimes referred to as the "Second Carlist War", as the earlier"Second" War (1847–1849) was smaller in scale and relatively trivial in political consequence.
Leading up to the war, QueenIsabella II abdicated the throne in 1868, and the unpopularAmadeo I, son of KingVictor Emmanuel II of Italy, was proclaimedKing of Spain in 1870. In response, theCarlist pretender,Carlos VII, tried to earn the support of various Spanish regions by promising to reintroduce various area-specific customs and laws. The Carlists proclaimed the restoration ofCatalan,Valencian andAragonesefueros (charters) which had been abolished at the beginning of the 18th century by KingPhilip V in his unilateralNueva Planta decrees.
The call for rebellion made by the Carlists was echoed inCatalonia and especially in theBasque region (Gipuzkoa,Álava,Biscay andNavarre), where the Carlists managed to erect a temporary state. During the war,Carlist forces occupied several inland Spanish towns, the most important ones beingLa Seu d'Urgell andEstella inNavarre. They also laid siege to the cities ofBilbao andSan Sebastián, but failed to seize them.
The Third Carlist War saw a series of regime changes in Spain, beginning with the declaration of theFirst Spanish Republic after the abdication of Amadeo I in February 1873. Over one year later, in December 1874, a military coup installed a newBourbon monarch,Alfonso XII, marking the beginning of theBourbon Restoration in Spain.
After four years of war, on 28 February 1876, Carlos VII was defeated, and went into exile in France. On the same day, KingAlfonso XII of Spain enteredPamplona. After the end of the war, theBasque charters (fueros/foruak) were abolished, shifting the border customs from theEbro River to the Spanish coast. In the chartered territories, home rule provisions, left over from the resolution of theFirst Carlist War, were abolished, and conscription of youth in the Spanish army became compulsory.
The war resulted in between 7,000 and 50,000 casualties.[1]
The ThirdCarlist War began in 1871, after the overthrow ofIsabella II inLa Gloriosa revolution in 1868 and the subsequent coronation ofAmadeo I of Savoy as King of Spain in 1870. The selection of Amadeo I as King instead of the Carlist pretender,Carlos VII, was considered a great insult to the Carlists who had strong support in northern Spain, especially inCatalonia,Navarre and theBasque Provinces (Basque Country)
After some internal dissensions in 1870–1871, ending with the removal ofRamón Cabrera as the head of theCarlist party, the Carlists started a general uprising against Amadeo I's government and its Liberal supporters. The Third Carlist War became the final act of a long fight between Spanish progressives (centralists) and traditionalists which started after the SpanishPeninsular War (1808–1814) and the promulgation of theconstitution of Cadiz in 1812 which ended theancien regime in Spain. Mistrust and rivalry among members of the royal family also enlarged the conflict. The three Carlist wars were started for diverse reasons: the establishment of thePragmatic Sanction ofFerdinand VII caused theFirst Carlist War, the inability to find a compromise led to theSecond Carlist War, and the proclamation of a foreign king as Spanish monarch sparked the Third Carlist War.
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 ofIgualada...Horrible details...People [killed] by bayonets, burned houses, factories attacked at dawn, robberies, rap[es], insults...
— La Campana de Gràcia, July 27, 1873, about the Carlist attack on the town ofIgualada (Barcelona)
About the Carlists' entrance onVendrell 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.
— La Redención del Pueblo, March 6, 1874, about the entrance of the Carlists in the town ofVendrell (Tarragona)
TheCarlist party was formed in the last years ofFerdinand VII's (1784–1833) reign. Carlism is named after theinfantCarlos Maria Isidro (1788–1855),count of Molina and Ferdinand's brother. Thepragmatic sanction, published by Ferdinand in 1830, abolished theSalic Law, allowing women to be queens ofSpain in their own right. This meant thatIsabel, Ferdinand's daughter, became heir instead ofCarlos, his brother.
