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I did not say that liberal ideas had been brought into a desert Spain by french troops, but that the liberal in Spain had been bolstered by the presence of the french army (at the time, there were also a feeling of hope in some places at the advance of the french army, before the effects of war were felt, because of the aura of the french revolution. A lot of people accross Europe sincerely bought into the Empire=Révolution=Liberty, whereas from the french point of view, Napoleon is a kind of counter-revolutionnary: his politics were of stopping the reform mouvement and give it a conservative tinge that would render it acceptable for a bigger part of the elite.

And actually I'm not saying anything myself: that's just from a book read in spanish two weeks ago about Goya and the people around him.

by Xavier in Paris on Wed Mar 4th, 2015 at 04:36:18 PM EST
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Well, I was reading up a bit and what happened was that after the French Revolution the Spanish monarchy became reactionary and for about 15 years until Napoleon's invasion in 1807-8 the liberals' political influence was on the wane.

But the fact is that the Spanish patriots fighting the occupation were liberal, too, as evidenced by the constitution of 1812.

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Mar 4th, 2015 at 04:41:21 PM EST
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It is also what I said above. And they got screwed because they were associated to a foreign invasion even though some of them fought against it.

At least, that's the message from the book I read, which describes close friend from Goya hoping to use the french presence to get rid of some spanish bad habits (mainly religious influence that they criticized), and being deceived as the war -curiously quite secondary from a french perspective- takes its toll.

Anyway, as I haven't got enough background to argue here, and as I don't want to get involved into a new flaming debate here, after the one with IM, so count me as convinced. You may delete my messages if you find them too off base.

by Xavier in Paris on Wed Mar 4th, 2015 at 04:59:58 PM EST
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Anyway, as I haven't got enough background to argue here, and as I don't want to get involved into a new flaming debate here, after the one with IM, so count me as convinced. You may delete my messages if you find them too off base.
Where did that come from?

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Mar 4th, 2015 at 05:27:04 PM EST
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