The backgrounds of the Spanish Revolution of 1868: Civic Celebrations and Popular Politics

ABSTRACT The political process that led to the Gloriosa Revolution of September 1868 in Spain has been sufficiently studied. We also know well the ideological foundations, the connection with the economic situation, and the social composition of the groups behind the revolution. What is less known are some of the mobilization dynamics used by the Progressive Party and the groups to its left to carry out the insurrection. In the years prior to the revolution, the insurgents organized patriotic banquets, civic parades, and similar events in city squares, pleasure gardens, and monuments, all charged with revolutionary symbolism. Many of the spaces used to spread insurrectional culture were recently created in the process of the expansion of the Spanish cities. This article studies the use made by Progressives and their allies of captivating forms of mobilization in these new public spaces and places of memory to attract the popular groups to the revolution.