Carlos almost instantly became a cause around which Spain's conservative groups could unite. The anti-liberalism of authors such asFernando de Zeballos,Lorenzo Hervás y Panduro andFrancisco Alvarado during the 1820s was a precursor to the Carlist movement. Another important aspect of the Carlist ideology was its defense of theCatholic Church and its institutions, including theInquisition and the special tributary laws, against the comparatively more liberal crown. The Carlists identified themselves with Spanish military traditions, adopting theBurgundian cross of the 16th- and 17th-centurytercios. This nostalgia forSpain's past was an important rallying point forCarlism. There was also a perceived support for the feudal system displaced by the French occupation, although this is disputed by historians. The Carlists summarized their beliefs in the motto: "For God, for the Fatherland and the King."[citation needed]
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 asCatalonia and especially theBasque Country. In these parts of the country, Carlists enjoyed support from the Catholic peasantry and minor nobles, with occasional support from the major nobility.
AfterFerdinand VII's death in 1833 without a male heir, the succession was disputed, despite the abrogation of theSalic law in 1830. As the new queenIsabel was only a child, her mother,Maria Cristina, became regent until Isabel was ready to reign in her own right. Because conservatives backedCarlos,Maria Cristina was forced to side with the Liberals, who sympathized with the ideals of theFrench Revolution. Liberals were well-represented in the high echelons of the army and among the large landowners, and drew some support from the middle classes.
The Liberals promotedindustrialization and social modernization. Reforms included the confiscation and sale of church lands and other institutions that supported the old regime, the establishment of elected parliaments, the construction of railways and the general expansion of industry throughout Spain. There was also a strong current ofanti-clericalism among them.
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After Ferdinand's death, the government undertook a division of Spain into provinces and "historic regions" with the1833 territorial division of Spain. The division overruled the traditional administration of theBasque 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 theBasque Provinces andNavarre 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 likeBilbao,San Sebastián,Pamplona andVitoria-Gasteiz stayed in Liberal hands. The insurrection spread to theCastilla la Vieja,Aragon andCatalonia, 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 theConvenio de Vergara andAbrazo de Vergara signed between the Liberal generalBaldomero Espartero and the Carlist generalRafael Maroto. Carlos, the pretender, crossed theBidasoa river intoFrance for exile, but Carlists inCatalonia andAragon continued fighting until July 1840, when they escaped to France led by the Carlist generalRamón Cabrera.
Prominent figures emerged on both sides during the war. On the Liberal side,Baldomero Espartero rose to prominence and replacedMaria 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.
TheSecond Carlist war started in 1846, after the failure of a scheme to marryIsabel II with the Carlist claimant,Carlos Luis de Borbón. Fighting was concentrated in the mountains of SouthCatalonia andTeruel until 1849. The context was an agricultural and industrial crisis that hitCatalonia in 1846, together with unpopular taxes and military service laws introduced by the government ofRamon Maria Narvaez.
Another critical factor was the presence of lingeringtrabucaires, or Carlist fighters, from theFirst 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 acabecilla, 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 inCatalonia. In 1848, Carlists rose up in many parts of Spain, especially inCatalonia,Navarre,Gipuzkoa,Burgos,Maestrat,Aragon,Extremadura andCastille. The uprisings failed in almost all parts of Spain except forCatalonia andMaestrat, whereRamón Cabrera arrived in mid-1848 to create theEjército Real de Cataluña, or the Royal Army of Catalonia. However, Carlist failures in the rest of Spain, in addition to the campaign conducted by government commanderManuel Gutiérrez de la Concha to weaken the Carlist presence inCatalonia during fall 1848, condemned the Carlist cause to failure. In January 1849, the Liberal army inCatalonia numbered 50,000, while the Carlist army numbered only 26,000. The detention of the Carlist pretender,Carlos VI, on the frontier when he was attempting to enterSpain put an end to the uprising in April 1849. Outnumbered, without a leader and having failed to achieve a victory in all fronts,Ramón Cabrera and the Carlists inCatalonia fled toFrance in April and May 1849. Later, an amnesty announced by the government convinced some to return to Spain, but most stayed in exile.
Amidst opposing political ideals in Spain, the growingIndustrial Revolution and constant conflict in Spanish politics, the Third Carlist War was a culmination of a long political process. The political appearance of the conflict, exemplified by the struggle for the Spanish crown, masked a more crude reality. The growth ofliberal ideals afterNapoleon Bonaparte's occupation of Spain and Spain'ssubsequent fight for independence alarmed Spain's traditional groups, who decided to fight for their beliefs. Tumultuous reigns of monarchsFerdinand VII,Isabel II andAmadeo I exemplified the political unrest present in Spain, and resulted in the loss of traditionalist predominance, especially during the reign ofIsabel II.
