Between expectations and uncertainties: Functionaries and officers of the Spanish Army in Rio de Janeiro during the Liberal Triennium

Abstract

The aim of this article is to study the actions of the functionaries and military officers of the Spanish armies loyal to Ferdinand VII, that were forced to move from one place to another, fleeing from the insurgent presidios, to be reintegrated into their posts at the service of the Spanish monarchy during the Liberal Triennium. Also, to historicize the situation of uncertainty and helplessness experienced by those who were stranded in the city of Rio de Janeiro after the failure of the Spanish Crown’s attempt to reconquer the Rio de la Plata and, afterwards, by the closure of the Spanish embassy in Rio de Janeiro. To comprehend the institutional mechanisms they employed to resolve their personal or collective situations, and the alternatives that became available to them as the Cortes of the Liberal Triennium raised the banner of “the pacification of the Americas” upon sending royal commissioners to negotiate peace with the government of Buenos Aires. To demonstrate the advantages of resorting to “relational analysis” to observe the role played by the Spanish plenipotentiary as articulator of the Fernandine loyalists on the scale of the Monarchy.