First Spanish Republic

February 11, 1873 to December 29, 1874


 Brief History

The Republic of 1873 came into existence to fill the political vacuum created by Amadeo's abdication. The Republican Party was neither strong nor united. When the Republican leaders, on legal scruples, refused to declare for a Federal Republic, the provincial Federal Extremists revolted.

The Republican leaders had allowed attacks on the army that had reduced it to impotence. To conservatives and men of order, the country seemed on the verge of total dissolution. Too late, Emilio Castelar y Ripoll, the last president of the Republic, tried to recapture the loyalty of the army.

In January, 1874, General Manuel Pavia y Rodriguez drove the Republican deputies from the Cortes, building in hope of creating a government of order. Pavia turned power over to General Francisco Serrano whose task it was to form a coalition government.

General Serrano took over as president of a unitary Republic. His main goal was to gain victory over the Carlists, now a strong force in northern Spain. In this he failed, and on December 29, 1874, a young brigadier, Arsenio Marinez Campos, "declared" for Alfonso XII, the son of Isabella II, as king; for which there was no resistance.

 

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