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99-638: ... Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia, united by their topographical situation, united in their most cherished interests, united by their historical memories, similar if not equal in character and customs, worthy equals in their passion for freedom; are called by their nature, to march united, to live allied and to fulfill together the high provincial destinies of our race. We unite to resist tyranny and as Aragonese, Catalans and Valencians, invoking in our favor honorable historical antecedents, we rightly expect that our firm resolution will be worthy of its due importance. (...) (...) 1º. The citizens gathered here agree that

198-567: A Catalan State within a Spanish Federal Republic. First Spanish Republic The Spanish Republic ( Spanish : República española ), historiographically referred to as the First Spanish Republic ( Spanish : Primera República española ), was the political regime that existed in Spain from 11 February 1873 to 29 December 1874. The Republic's founding ensued after the abdication of King Amadeo on 10 February 1873. On

297-493: A cabal of society, nature and history. Sirs, let us greet it like the sun rising with its own strength on the sky of our nation. After Castelar's powerful speech, amidst passionate applause, the Republic was declared with a resignation of the monarchists, with 258 votes in favour and only 32 against: "The National Assembly assumes all powers and declares the Republic as the form of government of Spain, leaving its organization to

396-674: A Cabinet session, Estanislao Figueras yelled: "Gentlemen, I can't stand this any more. I am going to be frank with you: I'm fed up with all of us!" So fed up that on 10 June he left his resignation letter in his office, went for a walk through the Parque del Buen Retiro and, without telling anyone, boarded the first train departing from the Atocha Station . He would only step down upon arriving in Paris . " The federal republic for Pi y Margall The procedure — there's no reason to hide it —

495-571: A battalion of infantry and various artillery and cavalry units, to march on the militiamen. The coup d'état failed as soon as it started, and the government dissolved the military units participating and the Permanent Committee of the Assembly. The writs were issued for Constituent Cortes elections on 10 May which resulted 343 seats for federal republicans and 31 for the rest of the political forces. The elections themselves developed in

594-449: A committee of German merchants and landowners created a troop to defend their possessions in 1870. A neutral force initially, as ordered by Otto von Bismarck in a telegram to consul Luis Will, they were considered to favor the government. Ignacio Agramonte was killed by a stray bullet on 11 May 1873, and was replaced in the command of the central troops by Máximo Gómez. Because of political and personal disagreements and Agramonte's death,

693-730: A double attack against the Spanish. When the Spaniards (following then-standard tactics) formed a square, they were vulnerable to rifle fire from infantry under cover, and pistol and carbine fire from charging cavalry. In the event, as with the Haitian Revolution , the European forces suffered the most fatalities due to yellow fever because the Spanish-born troops had no acquired immunity to this endemic tropical disease of

792-495: A few years earlier to face the announced invasion by John A. Quitman in collaboration with Ramón Pintó. By early-1869 more than 70,000 men, both peninsulares and creoles had joined the Volunteers. In the big cities, the Volunteers were used to keep public order in the cities, earning some notoriety for their lack of discipline and harsh acts of repression against independence supporters. Its forces executed eight students from

891-653: A leading Latin American intellectual and Cuba's foremost national hero, its primary architect of the 1895–98 Cuban War of Independence . After some initial victories and defeats, in 1868 Céspedes replaced Gomez as head of the Cuban Army with United States General Thomas Jordan , a veteran of Confederate States Army in the American Civil War. He brought a well-equipped force, but General Jordan's reliance on regular tactics, although initially effective, left

990-553: A llegar, en sus justísimos desquites, hasta Murcia, y a no dejar en Murcia piedra sobre piedra. The Jumillan nation wishes to live in peace with all nearby nations, and particularly with the nation of Murcia, her neighbor; but should the nation of Murcia dare not to recognize its autonomy and violate its borders, Jumilla will fight back like the heroes of May 2 , and shall be victorious in her demands, ready to arrive at Murcia, in its most just retribution, itself and leave no stone standing upon another. There is, however, no record of such

1089-455: A manifesto, nor of any similar declaration, in the municipal archives; and the proceedings of the time seemed to be within normality. This has motivated several historians to deny the authenticity of the manifesto and even the very existence of the Jumilla canton, stating that its invention was merely a form of anti-republican propaganda. The most active – and known – of the cantons

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1188-501: A massive scale as the mechanisms to express it were restricted. This discontent was particularly felt by the powerful planters and hacienda owners in Eastern Cuba. The failure of the latest efforts by the reformist movements, the demise of the "Information Board," and another economic crisis in 1866/67 heightened social tensions on the island. The colonial administration continued to make huge profits which were not re-invested in

