The First Carlist War: Dynastic Succession and Ideological Conflict
The First Carlist War
The Carlist civil war, a dynastic succession dispute, was an ideological conflict marked by the struggle between liberal revolution and traditionalist absolutism.
On September 29, 1833, Fernando VII died, leaving the dynastic crisis unresolved. Carlos Maria Isidro, his brother, exiled in Portugal, published the Abrantes Manifesto on October 1, asserting his dynastic rights over those of his niece Isabella. This ignored Ferdinand VII’s amendments to the law on succession, which repealed the Salic law (preventing female access to the Spanish throne) through the Pragmatic Sanction.
Carlism agglutinated defenders of absolutism, the Old Regime, and dynastic support for Don Carlos. This ideology also included religious fundamentalism and defending religious orders where they had been threatened or killed.
The Elizabethan side, quite heterogeneous, shared common goals: the rights of succession to the throne for Ferdinand VII’s daughter, the liquidation of the Old Regime, and the involvement of a liberal political system.
It would be a mistake to simplify the identification of Carlism’s advocates with rural Spain; not all urban sectors collectively defended the new bourgeois society. While demonstrations were more prone to either side depending on the region, the key was a mass of indifferent people who, when taking sides, overwhelmingly favored the monarch and his successor.
The social sectors supporting Carlism were clearly most religious orders (affected by alienation), the secular clergy, non-prominent members of the army, some provincial nobles, and mainly the rural sector, especially in the northern regions of the Peninsula.
The Elizabethan side incorporated the majority of positions in the Administration and the provincial and municipal bureaucracy. Furthermore, it had the support of most members of the army, the middle class, financiers and businessmen, members of liberal professions, the aristocracy, much of the secular clergy, as well as broad popular sectors, both urban and rural. Internationally, while the Carlist side was not explicitly recognized by any power, the regent’s government had the diplomatic support of Portugal, England, and France.
The First Carlist War broke out on October 1, 1833, and ended in 1840, developing mainly in two geographical areas: the Basque Country, Navarra, and the Aragon Maestrazgo.
Initially, the initiative came from the Carlist side until July 1835, when the Carlist general Zumalacarregui died.
From that moment, Carlism attempted to spread the conflict throughout Spanish territory.
Faced with the impossible victory, the Carlist camp divided into factions with various strategies: a right-wing intransigent faction unwilling to surrender or agree, and a moderate or transaction sector, with Maroto at its head, signed the Peace or Convention of Vergara on August 31, 1839, with General Espartero.