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Political reforms, carried out between 1833 and 1872 by moderate liberals such asDe la Rosa,Cea Bermudez andBaldomero Espartero, as well as the government formed after"La Gloriosa", left Carlists and other traditional circles in a weakened position. The expropriations of ecclesiastic property carried out byMendizabal (1836), followed by those ofEspartero (1841) andPascual Madoz (1855), were considered an attack on theCatholic Church and the nobility. Many nobles and Church lost real estate, which in turn was sold to high-ranking Liberals, contributing to unrest among those two important parts of Spanish society. However, the Church and the nobility were not the only important groups to feel threatened by the advance of newbourgeois liberalism—in both its economic and political forms. The drive for Spanish centralization (a rising Spanishnationalism) collided with long-running sources of authority other than the Spanishcentralist constitution based in Madrid.
Institutions specific to certain territories, such asthefueros of the Basque Country, were removed by the liberal1812 Constitution proclaimed in Cádiz, but were largely restored on the installation ofFerdinand VII of Spain to the Spanish throne in 1814. The conflict over home rule in theBasque Country (Basque Provinces and Navarre) was an important point of confrontation.Catalonia andAragon had lost theirspecific institutions and laws during and after theWar of the Spanish Succession due to theNueva Planta decrees of1707–1716, and wanted to win them back.Carlists upheld these former institutions during the two major Carlist wars, resulting inCatalonia and theBasque Country becoming the epicentres of fighting.
Finally, the constant political unrest during the reign ofIsabel II, caused by numerous changes in government and the discontent of army officers sent to fight the unsuccessfulHispano-Moroccan War, convinced many traditionalists to favor an armed uprising to restore their lost privileges. AfterIsabel II was overthrown in 1868 by the generalsPrim,Topete andSerrano, the resulting search for a new king resulted in the coronation of the Italian princeAmadeo I, who was supported by the moderate liberals. However, this decision was not welcomed by the Carlists, who elevated their leaderCarlos VII to the position of claimant to replace the foreign king. Once again,Spain appeared to be on the brink of another fight for the crown between two declared enemies, but was actually hiding a more complex array of political goals and tensions.
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,[2] either theHouse of Rothschild orParibas. UnderAmadeo I, the Treasury received a new loan of 143,876,515 pesetas. 72.34% of the loan was provided by the Rothschild's Houses of Paris and London, for whichAlphonse Rothschild and his Spanish agentIgnacio Bauer were awarded the Great Cross of Charles III. However, the loan only briefly patched the financial gaps. Soon, the Treasury required another loan to cover the staggering public debt.
Successive Spanish governments duringLa 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.[4] However, in February 1873, after the abdication ofAmadeo I, theFirst Spanish Republic was proclaimed, prompting the collapse of political and economic relations between France and the new Spanish republic.
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]
The most important fronts of the war were theBasque Provinces andNavarre and the Eastern Front (Valencia,Alicante,Maestrat,Catalonia). Other minor fronts includedAlbacete,Cuenca, andCastilla La Mancha
As in previousCarlist 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 usinghit and run tactics. The Carlists tried to avoid large cities such asBilbao orSan 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 ofCarlos VII's most trusted officers. These armies were composed of royalist volunteers which were united under the Carlist banner, forming regular infantry, cavalry and artillery units. The real strength of these forces, however, was questionable due to the lack of military training and discipline among the volunteers. Carlist forces lacked a defined supply line, resulting in a constant lack of horses, ammunition, and weapons. The weapons they actually received were often obsolete. Finally, Carlist forces were severely limited in mobility because they were unable to use the government-held railway network. These handicaps put Carlists at a severe disadvantage inconventional warfare. As such, Carlists attempted to avoid direct confrontation with the Liberals, and instead relied onguerrilla warfare to achieve their goals.[citation needed]
In response to Carlist weaknesses, the Liberals planned to conduct apacification 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 asBilbao, and superior weapons and manpower. These advantages were, however, somewhat negated by the political instability of the government and the lack of available resources, such as financing, to suppress the Carlist uprising.
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 KingAlfonso XII in 1874, were the Liberals able to start turning the tide of the war in their favor.
