19th century
The 19th century was a century that began on January 1, 1801, ended on December 31, 1900. It is used interchangeably with the 1800s, though the start and end dates differ by a year; the 19th century saw large amounts of social change. European imperialism brought much of Asia and all of Africa under colonial rule, it was marked by the collapse of the Spanish, Zulu Kingdom, Holy Roman and Mughal empires. This paved the way for the growing influence of the British Empire, the Russian Empire, the United States, the German Empire, the French colonial empire and Meiji Japan, with the British boasting unchallenged dominance after 1815. After the defeat of the French Empire and its allies in the Napoleonic Wars, the British and Russian empires expanded becoming the world's leading powers; the Russian Empire expanded in central and far eastern Asia. The British Empire grew in the first half of the century with the expansion of vast territories in Canada, South Africa and populated India, in the last two decades of the century in Africa.
By the end of the century, the British Empire controlled a fifth of the world's land and one quarter of the world's population. During the post-Napoleonic era, it enforced what became known as the Pax Britannica, which had ushered in unprecedented globalization and economic integration on a massive scale; the first electronics appeared in the 19th century, with the introduction of the electric relay in 1835, the telegraph and its Morse code protocol in 1837, the first telephone call in 1876, the first functional light bulb in 1878. The 19th century was an era of accelerating scientific discovery and invention, with significant developments in the fields of mathematics, chemistry, biology and metallurgy that laid the groundwork for the technological advances of the 20th century; the Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain and spread to continental Europe, North America and Japan. The Victorian era was notorious for the employment of young children in factories and mines, as well as strict social norms regarding modesty and gender roles.
Japan embarked on a program of rapid modernization following the Meiji Restoration, before defeating China, under the Qing Dynasty, in the First Sino-Japanese War. Advances in medicine and the understanding of human anatomy and disease prevention took place in the 19th century, were responsible for accelerating population growth in the western world. Europe's population doubled during the 19th century, from 200 million to more than 400 million; the introduction of railroads provided the first major advancement in land transportation for centuries, changing the way people lived and obtained goods, fuelling major urbanization movements in countries across the globe. Numerous cities worldwide surpassed populations of a million or more during this century. London became capital of the British Empire, its population increased from 1 million in 1800 to 6.7 million a century later. The last remaining undiscovered landmasses of Earth, including vast expanses of interior Africa and Asia, were explored during this century, with the exception of the extreme zones of the Arctic and Antarctic and detailed maps of the globe were available by the 1890s.
Liberalism became the pre-eminent reform movement in Europe. Slavery was reduced around the world. Following a successful slave revolt in Haiti and France stepped up the battle against the Barbary pirates and succeeded in stopping their enslavement of Europeans; the UK's Slavery Abolition Act charged the British Royal Navy with ending the global slave trade. The first colonial empire in the century to abolish slavery was the British, who did so in 1834. America's 13th Amendment following their Civil War abolished slavery there in 1865, in Brazil slavery was abolished in 1888. Serfdom was abolished in Russia; the 19th century was remarkable in the widespread formation of new settlement foundations which were prevalent across North America and Australia, with a significant proportion of the two continents' largest cities being founded at some point in the century. Chicago in the United States and Melbourne in Australia were non-existent in the earliest decades but grew to become the 2nd largest cities in the United States and British Empire by the end of the century.
In the 19th century 70 million people left Europe, with most migrating to the United States. The 19th century saw the rapid creation and codification of many sports in Britain and the United States. Association football, rugby union and many other sports were developed during the 19th century, while the British Empire facilitated the rapid spread of sports such as cricket to many different parts of the world. Ladywear was a sensitive topic during this time, where women showing their ankles was viewed to be scandalous, it marks the fall of the Ottoman rule of the Balkans which led to the creation of Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania as a result of the second Russo-Turkish War, which in itself followed the great Crimean War. Industrial revolution European Imperialism British Regency, Victorian era Bourbon Restoration, July Monarchy, French Second Republic, Second French Empire, French Third Republic Belle Époque Edo period, Meiji period Qing dynasty Joseon dynasty Zulu Kingdom Tanzimat, First C
Joseph Bonaparte
Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte, born Giuseppe di Buonaparte was a French diplomat and nobleman, the older brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, who made him King of Naples and Sicily, King of Spain. After the fall of Napoleon, Joseph styled himself Comte de Survilliers. Joseph was born in 1768 to Carlo Buonaparte and Maria Letizia Ramolino at Corte, the capital of the Corsican Republic. In the year of his birth, Corsica was conquered the following year, his father was a follower of the Corsican Patriot leader, Pasquale Paoli, but became a supporter of French rule. As a lawyer and diplomat, Joseph served in the Cinq-Cents and was the French ambassador to Rome. On 30 September 1800, as Minister Plenipotentiary, he signed a treaty of friendship and commerce between France and the United States at Morfontaine, alongside Charles Pierre Claret de Fleurieu, Pierre Louis Roederer. In 1795 Joseph was a member of the Council of Ancients, where he used his position to help his brother overthrow the Directory four years later.