1287-621: A motion declaring the town a Social Republic, and the next day many federalist deputies left the Cortes in protest. About a week later, on 9 July, Alcoy followed suit, when during a strike directed by local leaders of the First International , the police fired to the gathered workers who responded by taking up arms and gaining control of the city. These events became known as the Petroleum Revolution . Shortly after,

1386-424: A national government. The monarchists and Republicans refused, leaving the unitary Radicals and Constitutionalists as the only group willing to govern; again a narrow political base. General Francisco Serrano formed a new government and was appointed President of the Republic although it was a mere formality since the Cortes had been dissolved. Carlist forces managed to expand the territory under their control to

1485-749: A new coup, now supported by the Civil Governor of Madrid: a battalion of militiamen took positions along the Paseo del Prado , and four thousand more perfectly armed volunteers gathered near Independence Square under the pretext of passing review. Having heard from the plot, Pi i Margall mobilized the Civil Guard . For his part, after the Minister of War appointed Baltasar Hidalgo as the new Captain General for Madrid, he ordered Brigadier Carmona and

1584-403: A new president was elected. Figueras' fellow federalist and government minister Francisco Pi y Margall was elected on 11 June, but on his speech to the Assembly he declared he was at a complete loss and without a program. The main efforts of the new government focused on the drafting of the new Constitution and some social character-related bills: On 16 June a 25-member Committee was set up by

1683-448: A policy of brotherhood, tolerance, and justice, and to consider all men equal, and to not exclude anyone from these benefits, not even Spaniards, if they choose to remain and live peacefully among us. Our aim is that the people participate in the creation of laws, and in the distribution and investment of the contributions. Our aim is to abolish slavery and to compensate those deserving compensation. We seek freedom of assembly, freedom of

1782-479: A quite unorthodox environment, and the resulting representation was ridiculous, as most factions in Spain did not participate: the Carlists were still waging war against the Republic, while the alfonsino monarchists of Antonio Cánovas del Castillo , the unitary republicans and even the incipient workers' organization close to the First International all called for abstention . The result was clearly favourable to

1881-556: A rock and the proverbial hard place of the cantonal revolution. However, the effective Commander in Chief of the Republic rejected all calls, from both military and political instances, to exert repression on the cantonal uprisings, as he argued they were just following his very own doctrine. Thus, he was forced to resign on 18 July after just 37 days in office. He would later sorely describe his experience as premier: So many have my upsets with power been that I can no longer covet it. While in

1980-605: A strange telegram sent by the city's captain-general to the Minister of the Navy: "Saint Julian castle shows Turkish flag". Such "Turkish flag" was in fact the cantonal flag, the first red flag in Spanish history (the Ottoman Civil Ensign was a plain red flag, hence the captain-general's terminology). Gálvez's passionate speeches allowed him to gain control of the Navy ships docked in the city, which at that time were among

2079-447: A strong abolitionist movement on the island, and rising costs among the slave-holding planters in the east. New technologies and farming techniques made large numbers of slaves unnecessary and prohibitively expensive. In the economic crisis of 1857 many businesses failed, including many sugar plantations and sugar refineries. The abolitionist cause gained strength, favoring a gradual emancipation of slaves with financial compensation from

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2178-546: A thousand parts, similar to the successors to the Cordoba Caliphate . The strangest ideas and the most dishevelled principles came from the provinces. Some said to be about to restore the old Crown of Aragon , as if the ways of modern Law were spells from the Middle Ages . Others wanted to form an independent Galicia under an English protectorate. Jaén was preparing to wage war against Granada . Salamanca

2277-825: Is the Federal Democratic Republic, with all its legitimate and natural consequences. (...) The pact led to similar pacts such as those of Córdoba, the two Castiles, Valladolid, the Galician-Asturian pact in Santiago de Compostela, the Basque-Navarran pact at Eibar and lastly the Madrid Agreement of 30 July 1869. When the First Spanish Republic was established (1873), there were different attempts in Barcelona to proclaim

2376-553: Is usually considered the heart of this government, which had to face several problems already endemic to the Republic, such as the Third Carlist War, separatist insurrections (this time from Catalonia), military indiscipline, monarchic plots, etc. His government dissolved the National Assembly and summoned Constituent Cortes for 1 May. On 23 April Cristino Martos, Speaker of the old National Assembly, attempted

2475-604: The Cantonal Rebellion swept across Spain with the federalist sentiment giving rise to several independent cantons. Uprisings were daily news in the south-eastern area of Valencia , Murcia and Andalusia . Some cantons were provincial in nature, like Valencia or Málaga , but most comprised just a city and its surroundings, like the more localised cantons of Alcoy , Cartagena , Seville , Cádiz , Almansa , Torrevieja , Castellón , Granada , Salamanca , Bailén , Andújar , Tarifa and Algeciras . Even smaller were

