The Roots of Revolution: Post-Napoleonic Repression

The 1820s began with a seismic shift across the Mediterranean as revolutionary fervor swept through Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Greece. The origins of this upheaval lay in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, where restored monarchies sought to erase the liberal reforms of the French Revolution. Nowhere was this more evident than in Spain, where King Ferdinand VII of the Bourbon dynasty returned from French exile in 1814 and launched a brutal campaign of reaction.

Ferdinand’s regime abolished the progressive 1812 Cádiz Constitution, purged “afrancesados” (pro-French collaborators), shuttered universities and theaters, and reinstated the Inquisition. Yet repression alone could not solve Spain’s crises. The loss of Latin American colonies after 1810 devastated trade revenues, while domestic industries like Catalan textiles and Castilian agriculture floundered. Discontent festered among military officers—many of whom had risen from non-noble ranks during the Peninsular War—and former guerrilla leaders now sidelined by the royalist elite.

The Spark: Spain’s Pronunciamientos and the Riego Revolt

By 1820, unrest crystallized in a series of military uprisings known as pronunciamientos. The most consequential erupted in Cádiz, where Colonel Rafael del Riego led troops destined for colonial suppression in Latin America to mutiny. Refusing to fight, they demanded the restoration of the 1812 Constitution. With northern garrisons joining the revolt, Ferdinand VII capitulated on March 7, 1820, swearing allegiance to the liberal charter.

What followed was a three-year constitutional interlude marked by bitter factionalism. Moderate liberals, backed by the educated bourgeoisie, sought to amend the 1812 document, while radicals—supported by urban artisans and linked to secret societies like the Carbonari—insisted on its unaltered adoption. Freemason lodges became hotbeds of intrigue, yet divisions paralyzed governance. By 1822, Ferdinand covertly appealed to the Holy Alliance for intervention. At the Congress of Verona, Austria, Prussia, and Russia authorized France to invade. In April 1823, French forces crossed the Pyrenees unopposed, crushing the revolution and restoring absolutism by October.

The “Ominous Decade” and the Carlist Shadow

Ferdinand’s reprisals were swift: Riego was hanged, liberals were purged, and France maintained an occupation until 1828. Yet even royalists split between pragmatists and hardline realistas puros who demanded total eradication of liberalism. When Ferdinand refused to revive the Inquisition, ultra-conservatives turned to his brother Carlos, sparking rural revolts like the 1827 Catalan uprising. These tensions exploded into the First Carlist War after Ferdinand’s death in 1833—a clash between clerical absolutism and secular liberalism that would define Spain’s turbulent century.

Parallel Struggles: Portugal and Italy’s Revolutions

Inspired by Spain, Portugal’s 1820 Porto Revolution forced King João VI to accept a constitution upon his return from Brazil. But Brazil’s 1822 independence and Miguelist absolutist revolts plunged Portugal into civil war. Only by 1834 did liberal forces, backed by Britain, secure Queen Maria II’s throne.

Italy witnessed similar upheavals. In Naples, Carbonari-led officers forced King Ferdinand I to adopt a constitution in 1820, only for Austria to crush the revolt at the Congress of Laibach. Piedmont’s 1821 revolution met the same fate. The Papal States under Pope Leo XII intensified repression, yet nationalist dreams survived among exiles—seeds of the later Risorgimento.

Greece’s War of Independence: A Pan-European Cause

Greece’s 1821 uprising against Ottoman rule became Europe’s most celebrated revolution. The Philiki Etaireia (Friendly Society) orchestrated the revolt, but early massacres of Turks and retaliatory atrocities—like the 1822 Chios massacre—stained the conflict. Despite internal divisions, victories at Navarino (1827) and Russian intervention secured independence by 1830.

The war galvanized European public opinion. Philhellenes like Lord Byron (who died at Missolonghi) framed Greece as both Christian martyrs and heirs to classical glory. Committees from Germany to America raised funds and volunteers, while the 1827 Treaty of London saw Britain, France, and Russia intervene—marking the Holy Alliance’s fracture.

Legacy: The Birth of Modern Europe

The 1820s revolutions failed to topple conservatism, but their legacy endured. Spain and Portugal’s struggles birthed enduring liberal traditions, while Italy’s exiles kept unification alive. Greece emerged as Europe’s first Orthodox constitutional monarchy in 1843. Most crucially, these movements revealed the power of transnational solidarity and public opinion—forces that would reshape Europe in 1848 and beyond. The Mediterranean’s revolutionary decade proved that the age of absolutism was waning, even if its demise would take decades longer.