The Château de Villandry had been seized by the French Revolutionary government. Upon the outbreak of war between France and Austria in 1805, Ferdinand IV of Naples had agreed a treaty of neutrality with Napoleon but, a few days declared his support for Austria and permitted a large Anglo-Russian force to land in his kingdom. Napoleon, was soon victorious and, with the War of the Third Coalition having been shattered on 5 December at the Battle of Austerlitz, Ferdinand found himself exposed to French wrath. On 27 December 1805, Napoleon issued a proclamation from the Schönbrunn declaring Ferdinand to have forfeited his kingdom and that a French invasion would soon follow ensuring'that the finest of countries is relieved from the yoke of the most faithless of men.' On 31 December Napoleon commanded Joseph to leave Paris and move to Rome, where he would be assigned at the head of the army sent to dispossess Ferdinand of his throne. Although Joseph was the nominal commander-in-chief of the expedition, Marshal Masséna was in effective command of operations, with General St. Cyr second.
However St. Cyr, who had held the senior command of French troops in the region, soon resigned in protest at being made subordinate to Masséna and left for Paris. An outraged Napoleon ordered St. Cyr to return to his post at once. On 8 February 1806 the French invasion force of forty-thousand men crossed into Naples; the centre and right of the army under Masséna and General Reynier advanced south from Rome while Giuseppe Lechi led a force down the Adriatic coast from Ancona. On his brother's recommendation, Joseph attached himself to Reynier; the French advance faced little resistance. Before any French troops had crossed the border, the Anglo-Russian forces had beaten a prudent retreat, the British withdrawing to Sicily, the Russians to Corfu, thus abandoned by his allies, King Ferdinand had already set sail for Palermo on 23 January. Queen Maria-Carolina lingered a little longer in the capital but, on 11 February fled to join her husband; the first obstacle the French encountered was the fortress of Gaeta, its governor, Prince Louis of Hesse-Philippsthal, refusing to surrender his charge.
This did not however result in any meaningful delay of the invaders, Masséna detaching a small force to besiege the garrison before continuing south, where Capua opened its gates after only token resistance. On 14 February Masséna took possession of Naples and, the following day, Joseph staged a triumphant entrance into the city. Reynier was quickly dispatched to seize control of the Strait of Messina and on 9 March inflicted a crushing defeat on the Neapolitan Royal Army at the Battle of Campo Tenese destroying it as a fighting force and securing the entire mainland for the French. On 30 March 1806 Napoleon issued a decree installing Joseph as King of Naples and Sicily, the decree reading as follows: "Napoleon, by the Grace of God and the constitutions. Emperor of the French and King of Italy, to all those to whom these presents come, greetings; the interests of our people, the honour of our Crown, the tranquillity of the Continent of Europe requiring that we should assure, in a stable and definite manner, the lot of the people of Naples and of Sicily, who have fallen into our power by the right of conquest, who constitute a part of the Grand Empire, we declare that we recognise, as King of Naples and of Sicily, our well-beloved brother, Joseph Napoleon, Grand Elector of France.
This Crown will be hereditary, by order of primogeniture, in his descendants male and natural, etc." Joseph's arrival in Naples was warmly greeted with cheers and he was eager to be a monarch well liked by his subjects. Seeking to win the favour of the local elites, he maintained in their posts the vast majority of those who had held office and position under the Bourbons and was anxious to not in any way appear a foreign oppressor. With a provisional government set up in the capital, Joseph immediately set off, accompanied by General Lamarque, on a tour of his new realm; the principal object of the tour was to assess the feasibility of an immediate invasion of Sicily and the expulsion of Ferdinand and Maria-Carolina from their refuge in Palermo. But, upon reviewing the situation at the Strait of Messina, Joseph was forced to admit the impossibility of such an enterprise, the Bourbons having carried off all boats and transports from along the coast and concentrated their remaining forces, alongside the British, on the opposite side.
