11 Facts About Juan Prim

Juan Prim entered the free corps known as the tiradores de Isabel II and met his baptism of fire on 7 August 1834, during the First Carlist War, facing the Carlist party of Triaxet.

General Narvaez, the prime minister, failed to understand what constitutional freedom meant, and General Juan Prim, on showing signs of opposition, was sentenced to six years imprisonment in the Philippine Islands.

The sentence was not carried out, and Juan Prim remained an exile in England and France until the amnesty of 1847.

Juan Prim then returned to Spain, and was first employed as captain-general of Puerto Rico and afterwards as military representative with the sultan during the Crimean War.

Juan Prim commanded the Spanish expeditionary army in Mexico in 1862, when Spain, Great Britain, and France sought forced payment from the liberal government of Benito Juarez for loans.

Juan Prim was a sympathizer with the Mexican liberal cause, thus he refused to consent to the ambitious schemes of French emperor Napoleon III, and withdrew Spanish forces following a meeting with Manuel Doblado.

Juan Prim was a staunch supporter of the Union in the American Civil War and on his trip to the United States, where he visited New York and Philadelphia, he met with Lincoln in Washington.

In September 1868 General Serrano and General Juan Prim returned, and Brigadier Topete, commanding the fleet, raised the standard of revolt at Cadiz.

In July 1869 General Serrano was elected regent, and Juan Prim became president of the council and was made a marshal.

On 6 November 1870 Amadeo, Duke of Aosta, was elected king of Spain, but General Juan Prim, on leaving the chamber of the Cortes on 28 December, was shot by unknown assassins and died two days later.

Juan Prim is quoted for saying that "looking for a democratic monarch in Europe is like trying to find an atheist in heaven".