Uprising of the San Gil barracks

The uprising of the San Gil artillery barracks was a mutiny against Queen Isabel II of Spain that occurred on June 22, 1866 in Madrid under the auspices of the progressive and democratic parties with the intention to overthrow the monarchy. According to Jorge Vilches, the novelty presented by the uprising at the San Gil barracks was that "the revolutionary movements until 1866 had not questioned the legitimacy of Isabel II, limiting themselves to asking for a more liberal policy or text, another Regency, or a change of government", and instead "from that date the revolution added to its aspirations the dethronement of the Bourbons."

Background

In June 1865, after the events of San Daniel's Night, the unionist general Leopoldo O'Donnell replaced the moderate General Narváez at the head of the government. O'Donnell offered General Prim a large parliamentary group for the progressives in future elections if he could get them to abandon their withdrawal, but at the general meeting of the party held in November 1865 his proposal to participate in the elections was again rejected. was defeated as she only got 12 votes out of the 83 cast. Failing to get her party to support the return to the institutions, General Prim opted for the route of the pronouncement so that the queen would appoint him president of the government, emulating the experience of the Vicalvarada of 1854. Thus, on January 3, 1866, Prim led the pronouncement of Villarejo de Salvanés, which was a resounding failure. This made Prim support from then on the majority line of his party based on withdrawal and alliance with the democrats, and that he would dedicate himself body and soul to preparing an insurrection that would overthrow the monarchy of Isabel II.

To this situation of political instability was added the financial crisis of 1866, the trigger of which was the difficulties of the railway companies that dragged down the banks and credit societies that owned the majority of their shares and obligations.

The preparations

As such, a civil-military movement was organized since the spring whose objective was to dethrone the queen. At the head of the military organization and from exile was General Juan Prim, on the run and sentenced to death since the failed pronouncement of Villarejo de Salvanés. Those in favor of overthrowing the Crown designated Ricardo Muñiz as the person responsible for agitating the working-class and poor neighborhoods of Madrid to accompany the coup d'état with a popular reaction. Sagasta was also among the civilians.

The date of June 26 was set for the uprising, and Blas Pierrad and Juan Contreras were appointed as commanding generals, led by Prim, who was to enter through the French border to make a proclamation in Guipúzcoa and thus help the uprising of different units throughout the national territory. The first unit to revolt that day should have been the San Gil artillery barracks - located in the interior of Madrid, where the Plaza de España is today, very close to the Royal Palace - which apparently, together with infantry units, should take the Royal Palace.

The events

The non-commissioned officer sergeants of the San Gil barracks were the ones who had to reduce the officers on the 26th, but events were precipitated. Fearful of being discovered, since O'Donnell and the government were informed of certain military movements around the barracks, they revolted four days before, on the 22nd with Captain Baltasar Hidalgo de Quintana at the front, achieving their first objective.

The artillery sergeants had reasons to complain against the government because it, unlike the rest of the army, did not allow them to promote beyond the position of captain, since they had not graduated from the Artillery Academy of Segovia. This was a cause of conflict in 1864, when General Córdova held the position of director of artillery and offered this possibility of promotion with which the doctors did not agree, considering that the pilots did not have the scientific preparation to occupy these positions. responsibility. In exchange, they were offered more advantageous retirements than in other arms according to their years of service. Regarding what happened inside the San Gil barracks in Madrid on June 22, 1866, contradictions of detail abound in the different sources and there are even versions of conspirators that totally differ from each other (see "letter of justification" by Baltasar Hidalgo de Quintana). In the days immediately following the events, contradictory versions were published in the press, from which some historians adopted the one they considered most plausible. "The fact is that the artillerymen of the San Gil barracks, who had planned to surprise their guard officers to lock them up, found that one of them was resisting and shot at them, which led to carnage and disconcerted the planned action plans. Leaving the barracks in disorder, some 1,200 men roamed the streets of Madrid with 30 pieces of artillery, while the two thousand countrymen [progressives and democrats] who had revolted fought heroically on the barricades. Historians like Lafuente and Salcedo Ruiz describe the death of Lieutenant Martorell, who was responsible for being on guard in the flag room, without citing any other unverified details. The data obtained in official documentation does not coincide in the start time and scene where the officers die.