Unable to posses
Francisco Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries and throughout his long career was a commentator and chronicler of his era. Immensely successful in his lifetime, Goya is referred to as both the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns, he was one of the great contemporary portraitists. He was born to a modest family in 1746 in the village of Fuendetodos in Aragon, he studied painting from age 14 under José Luzán y Martinez and moved to Madrid to study with Anton Raphael Mengs. He married Josefa Bayeu in 1773. Goya became a court painter to the Spanish Crown in 1786 and this early portion of his career is marked by portraits of the Spanish aristocracy and royalty, Rococo style tapestry cartoons designed for the royal palace. Goya was guarded, although letters and writings survive, little is known about his thoughts, he suffered a undiagnosed illness in 1793 which left him deaf.
Sick and disillusioned, after 1793 his work became progressively pessimistic. His easel and mural paintings and drawings appear to reflect a bleak outlook on personal and political levels, contrast with his social climbing, he was appointed Director of the Royal Academy in 1795, the year Manuel Godoy made an unfavorable treaty with France. In 1799 Goya became Primer Pintor de Cámara, the then-highest rank for a Spanish court painter. In the late 1790s, commissioned by Godoy, he completed his La maja desnuda, a remarkably daring nude for the time and indebted to Diego Velázquez. In 1801 he painted Charles IV of Spain and His Family influenced by Velázquez. In 1807 Napoleon led the French army into the Peninsular War against Spain. Goya remained in Madrid during the war. Although he did not vocalise his thoughts in public, they can be inferred from his Disasters of War series of prints and his 1814 paintings The Second of May 1808 and The Third of May 1808. Other works from his mid-period include the Caprichos and Los Disparates etching series, a wide variety of paintings concerned with insanity, mental asylums, fantastical creatures and religious and political corruption, all of which suggest that he feared for both his country's fate and his own mental and physical health.
His late period culminates with the Black Paintings of 1819–1823, applied on oil on the plaster walls of his house the Quinta del Sordo where, disillusioned by political and social developments in Spain he lived in near isolation. Goya abandoned Spain in 1824 to retire to the French city of Bordeaux, accompanied by his much younger maid and companion, Leocadia Weiss, who may or may not have been his lover. There he completed his La Tauromaquia series and a number of other, canvases. Following a stroke which left him paralyzed on his right side, suffering failing eyesight and poor access to painting materials, he died and was buried on 16 April 1828 aged 82, his body was re-interred in the Real Ermita de San Antonio de la Florida in Madrid. Famously, the skull was missing, a detail the Spanish consul communicated to his superiors in Madrid, who wired back, "Send Goya, with or without head." Francisco Goya was born in Fuendetodos, Aragón, Spain, on 30 March 1746 to José Benito de Goya y Franque and Gracia de Lucientes y Salvador.
The family had moved that year from the city of Zaragoza. They were lower middle-class. José was the son of a notary and of Basque origin, his ancestors being from Zerain, earning his living as a gilder, specialising in religious and decorative craftwork, he oversaw the gilding and most of the ornamentation during the rebuilding of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar, the principal cathedral of Zaragoza. Francisco was their fourth child, following his sister Rita, brother Tomás and second sister Jacinta. There were two younger sons and Camilo, his mother's family had pretensions of nobility and the house, a modest brick cottage, was owned by her family and fancifully, bore their crest. About 1749 José and Gracia were able to return to live in the city. Although there are no surviving records it is thought that Goya may have attended the Escuelas Pías de San Antón, which offered free schooling, his education seems to have been adequate but not enlightening. According to Robert Hughes the artist "seems to have taken no more interest than a carpenter in philosophical or theological matters, his views on painting... were down to earth: Goya was no theoretician."
