Crise de l'État et nouvelles autorités : Les juntes lors de la guerre d'indépendance

Abstract

Antonio Moliner Prada, The Crisis of State and the New Authorities : the Juntas in the War of Independence The aim of this article is to review research conducted in recent years on the juntas in order to ascertain the state of the art. Reference to popular revolution is out of place since the people were left out of the juntas. But they cannot be analysed without looking at the popular uprising which preceded their establishment. It needs to be said at the outset how difficult it is to create an interpretative model describing the specific features of the different juntas. No simple linear scheme of explanation suffices. In spite of their ambivalence, the juntas served as the motor of change from the bottom up and the hub of action between the different social classes. In the collective imagination fostered by liberalism, the junta movement of 1808 symbolises the Spanish revolution.