Baldomero Fernández-Espartero y Álvarez de Toro (27 February 17938 January 1879) was a Spanish captain general and statesman. He served as the Regent of the Realm, three times as Prime Minister and briefly as President of the Congress of Deputies. Throughout his life, he was endowed with a long list of titles such as Prince of Vergara, Duke of la Victoria, Count of Luchana, Viscount of Banderas and was also styled as "the Peacemaker".
A "self-made man", Espartero was an exceptional case of social mobility. With a humble origin, son of a cart-maker from a small village, he was originally destined to the priesthood yet he finally opted for a military career, taking part in the Peninsular War. He would become a champion for the Liberals after taking credit for the victory in the First Carlist War and replaced Maria Christina as regent of Spain in 1840.
Associated with the Progressive Party, he was one of the so-called (), general-politicians who dominated much of the political life of the country during the reign of Isabella II. He was ousted from the regency in 1843, temporarily distancing from politics. He was called to government after the 1854 revolution, opening the two-year period known as the Bienio Progresista.
Despite retiring from political life after his exit from government in 1856, Espartero maintained a cult following largely nurtured by the popular classes throughout the 1860s and, following the 1868 Glorious Revolution and subsequent overthrow of Isabella II, he emerged as popular candidate to become the head of state of the country, either as president of a republic or as king.
Early life
thumb|left|Engraving illustrating the house where Espartero was born
Espartero was born at Granátula de Calatrava, a village of the province of Ciudad Real. He was the ninth child of Manuel Antonio Fernández-Espartero y Cañadas, a master carpenter, who wanted him to become a priest, and wife Josefa Vicenta Álvarez de Toro y Molina.
In November 1809, age 16, Espartero enlisted in the Regiment of Infantry "Ciudad Rodrigo" in Seville, seat of the Central Supreme Junta. Barely 9 days after his enlisting, he took part in the Battle of Ocaña, in which the French Imperial Army defeated the Spanish. He joined the Military Academy of the Island of León in September 1810, and he was poised to join the Corps of Engineers thanks to his skills in mathematics, technical drawing, fortification and military tactics, but following a failed examination, he was returned to the infantry in 1813.
During 1815 he went to South America as a captain serving with General Pablo Morillo, who had been made commander-in-chief to quell the rebellions of the colonies on the Spanish Main. For eight years, Espartero distinguished himself in the struggle against the colonists. He was wounded several times and was made major and colonel on the battlefields of Cochabamba and Sopahuy.
Espartero returned to Spain, and, like most of his companions in arms, was socially discredited for some time. He was sent to the garrison town of Logroño, where, on 13 September 1827 he married , an orphan since 16 raised by her maternal grandfather, the most important landowner in Logroño. The marriage did not have issue, but they went on to adopt Espartero's niece, Eladia, who was designated as their principal heir. Thenceforth, Logroño became the home of the most prominent of the Spanish political generals of the 19th century.
Carlist War
thumb|right|[[Battle of Luchana]]
Espartero became, on the death of King Ferdinand VII during 1833, an ardent defender of the claim of his daughter, Isabella II, to the Spanish throne. With the beginning of the First Carlist War, the government sent him to the front as commandant of the province of Biscay, where he decisively defeated the Carlists in many encounters. He was quickly promoted to a divisional command and then made a lieutenant-general. At times he showed qualities as a guerrillero quite equal to those of the Carlists, such as Zumalacarregui and Ramón Cabrera, by his daring marches and surprise maneuvers. When he had to move large forces he was greatly superior to these men as an organizer and a strategist, and he never disgraced his successes by cruelty or needless severity. Twice he obliged the Carlists to end the siege of Bilbao before he was appointed commander-in-chief of the northern army on 17 September 1836. At this time the course of the war seemed to favor the pretender in the Basque provinces and Navarre, even though Infante Carlos had lost his ablest lieutenant, the Basque Zumalacarregui.
Rule
thumb|right|Portrait by [[Antonio María Esquivel, 1841.]]
While continuing as regent, Espartero ruled Spain as its 18th Prime Minister for two years, from 16 September 1840 to 21 May 1841, in accordance with his radical and conciliatory disposition by giving special attention to the reorganization of the administration, taxation and finances; declaring all the estates of the church, congregations and religious orders to be national property; and suppressing the diezma, or tithe. He suppressed the Republican rebellions with as much severity as he for the military pronunciamientos of Generals Concha and Diego de León. The latter was shot in Madrid. who, deeming resistance useless, embarked at Cadiz on 30 July 1843 for England and lived quietly until 1848, when a royal decree restored to him all his honors and his seat in the senate.
The old marshal vainly endeavoured to keep the demands of his own Progressists reasonable in the Cortes of 1854–1856 and in the great towns, but their excessive demands for reforms and liberties played into the hands of a clerical and reactionary court and of the equally retrograde governing classes. The growing ambition of General O'Donnell constantly clashed with the opinions of Espartero until the latter, in sheer disgust, resigned his premiership and left for Logroño after he had warned the queen that a conflict was imminent between O'Donnell and the Cortes, backed by the Progressist militia. O'Donnell's pronunciamiento in 1856 ended the Cortes, and the militia was disarmed after a struggle in the streets of the capital.
The Restoration caused a statue to him to be built near the gate of the Retiro Park in Madrid. A magnificent statue and fountain was raised in his memory at Logroño. Spaniards of all political factions, except Carlists and Ultramontanes, paid homage to his memory when he died in La Rioja on 8 January 1879. He was a typical Spanish soldier-politician, but he sometimes had difficulty accommodating himself to courtiers and professional politicians.