The started with the ,
Pi I Margall ,
Nicolás Salmerón , and
Emilio Castelar .
The Republican leaders planned the establishment of a
Federal republic, but did not declare it immediately, and instead planned a Constituent
Cortes to write a federal constitution. The radicals preferred a unitary republic, and once the republic had been declared the two parties turned against each other; initially the radicals were largely driven from power, joining those who had already been driven out by the revolution of
1868 or by the
Carlist War .
Subversion in the army, a series of local
Cantonalist risings, instability in
Barcelona , failed anti-federalist coups, calls for revolution by the
International Workingmen's Association , the lack of any broad political legitimacy, and personal in-fighting among the republican leadership all weakened the republic.
The Republic effectively ended on
January 3 1874 , when the
Captain General of
Madrid ,
Manuel Pavía , pronounced against the federalist government and called on all parties except Federalists and Carlists to form a national government. The monarchists and Republicans refused, leaving the unitary Radicals and Constitutionalists as the only group willing to govern; again a narrow political base. General
Francisco Serrano formed a new government and was appointed President of the Republic although it was a mere formality since the Cortes had been dissolved and he had only the backing of the monarchists.
Carlist Forces managed to expand the territory under their control to the greatest extent in early 1874, though a series of defeats by the republic's northern army in the second half of the year might have led to the end of the war had it not been for bad weather. However the other monarchists had taken the name of ''Alfonsists'' as supporters of
Alfonso , the son of the former Queen
Isabel , and were organised by
Cánovas Del Castillo .
This period of fictitious Republic lasted until Brigadier
Martínez Campos pronounced for Alfonso in
Sagunto on
29 December 1874 , and the rest of the army refused to act against him. The government collapsed, leading to the end of the republic and the
Restoration of the
Bourbon monarchy with the proclamation of Alfonso XII as king.
