The Americas in the Early 1870s
Before the Franco-Prussian War had broken out, the USA had already been making ready for the eventuality of war with France over Mexico, concluding the annexation of Santo Domingo in 1870 (with the support of enthusiastic locals), to provide the US Navy with a port in the Caribbean which could be used as a base in a possible war against the French. During the Franco-Prussian War there had subsequently been numerous calls for the USA to invade Mexico and restore the republic, as arms shipments to the rebels continued and the American government prepared troops along the Mexican border. In the end, however, the increasing stability of the Second Mexican Empire and the continued presence of a modest French fleet in Mexican waters (despite the Franco-Prussian War drawing away many of France’s forces in the area) resulted in President Ulysses Grant dallying over war with Mexico for long enough that events overtook him. Firstly, the Americans were distracted by the 1871 US expedition to Korea, which turned violent when US ships were fired on by Korean costal defences. The expedition demanded an apology and when it was not forthcoming they landed troops and artillery, some 100 marines and 550 sailors taking a number of Korean forts, losing only 3 killed compared to the 243 the Koreans lost. The expedition then left Korea for China when the Koreans continued to refuse to negotiate, but when the President heard of the incident, he ordered a larger punitive expedition to be launched and so US forces returned to Korea after the monsoon season, with a sizable military force that proceeded to level forts along the Korean coast and bombard Hanyang. After landing troops and establishing a base ashore, they defeated a sizable Korean Army led by Daewon-gun. In a series of skirmishes, the US troops far outclassed the Koreans and after a day of fighting, they launched a night attack and seized the main Korean camp, capturing the regent and forcing him to negotiate. Eventually, seeing that Korea was helpless against the USA’s military might, the regent signed the Treaty of Hanyang, which gave the USA Busan as a treaty port. Although many people spoke out against the expedition and its aftermath, it was justified as necessary for the modernisation and opening of Korea to the rest of the world and to seek redress for the insults that the USA felt it had received. The USA also received considerable opposition from China and Russia, both of which threatened action against the Americans. While the Russian ultimately backed out from a confrontation, the Chinese only backed down after the USA assured China that they would not expand any further into Korea.
Whilst the USA expanded abroad, establishing bases to project their influence and protect it from the imperialistic tendencies of the European powers, they were also busy consolidating their hold over the territories they already had. Conflicts between the USA and the Native American tribes were becoming increasingly common and war became almost constant as the tribes fought to retain their independence from the encroachment of American settlers and soldiers. Once such war was the Modoc War, which began on 6th July 1872 when US forces sought to return Captain Jack, chief of the Modoc tribe, to the reservation. When fighting broke out whilst the Native Americans were being disarmed, the Battle of Lost River occurred, leaving one American killed, seven wounded and two Modoc killed, three wounded. After the battle the Modoc retreated to the south of Tule Lake, the rocky ground full of caves and ridges turning the area into a fortress for the Modoc within. Militia arrived and began to scout out the area, but were attacked by the Native Americans, who were able to kill all 23 of them. After a further series of skirmishes, the US troops attacked the stronghold on 17th January, advancing from the east and west, but were held back by the Modoc warriors until retreating at the end of the day, leaving 35 dead and 25 wounded, whilst the Modoc suffered no casualties. Negotiations now began, but no agreement could be reached, frustrating the tribe, some of whom pushed for the killing of the peace commissioners, despite Captain Jack’s hope for a peaceful solution. Eventually, the chief agreed to act so that he could keep his position and two commissioners were killed, so the army again attacked the stronghold, fighting throughout the day and cutting off the Modoc water supply during the night, although the band was able to escape. After this the Battle of Sand Butte occurred when a 67 man patrol was ambushed by the Modoc and defeated, leaving about half killed or wounded. The last action of the war was the Battle of Dry Lake, where a Modoc attack was repulsed by the army and a prominent member of the band killed, resulting in some of the tribe surrendering and Captain Jack being captured. Following this a handful of the Modoc attempted to flee south and began a long trek towards safety in Mexico, although they were caught before they reached the border. At the conclusion of the war Captain Jack and two of his warriors were executed, some were sent to Alcatraz, and the rest were held as POWs. The war cost the USA $450,000, whilst the cost of buying the land the Modoc had requested was only $20,000.