2574-519: The Great War ( Guerra Grande ) and the War of '68 , was part of Cuba 's fight for independence from Spain . The uprising was led by Cuban-born planters and other wealthy natives. On 10 October 1868, sugar mill owner Carlos Manuel de Céspedes and his followers proclaimed independence, beginning the conflict. This was the first of three liberation wars that Cuba fought against Spain, the other two being

2673-540: The International Workingmen's Association , the lack of any broad political legitimacy, and personal in-fighting among the republican leadership all further weakened the republic. The Republic effectively ended on 3 January 1874, when the Captain General of Madrid , Manuel Pavía , pronounced against the federalist government and called on all parties except Federalists and Carlists to form

2772-518: The Las Clavellinas Uprising and, in early February 1869, Las Villas followed. The uprising was not supported in the westernmost provinces of Pinar del Río , Havana and Matanzas . With few exceptions (Vuelta Abajo), resistance was clandestine. A staunch supporter of the rebellion was José Martí who, at the age of 16, was detained and condemned to 16 years of hard labour. He was later deported to Spain. Eventually he developed as

2871-686: The Little War (1879–1880) and the Cuban War of Independence (1895–1898). The final three months of the last conflict escalated with United States involvement, leading to the Spanish–American War . Cuban bourgeoisie demanded fundamental social and economic reforms from the Crown. Lax enforcement of the slave trade ban had resulted in a dramatic increase in imports of Africans, estimated at 90,000 slaves from 1856 to 1860. This occurred despite

2970-656: The Ten Years' War , ongoing since 1868, to which the Cantonal rebellion added up in 1873. The January 1874 coup of Pavía ousted the government, giving way to a praetorian republic under General Serrano . In December 1874, General Arsenio Martínez Campos staged a pronunciamiento in Sagunto, which delivered the coup de grâce to the Republic and brought the Bourbon Restoration . The Constituent Cortes

3069-508: The University of Havana on 27 November 1871. The corps seized the steamship Virginius in international waters on 31 October 1873. Starting on 4 November, its forces executed 53 persons, including the captain, most of the crew, and a number of Cuban insurgents on board. The serial executions were stopped only by the intervention of a British man-of-war under the command of Sir Lambton Lorraine . Apart from their controversial role in

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3168-681: The Assembly deposed Céspedes as president, replacing him with Cisneros. Agramonte had realized that his dream Constitution and government were ill-suited to the Cuban Republic in Arms, which was the reason he quit as secretary and assumed command of the Camaguey region. He became a supporter of Cespedes. Céspedes was later surprised and killed on 27 February 1874, by a swift-moving patrol of Spanish troops. The new Cuban government had left him with only one escort and denied permission to leave Cuba for

3267-415: The Carlists and the cantonal revolution, the actual territory in which the short-lived Republic exerted undisputed authority did not extend much further than the province of Madrid itself and North-Western Spain, as cantonal uprisings took place as far north as Ávila . Due to the rapid pace of the events, and without time for the new Constitution to be passed by the Cortes, Pi i Margall found himself between

3366-542: The Constituent Cortes. An Executive Power shall be elected directly by the Cortes, and it shall be responsible to the same." In the same session, the first government of the Republic was elected. Federal republican Estanislao Figueras was elected the first "President of the Executive Power", an office incorporating the heads of State and Government. No "President of the Republic" was ever elected, as

3465-550: The Constitution creating such office was never enacted. In his speech, Figueras said that the Republic "was like a rainbow of peace and harmony of all Spaniards of good will." The passage of these resolutions surprised and stunned most Spaniards, as the recently elected Cortes (now National Assembly) had a wide majority of monarchists. Ruiz Zorrilla spoke in these terms: "I protest and will keep doing so, even if I'm left on my own, against those representatives that having come to

3564-435: The Cortes as constitutional monarchists feel themselves authorized to make the decision to turn the nation from monarchist to republican overnight." For most monarchists, though, the impossibility of restoring Isabella II as Queen, and the youth of the future Alfonso XII made the Republic the only, though transitory, viable course of action, particularly given the inevitable failure that awaited it. The first government of

3663-561: The Cortes to study the draft Constitution of the Federal Republic of Spain , the redaction of which is mainly attributed to Emilio Castelar , with debate starting the following day. On 28 June Pi i Margall renewed the composition of his government, but due to the slow pace of the constitutional debates in the Cortes, events came crashing down on the government at a stunning pace. On 30 June the City Council of Seville passed

3762-635: The French invasion of that country), as Chief of the Armed Forces. By early 1869, the Spanish authorities had failed to reach an agreement with the insurrection forces. Harsher measures to repress the insurrection and its supporters were taken, and troops began to flood in from the Peninsula. Apart from the regular army, the government relied on the Voluntary Corps, a militia created in 1855