At school he formed a lifelong friendship with fellow pupil Martin Zapater. At age 14 Goya studied under the painter José Luzán, where he copied stamps for 4 years until he decided to work on his own, as he wrote on "paint from my invention", he moved to Madrid to study with a popular painter with Spanish royalty. He clashed with his master, his examinations were unsatisfactory. Goya submitted entries for the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in 1763 and 1766
Madrid
Madrid is the capital of Spain and the largest municipality in both the Community of Madrid and Spain as a whole. The city has 3.3 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of 6.5 million. It is the third-largest city in the European Union, smaller than only London and Berlin, its monocentric metropolitan area is the third-largest in the EU, smaller only than those of London and Paris; the municipality covers 604.3 km2. Madrid lies on the River Manzanares in the Community of Madrid; as the capital city of Spain, seat of government, residence of the Spanish monarch, Madrid is the political and cultural centre of the country. The current mayor is Manuela Carmena from the party Ahora Madrid; the Madrid urban agglomeration has the third-largest GDP in the European Union and its influence in politics, entertainment, media, science and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the world's major global cities. Madrid is home to Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid. Due to its economic output, high standard of living, market size, Madrid is considered the leading economic hub of the Iberian Peninsula and of Southern Europe.
It hosts the head offices of the vast majority of major Spanish companies, such as Telefónica, IAG or Repsol. Madrid is the 10th most liveable city in the world according to Monocle magazine, in its 2017 index. Madrid houses the headquarters of the World Tourism Organization, belonging to the United Nations Organization, the Ibero-American General Secretariat, the Organization of Ibero-American States, the Public Interest Oversight Board, it hosts major international regulators and promoters of the Spanish language: the Standing Committee of the Association of Spanish Language Academies, headquarters of the Royal Spanish Academy, the Cervantes Institute and the Foundation of Urgent Spanish. Madrid organises fairs such as ARCO, SIMO TCI and the Madrid Fashion Week. While Madrid possesses modern infrastructure, it has preserved the look and feel of many of its historic neighbourhoods and streets, its landmarks include the Royal Palace of Madrid. Cibeles Palace and Fountain have become one of the monument symbols of the city.
مجريط Majrīṭ is the first documented reference to the city. It is recorded in Andalusi Arabic during the al-Andalus period; the name Magerit was retained in Medieval Spanish. The most ancient recorded name of the city "Magerit" comes from the name of a fortress built on the Manzanares River in the 9th century AD, means "Place of abundant water" in Arabic. A wider number of theories have been formulated on possible earlier origins. According to legend, Madrid was founded by Ocno Bianor and was named "Metragirta" or "Mantua Carpetana". Others contend that the original name of the city was "Ursaria", because of the many bears that were to be found in the nearby forests, together with the strawberry tree, have been the emblem of the city since the Middle Ages, it is speculated that the origin of the current name of the city comes from the 2nd century BC. The Roman Empire established a settlement on the banks of the Manzanares river; the name of this first village was "Matrice". Following the invasions carried out by the Germanic Sueves and Vandals, as well as the Sarmatic Alans during the 5th century AD, the Roman Empire no longer had the military presence required to defend its territories on the Iberian Peninsula, as a consequence, these territories were soon occupied by the Vandals, who were in turn dispelled by the Visigoths, who ruled Hispania in the name of the Roman emperor taking control of "Matrice".
In the 8th century, the Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula saw the name changed to "Mayrit", from the Arabic term ميرا Mayra and the Ibero-Roman suffix it that means'place'. The modern "Madrid" evolved from the Mozarabic "Matrit", still in the Madrilenian gentilic. Although the site of modern-day Madrid has been occupied since prehistoric times, there are archaeological remains of Carpetani settlement, Roman villas, a Visigoth basilica near the church of Santa María de la Almudena and three Visigoth necropoleis near Casa de Campo, Tetúan and Vicálvaro, the first historical document about the existence of an established settlement in Madrid dates from the Muslim age. At the second half of the 9th century, Emir Muhammad I of Córdoba built a fortress on a headland near the river Manzanares, as one of the many fortresses he ordered to be built on the border between Al-Andalus and the kingdoms of León and Castile, with the objective of protecting Toledo from the Christian invasions and as a starting point for Muslim offensives.