Shortly after the Modoc War, the USA found itself embroiled in a far more bloody and costly conflict for which it was woefully underprepared, a conflict which put paid to any plans of an invasion of Mexico (Grant had indeed been preparing stockpiles of arms and supplies, apparently in preparation). In 1873 the American ship Virginius, captained by Joseph Fry, who had been a commodore in the Confederate Navy, was transporting supplies and 103 Cuban soldiers to Cuba to support the rebellion against the Spanish which was occurring on the island. After being spotted six miles from Cuba by the Spanish steam cruiser Tornado, the Virginius was forced to surrender after a short chase and taken to Santiago in Cuba. After the crew were found guilty of piracy, 53 were executed, including Captain Fry, leading the Americans to complain to the Spanish. The US public was increasingly concerned with European power in the Americas after the establishment of the Mexican Empire and the arrival of the news of the executions caused a sensation. Because of this the press in the USA began a warmongering campaign and although the executions were halted when the HMS Niobe had reached Santiago and threatened to bombard the port if they did not cease immediately (some of the prisoners had been thought to be British), the Americans were far from placated (the British took little further part in the conflict). Negotiations soon became heated, the Americans also becoming fearful because of the domestic events in Spain that presented the danger that Spain would soon be under a King and America would find another monarchy on her doorstep, President Grant declared war on the Spanish on 18th November 1873 at the behest of the public and the press.
In the Mexican Empire the regime had been seriously concerned by the Franco-Prussian War, as the French were temporarily prevented from aiding Maximilian’s government to the extent it had previously. Seriously concerned by this, a state of emergency had been declared as preparations were made for an expected American invasion, forts being constructed along the expected route of the invasion and to guard major cities. During this time Maximilian enshrined the place of the Catholic Church in Mexico in various laws and institutions that guarded it and held it to be the official religion of the country, which went a long way to giving him the support of the conservatives, whilst his liberals reforms of Mexico as well as his personal efforts to help the people of Mexico, often spending his own money on public works, garnered him support from liberals and the common people of Mexico. Despite the increasing popularity of Maximilian, during the dark days of the Franco-Prussian War the republicans had threatened to re-emerge in force against him, as guerrillas once again began to stream across the northern border. This resulted in numerous firefights between the Resguardo, supported by the army, and the rebels, with the Native Americans regularly joining in. Indeed, the Mexican relationship with the two most powerful tribes in the Southern USA and Northern Mexico, the Apache and the Comanche, was somewhat complicated as both sides regularly switched between raiding and trading with one another. To begin with, the Native Americans and the Comancheros (Hispanic and Indian traders closely involved with the Comanche) had been loyal to the republican government of Mexico and regularly run guns and supplies to the rebels, but by the early 1870s pressure from the US government and settlers had forced them into the arms of the Mexican Empire. Emperor Maximilian was willing to accept their loyalty (or at least an uneasy alliance) in return for their help in pacifying the northern reaches of Mexico and as a way of helping safeguard against the USA’s growing presence close to the Mexican border. By the end of the Franco-Prussian War the guerrillas were making headway in the north, having defeated the Resguardo in some areas, despite their most valiant efforts. With mounting casualties, martial law was declared in the north and the military began to act in larger numbers, which, combined with the morale booster that the return of French troops gave the Imperial forces and the loss of morale it inflicted on the rebels, ended the successes of the guerrillas and once again defeated them, driving them across the border or underground. The Imperial throne had endured once again, whilst the heir, Otto Franz, had begun to spend more time in Mexico after the death of his mother in 1871, giving hope as to the future and ingratiating himself to the Mexican people. At the same time as this, the New Virginia Colony began to flourish despite the best efforts of the USA to halt the migration of ex-Confederates and others into Mexico. Since their beginning, the settlements had steadily grown with the influx of tens of thousands of ex-Confederates and other Europeans, which served to give the Empire more skilled workers, began to Europeanize the country, and created a core of men loyal to the Emperor.