3861-647: The Government I have lost my calm, my illusions, my trust in fellow men which was the base of my character. For each grateful man, a hundred ungratefuls; for each disinterested and patriotic one, hundreds that wanted from politics nothing more than the satisfaction of their whims. I have received bad for good. The draft of the Federal Constitution of the First Republic of Spain developed at length into 117 articles organized under 17 titles. In

3960-557: The Government for slaveholders. Additionally, some planters preferred hiring Chinese immigrants as indentured workers and in anticipation of ending slavery. Before the 1870s, more than 125,000 were sent to Cuba. In May 1865, Cuban creole elites placed four demands upon the Spanish Parliament: tariff reform, political representation in Parliament, judicial equality for all Spaniards (including Cubans), and full enforcement of

4059-728: The National Assembly while waiting for any final notice from the King. The overwhelming majority was with the monarchists from the two dynastic parties that had exercised the government until then: the Radical Democratic Party of Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla and the Constitutional Party of Práxedes Mateo Sagasta . There also was a small republican minority in the National Assembly, ideologically divided between federalism and centralism. One of them, Federal Democratic Republican Party member Francisco Pi y Margall moved

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4158-493: The Republic was formed of federalists and progressives who had been ministers during the monarchy. Four ministers, in particular, had served with King Amadeo: Echegaray (Finance), Becerra (War), Fernández de Córdoba (Navy) and Berenguer (Infrastructure). At the beginning, they were plagued by a terrible economic situation, with a 546M peseta budgetary deficit , 153M in debts requiring immediate payment and only 32M available to fulfill them. The Artillery Corps had been dissolved in

4257-601: The Spanish Federal Republic on 9 March which was overcome by a series of telegraphic contacts between the government and the Catalan leaders. On 23 April a new coup attempt was set in motion; this time by a collusion of alfonsino monarchists, members of the old Liberal Union and monarchic sectors of the Army; but failed when several units refrained from supporting it at the last hour. Francisco Pi y Margall

4356-678: The Spanish Nation is the Democratic Federal Republic". The president, having carried out the Cortes' regulations for the definite approval of proposal of law, arranged to hold a nominal vote the next day. The resolution was passed 8 June by a favorable vote of 219 representatives and only 2 against, and the Federal Republic was thus declared. Most of the federalists in parliament supported a Swiss -like confederative model, with regions directly forming independent cantons. Spanish writer Benito Pérez Galdós , aged 21 at

4455-505: The US, from where he intended to help prepare and send armed expeditions. Activities in the Ten Years' War peaked in the years 1872 and 1873, but after the deaths of Agramonte and Céspedes, Cuban operations were limited to the regions of Camagüey and Oriente . Gómez began an invasion of Western Cuba in 1875, but the vast majority of slaves and wealthy sugar producers in the region did not join

4554-479: The areas that had joined the uprising. The assembly discussed whether a centralized leadership should be in charge of both military and civilian affairs, or if there should be a separation between civilian government and military leadership, the latter being subordinate to the first. The overwhelming majority voted for the separation option. Céspedes was elected president of this assembly; and General Ignacio Agramonte y Loynáz and Antonio Zambrana , principal authors of

4653-646: The best in the Spanish Navy. Under his command, the fleet wreaked havoc on the nearby Mediterranean shore, causing the Madrid government to declare him a pirate and set a bounty on his head. Back on land, he led an expedition towards Madrid that was defeated at Chinchilla . Two cantonal frigates, the Almansa and the Vitoria , set sail towards a "foreign power" (the Spanish city of Almería ) for fund-raising. As

4752-423: The cities, hundreds of Volunteer units were created in the countryside. Most of the Volunteers there were Cubans loyal to Spain who organised sections and companies to defend their hometowns from rebel attacks, giving a tone of civil war to Cuba's first war of independence. According to a Spanish journalist, by 1872, 52,000 of the 80,000 Volunteers were Cuban-born. In the so-called "Creciente de Valmaseda" incident,

4851-642: The city would not pay, it was bombarded and taken by the cantonalists. General Contreras, commanding officer of the cantonal fleet, ordered the Marcha Real to be played as he unboarded. Afterwards, the deed would be repeated in Alicante , but on the trip back to Cartagena they were captured as pirates by the armoured frigates HMS Swiftsure and SMS Friedrich Karl , under the UK and German flags respectively. There were days in that summer in which we thought our Spain

4950-650: The constitutional organs of the Cuban government were dissolved; the remaining leaders among the insurgents started negotiating for peace in Zanjón, Puerto Príncipe. General Arsenio Martínez Campos , in charge of applying the new policy, arrived in Cuba. It took him nearly two years to convince most of the rebels to accept the Pact of Zanjón ; it was signed on 10 February 1878, by a negotiating committee. The document contained most of

