subject: How Spain Survived The 19th Century: A Study From Your Holiday Rentals In Spain [print this page] The period of time in Spanish history you have chosen to study this year when scheduling your HOLIDAY RENTALS IN SPAIN is the 19th century. This century started with an unbelievable occurrence in 1808. At this point in history Napoleon made his brother Joseph King of Spain, which happened after the abdication of the Spanish King. This decision didnt go down well with the Spanish people as they did not accept him as their sovereign leader. As a result, Napoleon invaded Spain in November 1808 and in December of that year he captured the capital Madrid. With the British as their allies, the Spanish fought a guerrilla war against the French.
In 1813 the French were removed from Spanish soil only after Cortes published a constitution which declared the King to be a constitutional monarch; this in turn relieved him of a lot of his powers. This new constitution though was not adhered to by the new king who came to power in December 1813. The new King Ferdinand declared the constitution null and void in 1814, thereby returning to an absolute monarchy. Once again the Spanish people rose up against the government in 1820, when Rafael de Riego forced Ferdinand to capitulate accepting the original constitution.
Its interesting to note that in 1823 the French king, in an attempt to restore absolute power to Ferdinand, sent an army to Spain. While all this was going on in Spain the colonies in Central and South America decided to succeed from Spain which occurred between 1818 and 1824. This embarrassment was further fuelled when in 1819 Spain was forced to cede Florida to the USA. At this time in history, the French abolished the Spanish Inquisition but Ferdinand restored it in 1814, only for it to be abolished once again in 1820.
A wall of deception was created by all of this. Isabella was to come to power after her father King Ferdinand died in 1833 but this was contested by the conservatives. This conflict soon escalated to a civil war between liberals and conservatives. The war lasted till 1839 when the Carlists, who were the conservatives, were defeated. When in need of funds in 1835, the government sold land belonging to the church in order to raise money. It was not until 1851 that the Pope agreed with the government but, in return, the government was to become responsible for the clergys salaries.
The monarchy was to change a number of times starting with Queen Isabella who alienated the liberals, starting a revolution and forcing her to abdicate in 1868. It was not until 1870 that she was replaced by Amadeo I, only to abdicate himself in February 1873. This allowed Spain to become a republic but this was to last for only a short time itself when, in 1874, Alfonso XII became king. During 1876, a new constitution was published and in 1892 only the men were given the right to vote.
The first railroad came to Spain in 1848 heralding the industrial revolution which was to change Spain with transportation spreading across the country in the form of railways. This allowed products to be transported faster and cheaper than ever before. It also instigated the rise in mining which in turn gave rise to the iron and steel industries. This was all well and good but Spain was still a poor and illiterate country where agriculture was its main economic base. To make this situation even worse, there was a famine from 1880 to 1882 that encompassed much of southern Spain.
While staying in your HOLIDAY RENTALS IN SPAIN this story of the 19th century ends rather sadly because, in 1898, Spain was to lose even more territories including Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Philippines. This lost was the result of their defeat in a war with the United States.
