REVOLUTION AND COUNTERREVOLUTION IN SPAIN AND IN SPANISH AMERICA. RIEGO’S FAILURE AND THE LIBERAL TRIENNIUM (1820-1823)

Abstract

The liberal triennium is presented as a crossroads in the History of Spain and in much of America. A crossroads where the trajectories of the European and American continents converge. In these years, respect for the freedoms of the citizens was demanded. The right to freedom under the law, freedom of opinion and association, freedom of political action and choice. These movements have a predominantly liberal and nationalist political-social character. The different national projects of the overseas territories have an explanation and the possibility of building a liberal regime on the Peninsula under the protection of the Constitution of Cádiz depart for the future. Rafael de Riego's coup against Ferdinand VII of Spain, was one more in the long chain of those that took place in the period 1814-1820. Majority of then failed but Riego finally achieved the objective. The liberal faction reached the power to carry out a series of political, social and economic changes from an ideological base opposed to that of the Old Regime. The French invasion took place, which came to reestablish the absolutism, Riego led the resistance in Andalusia at 1823 but he was defeated, captured and executed. Riego’s dream disappeared.