After the disintegration of t
Austria
Austria the Republic of Austria, is a country in Central Europe comprising 9 federated states. Its capital, largest city and one of nine states is Vienna. Austria has an area of 83,879 km2, a population of nearly 9 million people and a nominal GDP of $477 billion, it is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north and Slovakia to the east and Italy to the south, Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The terrain is mountainous, lying within the Alps; the majority of the population speaks local Bavarian dialects as their native language, German in its standard form is the country's official language. Other regional languages are Hungarian, Burgenland Croatian, Slovene. Austria played a central role in European History from the late 18th to the early 20th century, it emerged as a margraviate around 976 and developed into a duchy and archduchy. In the 16th century, Austria started serving as the heart of the Habsburg Monarchy and the junior branch of the House of Habsburg – one of the most influential royal houses in history.
As archduchy, it was a major component and administrative centre of the Holy Roman Empire. Following the Holy Roman Empire's dissolution, Austria founded its own empire in the 19th century, which became a great power and the leading force of the German Confederation. Subsequent to the Austro-Prussian War and the establishment of a union with Hungary, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was created. Austria was involved in both world wars. Austria is a parliamentary representative democracy with a President as head of state and a Chancellor as head of government. Major urban areas of Austria include Graz, Linz and Innsbruck. Austria is ranked as one of the richest countries in the world by per capita GDP terms; the country has developed a high standard of living and in 2018 was ranked 20th in the world for its Human Development Index. The republic declared its perpetual neutrality in foreign political affairs in 1955. Austria has been a member of the United Nations since 1955 and joined the European Union in 1995.
It is a founding member of the OECD and Interpol. Austria signed the Schengen Agreement in 1995, adopted the euro currency in 1999; the German name for Austria, Österreich, derives from the Old High German Ostarrîchi, which meant "eastern realm" and which first appeared in the "Ostarrîchi document" of 996. This word is a translation of Medieval Latin Marchia orientalis into a local dialect. Another theory says that this name comes from the local name of the mountain whose original Slovenian name is "Ostravica" - because it is steep on both sides. Austria was a prefecture of Bavaria created in 976; the word "Austria" was first recorded in the 12th century. At the time, the Danube basin of Austria was the easternmost extent of Bavaria; the Central European land, now Austria was settled in pre-Roman times by various Celtic tribes. The Celtic kingdom of Noricum was claimed by the Roman Empire and made a province. Present-day Petronell-Carnuntum in eastern Austria was an important army camp turned capital city in what became known as the Upper Pannonia province.
Carnuntum was home for 50,000 people for nearly 400 years. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the area was invaded by Bavarians and Avars. Charlemagne, King of the Franks, conquered the area in AD 788, encouraged colonization, introduced Christianity; as part of Eastern Francia, the core areas that now encompass Austria were bequeathed to the house of Babenberg. The area was known as the marchia Orientalis and was given to Leopold of Babenberg in 976; the first record showing the name Austria is from 996, where it is written as Ostarrîchi, referring to the territory of the Babenberg March. In 1156, the Privilegium Minus elevated Austria to the status of a duchy. In 1192, the Babenbergs acquired the Duchy of Styria. With the death of Frederick II in 1246, the line of the Babenbergs was extinguished; as a result, Ottokar II of Bohemia assumed control of the duchies of Austria and Carinthia. His reign came to an end with his defeat at Dürnkrut at the hands of Rudolph I of Germany in 1278. Thereafter, until World War I, Austria's history was that of its ruling dynasty, the Habsburgs.
In the 14th and 15th centuries, the Habsburgs began to accumulate other provinces in the vicinity of the Duchy of Austria. In 1438, Duke Albert V of Austria was chosen as the successor to his father-in-law, Emperor Sigismund. Although Albert himself only reigned for a year, henceforth every emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was a Habsburg, with only one exception; the Habsburgs began to accumulate territory far from the hereditary lands. In 1477, Archduke Maximilian, only son of Emperor Frederick III, married the heiress Maria of Burgundy, thus acquiring most of the Netherlands for the family. In 1496, his son Philip the Fair married Joanna the Mad, the heiress of Castile and Aragon, thus acquiring Spain and its Italian and New World appendages for the Habsburgs. In 1526, following the Battle of Mohács, Bohemia and the part of Hungary not occupied by the Ottomans came under Austrian rule. Ottoman expansion into Hungary led to frequent conflicts between the two empires evident in the Long War of 1593 to 1606.