Native Americans fighting settlers in the USA
These conflicts soured relations between the expanding USA and made the Indians natural allies of the Empire of Mexico
The Third Carlist War
When Isabella II was deposed in 1868 in the La Gloriosa Revolution, it led to a search for a new monarch for Spain. Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern, was first offered the throne by the new government, but the French strongly objected and the Prussian was passed over whilst the search continued. Eventually, in late 1871, the Neapolitan Prince Gaetan, Count of Girgenti, was given the throne, being crowned King of Spain alongside his wife Princess Theresa of Bavaria, whom he had married earlier that year. His selection as King was unpopular in Spain, as he was deemed too conservative by those who were worried by the traditionalist rule of his brother, Francis II, whilst also being unpopular among the conservatives, as he was seen as a foreign King who had taken the place of the rightful ruler, the Carlist pretender to the throne, Carlos VII. Elected as King on 15th August 1871, King Gaetan found himself in a bad position from the start, with conflict even within his own government. With instability tearing Spain apart, the King’s health began to suffer as the stress of his duties began to take its toll and he sunk ever deeper into depression. He was often the target of assassination attempts, the most serious occurring on 1st February 1872, when General Juan Prim, Marqués de los Castillejos, was killed and the King severely wounded by gunfire. Then, on 21st April 1872 the Carlist uprising began, completely destroying what remained of his spirit, depression overtaking him completely. His marriage was not an unhappy one, but the two were not in love and remained distant in the short time they were married, further eroding his morale. After he received word that his brother was unable to directly aid him in the coming war, King Gaetan shot himself on 1st May, the day before Carlos VII crossed the border from France into Spain. Princess Theresa swiftly left the country and returned to Bavaria, never remarrying, whilst Francis II was deeply upset by his brother’s death, blaming both himself and the Spanish government, which he saw as having abandoned Gaetan, leading him to resolve to help the Carlists, supplying them with what limited funds, arms and equipment he could spare.
The two opposing factions of the Third Carlist War were very different in their composition and as such employed widely differing strategies in the first stages of the war. The Carlist forces were primarily made up of guerrilla bands which were raised locally, allowing them to fight in an irregular style which allowed them to take advantage of the terrain and their knowledge of the land and people, but which limited their ability to threaten cities. Nevertheless, the Carlists did have some armies, although they were filled with low quality recruits and in the beginning suffered many logistical problems, which they only began to solve as more support from Catholic rulers began to reach them. The Liberals, on the other hand, possessed a professional army and the support of the towns and cities, as well as the railway system, which allowed them to swiftly move their forces to wherever they were needed. On the other hand, the Liberals were plagued by instability, as monarchists and republicans argued over what to do after the death of King Gaetan, damaging their war effort which had already taken a severe hit thanks to loss of morale following the suicide of the King (despite attempts to hush the episode up, the public found out). The Liberal war effort was further hindered by the outbreak of the Cantonal Revolution just after it was announced that a new King would not be sought and a republica was proclaimed, when some elements among the republicans sought to establish a more progressive republic from the bottom up rather than wait for the government to establish it from the top down. Spreading quickly through the south of the country, it drew government forces away from the north where they were sorely needed to combat the threat of the Carlists. If it had not been for this, the war may have been ended before it escalated.
