First Carlist War - The Contenders

The Contenders

The people of the Basque Provinces and Navarre sided with Carlos because of traditionalism and historical respect for the Catholic Church; ideologically, Carlos was close to them. Some historians have said that the Carlist cause in the Basque Country was a foralist cause. But this point of view is largely subjective, with the clear intention of creating indications of a Basque nationalism before the Arana brothers. (Stanley G. Payne presents a neutral study in The Basque Nationalism.) Many supporters of the Carlist cause believed a traditionalist rule would better respect the ancient Foral institutions established under historical rights granted to the region.

Another important reason for the massive mobilisation of the Basque Provinces and Navarre for the Carlist cause was the tremendous influence of the Basque clergy in the society. Salvador de Madariaga, in his book Memories of a Federalist (Buenos Aires, 1967), accused the Basque clergy of being "the heart, the brain and the root of the intolerance and the hard line" of the Spanish Catholic Church. Other social and economic causes have not been properly studied by historians.

Meanwhile, in Catalonia and Aragón, the people saw the chance of recovering their foral rights, which were lost after the Spanish Succession War when Philip V defeated the armies that fought for Archduke Karl of Austria, the other candidate to the throne after the death of Charles II of Spain. Carlos never addressed the issue of the foral rights.

On the other side, the liberals and moderates united to defend the "new order" represented by María Cristina and her three-year-old daughter, Isabella. They controlled the institutions, almost the whole army, and the cities; the Carlist movement was stronger in rural areas. The liberals had the crucial support of United Kingdom, France and Portugal, support that was shown in the important credits to Cristina's treasury and the military help from the British (British Legion or Westminster Legion under General de Lacy Evans), the French (the French Foreign Legion), and the Portuguese (a part of the regular army, under General Barão das Antas). The Liberals were strong enough to win the war in two months. But, an inefficient government and the dispersion of the Carlist forces gave Carlos time to consolidate his forces and hold out for almost seven years in the northern and eastern provinces.

As Paul Johnson has written, "both royalists and liberals began to develop strong local followings, which were to perpetuate and transmute themselves, through many open commotions and deceptively tranquil intervals, until they exploded in the merciless civil war of 1936-39."