The Carlists' plans called for a general uprising acrossSpain, hoping to gain recruits among the least content groups of the Spanish population. On April 20Carlos VII, the Carlist pretender, appointed General Rada as the commander-in-chief of what would become the Carlist army. After this, plans for a general uprising were established, and April 21 was set as the opening day of the uprising.
In response to the uprising, thousands of sympathetic volunteers, most without training and some without weapons, gathered in Orokieta-Erbiti (Oroquieta-Erbiti), north ofNavarre, awaiting Carlos's arrival. As inNavarre, groups inBiscay also rose in arms against the government on the same day. Several raiding parties carried outguerrilla activities acrossCatalonia (under the command of generals Tristany, Savalls and Castells),Castile,Galicia,Aragon,Navarre,Gipuzkoa,... Arriving fromFrance on May 2,Carlos VII himself crossed theBidasoa River from France into Spain, and took command of his forces in Orokieta. However, a quick counterattack of 1,000 government troops led by General Moriones assaulted the Carlist camp in Orokieta during the night of May 4, forcingCarlos VII to retreat toFrance. Fifty Carlists were killed and over 700 were taken prisoner. As a result, the Carlists in theBasque Provinces were left disorganized for nearly the rest of the year. The Battle of Orokieta threatened to end the Third Carlist war almost as soon as it began.
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 fromBiscay, under the leadership of Fausto de Urquizu, Juan E. de Orúe and Antonio de Arguinzóniz, laid down their arms and surrendered, signing theConveno deAmorebieta with General Serrano in exchange for a general indult and the possibility of escaping toFrance or of being incorporated into the national army.
However, in other areas ofSpain, such as inCastile,Navarre,Catalonia,Aragon andGipuzkoa, Carlist parties remained active, engaging government forces in heavy fighting across the area. Though the Carlists suffered a setback in the Basque Provinces, they were far from beaten and still posed a serious threat to the government. Furthermore, the arrangement signed in Amorebieta was rejected by both sides;Serrano was forced to leave his post, while Carlists denounced those who surrendered as traitors.
Meanwhile, inCatalonia, the uprising started earlier thanCarlos VII had expected. Seventy men led by Joan Castell revolted and started raising supporters to form new war parties. The command post was assumed byRafael Tristany untilCarlos VII replaced him with theInfante Alfonso, Carlos's own brother. Several efforts were made to form a common military structure during the summer of 1872 but were unsuccessful until the arrival of theAlfonso in December 1872. At the same time, CarlistPascual Cucala gained popular support in theMaestrat. With the arrival of theinfant Alfonso and the reactivation of the war parties, Carlists were able to muster 3,000 men inCatalonia, 2,000 inValencia, and 850 inAlicante.
With the failure of the uprising in theBasque Provinces andNavarre and the escape ofCarlos VII toFrance, Carlist forces regrouped and reformed themselves for the next strike. All high-ranking officials were removed and replaced with new ones, including General Dorregaray who replaced General Rada as the Commander-in-Chief of the Carlist forces in theBasque Country. A new date was established for another uprising, which would start on December 18, 1872. With the intention of supporting the uprising, small cadres of trained officers enteredSpain to create a Carlist Army in November 1872. New war parties were raised during this period, such as the one famously led by priestManuel Santa Cruz. The second Carlist uprising was successful, resulting in the growth of Carlist forces in the first months of 1873. In February, the Carlist army numbered around 50,000 men on all fronts.
In February, after the abdication of KingAmadeo I and the proclamation of theFirst Spanish Republic, General Dorregaray arrived to lead the Carlist army in theBasque Country, starting a campaign against government forces. At May 5, Carlist forces under the command of Dorregaray and Rada won an important victory atEraul (Navarre), inflicting heavy casualties on a government army led by General Navarro, taking many prisoners. Three months later,Carlos VII entered theBasque Provinces, and in August, Carlist forces captured the city ofEstella, establishing their capital and a provisional government under the leadership ofCarlos VII.
The Carlist advance continued with the inconclusive battle ofMañeru, where both sides claimed victory over the other. One month later, government general Moriones attempted an assault on Estella, defended by the Carlist general Joaquin Elio, but was repulsed with heavy casualties in the nearby town ofMontejurra. Although the battle was inconclusive, both sides claimed victory once again. Estella would remain as a Carlist stronghold until 1876. Combined, the battles of Mañeru and Montejurra led to the victory of Belabieta nearVillabona inGipuzkoa, reaffirming the Carlist cause in the surrounding areas, and strengthening their army and morale.