The Turks made incursions into Styria nearly 20 times, of which some are c
Flag of Spain
The flag of Spain, as it is defined in the Spanish Constitution of 1978, consists of three horizontal stripes: red and red, the yellow stripe being twice the size of each red stripe. Traditionally, the middle stripe was defined by the more archaic term of gualda, hence the popular name rojigualda; the origin of the current flag of Spain is the naval ensign of 1785, Pabellón de la Marina de Guerra under Charles III of Spain. It was chosen by Charles III himself among 12 different flags designed by Antonio Valdés y Bazán; the flag remained marine-focused for much of the next 50 years, flying over coastal fortresses, marine barracks and other naval property. During the Peninsular War the flag could be found on marine regiments fighting inland. Not until 1820 was the first Spanish land unit provided with one and it was not until 1843 that Queen Isabella II of Spain made the flag official. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the color scheme of the flag remained intact, with the exception of the Second Republic period.
The present laws and regulations on the Spanish flag are: Spanish Constitution of 1978, establishing the national flag:Act 39/1981, regulating the use of the flag. Royal Decree 441/1981, establishing the detailed technical specifications of the colours of the flag. Royal Decree 1511/1977, establishing the Regulations on flags and emblems Royal decree of 19 July 1913, abolishing the 5-stripe Spanish merchant flag and establishing the plain bi-colour—the national flag without the shield—as the Spanish merchant flag; the colours of the flag, as defined by the Spanish Royal Decree 441/1981 of 27 February, are: The nearest Pantone shades are 7628 C and 7406 C. The basic design of the current flag of Spain with the coat of arms is specified by rule 3 of the Royal Decree 1511/1977, that states the following: The coat of arms of Spain has a height equal to 2⁄5 of the hoist and will figure on both sides of the flag; when the flag is of regular proportions, having length equal to 3⁄2 of the width, the coat's axis is placed at a distance from the hoist equal to 1⁄2 of the flag's width.
If the flag's length is less than normal, the coat of arms is placed at the center of the flag. The flag can only be flown horizontally from public buildings, private homes, ships, town squares, or during official ceremonies. While the flag should be flown from sunrise to sunset, government offices in Spain and abroad must fly the flag on a 24-hour basis; the flags must conform to the legal standards, cannot be soiled or damaged in any way. For mourning activities, the flag can be flown in either of the following ways; the first method known as half-masting, is performed when the flag is hoisted to the top of the flagpole lowered to the pole's one-third position. The other method is to attach a black ribbon to a flag, permanently affixed to a staff; the ribbon itself is ten centimetres wide and it is attached to the mast so that the ends of the ribbon reach the bottom of the flag. During the funeral ceremony, the flag may be used to cover the coffins of government officials and persons designated by an act of the President.
When flying the Spanish flag with other flags, the following is the correct order of precedence: The national flag, flags of foreign states, the flag of the European Union, international NGOs, military and government standards, Autonomous communities flags, city flags and any others. When foreign flags are used alongside the Spanish flag, the flags are sorted according to their countries' names in the Spanish language; the only exception is when the congress or meeting held in Spain dictates a different language to be used for sorting. The flag of Europe has been hoisted. While not mentioned by name in the law, the flag of NATO can be used in Spain, since it belongs to that organization as well; when unfurled in the presence of other flags, the national flag must not have smaller dimensions and must be situated in a prominent, honorable place, according to the relevant protocol. Some high-ranking officials of the Spanish state are entitled to display a flag representative of their status, it is a square flag of Spain with the Spanish coat of arms centered on the yellow stripe.
The Yacht ensign is the flag of Spain charged with the royal crown in blue in the center of the yellow stripe. This flag was first established in 1875 by Royal Decree, which provided that the central stripe would display the royal crown; the Spanish naval jack is only hoisted at the prow of all Navy ships when docked or anchored in foreign waters, from sunrise to sunset. In national waters it is hoisted on Sundays, festivities and in presence of a foreign warship as soon as it moors at the dock; the national flag is always hoisted at the stern, when sailing, from sunrise to sunset, when docked. It is a square flag composed of 4 quarters: First quarter, for Castile: Gules
Spanish Constitution of 1812
The Political Constitution of the Spanish Monarchy known as the Constitution of Cádiz and as La Pepa, was the first Constitution of Spain and one of the earliest constitutions in world history. It was established on 19 March 1812 by the Cortes of the first Spanish legislature. With the notable exception of proclaiming Roman Catholicism as the official and sole legal religion in Spain, the constitution was one of the most liberal of its time: it affirmed national sovereignty, separation of powers, freedom of the press, free enterprise, abolished feudalism, established a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system, it was one of the first constitutions that allowed universal male suffrage, through a complex indirect electoral system. It was repealed by King Ferdinand VII in 1814 in Valencia. However, the Constitution had many difficulties becoming effective: much of Spain was ruled by the French, while the rest of the country was in the hands of interim Junta governments focused on resistance to the Bonapartes rather than on the immediate establishment of a constitutional regime.