5049-429: The corps captured farmers (Guajiros) and the families of Mambises, killing them immediately or sending them en masse to concentration camps on the island. The Mambises fought using guerrilla tactics and were more effective on the eastern side of the island than in the west, where they lacked supplies. Another Voluntary Corps was formed by Germans, the so-called "Club des Alemanes". Presided by Fernando Heydrich ,

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5148-678: The country. Generally speaking, those rich enough settled in Europe or else in northern cities in America like New York, Philadelphia, or Boston. Meanwhile, the poorer workers moved to south Florida , first settling in Key West , and then in Tampa . On 10 April 1869, a constitutional assembly took place in the town of Guáimaro (Camagüey). It was intended to provide the revolution with greater organizational and juridical unity, with representatives from

5247-611: The eastern region of Cuba. On 13 October, the rebels took eight towns in the province that favoured the insurgency and acquisition of arms. By October's end, the insurrection had enlisted some 12,000 volunteers. That same month, Máximo Gómez taught the Cuban forces what would be their most lethal tactic: the machete charge . He was a former cavalry officer for the Spanish Army in the Dominican Republic. Forces were taught to combine use of firearms with machetes, for

5346-418: The establishment of the Republic, compulsory military service was removed and voluntary service set up with a daily salary of 1 peseta and one crust (loaf?) of bread. A Republican volunteers corps was also established with an enlistment salary of 50 pesetas and a daily salary of 2 pesetas and 1 crust of bread. The second Figueras government had to face the attempt of proclamation of the Estat Català inside

5445-558: The existence of the nation" such as "the ability to give it a political constitution" (articles 92 and 93). The constitutional draft anticipated in Title IV—in addition to the classic Legislative Power, Executive Power and Judicial Power —a fourth Relational Power that would be exercised by the president of the Republic. Ten Years%27 War [REDACTED]   Spanish Empire 50,000 –100,000 dead 81,248 –90,000 dead The Ten Years' War ( Spanish : Guerra de los Diez Años ; 1868–1878), also known as

5544-457: The families of Cuban rebels far too vulnerable to the " ethnic cleansing " tactics of the ruthless Blas Villate , Count of Valmaceda (also spelled Balmaceda). Valeriano Weyler , known as the "Butcher Weyler" in the 1895–1898 War, fought alongside the Count of Balmaceda. After General Jordan resigned and returned to the US, Cespedes returned Máximo Gómez to his command. Gradually a new generation of skilled battle-tested Cuban commanders rose from

5643-405: The federal republicans, which captured 343 of the 371 seats, but turnout was probably the lowest in Spanish history, with about 28% in Catalonia and 25% in Madrid. On 1 June 1873 the first session of the Constituent Cortes was opened and the presentation of resolutions began. The first one was debated on the seventh of June, written by seven representatives: "First Article. The form of government of

5742-521: The first article, the following is found: Composing the Spanish Nation the states of Andalucía Alta, Andalucía Baja, Aragón, Asturias, Baleares, Canarias, Castilla la Nueva, Castilla la Vieja, Cataluña, Cuba, Extremadura, Galicia, Murcia, Navarra, Puerto Rico, Valencia, Regiones Vascongadas. The states will be able to conserve the actual provinces and modify them, according to their territorial necessities. These states would have "complete economic-administrative autonomy and political autonomy compatible with

5841-672: The first serious independence movement, especially in the eastern part of the island. In July 1867, the "Revolutionary Committee of Bayamo" was founded under the leadership of Cuba's wealthiest plantation owner, Francisco Vicente Aguilera . The conspiracy rapidly spread to Oriente's larger towns, most of all Manzanillo , where Carlos Manuel de Céspedes became the main protagonist of the uprising in 1868. Originally from Bayamo, Céspedes owned an estate and sugar mill known as La Demajagua . The Spanish, aware of Céspedes' anti-colonial intransigence, tried to force him into submission by imprisoning his son Oscar. Céspedes refused to negotiate and Oscar

5940-441: The following proposal: "The National Assembly assumes powers and declares the Republic as the form of government, leaving its organization to the Constituent Cortes." In his speech for the proposal (to which he was a signatory, along with Figueras, Salmerón, and other opponents), Pi y Margall—himself a federalist—renounced for the moment to establish a federal republic, hoping the would-be-assembled Constituent Cortes to decide over

6039-510: The greatest extent in early 1874, though a series of defeats by the republic's northern army in the second half of the year might have led to the end of the war had it not been for bad weather. However the other monarchists had taken the name of Alfonsists as supporters of Alfonso , the son of the former Queen Isabel , and were organised by Cánovas del Castillo . This period of the Republic lasted until Brigadier Arsenio Martínez Campos pronounced for Alfonso in Sagunto on 29 December 1874 and