Unlike the situation in theBasque Provinces andNavarre, the Carlist cause inCatalonia,Aragon,Maestrat andValencia had been successful since the initial uprising in 1872. The arrival of theInfante Alfonso to take command in December 1872 strengthened the Carlist cause, but the work of other Carlist leaders such as Marco de Bello, who added more men to the cause by organizing several Carlist battalions and theCompañias del Pilar inAragon, was also valuable. The first major encounter between the opposing armies was atAlpens on July 9, when a government column, led by Jose Cabrinety, was ambushed by Carlist forces underFrancisco Savalls. In the ensuing slaughter, Cabrinety was killed, and his column of 800 men were either killed or captured by Carlists. Another important clash occurred atBocairente on December 22, when a government force commanded by GeneralValeriano Weyler was attacked by a numerically superior Carlist force led by Jose Santes. Driven back in the initial stage of the fight,Weyler was able to emerge victorious by leading an effective counter-attack which routed Carlist forces.
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 ofBilbao and the battles nearEstella. 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 ofBilbao. At the same time, a strong Carlist force was ordered toGipuzkoa to secure the region, which it finally did after capturingTolosa on February 28. The siege ofBilbao would last from February 21, 1874, until May 2, 1874, and was the turning point of the Third Carlist war in theBasque Provinces andNavarre, with brutal fighting between both sides for possession of the city.
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The Carlist siege ofBilbao began on February 21, 1874, with the entrenchment of theCarlists in the hills aroundBilbao, and the cutting-off of the government supply line and communications along theIbaizabal River. Carlist besiegers, led by Joaquin Elio andCarlos VII himself, numbered around 12,000 men, and faced 1,200 government forces in addition to citizens ofBilbao recruited to serve as auxiliaries. Bombardment of the city began the same day, with Carlist artillery opening fire from their positions in the hills nearBilbao. The initial objectives were civilian structures such as food stores, bakeries and markets which provided food to the besieged citizens. Trying to undermine the determination and willingness of the citizens to resist, the Carlists continued with the bombardment until mid-April, when the attempts of lifting the siege by the government army underSerrano forced Carlists to divert attacks to the liberating army and cease the bombardment of the city.
Government commanders, determined to lift the siege and liberateBilbao, launched a counteroffensive. On February 24, Marshal Serrano sent General Moriones with a relief force of 14,000 men. Carlist besiegers under the command of Nicolas Ollo, entrenched near the town ofSomorrostro, repelled the attackers and inflicted heavy casualties; 1,200 government troops were killed, and many more were wounded. As the assault was halted, Moriones was removed from command due to mental instability. Another attempt was made between March 25–27. Serrano took command of 27,000 men and 70 pieces of artillery and attacked the town ofSomorrostro once again. Joaquin Elio, the Carlist commander in Somorrostro, had 17,000 men able to repel the attack. After three days of heavy fighting around Carlist positions, government forces were driven back. The siege was finally lifted with a renewed offensive on May 1, which succeeded in turning the Carlist flank, forcing them to retreat.Serrano enteredBilbao the next day. By the time government forces liberatedBilbao, the city on the brink of surrender of starvation due to food shortages caused by the Carlist siege.
With the Carlist siege ofBilbao broken, Marshal Serrano sent GeneralManuel Gutiérrez de la Concha to lead an attack against the Carlist capital ofEstella. Defended by GeneralsTorcuato Mendiri and Dorregaray, the garrison of Estella took positions in the hills on the approach to the town, nearAbárzuza, repelling government forces after fighting which lasted from June 25 to June 27. Half-starved and tired by the long march, government forces were unable to defeat the entrenched Carlists. After suffering over 1,000 casualties, with Gutiérrez among them, the government forces were routed byMendiri. By September 24, Carlists still held theBasque Provinces and most ofNavarre outside of their capitals and kept a 24,000-strong army despite being forced to lift the siege of Bilbao. Government forces made more attempts to take the Carlist capital of Estella despite their earlier failures at Abárzuza. The next attack was a diversionary attack, led by Moriones, southeast of the town ofOteiza on August 11. Government forces were able to defeat Carlists under the command of Mendiri, gaining a small tactical victory with heavy casualties.
