Rafael de Riego

Rafael del Riego y Nuñez (9 April 1784 – 7 November 1823) was a Spanish general and liberal politician, who played a key role in the outbreak of the Liberal Triennium (Trienio liberal in Spanish).

Riego was born on 9 April 1784 (according to other sources 24 November 1785) in Tineo in Asturias. After graduating from the University of Oviedo in 1807, he moved to Madrid, where he joined the army.

In 1808, during the Spanish War of Independence he was taken captive by the French and imprisoned in El Escorial, from where he eventually escaped.

On 10 November he took part in the Battle of Espinosa de los Monteros, after which he once again was taken prisoner. Three days later he was sent to France, and after he changed his name to "Riego" (without the "del"), was eventually released. He traveled around England and the German states, and in 1814 he returned to Spain right before the Spanish Constitution of 1812 was abolished by Fernando VII. In Spain, Riego once again joined the army with a rank of lieutenant colonel and took an oath to the Constitution. During the six years of absolutism that followed the restoration of King Fernando VII, Spanish liberals wished to restore the Spanish Constitution, which the King had abolished in May 1814. Riego joined the freemasons and collaborated with liberals in several conspiracies against the King, which failed.

In 1819, the King was forming an army of ten battalions to fight in the Spanish American wars of independence. Riego was given command of the Asturian Battalion. After arriving in Cádiz, together with other liberal officers, he started a mutiny on 1 January 1820, demanding the return of the 1812 Constitution.

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