In the opening stages of the war, the government appeared to do well, as the government was able to win the Battle of Oroquieta, which only left 70 Carlist dead and 900 captured, but scattered their forces in the Basque Country for the entire year, compelling Carlos VII to flee back to France. Despite this setback, Carlist warbands continued to operate against the government and with the arrival of Infante Alfonso Carlos in December the Carlist armies began to organise themselves more thoroughly, with the creation of a proper military structure. Alfonso had been released from his service in the Papal Zouaves to participate in the war, along with many other officers the Pope released to serve the Carlists, as Pius personally sympathised with the traditionalist Carlist cause. Their forces regrouped and small cadres of officers filtered into the country to train and lead the Carlist armies, whilst arms and supplies began to reach them in greater quantities, being run across the border with France. The Carlist army grew rapidly and by February 1873 numbered some 50,000. In the North the war now swung in the Carlists’ favour, as fresh troops and supplies were gathered and their forces reorganized after their initial defeat in 1872. The Spanish government in Madrid had proclaimed a republic almost immediately after the suicide of King Gaetan, but now struggled to hold their fledgling state together as rebels sprung up in every corner of Spain. In May 1873, the Carlists won a victory over a republican army, destroying that defeated republican army’s ability to operate as an effective fighting force and allowing for the Carlist capture of Estella in August, which was also marked by the arrival of Carlos VII in the theatre. On the eastern front, things began well for the Carlists, as they destroyed a republican force in the Battle of Alpens on the 9th July, although they were then badly mauled at the Battle of Bocairente, where despite early success in the action a republican counterattack was able to capture of a large portion of the Carlist force. Back in the north, the Carlists also suffered the costly Battle of Mañeru, which ended in a draw, but they won a further success with the Battle of Montejurra, wherein they badly bloodied an attacking force of republicans, forcing them to retreat. In November of that same year, although fighting between the Carlists and republicans continued unabated, the republican government was forced into fighting on yet another front when the USA declared war upon the Spanish. To the Spanish government, who had been preoccupied with the rebellions, this was cause for panic and so they threw themselves at President Grant’s feet in order to spare themselves a terrible and costly war. The Americans demanded Cuba, Puerto Rico and compensation for the loss of those executed on the island, the Spanish republicans quickly agreeing and taking the opportunity to beg the Americans for help as fellow republicans. Seeing an opportunity to win an ally, Grant ordered supplies to be given to the republic to aid in its quest to defeat the rebels, American ships steaming across the Atlantic to support their newfound brothers, a volunteer forces even being created. With the Americans involving themselves in the conflict, the French became increasingly concerned, Napoleon III becoming increasingly worried at the threat that they presented to his colonial empire which had taken on great importance to him as one of his greatest successes. Although the French decided against a full-scale intervention, they did concluded that they had to take action to support the Carlists in Spain and so the small supply of weapons that had previously been trickling across the border increased massively overnight. The Carlist forces suddenly found that they did not have to struggle to pay or arm their troops, and that they had all the military experts they needed to train and organise their forces in abundance.
