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At the start, Fernando VII enjoyed the support of the Spanish people, the Cádiz Cortes and the absolutists.
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After the defeat of Napoleon in the Spanish War of Independence, Joseph I was forced to leave Spain and Fernando VII returned.
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A period of political instability followed, as some liberals organised military coups designed to overthrow absolutism.
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In 1823 Fernando VII asked the Holy Alliance for assistance.
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From 1833 to 1843, when Isabel was still a minor, two regents governed in her name: her mother, María Cristina Bourbon, and General Espartero, who was a Progressive.
The first Carlist War took place because Fernando VII's brother Carlos claimed the throne, and did not accept either the Pragmatic Sanction or Isabel II as queen. -
She established a liberal constitutional monarchy, although it had its own special features.
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In 1843 reached the age of majority, although she was only thirteen years old.
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· The alteration in power between the Moderates and Progressives.
· The second Carlist War.
· Spain's division into 49 provinces.
· Social instability caused by discontent among the peasants over poor working conditions.
· Expropriations that aimed to solve Spain's economic problems by paying the state's debt and breaking up large estates belonging to the church, the nobility and municipalities that were unproductive and did not pay tax. -
Isabel II's public image was damaged by a number of political problems. These included the manipulation of election results by successive governments, and the emergence of new political parties who opposed the monarchy. These political parties were the Democrats, who believed in universal manhood suffrage, and the Republicans, who wanted Spain to be a republic.
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General Serrano, who was regent, and General Prim, who was the head of the government, looked for a new king for Spain who was not a Bourbon.
The Constitution of 1869 was 19th-century Spain's most democratic constitution. -
The uprising, known as the Glorious Revolution, was well supported in all the major cities in Spain.
This period can be divided into three different phases. -
Amadeo of Savoy, the son of the Italian king, Victor Emmanuel II, was named King Amadeo I of Spain. During his reign, the third Carlist War began because the provisional government had not chosen the Carlist candidate, Carlos VII, as king.
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When Amadeo I abdicated, the Cortes proclaimed Spain a republic. It was the first time Spain was not ruled by a monarch.
There were various alternatives of republic:
· A federal republic, divided into 17 federal states.
· A centralised republic in which the central government would control all the political and administrative institutions.
This caused political instability that there were four presidents in one year: Figueras, Pi y Margall, Salmerón and Castelar.