Gunboat diplomacy «a la española». the oriGins of the pacific squadron (1833-1863)

The article offers a novel explanation of the ideological and geostrategic motivations behind the organization of the Pacific Squadron by the so-called «long government» of the Liberal Union. We will illustrate how this process was the fruit of a public campaign that brought together the efforts of important sectors of the liberal intelligentsia, the parliamentary elites, the consular services and the emigrant communities settled in the South-American countries. Attending their expectations, the presence of the navy on the American coasts of the Pacific would facilitate the protection and increase of Spanish trade, the diplomatic normalization of post-imperial relations and the consolidation of the Elizabethan Monarchy as a «maritime nation» comparable to the British and French empires.