Sexenio Revolucionario

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Under Sexenio Revolucionario also: Sexenio Democrático ( German : the revolutionary or democratic six years) one understands in Spanish history the period between 1868 and 1874, in which democratic and revolutionary forces had a clear influence on the political development of the country. The Sexenio Revolucionario followed the Spanish September Revolution in 1868, also called La Gloriosa in Spain , in which Isabel II was overthrown. It culminated in the establishment of the First Republic from 1873 to 1874. The Sexenio Revolucionario was followed by the Restoration (1874–1931) with the beginning of the reign of the Bourbon Alfonso XII .

The revolutionary forces

The September Revolution of 1868, the Pronunciamiento of September 18, and the subsequent uprisings in many of the larger cities in which revolutionary juntas formed were politically and economically motivated on the one hand. The progressives and democrats were no longer ready to accept their exclusion from the government, and Spain had been in an economic crisis since 1866.

There was a disparity in goals among the revolutionary forces: with the overthrow of Isabella, the unionists had achieved their revolutionary goal. The progressives, the revolutionary center, whose main representatives included General Juan Prim , Sagasta and Zorilla , wanted to overthrow the moderados. The Republicans, who belonged to the revolutionary left wing, intended to abolish the monarchy . Peasants and workers wanted a change in the structure of society.

In November 1868 the Democratic Party split. Some moderate democrats (cimbrios) together with unionists and progressives wrote a manifesto in which the republic was rejected. The Partido Monárquico-Democrático was created. The majority of the Democrats formed the Federal Republican Democratic Party.

The Serrano government

The provisional government under Serrano sought to establish a moderate monarchy . It largely ignored the juntas' demands for social reform. That is why there was a mass support for the Republicans. In the municipal elections in December 1868 there were a number of Republican victories. In the elections to the Constituent Cortes of 1869, which were held under universal, equal and direct male suffrage, the Republicans received 85 seats and the monarchist forces 236.

The constitution of June 1869 was based on the principles of popular sovereignty , the free exercise of religion and universal suffrage, and contained a catalog of basic rights. After the constitution was published, riots and demonstrations broke out . In Catalonia, 50,000 workers led by the Spanish section of the International went on strike . General Serrano of the Liberal Union became regent and General Prim of the Progressives became head of government. The Republicans were expelled from the government. There was a conflict between the government and the army over the promise to abolish the quintas , the recruiting system.

After 1868 the Spanish government had to deal with four sets of problems. First there was an independence movement in Cuba that led to a 10-year war. The Republicans who were in opposition were another problem. In addition, the Carlist regained claims to the throne and the search for a suitable king was very tedious.

Amadeo

After a 15-month search, Amadeo , the second son of the Italian King Victor Emanuel II of the House of Savoy , was elected king on November 16, 1870. Amadeo I ruled from January 1871 to February 1873. The government was highly problematic for him. In December 1870, General Prim, Amadeo's advocate, was assassinated. In addition, the new king had to contend with the rejection of the nobility , church and liberals, also because he was a foreigner, with the intrigues of the republicans, with the Alfonsinos, who viewed the son of Isabela as the legitimate heir to the throne.

The first republic

After Amadeo's abdication , the Cortes voted in a joint session of Congress and Senate on February 11, 1873 for the establishment of the Republic . The Republicans were split into Unitarians and Federalists . The group of federalists, on the other hand, was divided into two camps: there were those who wanted to introduce federalism “from above” and the others who wanted to implement it “from below”.

There were four presidents in the ten months that the First Spanish Republic existed. The first president of the republic was Estanislao Figueras : under his government the Cortes Constituyentes (Constituent Cortes) were elected on May 10, 1873, in which the federal-republican camp obtained a majority because the monarchists boycotted the election. There were three main currents in the Constituent Cortes. The right around Emilio Castelar was not convinced of the republic as the most suitable form of government. In the middle stood the federalists around Francisco Pi y Margall , who advocated a unitarian federal republic. They wanted autonomy for the Spanish regions , but also a strong central power. On the left were the intransigent, who with their cantonal program demanded a weak central authority.

In June 1873, Francisco Pi y Margall became provisional president. During his reign, cantonal uprisings arose in Andalusia and the Levant . The next president, Nicolás Salmerón , who was considered moderate, stepped up to suppress the cantonalists. He sent generals Martínez-Campos and Manuel Pavía for this purpose . Finally, under Emilio Castelar , the republic developed in a conservative direction.

In January 1874 the parliament was occupied by General Manuel Pavía y Rodríguez, which meant the end of the republic . The authoritarian government under Serrano followed . In December of the same year, General Martínez-Campos proclaimed Alfonso XII. to the king. After 1874 the Republicans sank into political insignificance until 1890. They only became relevant again with new managers such as Alejandro Lerroux and Vicente Blasco Ibáñez .

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