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6138-430: The history of Spain was a short experience, characterized by profound political and social instability and violence. The Republic was governed by four distinct presidents— Estanislao Figueras , Francesc Pi i Margall , Nicolás Salmerón , Emilio Castelar ; then, only eleven months after its proclamation, General Manuel Pavía led a coup d'état and established a unified republic dominated by Francisco Serrano . The period

6237-491: The island for the benefit of its residents. It funded military expenditures (44% of the revenue), colonial government's expenses (41%), and sent some money to the Spanish colony of Fernando Po (12%). The European Spaniards (known as peninsulares ) concentrated a good deal of the island's wealth through their paramount role in Cuban trade. In addition, the Cuban-born population still had no political rights and no representation in Parliament. Objections to these conditions sparked

6336-467: The island. Carlos Manuel de Céspedes called on men of all races to join the fight for freedom. He raised the new flag of an independent Cuba, and rang the bell of the mill to celebrate his proclamation from the steps of the sugar mill of the manifesto signed by him and 15 others. It cataloged Spain's mistreatment of Cuba and then expressed the movement's aims: Our aim is to enjoy the benefits of freedom, for whose use, God created man. We sincerely profess

6435-433: The issue, and announced his acceptance of any other democratic decision. Then another republican, Emilio Castelar , took the floor and said: Sirs, traditional monarchy died with Ferdinand VII ; parliamentary monarchy with the flight of Isabella II ; democratic monarchy with the abdication of don Amadeo of Savoy ; nobody has done away with it, it has died on its own; nobody brings the Republic, save all circumstances,

6534-502: The life of the nation would not be suspended for a single moment; there would be no fear of deep conflicts arising between the provinces; it would be the easiest, fastest, safest way and the less exposed to contrariety... " —Francisco Pi y Margall After Figueras' flight to France, the power vacuum created was tempting general Manuel Sodas into starting a pronunciamiento when a Civil Guard colonel, José de la Iglesia, showed up at Congress and declared that nobody would leave until

6633-474: The most virulent moment of the Carlist and Cuban wars, for which there were not enough soldiers or armament, nor money to feed or purchase them. Besides, Spain was going through a deep economic crisis matching the Panic of 1873 and which was exacerbated by the political instability. In previous years, unemployment had risen steeply amongst field and industrial workers, and proletarian organizations responded with strikes , demonstrations , protest rallies and

6732-433: The next day a republic was proclaimed by a parliamentary majority made up of radicals, republicans and democrats. The period was beset by tensions between federal republicans and unitarian republicans. The period also saw the end of compulsory conscription, the regulation of child labor and the abolition of slavery in Puerto Rico. The government inherited a state of war, the so-called Third Carlist War , ongoing since 1872, and

6831-470: The occupation of abandoned lands. On 23 February the newly elected Speaker of the National Assembly, radical Cristino Marcos , plotted a failed coup d'etat in which the Civil Guard occupied the Ministry of Governance and the National Militia surrounded the Congress of Deputies , in order to establish a unitary republic. This prompted the first remodeling of the government in which the progressives were ousted and replaced with federalists. Twelve days after

6930-405: The outbreak of the Third Carlist War , the opposition from alfonsino monarchists, which hoped for the Bourbon Restoration in the person of Alfonso , son of Isabella II , the many republican insurrections and the division among his own supporters. The Spanish Cortes , which were assembled in a joint and permanent session of both the Congress of Deputies and the Senate , declared themselves

7029-410: The press and the freedom to bring back honest governance; and to honor and practice the inalienable rights of men, which is the foundations of the independence and the greatness of a people. Our aim is to throw off the Spanish yoke, and to establish a free and independent nation…. When Cuba is free, it will have a constitutional government created in an enlightened manner. After three days of combat,

7128-537: The promises made by Spain. The Ten Years' War came to an end, except for the resistance of a small group in Oriente led by General Garcia and Antonio Maceo Grajales , who protested in Los Mangos de Baraguá on 15 March. Under the terms of the pact, a constitution and a provisional government was set up, but the revolutionary élan was gone. The provisional government convinced Maceo to give up, and with his surrender,

7227-601: The proposed Constitution , were elected secretaries. After completing its work, the Assembly reconstituted itself as the House of Representatives and the state's supreme power. They elected Salvador Cisneros Betancourt as president, Miguel Gerónimo Gutiérrez as vice president, and Agramonte and Zambrana as secretaries. Céspedes was elected on 12 April 1869, as the first president of the Republic in Arms and General Manuel de Quesada (who had fought in Mexico under Benito Juárez during