The start of 1874 initially looked good for the republicans, who finished off the Cantonal revolution and began to receive American aid, but although both sides began to receive support from sovereign states, it was the Carlists who received by far the most. With new arms and supplies constantly arriving across the border, the Carlists were eager to push on and so laid siege to the city of Bilbao on 21st February with some 12,000 men, who faced a garrison of 1,200. The republicans sought to lift the siege, sending a relief force which engaged the Carlists on 24th February but was brutally beaten back, leaving 1,100 republican dead. After this first relief attempt the Carlists accelerated their attempts to capture the city, pounding the walls and the buildings within using the French-supplied artillery. A first assault was made on 16th March, but was repelled by the republicans, leaving hundreds of dead or wounded Carlists, while a second republican relief effort occurred on 25th March when 27,000 republicans attacked some 17,000 Carlists, who fought for four days before the republicans were finally forced to retreat, leaving the garrison of Bilbao to surrender as they begun to starve. With the failure of the relief attempts and the fall of the city, the republicans retreated and the Carlists had solidified their hold over the north within four months, as more cities and towns defected to their cause or fell to their men. In the east, however, the Carlists suffered the embarrassing Battle of Caspe, where a republican ambush captured some 200 of their men. Despite this setback, the Carlists were able to capture Cantevieja after a short siege and Olot after defeating a relief attempt led by Nouviles, who was captured with 2,000 of his men, the latter then becoming their capital in Catalonia. The republicans countered by seizing the Carlist stronghold of Gandesa, inflicting 100 casualties, but were unable to stop the Infante Alfonso from sacking Cuenca and fortifying it, beating off a republican counter-attack. The Carlist strongholds of the Basque Country and Navarre were now able to begin expanding, having forced out the final republican forces in the months following the fall of Bilbao, send reinforcements to their brothers in the east, and also begin to move south towards Madrid. The situation now became desperate for the republicans, who in having declined a proposal from Ramon Cabrera (in which the monarchy was to be restored to win over traditionalist elements and remove support for Carlos VII) had allowed the Carlists to fortify their gains and subsequently continue to advance. The New Year thus began well for the Carlists, who captured 300 republicans in the Battle of Lácar in February 1875, but a republican offensive in the Summer defeated a Carlist army and seized Logroño, leaving the entire war hanging in the balance, but the government was then defeated in the Battle of Treviño and the Carlist territory in the north remained safe. The Carlists decided to march for Madrid, resulting in the Battle of Tarancón, a Carlist victory which forced open the way to Madrid. By now, the Carlists, under the direction of French officers, equipped with French weapons and sustained by French supplies were approaching complete supremacy in the field as the government’s forces began to disintegrate with mass desertion, surrender and even whole units refusing to march out against the rebels. However, it was not until the fall of Madrid to the Carlists (following a bloody siege) that the war was decided, as with the fall of the city in the first days of 1876 the government forces still operating outside the city surrendered. The Carlist victory in the Third Carlist War resulted in the placement of Carlos VII on the Spanish throne and brought an end to liberal rule in Spain, the Church once again becoming a powerful force in both politics and daily life. The Madame Mère de l'Empereur (who had become the most powerful person in France following the death of her husband, Napoleon III, thanks to her influence over her son) and Patrice de Mac-Mahon (who had become the French Prime Minister) were relieved to have seemingly removed the Legitimist claimant from any business he might have in France and to have checked republicanism. Although the Civil War had been won, Carlos VII now faced the issue of the Spanish Empire, Cuba and Puerto Rico having been handed to the USA by the republicans. In the end it was decided to recognise the USA’s sovereignty over the two islands (which had long been a thorn in Spain’s side anyway) in return for American recognition of the sovereignty of the Spanish in their remaining colonies (i.e. the Philippines and Guam) as well as guarantees of the USA’s lack of territorial ambition concerning the Spanish. The republican movement in Spain was largely blamed for the loss of the colonies and for years to come would suffer from the accusation that they had given away the empire. Power was thus concentrated even more into Carlos VII’s hands as his absolutist regime settled in. Although there was a Parliament, its powers were severely limited and it had little real say in the running of the country. Those that the Carlists considered to be traitors, such as Cabrera, were shot for treason, which when combined with the reactionary policies taking hold led to many republicans going into exile (often self-imposed). The regime was strongest in the north of Spain, but in the south republican guerrillas operated with virtual impunity in some areas and a long counter-insurgency campaign began as Carlist troops sought to establish their authority across Spain. The campaign was to slowly grow more and more brutal as the Carlists grew tired of the seemingly endless war and the elusive enemy, whilst the republicans became increasingly desperate and angry at the government’s methods of retaliation. Infante Alfonso and his fellow officers returned to the Papal States after the war and re-joined the Zouaves, bringing with them a wealth of military experience.
Initial stages of the Carlist and Cantonal Revolts, 1874
The red areas show the Carlist positions and the flames show the Cantonal positions