As it had been in theBasque Provinces andNavarre, 1874 would be the turning point of the war. It began with a small Carlist defeat inCaspe,Aragon, where a government force under ColonelEulogio Despujol surprised Manuel Marco de Bello's forces in the town of Caspe, defeating them and forcing to flee in disorder. 200 Carlists were taken prisoner during this surprise attack. However, Carlists, strengthened by reinforcements sent by theInfante Alfonso fromVallès inTarragona, were able to establish a small state in theMaestrat, centered around the town ofCantavieja. They repelled several attacks onCantavieja but finally capitulated after a siege.
In the meantime, Carlist forces inCatalonia were extremely active inGirona andTarragona. In March, a Carlist force commanded byFrancesc Savalls laid siege toOlot (Girona) and frustrated the attempts to relieve the town by defeating a relief army led by Ramon Nouvilas atCastellfollit de la Roca on March 14. The battle ended with the capture of 2,000 men and Nouviles himself.Olot capitulated two days after the battle. Immediately, Catalan Carlists set their capital atOlot, forming a new government in San Joan de les Abadeses withRafael Tristany as head of state. The main objective of the government was to establish a political administration of the territories held by Carlist forces inCatalonia. AtTarragona,Infante Alfonso started gathering his forces atTortosa. Seeing an opportunity to gain the initiative, Republican ColonelEulogio Despujol, victorious over Carlists atCaspe, attacked a Carlist stronghold led by Colonel Tomas Segarra atGandesa on June 4, taking it and inflicting 100 casualties on the Carlists. This success, however, would be irrelevant in the outcome of the war, asInfante Alfonso gathered a 14,000-strong Carlist army and marched toCuenca one month later. Cuenca, 136 kilometers fromMadrid, capitulated after two days of siege and was brutally sacked, but a Republican counter-attack defeated the disordered Carlists, who withdrew beyond theEbro River. In October, the splitting of Carlist armies of central Spain and ofCatalonia, as dictated byCarlos VII, combined with the rivalries between commandersSavalls andInfante Alfonso, forced the latter to give up his command and to leave Spain.
Thepronounciamiento of GeneralArsenio Martinez de Campos and Brigadier Daban proclaimed the restoration of the monarchy on December 29, 1874, enthroningAlfonso XII, the son of the deposed Queen RegnantIsabel II, as King. A subsequent manifesto, written by former prominent Carlist leaderRamon Cabrera, announced his support of the new monarch, severely undermining the Carlist cause. Several Carlist leaders, such as Savalls, Mendiri, Dorregaray and many others, were put on trial for disloyalty by fellow Carlists or removed from command in 1875. From this point onward, Carlists made few advances and instead fought to defend the holdings gained between 1873 and 1874, setting the basis for the end of the war.
| "We know without a doubt that triggered by the extermination policy of theAlfonsino party and the unswerving faith of our brothers, the Basque-Navarrese Country would rather proclaim independence than kneel under sir Alfonso, should sirCharles VII surrender in the battlefield shrouded in his glorious flag." |
| Weekly periodicalLa 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, GeneralTorcuato Mendiri was able to surprise a government column near Lácar, east ofEstella, 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 KingAlfonso 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 intoNavarre under GeneralJenaro de Quesada's orders, encountered a Carlist army led by General José Pérula atTreviño on July 7. General Tello,Quesada's subordinate, won a decisive victory over the Carlist army, forcing it to retreat in disarray. Soon afterwards,Quesada enteredVitoria unopposed and triumphant. Government forces continued their offensive during summer and fall, with two armies encroaching on Carlist territory, one led by GeneralQuesada and the other by GeneralMartinez Campos. Carlists responded with a scorched-earth tactic, burning crops and retreating from areas they could not hold against the government's advance. A change in Carlist leadership, with the dismissal of Mendiri and the naming of theCount of Caserta as commander-in-chief, did not stabilize the situation. Even with 48 infantry battalions, 3 cavalry regiments, 2 engineer battalions and 100 pieces of artillery under his command, the Count was not able to bring government advance to a halt.