The three artillery regiments headed towards the interior of the city on the way to Puerta del Sol while encouraging the Montaña infantry barracks to revolt. During the journey they victoriously faced units of the Civil Guard. At the same time, O'Donnell, Narváez, Serrano, Isidoro de Hoyos and Zabala, in addition to a good part of the rest of the generals stationed in Madrid, had been distributed throughout the capital, occupying the artillery units that had not revolted so that they could remained faithful, as well as defensive positions in the Royal Palace.

The militiamen mobilized by Ricardo Muñiz's men were scheduled to join at Puerta del Sol, but the forces loyal to the government maintained the position with tough fighting throughout the night. At the same time, rebellious artillery units tried to enter the Royal Palace together with more than a thousand militiamen without success, when they were stopped by units loyal to the queen, who shot at them from inside the square and the building itself.

Once the rebels could not continue their advance, Serrano and O'Donnell's troops made a plan to gradually reduce the barricades that had been installed in several streets of the city until they surrounded the rebels in the barracks itself. from which they had left. On the 23rd, the artillery building was surrounded and fighting took place floor by floor until it was completely taken that afternoon.

The last street barricades were assaulted by the units led by General Francisco Serrano, ending the uprising.

Consequences

The uprising failed but O'Donnell found himself in a difficult situation because several officers had been killed by the insurrectionists - the official version was that the rebellious sergeants had "murdered their bosses" -, which forced him to apply harsh repression. O'Donnell highlighted the fact that the sergeants had "distributed rifles to the proletarian countrymen who came to receive them", which seemed to him to be the beginning of a social revolution, which he claimed in the Cortes a few days later: «the horrors of the French revolution would not have been anything like what would have happened here... here there were no principles nor any other object than looting, murder and the disappearance of the foundations social". And he concluded his speech by urging the deputies to forget "our small dissensions... to face the social revolution." An opinion that was shared by Narváez who stated that this was the first movement that had occurred in Spain that had "a true social character."

The repression of the uprising was very harsh. 66 people were shot, the vast majority of them artillery sergeants, and also some soldiers. On July 7, the last executions took place, including that of the Carlist general Juan Ordóñez de Lara, that of the one who had murdered Colonel Federico Puig and that of a countryman who had killed a civil guard on the street of Toledo, according to La Gaceta. Despite this, the queen insisted to O'Donnell that all the detainees, around a thousand, be shot immediately, to which the head of the government refused and was said to have commented: "Well, doesn't that lady see that "If all the captured soldiers are shot, will so much blood be spilled that it will reach his bedroom and he will drown in it?" Those condemned to death were shot next to the outer walls of the bullring, which was then located just a few hundred meters from the Puerta de Alcalá.

On the other hand, the uprising made it clear that the progressives had placed themselves outside the system and had opted for the "revolutionary path" which is why the strategy of the Liberal Union and O'Donnell himself to integrate them had failed. through a very liberal policy, assuming many of their proposals, with the ultimate goal of forming with them the liberal party of the Elizabethan regime that would alternate with the conservative party, represented by the moderates. So the queen dismissed O'Donnell and called Narváez back to form a government. According to Josep Fontana, the reason for O'Donnell's replacement was that the queen considered that he had been too soft in the repression of the uprising.

According to Juan Francisco Fuentes, «the erratic character of the Monarchy was demonstrated once again after the failure of the uprising at the San Gil barracks. O'Donnell could have remained in the eyes of the queen as the man who had saved her from a very difficult situation. Instead, Elizabeth II took advantage of the first opportunity to force the government to fall: on July 10, the general presented a decree appointing new senators and the queen refused to sign it. The crisis was served, and so was the solution. Isabel II turned again, for the last time, to Narváez. It has been said that this was the worst political decision made by the queen throughout her reign, after which many saw the influence of her confessor, Father Claret, a determined supporter of an authoritarian and ultramontane policy... [and that "he never forgave O'Donnell for recognizing the kingdom of Italy."