The Carlist War of 1866 was fought from 30 November 1866 to 5 May 1867 when the reactionary Carlists launched a failed nationwide insurrection against the Spanish government. The Spanish government used the Spanish Army to suppress the uprisings, which were mostly confined to the northern French border region in the Basque Country and Navarre and to the southern coastline of Andalusia.
History[]
The conservative Liberal Union of Spain government was popular back home in Spain for its successful reconquest of Hispaniola from the Dominican Republic and Haiti, but the growth of the socialist movement in Spain also led to a reactionary backlash. The resurgence of reactionism in Spain led to several ultra-conservative army officers plotting to restore the Carlist line of the House of Bourbon to the throne, and they rallied support among the staunchly anti-socialist, devoutly religious, and most nationalistic/patriotic Spaniards in the traditionally conservative Basque Country and Andalusia regions of the country. The bulk of the Spanish Army, however, remained loyal to the Spanish government, and was prepared to crush any uprising against royal authority.
War[]
On 30 November 1866, the Carlist rebels rose in Bilbao, Pamplona, Teruel, Madrid, Huesca, Gerona, Cartagena, Cadiz, and Malaga. The Carlist uprising was somewhat spontaneous, and the Carlist rebels succeeded in surprising Martinez Campos' 6,000-strong Madrid garrison, with the 9,000 Carlists under Mariano Primo de Rivera forcing Campos' army to retreat from the capital. However, in other parts of the country, the larger Spanish government armies used their overwhelming might to easily crush local uprisings. On 8 December 1866, Isidro Miaja's 42,000-strong 1st Army crushed Genaro Munoz's Carlist army at Gerona with just 154 losses, and he followed this with victories over Cristobal Cano's Carlist army at Huesca on 22 December, Antonio Mola's army at Pamplona on 5 January 1867, and Bernardo Fernandez's army at Bilbao on 29 January. These victories ended the Carlist insurrection in the north.
The reformed Spanish government army (the Ejercito del Norte) under Campos then descended upon Madrid, with the 44,000-strong government army crushing Primo de Rivera's smaller 8,211-strong Carlist force with only 244 losses. The Spanish also retook Teruel with 823 losses on 7 March, Cartagena with 196 losses on 21 March, and Malaga with 127 losses on 4 April. The Carlists, who had occupied Cadiz, were defeated at Seville in late April, and, on 5 May 1867, the Spanish government forces lifted the Carlist occupation of Cadiz, ending the war.
Aftermath[]
The Carlist uprising, which had sought to win the support of the reactionary elements of Spanish society, was instead confined to the northern and Mediterranean coastal fringes of the country, and few in the interior took up arms with the reactionaries. The Liberal Union government's victory over the Carlists in their short-lived revolt allowed for the Spanish parliamentary democracy to continue, as the absolutist rebels were quelled by the might of the army.