After the defeat atCuenca and the renunciation ofInfante Alfonso's command, the Carlist cause inCatalonia started to collapse. The process was accelerated by the government's offensive that took place inOlot in March, laying siege toSeo de Urgel, which was taken on August. The fighting inCatalonia lasted until November 19, when it was considered "pacified" and free of Carlist parties.
Having lost the war inCatalonia, and faced with the advance of the two government armies led by GeneralsMartinez Campos andQuesada, Carlists began to prepare their last stand in theBasque Provinces andNavarre. The final battle of the war would be fought nearEstella. Government forces, under GeneralFernando Primo de Rivera, advanced with the intention to capture Estella in February 1876 in a final offensive to put an end to the Carlist uprising. Carlist forces, this time under General Carlos Calderón, fortified themselves atMontejurra, a nearby mountain, and built a powerful stronghold.
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.[8] On February 19, government forces drove through the weak Carlist forces protecting Estella, taking the city. The loss of their capital convinced the remaining Carlist forces that their cause was now lost, and they began to head to exile.Carlos VII was among them, leavingSpain on February 28, the same day thatAlfonso XII enteredPamplona with a 200,000-strong army, ending the Third, and final, Carlist war.[9]
The end of the conflict marked the dawn of a new political system and a new social reality that affected the entirety ofSpain. 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]
The relentless centralizing drive of the Spanish Crown after theFirst Carlist War led to the reduction of the autonomy of theBasque institutional and legal system (1839–1841), but it was onlyafter the Third Carlist War that it was virtually wiped out. Of the huge government army occupying Pamplona, 40,000 troops were stationed in the Basque Provinces, where martial law was imposed.[9] The Carlist defeat prompted the end of the secularconfederate Basque self-government.
However, in May 1876, pragmatic considerations left the Spanish Prime MinisterAntonio Canovas del Castillo with no option but to negotiate with the Basque Provinces. The negotiations, held between government officials and high-ranking Liberal officials of the regional chartered councils, took place behind closed doors, and thus bypassed the Basque representative assemblies, theJuntas Generales.
After a number of heated debates in the Spanish parliament[a] and closed-doors meetings between the government and the Basque leaders, no agreement was reached. In response, an official Spanish decree was approved on July 21, 1876, by Prime MinisterAntonio Canovas del Castillo, which abolished the Basque institutional system ofBiscay,Álava, andGipuzkoa. The decree reduced the Basque province to the status held by Navarre after 1841, and essentially ended Basque home rule. This "Abolition Act" was "a punishment law," as stated by the Chair of the Council of Ministers, and guaranteed "the expansion the Spanish constitutional union to all Spain," as stated by the Prime Minister Canovas.[13] The first article of the law proclaimed:
The duties that the politic[al] Constitution has imposed upon the Spanish people to do...military service when they [are] call[ed] by...law and, to contribute, in proportion of their assets, to the state expenditures, to the inhabitants of the Provinces ofBiscay,Gipuzkoa andÁlava, 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-autonomousKingdom of Navarre into a Spanish province.
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 theBasque 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 theBasque 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]
Another consequence of the Carlist defeat and ensuing abolition of the Basque institutional system was the liberalization of the industries in theBasque Provinces, especially inBiscay. 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 theSocieté 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 ofBiscay had major consequences. The demographics of the region soon shifted as the rural society evolved into an industrial one. There was marked growth in immigration to Biscay, at first from the rest of theBasque Provinces, but later from all of Spain. Due to the growth of the industrial working class,trade unions were formed and thesocialist movement began growing in strength. As a result of the industrialization, Basque identity was plunged into crisis due to the perception that local customs and language were being eroded by the massive wave of immigration from diverse parts of Spain. In combination with the abolition of the remaining Basque government institutions, the industrial expansion in the Basque Country played a major role the emergence ofBasque nationalism.
In December 1874, in the midst of the war, MajorMartinez Campos proclaimedAlfonso XII asKing of Spain through a successful military uprising, ending theFirst Spanish Republic. Six years after the deposition ofIsabel II, Alfonso's mother, theBourbon dynasty was restored to the Spanish throne.
Before the restoration,Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, a prominent political figure in Spain, took theBritish monarchy and the parliamentary system as models for a potential restoration, attending theRoyal Military College, Sandhurst in Britain. There, before the military uprising of 1874, Alfonso XII proclaimed a manifesto, written by Canovas, which advocated monarchy as the only way to end the crisis of the revolutionary period, and which set out the most important ideas of a new Spanish political system.