7326-519: The provinces. One way or another could have, without any doubt, produced the same constitution and it would not have been, in my opinion, neither patriotic nor political, to ensnare the proclamation of the Republic due to intransigence over this point. Even though the "bottom to top" procedure was more logical and proper of a Federation, the other, "top to bottom" was more likely for an already-formed nation like ours, and less dangerous in its implementation. There would be no cessation of continuity in power;

7425-619: The ranks, including Antonio Maceo Grajales , José Maceo , Calixto García , Vicente García González and Federico Fernández Cavada . Raised in the United States and with an American mother, Fernández Cavada had served as a colonel in the Union Army during the American Civil War . His brother Adolfo Fernández Cavada also joined the Cuban fighting for independence. On 4 April 1870, the senior Federico Fernández Cavada

7524-567: The rebels seized the important city of Bayamo. In the enthusiasm of this victory, poet and musician Perucho Figueredo composed Cuba's national anthem, " La Bayamesa ”. The first government of the Republic in Arms, headed by Céspedes, was established in Bayamo. The city was retaken by the Spanish after 3 months on 12 January, but the fighting had burned it to the ground. The war spread in Oriente: on 4 November 1868, Camagüey rose up in arms during

7623-450: The rebels, and many persons loyal to Spain also wanted to abolish it. Finally in 1880, the Spanish legislature abolished slavery in Cuba and other colonies in a form of gradual abolition. The law required slaves to continue to work for their masters for a number of years, in a kind of indentured servitude, but masters had to pay the slaves for their work. The wages were so low, however, that the freedmen could barely support themselves. After

7722-454: The rest of the army refused to act against him. The government collapsed, leading to the end of the republic and the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy with the proclamation of Alfonso XII as king. King Amadeo I abdicated from the Spanish throne on 11 February 1873. His decision was mainly due to the constant difficulties he had to face during his short tenure, as the Ten Years' War ,

7821-519: The revolt. After his most trusted general, the American Henry Reeve , was killed in 1876, Gómez ended his campaign. Spain's efforts to fight were hindered by the civil war ( Third Carlist War ) that broke out in Spain in 1872. When the civil war ended in 1876, the government sent more Spanish troops to Cuba, until they numbered more than 250,000. The severe Spanish measures weakened the liberation forces ruled by Cisneros. Neither side in

7920-433: The slave trade ban. The Spanish Parliament at the time was changing; gaining much influence were reactionary, traditionalist politicians who intended to eliminate all liberal reforms. The power of military tribunals was increased; the colonial government imposed a six percent tax increase on the Cuban planters and businesses. Additionally, all political opposition and the press were silenced. Dissatisfaction in Cuba spread on

8019-521: The slaves of Matanzas would break the weak existing balance between whites and blacks. The Spanish changed their policy towards the Mambises, offering amnesties and reforms. The Mambises did not prevail for a variety of reasons: lack of organization and resources; lower participation by whites; internal racist sabotage (against Maceo and the goals of the Liberating Army); the inability to bring

8118-547: The spectator crazy and rendered the historic functions impossible. Days and nights went by without the Cortes deciding how the ministers should be appointed: if they would individually elected by a vote of each representative, or if it would be better to authorize Figueras or Pi to come up with a list of the new government. Each and every system was agreed on and later scrapped. It was a puerile game, which would have caused laughter if it had not been deeply sad. The situation reached such levels of surrealism that, while presiding over

8217-425: The struggle. 10 October is now commemorated in Cuba as a national holiday under the name Grito de Yara (" Cry of Yara "). During the first few days, the uprising almost failed: Céspedes intended to occupy the nearby town of Yara on 11 October. In spite of this initial setback, the uprising of Yara was supported in various regions of the Oriente province, and the independence movement continued to spread throughout

8316-585: The three ancient provinces of Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia, including the Balearic Islands, are united and allied for all that concerns the conduct of the Republican party and the cause of the Revolution, without in any way inferring from this that they intend to separate from the rest of Spain. 2º. Likewise, they state that the form of government they believe to be most convenient for Spain

8415-555: The time, wrote about the parliamentary atmosphere of the First Republic: The sessions of the Constituent (Cortes) attracted me, and most afternoons I spent in the press box, enjoying the spectacle of indescribable confusion cast by the fathers of the country. An endless individualism, the coming and going of opinions, from the most thought-out to the most extravagant, and the deadly spontaneity of most speakers, drove

8514-580: The village-based cantons of Camuñas (in Albacete) and Jumilla (in Murcia). The latter is said to have issued a manifesto stating: La nación jumillana desea vivir en paz con todas las naciones vecinas y, sobre todo, con la nación murciana, su vecina; pero si la nación murciana, su vecina, se atreve a desconocer su autonomía y a traspasar sus fronteras, Jumilla se defenderá, como los héroes del Dos de Mayo, y triunfará en la demanda, resuelta completamente

