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| Rising of 1820 | |
|---|---|
| Name | Rising of 1820 |
| Date | 1820 |
| Place | United Kingdom; Kingdom of the Two Sicilies; Kingdom of Spain; Kingdom of Portugal; Kingdom of Naples; Kingdom of Sardinia |
| Result | Suppression in many areas; constitutional concessions in United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Spain |
Rising of 1820 was a series of linked liberal, constitutional and military insurrections across Europe and the Atlantic world in 1820 that challenged conservative restoration regimes after the Congress of Vienna. Emerging amid crises in the Kingdom of Naples, Spain, Kingdom of Portugal, and parts of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the uprisings intersected with contemporary movements in the Greek War of Independence, the Decembrist revolt, and the wider age of Metternich-era reaction. Rebels sought charters, constitutions, and the return of officers such as those who had served under Napoleon or in the Peninsular War, provoking interventions by regimes associated with the Holy Alliance.
The insurgencies grew from the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, the diplomatic orders set at the Congress of Vienna, and the political culture forged by the French Revolution. Economic dislocation after the Price Revolution of the early 19th century and fiscal crises in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and Kingdom of Portugal heightened tensions among veterans of the Peninsular War and officers from the Grande Armée. Returning officers exposed to liberal ideas from France and the Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic) circulated pamphlets influenced by texts like the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and the Constitution of Cádiz (1812). The conservative order led by figures associated with the Holy Alliance, notably Klemens von Metternich and Tsar Alexander I of Russia, clashed with reformist currents linked to societies such as the Carbonari in Italy and secret lodges in Spain and Portugal.
Insurrections began in January 1820 with disturbances in the Kingdom of Naples and quickly spread. A military-led conspiracy in Naples produced demands for a constitution echoing the Cádiz constitution, while a parallel revolt in Piedmont-Sardinia saw officers influenced by the Carbonari press for chartered government. In February, a successful mutiny in Vigo and elsewhere in Spain forced the restoration of the Cádiz Cortes's constitutional framework and challenged the rule of King Ferdinand VII of Spain. In Portugal, the February 1820 revolution in Porto established a provisional junta that summoned the return of the prince regent Dom Pedro from Brazil and aimed to reinstate the Cortes and the 1820 Portuguese constitution. By spring and summer, reaction from conservative monarchs mobilized cross-border diplomacy at Laibach and led to interventions similar to those seen in the later suppression of the Greek War of Independence. The uprisings' timeline intersects with contemporaneous events such as the Decembrist revolt and the revolts in Spain that continued into the 1820s.
Leading personalities included liberal military officers from the Peninsular War and veterans of the Napoleonic Wars, secret-society activists such as members of the Carbonari, and civic leaders from port cities like Porto and Vigo. Notable names associated with the movements were officers sympathetic to constitutionalism and politicians who had served in the Cortes of Cádiz, opponents of absolutism including proponents of the Spanish liberal faction and Portuguese liberals who later connected with Dom Pedro I of Brazil and the return of the Brazilian court. Counter-revolutionary figures included monarchs and ministers aligned with Klemens von Metternich, reactionaries from the Holy Alliance, and generals committed to restoring prerogatives of dynasties such as the House of Bourbon and the House of Braganza.
Responses combined local negotiation, military repression, and diplomatic pressure. In some cases constitutional concessions were offered to defuse military mutinies, as in parts of Spain where officers reinstated the Cortes of Cádiz's measures. In other theatres, regimes used loyal forces and foreign aid from allies within the Holy Alliance to crush uprisings, mirroring later interventions in Naples and the suppression of secret societies in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Ministries in capitals such as Lisbon, Madrid, and Turin coordinated with conservative diplomats like Metternich to seek extradition and dismantle networks of conspirators. Trials, deportations to colonies such as Brazil or Guiana, and executions followed in multiple jurisdictions.
Short-term outcomes varied: Portugal moved toward constitutional monarchy under a restored Cortes and the eventual return of Dom Pedro from Brazil, while Spain experienced oscillation between liberal regimes and the absolutist restoration under Ferdinand VII. In the Italian peninsula, promises of constitutional government were largely reversed by interventions tied to the Congress System. Socially, the uprisings radicalized networks of veterans, secret societies like the Carbonari, and urban professional classes in Port cities, increasing polarization that fed later revolutions such as those of 1830 and 1848. The events stimulated transnational liberal collaboration that connected movements in Italy, the Iberian Peninsula, and the broader Atlantic world, influencing figures involved in the Greek War of Independence and the long-term decline of ancien régime order.
Historians interpret the 1820 uprisings as a pivotal wave within the post-Napoleonic struggle between the conservative Holy Alliance and emergent liberal-national movements. Some scholars emphasize the role of military officers socialized in the Napoleonic campaigns and the influence of constitutional models like the Constitution of Cádiz (1812), while others stress socioeconomic pressures in port cities and the diffusion of secret-society networks such as the Carbonari. The events are linked in historiography to the broader sequence of revolutionary episodes culminating in the Revolutions of 1848 and are used to trace the transnational circulation of political ideas among actors connected to the Peninsular War, Brazilian independence, and the post-Vienna order. The 1820 uprisings remain a reference point for studies of early 19th-century liberalism, military politics, and the limits of restoration diplomacy.
Category:19th-century revolutions