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Reign of Carlos IV
He was born in Italy in 1748 and he was the son and sucessor os Carlos III. He was called "el cazador". His reign coincided with the french Revolution in 1789 and with the Napoleonic Empire, as well as other events that affected Spain´s power and independence. -
Battle of Trafalgar
In 1805 took place the battle of Trafalgar, a naval battle started by United Kingdom, Austria, Russia, Sweden and Naples to defeat Napoleon Bonaparte. It took place near Cadiz and in this battle Spain and France united their powers against the Britain army. In that same year French and Spanish forces were defeated by the British troops. -
Treaty of Fontainebleau
This treaty was signed in the cty of Fontainebleau (France) by Manuel Godoy,valid of the king of Spain, Carlos IV of Bourbon and Napoleon Bonaparte, emperor of the French people.
This treaty gave French troops permission to pass through Spain on their way to attack portugal. At the same time, Portugal was allied with Great Britain. Napoleon decided to divide Portugal into three zones: north, middle ans south. -
French occupation in Sapin
During the French occupation in Portugal,the French troops in Spain started to increase and Spanish citiziens started to see it as a threat. These troops instead of going to Portugal they started to occupy Spainsh territories like Burgos, Salamanca...
In the end, the French troops occupied Sapin and sent carlos IV and his son Fernando VII to Bayonne, in France. -
Spanish War of Indepence
Spanish War of Independence was an armed rebellion of the Spanish people against the king Jose Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. This war began when the people of Madrid rose up against the French occupation.
During this war, two importante processes were taking place: the war itself, and a political revolution -
Joseph Bonaparte
In Bayonne, Carlos IV and his son Fernando VII renounced to their rights to the Spanish throne in favour to Napoleon.
While the Spanish war of independence started to take place, Napoleon made his own brother , Joseph Bonaparte, the new king of Spain. And in 1813 with the name of Jose I of Spain, he became the general lieutenant of the French Empire. -
2.The political revolution
Two different governments emerged:
- Joseph Bonapartre, was the head of the French government in Spain. He imposed the Bayonne Constitution. He had some supporters called afrancesados, but most of the spanish people rejected his authority
- The Central Council represented the absent Fernando VII in the areas not occupied by the French. Spanish people obtained their own elected representatives. -
1.The war
At the begining, Spain had some victories and won some battes like the Battle of Bailen. France conquered all the spanish territories, Cadiz was the only city that didn´t fall to the French.
In 1813 another resistance appeared, the guerrilla, to attack french troops. In march thanks to the British and Russian forces the king left the capital and the French were finally defeated. -
Regency Council
In response to French advances, the Central Council took refuge in Cadiz, which was the only city not taken by the French.
In 1810 the Central Council was replaced by the Regency Council, which called the Cortes. -
The Constitution
In this date, the Cortes of Cadiz, approved the first Spanish Constitution. Which established the following principles:
- constitutional monarchy
- popular sovereignty with limited male suffrage
- catholicism as the state religion
- separation of powers into legislative, executive and judicial
- guaranteed rights and freedoms, equality and the rights to privacity,freedom of the press and prohibition of torture.