Many of the overseas territories did not recognize the legitimacy of these interim metropolitan governments, leading to a power vacuum and the establishment of separate juntas on the American continent. On 24 March 1814, six weeks after returning to Spain, Ferdinand VII abolished the constitution; the constitution was reinstated during the Trienio Liberal, again 1836—1837 while the Progressives prepared the Constitution of 1837. The Cortes drafted and adopted the Constitution while besieged by French troops, first on Isla de León an island separated from the mainland by a shallow waterway on the Atlantic side of the Bay of Cádiz, within the small, strategically located city of Cádiz itself. From a Spanish point of view, the Peninsular War was a war of independence against the French Empire and the king installed by Napoleon, his brother Joseph Bonaparte. In 1808, both King Ferdinand VII and his predecessor and father, Charles IV, had resigned their claims to the throne in favor of Napoleon Bonaparte, who in turn passed the crown to his brother Joseph.
While many in elite circles in Madrid were willing to accept Joseph's rule, the Spanish people were not. The war began on the night of 2 May 1808, was immortalized by Francisco Goya's painting The Second of May 1808 known as The Charge of the Mamelukes. From the outbreak of the Spanish revolt against the Bonapartist regime in 1808, Napoleon's forces faced both Spanish armies and partisans, joined by British and Portuguese armies under Arthur Wellesley; the Spanish organized an interim Spanish government, the Supreme Central Junta and called for a Cortes to convene with representatives from all the Spanish provinces throughout the worldwide empire, in order to establish a government with a firm claim to legitimacy. The Junta first met on 25 September 1808 in Aranjuez and in Seville, before retreating to Cádiz; the Supreme Central Junta under the leadership of the elderly Count of Floridablanca tried to consolidate southern and eastern Spain to maintain continuity for a restoration of the Bourbons.
However from the outset they were in physical retreat from Napoleon's forces, the comparative liberalism offered by the Napoleonic regime made Floridablanca's enlightened absolutism an unlikely basis to rally the country. In any event, Floridablanca's strength failed him and he died on 30 December 1808; when the Cortes convened in Cádiz in 1810, there appeared to be two possibilities for Spain's political future if the French could be driven out. The first, represented by Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, was the restoration of the absolutist Antiguo Régimen. Retreating before the advancing French and an outbreak of yellow fever, the Supreme Central Junta moved to Isla de León, where it could be supplied and defended with the help of the Spanish and British navies, abolished itself, leaving a regency to rule until the Cortes could convene; the origins of the Cortes did not harbor any revolutionary intentions, since the Junta saw itself as a continuation of the legitimate government of Spain. The opening session of the new Cortes was held on 24 September 1810 in the building now known as the Real Teatro de las Cortes.
The opening ceremonies included a civic procession, a mass, a call by the president of the Regency, Pedro Quevedo y Quintana, the bishop of Ourense, for those present to fulfill their task loyally and efficiently. Still, the act of resistance to the French involved a certain degree of deviation from the doctrine of royal sovereignty: if sovereignty resided in the monarch Charles and Ferdinand's abdications in favor of Napoleon would have made Joseph Bonaparte the legitimate ruler of Spain; the representatives who gathered at Cádiz were far more liberal than the elite of Spain taken as a whole, they produced a document far more liberal than might have been produced in Spain were it not for the war. Few of the most conservative voices were at Cádiz, there was no effective communication with King Ferdinand, a virtual prisoner in France. In the Cortes of 1810–1812, liberal deputies, who had the implicit support of the British who were protecting the city, were in the majority and representatives of the Church and nobility constituted a minority.
Liberals wanted equality before the law, a centralized government, an efficient modern civil service, a reform of the tax system, the replacement of feudal privileges by freedom of contract, the recognition of the property
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