Title

Madrid Revolution of 1854

Description

Reports of the Revolution of 1854 by F. Pi y Margall and by the British Ambassador Otway to Clarendon. Also, a copy of a play about the revolt produced in 1854.

From the beginnings of the 1850s, the Spanish government became increasingly unstable due to friction between the different conservative families jostling for power and due to corruption scandals related to railroad concessions. A broad conservative faction finally joined opposition groups aiming at a slight liberalisation of the political system. In 1852, dissident conservatives and progressives formed an electoral coalition, which brought in a minority of representatives at the Cortes. But in early 1854, a heavy-handed conservative was appointed president of the Council of Ministers. He started his mandate with a series of repressive measures, which included extensive censorship and the arrests of journalists and activists. The economic situation was also deteriorating because of wheat exportation and rise of unemployment. A range of diverse groups conspired separately: dissident conservative militaries, progressives, republicans, and democrats. Finally, a sector of the army commanded by General O’Donnel started a pronunciamiento (uprising) on 28 June, with the objective of provoking a change of government. On 30 June, rebels and governmental troops faced each other without a clear result. It became clear that it was necessary to approach other dissident groups, especially progressives, with whom a Manifesto was written promising reforms on electoral and press laws, decentralisation, and the reorganisation of the National Guard. Progressives and democrats joined the insurrectionist project and on 14 July an uprising took place in Barcelona; the next day it spread to Valladolid and, on 17 July, it broke out in Zaragoza and Madrid. On 31 July, the Queen was forced to change the government. The Revolution had succeeded. Scholars are still debating if it was clearly led by conservatives, or if progressives and democrats carried out an uprising that upended and extended the conservative plan. In any case, there were several centres of conspiracy with relatively open boundaries, enabling progressive liberals, democrats, and republicans to lead the unfolding events in the major cities.

Contributor

Florencia Peyrou

Temporal Coverage

1854

Spatial Coverage

Madrid, Spain

Date

1854

Subject

conspiracy

groups

ideologies

liberalism

literature

popular protest

theatre