Mercenarius
Banned
The Queen of the Orient
A Philippine History
A Philippine History
The Road to Independence
The end of the Napoleonic Wars left Spain a screwed-up nation. With its army battered and
its treasury without money, the nation entered its worst chapter in years. Fernando VII
badly wanted to fix that problem, and he thought only absolute rule was the right answer.
Thus, he abolished the Constitution of 1812, which made the liberals enraged. The Felon King
expected the reaction, and have every supporter of the constitution arrested. His iron fist
rule would last for almost a decade. The 1820s saw the demise of Spain's possessions in
the Americas, as New Spain, New Granada, Peru, and Rio de la Plata succeeded in gaining
their independence from the Crown. An effect of this was the increased mistrust of
mainland Spaniards, or peninsulars, towards the criollos and mestizos. So, they planned to
curb their power and to reassert control over the remaining Spanish colonies. At that time,
many peninsular officers and administrators from the New World were left jobless with the
fall of the viceroyalties. In response, Madrid reassigned them to Cuba, Africa and the
Philippines.
In Manila, the local criollos and mestizos were outraged by the new policy, calling it very
discriminatory. They tried to appeal, but the protests were put down by the colonial
government. The army was no exception. Many criollo officers were demoted and replaced
by peninsulars. This time the government readied a countermeasure, by sendeng the non-
peninsular troops to Mindanao. When the order was declared, an army captain decided that he had enough of the crap, and began to hatch a plan. That man is Andrés Novales.
On 1 June, Novales defied his orders and marched into the walls of Manila with 800 men.
Their arrival caught the city by surprise. In a couple of hours, government buildings and other
important structures were seized. But there's one surprising fact: instead of facing
opposition from the locals, Novales was cheered by them. This, coupled with shouts of
"Long Live the Emperor!" prompted Novales to change his plans. The mutiny is now a full-
pledged war of liberation.
But the victory is not yet complete, as Fort Santiago still stands as a Royalist bastion.
Novales and his bolstered army marched into the fort to demand its surrender. Antonio
Novales, brother of Andrés, refused the demands, and ordered his troops to resist. But
Antonio's subordinates switched sides and seized their commander, and the opened the
gates of Fort Santiago themselves, effectively joining the growing rebellion.
Novales and his supporters celebrated their victory, and confidently declared the end of
Spanish tyranny. But reality speaks otherwise. The Governor General, Juan Antonio Martínez
and his lieutenant Mariano Rodríguez de Folgueras escaped to Pampanga, and rallied the
Spanish troops for a counterattack. This sets the stage for a new chapter in Philippine
history: the War of Independence.
Last edited: