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(introduced by the French Bourbons
during the reign of Philip V) thwarts the
claim of the king's brother Carlos, who
refuses to acknowledge Isabella as the
legal sovereign.
1836-38
Aided by British volunteers and soldiers of
the newly formed French Foreign Legion,
the supporters of Isabella gradually over-
come the Carlists, and Carlos is forced to
leave the country, without renouncing
his claim. Together with the parallel war
in Portugal this conflict transforms the
Iberian Peninsula into a battleground of
competing European ideologies.
1834
Queen Mother Maria Christina, regent for
her daughter, seeks support against the
conservative followers of Carlos by pro-
claiming the Estatuto Real. This royal
constitution introduces such innovations
as a bicameral parliament (Cortes), a re-
formed bureaucracy, and a new adminis-
trative structure in the provinces but
retains strong executive powers in the
hands of the sovereign. By failing to rein-
state the full provisions of the 1812 con-
stitution, Maria Christina splits the
liberals whom she had sought to rally to
her support. Some (moderates) agree to
back the young queen, but others (pro-
gressives) insist on having the 1812 guar-
antees fully restored.
1837
After bitter disputes between the moderates
and the progressives, the regent is forced
to accept a new constitution, which inte-
grates some of the features of the 1812
constitution.
1840
General Baldomero Espartero, with the sup-
port of the progressives, forces Maria
Christina to leave the country and as-
sumes the regency. In 1841 he crushes a
cristino
uprising.
1842
Espartero carries out a bloody suppression
of a revolt in Barcelona, where the Cata-
lans have proclaimed an independent re-
public, demonstrating their continuing
desire for national autonomy.
1834-39
First Carlist War. When the young queen's
uncle, Carlos, proclaims himself the right-
ful ruler of Spain, the country is thrown
into a civil conflict. The Carlist armies are
recruited from conservative factions, sup-
ported by church leaders and by such re-
gions as Catalonia, Navarre, Aragon, and
the Basque provinces, who fear the new
regime's centralist plans. The
cristinos
(supporters of the regent, Maria Chris-
tina) include liberals of various alle-
giances, anticlericals, and those who fear
the reactionary spirit of the Holy Alliance
era. Each side is supported by the conser-
vative and liberal blocs among the Euro-
pean powers.
1843
General Ramón Narváez ousts the Espartero
regime. Although the queen mother is
permitted to return, Isabella II is declared
of age and the management of govern-
ment is assumed by Narváez as de facto
ruler.
1846
Marriage of Isabella II to her cousin Fran-
cisco de Asís, duke of Cádiz, and the
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