Trienio Liberal

The Trienio Liberal was a period of constitutional liberal rule in Spain from 1820 to 1823. It began with Rafael del Riego’s revolt and ended with French intervention restoring Ferdinand VII’s absolute rule.

Rafael del Riego: A Spanish military officer whose 1820 uprising helped force Ferdinand VII to restore the Constitution of 1812. His revolt in January 1820 triggered the constitutional movement that began the Trienio.
Peninsular War: The 1808–1814 conflict in which Spain, Portugal, and Britain fought Napoleonic France in the Iberian Peninsula. The war created the political crisis and constitutional experiments inherited by the Trienio.
Evaristo San Miguel: A Spanish liberal officer and politician who helped lead the 1820 uprising and served in the Trienio government. His role links the military revolt to the regime’s early political leadership.
Absolutism: A system of government in which a ruler claims extensive authority unconstrained by representative institutions. Ferdinand VII’s absolutist restoration directly reversed the constitutional settlement.
Ominous Decade: The period of renewed absolutist rule and political repression in Spain from 1823 to 1833. It followed the French intervention and reversed the Trienio’s liberal reforms.
Spanish Constitution of 1812: Spain’s liberal constitution, adopted in Cádiz in 1812 during the Peninsular War. Ferdinand VII restored it in 1820, making it the regime’s constitutional foundation.
Spanish American wars of independence: The conflicts that ended Spanish rule across most of mainland Spanish America in the early nineteenth century. The loss of overseas territories and ongoing colonial wars intensified Spain’s political and fiscal strain.
Francisco Martínez de la Rosa: A Spanish liberal writer and politician who served as prime minister during the Trienio Liberal. His government sought compromise amid deepening conflict between constitutional factions.
Moderados: The moderate liberal current in nineteenth-century Spain, favoring restricted political participation and cautious reform. They favored a narrower and more controlled constitutional order than their liberal rivals.
Carlist Wars: A series of nineteenth-century Spanish civil wars over succession and the political order of the monarchy. The conflict between absolutist and liberal visions persisted after Ferdinand VII’s restoration.

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