International War, National War, Civil War: Spain and Counterrevolution (1793–1840)

Abstract

Between 1793 and 1840 three major wars, and some of less importance, took place in Spain. The first war was waged against the French National Convention between 1793 and 1795; between 1808 and 1814, the Peninsular War—the Guerra de la Independencia in Spanish—occurred; and finally there was the Carlist Civil War, best known as the First Carlist War, which lasted seven years, from 1833 to 1840. All these conflicts can be interpreted as part of a cycle characterized by the clash between revolution and counterrevolution. While this dynamic endured and can explain the battles, important changes nonetheless occurred in the nature of the struggle during those 50 years of constant conflict. What had started as an international war at the end of the eighteenth century would become a civil war by the middle of the nineteenth century. It never lost its main characteristic, however. It remained a battle between the forces of revolution and counterrevolution. That struggle produced nearly half a century of strife, involving several generations of Spanish people whose first apprenticeship in contemporary politics was through war.

Translated by Daniel Gascón, including passages from Spanish-language sources.