Manuel Pavía y Rodríguez de Alburquerque

Manuel Pavia

Manuel Pavia y Rodriguez de Alburquerque (August 2, 1828 – January 4, 1895) was a Spanish general, born in Cadiz, who was an important part of Spanish political life during the second half of the 19th century. He participated in the Revolution of 1868, which removed Isabella II from power, and led the coup d'état which brought down the First Spanish Republic, giving way to the Restoration and the rule of Isabella's son Alfonso XII.

Early career

His military career began in 1841, when he entered the Royal Artillery College at Segovia. He became a lieutenant in 1846 and a captain in 1855. Pavía returned to Spain after fighting in the Hispano-Moroccan War (1859–60) and in the European expedition of Mexico in 1862; in the latter year he was proclaimed major.

In January 1866, he was a commander under the general Juan Prim. He participated in an unsuccessful mutiny against the regime of Isabella II, ruined in Madrid. Prim left the Liberal Union of Leopoldo O'Donnell and joined the new Progressive Party. At the end of that year, Pavía and Prim organised a mutiny with other generals, but this rebellion didn't succeed due to lack of popular and military support.

O'Donnell sent a detachment to detain the conspirators. Prim and Pavía escaped to Portugal, persecuted by Zavala and Echagüe. During the escape they received much support from the Spanish population.

1868 Revolution to the Restoration

After two years of exile, Pavía returned to Spain collaborating again with General Prim, but this time he begun a successful revolutionary movement in August 1866 with the Pacto de Ostende with the Democratic Party.

Armed insurrection broke out in Andalusia, prepared by the revolutionary juntas composed by democrats and progressives, which actuated in favour of a military conspiracy. In September 1868, after proclaiming the manifest "España con honra", Prim disembarked in Cádiz. On 28 September he won the battle of Alcolea, and the support of Barcelona and the Mediterranean coast was decisive for the victory of the revolution. The queen left the country in September 30 and a provisional government was set up under General Francisco Serrano.

During this period, Pavía fought in Navarra at the beginning of the Third Carlist War. In 1873, with the First Republic proclaimed, with the general Arsenio Martínez Campos, he ran the repression of the cantonalist insurrection, initiated 12 July of that year during the presidency of Pi y Margall in Cartagena which aspired to constitute a federation of the autonomic territorial organizations of the central power.

Pavía and Martínez Campos took one by one almost all the cantons between July 26 and August 8, being the president Emilio Castelar. Only the canton of Cartagena resisted, until January 13 of the next year. At the end of 1873, Pavía again held the charge of Captain general of Castilla la Nueva, with its headquarters in Madrid. He still held the position when the president Castelar, during the first days of 1874, asked the "Congreso de los Diputados" for a vote of confidence, which was rejected.

On 3 January Pavía, (whose political posture favoured united centralism) presented himself in the Congress and ordered it to evacuate the building at the moment that it was proceeding to a new presidential election ruled by a federalist. With the coup d'état over, the "Fase Pretoriana" of the First Republic began, led by Francisco Serrano (Duque de la Torre). This rapidly gave way to the return of the monarchy of the House of Bourbon with Alfonso XII, son of Isabella II.

During the Restoration, Pavía was the captain general of Catalonia from 1880 until 1881 and again captain general of "Castilla la Nueva" in 1885, under the regency of María Cristina de Habsburgo-Lorena. In 1886, carrying out these duties, he defeated the popular anti-dynastic Manuel Villacampa in Madrid.

Death

During his last years of life, he was promoted to captain general, was president of the "Consejo Supremo de Guerra y Marina" and wrote military histories. Manuel Pavía died on January 4, 1895.

References

• Some information has been taken from a book called Historia de España Nº13-Revolución y Restauración from a collection of El Mundo newspaper.