8613-563: The war ended on 28 May 1878. Many of the graduates of the Ten Years' War became central players in Cuba's War of Independence that started in 1895. These include the Maceo brothers, Maximo Gómez, Calixto Garcia and others. The Pact of Zanjón promised various reforms to improve the financial situation for residents of Cuba. The most significant reform was the manumission of all slaves who had fought for Spain. Abolition of slavery had been proposed by

8712-400: The war ended, tensions between Cuban residents and the Spanish government continued for 17 years. This period, called "The Rewarding Truce", included the outbreak of the Little War ( La Guerra Chiquita ) between 1879 and 1880. Separatists in that conflict became supporters of José Martí , the most passionate of the rebels who chose exile over Spanish rule. Overall, about 200,000 people died in

8811-408: The war to the western provinces (Havana in particular); and opposition by the US government to Cuban independence. The US sold the latest weapons to Spain, but not to the Cuban rebels. Tomás Estrada Palma succeeded Juan Bautista Spotorno as president of the Republic in Arms. Estrada Palma was captured by Spanish troops on 19 October 1877. As a result of successive misfortunes, on 8 February 1878,

8910-430: The war was able to win a single concrete victory, let alone crush the opposing side to win the war, but in the long run Spain gained the upper hand. The deep divisions among insurgents regarding their organisation of government and the military became more pronounced after the Assembly of Guáimaro, as resulting in the dismissal of Céspedes and Quesada in 1873. The Spanish exploited regional divisions, as well as fears that

9009-488: Was afraid of the closing of its glorious university and the demise of its scientific prowess [...] The uprising came against the most federalist of all possible governments, and at the very moment the Assembly was preparing a draft Constitution, the worst defects of which came from the lack of time in the Committee and the surplus of impatience in the Government. — Emilio Castelar An even worse problem

9108-463: Was called upon to write a federal constitution. The radicals preferred a unitary republic, with a much lesser role for the provinces, and once the republic had been declared the two parties turned against each other. Initially, the radicals were largely driven from power, joining those who had already been driven out by the revolution of 1868 or by the Carlist War . The first republican attempt in

9207-536: Was completely disbanded. The idea of legality was lost to a point any employee of [the Ministry of] War would assume full powers and notify the Cortes , and those charged with handing and fulfilling the law would disregard it, raising or booming against legality. It was not about, as in other instances, replacing an existent Ministry or a form of Government in the accepted way; it was about dividing our homeland in

9306-457: Was executed. Céspedes and his followers had planned the uprising to begin 14 October, but it had to be moved up four days earlier, because the Spaniards had discovered their plan of revolt. In the early morning of 10 October, Céspedes issued the cry of independence, the "10th of October Manifesto" at La Demajagua , which signaled the start of an all-out military uprising against Spanish rule in Cuba. Céspedes freed his slaves and asked them to join

9405-687: Was marked by three simultaneous civil wars: the Third Carlist War , the Cantonal Revolution , the Petroleum Revolution in Alcoy ; and by the Ten Years' War in Cuba . The gravest problems for the consolidation of the regime were the lack of true republicans, their division between federalists and unitarians, and the lack of popular support. Subversion in the army, a series of local cantonalist risings, instability in Barcelona , failed anti-federalist coups, calls for revolution by

9504-546: Was named Commander-in-Chief of all the Cuban forces. Other war leaders of note fighting on the Cuban Mambí side included Donato Mármol , Luis Marcano-Alvarez , Carlos Roloff , Enrique Loret de Mola, Julio Sanguily , Domingo de Goicuría , Guillermo Moncada , Quintin Bandera , Benjamín Ramirez, and Julio Grave de Peralta . Because of the escalating violence, after the first year of the war, around 100,000 Cubans fled

9603-421: Was openly the reverse of the past: the result could be the same. The provinces had to be represented in the new Cortes, and if they had any concrete idea on the limits over the powers of the future states, they could take it to the Cortes and defend it there. As the delimitation of the powers of the provinces would have also determined that of the state, the delimitation of the central power would determine that of

9702-582: Was the Canton of Cartagena , its autonomy declared on 12 July at the city naval base under the inspiration of the federalist congressman Antonio Gálvez Arce , known as Antonete . The Canton of Cartagena would live six months of constant wars, and even minted its own currency, the duro cantonal . The first deed of the Cartagenan cantonalists was the capture of the Saint Julian castle , which motivated

9801-536: Was the Third Carlist War , in which the rebels controlled most of the Basque Country , Navarre and Catalonia without opposition, and sent raid parties throughout the Peninsula. The Carlist pretender, Charles VII , had formed a rival government in Estella with his own ministers and was already minting currency, while the French connivance allowed him to receive external aid and fortify his defences. Between

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