The Siege of Bilbao
The siege of Bilbao in 1874, which occurred 150 years ago, is an emblematic event for the town. Both for its duration and for the effects it had on the civilian population. It had already had several precedents, which began on June 13, 1835 after the city's refusal to surrender. This site lasted a short time, until the first of July.
The latest siege occurs in certainly turbulent times. After the abdication of Amadeo of Saboya, the First Republic was proclaimed on February 11, 1873, and the Third Carlist War once again gained intensity. A confrontation between the Carlist traditionalists and the Republicans and liberals of the government side.
The military actions of the Carlists began on December 29, 1873, blocking the estuary. The most complicated stage begins on February 21, 1874 with the total isolation of the Villa, and continues until the site is lifted on May 2.
Miguel de Unamuno remembers these events in his first novel "Peace in War", experienced in first person when he was just over nine years old.
Photography and the Siege of Bilbao
Unlike the first Siege that occurred in 1834, the existence of photography allows us to visit the places of the Siege of 1874. In the Basque Museum of Bilbao we find two photographic collections of special interest:
- The glass plates and paper images that the French photographer Charles Monnay, established in Bilbao on Correo 15 street (today Correo 10), made during the Carlist siege of 1874. They are views of the city, the military installations, and the liberal defenders, both soldiers and volunteers.
- The Errazquin Fund, which includes several photographs from that period, where the effects of the bombing can be seen on streets, squares and bridges, and the defenses of the town.
Monney's photo album
In photographic album format, there are at least four copies of the collection of photographs taken by Charles Monney during the siege of Bilbao.
Charles Monney died in Madrid in April 1875. His widow continued with the business, until she transferred it to another French photographer, Jorge Richou.
All copies of the Album are different, varying the number, the photographic shots, or the identification of the places.
- Foral Historical Archive of Bizkaia (AHFB)
- Historical Archive of Euskadi (AHE)
- General Palace Archive (AGP). Contains images of the royal visit of Alfonso XII (March 10 to 13, 1876)
- Institute of Cultural Heritage of Spain (IPCE)
The collections of the Basque Museum of Bilbao preserve some of Monney's photographs, including some negatives on glass plates with the handwritten annotation: "IT IS THE PROPERTY OF J. RICHOU." Also an album with postcards, whose purpose was to obtain funds to create "a model of a ship, and carry out tests of a new propulsion system, and thinking about Euskalduna.
Intertwined lives - JEP 2021
We meet again with the two protagonists of intertwined lives:
- Telesforo de Errazquin: although he was possibly a supporter of the Carlist cause, he remained in Bilbao during the Siege, as demonstrated by some plates from his collection kept by the Euskal Museoa de Bilbao. His brother-in-law Facundo Chalbaud, on the other hand, emigrated to Baiona.
- Leonardo Torres Quevedo: like many of his relatives, he was avowedly liberal. At just over 19 years old, together with his brother Luis , he joined the Auxiliary battalion in 1872. Leopoldo Rodríguez Alcalde, in the biography he wrote about Leonardo, relates an anecdote about this fact:
They gave Leonardo a very large rifle and placed him next to the estuary. If anyone tried to pass he had to stop, and shoot if he was not obeyed. He passed a man who did not stop, but the sentry did not shoot either, of course. That ineffable liberalism of Bilbao and San Sebastián touches our hearts, which framed the boys against Carlist ruralism and ended up in songs for the moment, although later it was another song...!
Years later, Leonardo would have among his friends in Madrid Gumersindo Vicuña, from Bilbao, the first professor of Mathematical Physics at the Central University. Vicuña wrote the prologue to a book titled El Sitio de Bilbao en 1874, which describes the vicissitudes of this event.
The Hymn of the Auxiliaries said the following:
We are auxiliaries Without color or shout, We are defenders From this undefeated town. We are liberals and we will spill All our blood For Liberty
Every year, on May 2, a civic procession is held organized by the El Sitio Society, which from the City Hall brought an offering of wreaths to the Monument to the Martyrs of Liberty in the Mallona cemetery.
Plans and maps
The Defense Virtual Library contains numerous maps and plans of the Carlist wars. On this occasion we are interested in those related to the Siege of Bilbao in 1874 and surrounding dates. We find detailed plans of batteries, forts, blockhouses, fortified houses, maps with the location of the positions deployed by both the government army and the Carlists.
In the preparation of this page, the publications of César Estornés (1, 2, 3, 4) and Mikelatz have been especially useful to us.
To learn more, consult the various diaries and campaign notes that we are transcribing at iturriak.es