In the first months of theRestoration,Canovas concentrated the majority of power in his own hands. However, to legitimize his new government, he needed a constitution to regulate and guarantee the new political regime. He and his companions organized elections on the basis of maleuniversal suffrage to form the "cortes constituyentes," and to write a new constitution.[citation needed] It was partially inspired by theConstitution of 1845 but also incorporated some elements of theConstitution of 1869, such as civil rights and liberties.[citation needed] The new constitution announced that:
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 fortwo parties; all other parties were barred from participating. TheConservative Party, led byAntonio Canovas del Castillo, represented the interests of the landowners, bourgeoisie, Catholic groups, and the aristocracy of the former regime. TheLiberal Party, led byPráxedes 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 theturno system, agreed upon by Conservative leaderCanovas and Liberal leaderSagasta. 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 theoligarchy and political bosses (Caciquism) to attain desired results.
One consequence of theabolition of Basque home rule was an evolution ofCarlism into a range of factions, one of which becameBasque nationalism. In response to the abolition of thefueros, a movement was created defend the lost Basquenative institutional and legal framework and to restore the receding Basque cultural identity, namelyBasque language andculture. The 1894Sanrocada protest inBiscay echoed the 1893–1894Gamazada popular uprising in Navarre. They sowed the seeds for the formation of theBasque Nationalist Party (EAJ-PNV), founded in 1895, bySabino Arana, a Basque writer. Arana, commonly seen as the father of Basque nationalism, rejected theSpanish monarchy, and basedBasque nationalism on the ideals ofCatholicism and thefueros. Such ideals were summarized in the Basque Nationalist Party's motto:
Jaungoikoa eta Lagi zaharra ("God and Tradition").
TheBasque Nationalist Party was ideologically conservative, opposingliberalism,industrialization,[citation needed]Spanishness andsocialism. However, it attracted diverse personalities concerned with the loss of Basque identity and institutions, such as Ramón de la Sota, a Basque industrialist born inSantander. 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 ofsocialism.
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 manifestoBizkaya por su independencia ("Biscay for its independence") spoke specifically of Biscay, but pointed to a reality beyond the boundaries of each specific district: theBasque country as a whole.
Catalan nationalism peaked whenSpain lost most of its colonies in 1898, at the conclusion of theSpanish-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 federalistValenti Almirall produced one of the earliest formulations ofCatalan nationalism, outlined in his 1886 bookLo Catalanisme. He was persuaded of the need to create a new political force separate from Spanish political parties, creating the partyCentre Catalá in 1882. Although the party integrated a variety of different political beliefs, its common purpose was the demand for autonomy, ordevolution.
The project, however, failed to progress very far. Even during the late 19th century, Catalan nationalism was not strong enough. One section of the moderatebourgeoisie supportedCatalanism as a reaction to the liberal and centralist policies of the Spanish government. In this context,Enric Prat de la Riba established the "Lliga de Catalunya" in 1887, defending a traditional Catalan project. In 1891 theUnió Catalanista was founded by the convergence of different political ideas, leading to the first political program of Catalanism known as theBases de Manresa in 1892. They demanded one regional autonomous power, traditionalist and not liberal (suffrage by census, no references to the knights and freedom...).[clarification needed]
Paz en la guerra (Peace in War) (1895), a novel byMiguel 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 ofBilbao in the Third Carlist War. The writerBenito Pérez Galdós also mentions some tales of the Third Carlist War in his booksEpisodios Nacionales (1872–1912), often showing them as religious bandits and mocking their leaders, who are often referred to as "wild beasts."
The Anglo-Polish novelistJoseph Conrad, originally a merchant seaman, claimed that he had smuggled arms to Spain for theCarlist supporters ofCarlos de Borbón y de Austria-Este. An authoritative Conrad scholarZdzisław Najder reports: ‘A careful reading of "TheTremolino" andThe Arrow of Gold reveals that the whole Carlist plot is a sideline, an ornament that does not affect the course of action; its only function seems to be to glamorize and idealize smuggling.’[14]
Part of the filmVacas (1992) is set during the Third Carlist War.
Media related toThird Carlist War at Wikimedia Commons
