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The Spanish War of Independence, image, image, image, image, image, image,…
The Spanish War of Independence
Spanish population fight against the French
On 2 May 1808
the people of Madrid rose up against the French occupation
but they failed
despite their defeat,
other parts of Spain were encouraged by their actions
and the Spanish War of Independence began
from 1808 to 1813
The course of the war
Local and provincial councils (juntas)
were formed to fight against the French
were governmental organisations
whose members were elected by the people
For the first time in Spain
people were voting to choose their representatives
These committees were led by:
the Central Council (Junta Suprema Central)
which represented the absent Fernando VII
in areas that had not been occupied by the French.
had both executive and legislative power
The war itself can be divided into several phases
1808-1813
1808
Spanish forces won several victories:
including the Battle of Bailén
1808–1812
guerrilla warfare began
Napoleon came to Spain to oversee the French occupation
1812–1813
the Central Council signed a military alliance with Great Britain
This forced the French to withdraw from Spain.
Napoleon withdrew some of his troops from Spain in order to send them to Russia
The Anglo-Spanish and Portuguese troops
led by the Duke of Wellington
In December 1813, Napoleon signed the Treaty of Valençay
As a result Fernando VII returned to the throne
The cadiz cortes
The Central Council took refuge in Cádiz
from the advancing French troops
In 1810 it was replaced by the Regency Council
which called the Cádiz Cortes
The Cádiz Cortes was the first unified cortes
in which each deputy had an individual vote
Each deputy represented the whole nation
It was no longer based on the estates system
one of the keystones of the Ancien Régime
There were 223 deputies
who were elected by the Spanish and American provinces
Most of them were:
Clergy
military men
merchants
so the bourgeoisie were well-represented
lawyers
Different groups emerged in the Cortes
based on their political views:
the absolutists
who wanted the king to be restored as an absolute monarch
the supporters of Enlightenment ideas
who wanted to end the Ancien Régime in Spain
