The First Carlist War in Spain: influences from Britain
The first Carlist war in Spain took place between 1833 and 1839 between forces loyal to the Regent Maria Cristina (known as Cristeros) and those who wanted Don Carlos the brother of the previous King (Ferdinand VII) to take the Spanish throne. The Carlists were the conservative forces favouring the church and an authoritarian state whereas the Cristeros supported a liberal form of government. Foreign intervention in wars where one side was on the left of the political spectrum became justified in the 1830s due to John Stuart Mill’s “Spanish Essay”. Volunteers were motivated by unemployment, adventure, escape and ideological commitment or by a mixture of these motives. Some said that volunteers joined up just to ensure that they obtained regular meals. Any who did volunteer would discover that alcohol consumption was forbidden on both sides in the Carlist War (and later in the Spanish Civil war of 1936-1939). This was a shock for Northern European recruits and resulted in p...