The so-called Cantonal Revolution and its political significance were a source of controversy and debate from its very beginning. In July 1873, in the midst of the crisis of the newly formed First Spanish Republic, beset by the Third Carlist War, the insurrection in Cuba, and the conspiracies of supporters of the Bourbon restoration, a group of "intransigent" federal deputies decided to proclaim the Federal Republic "from below," outside the Constituent Assembly and without waiting for the approval of the new federal constitution.
The revolution spread to a limited extent to various cities in Andalusia, Murcia, Valencia, and Old Castile, where short-lived cantons were proclaimed as a new federal and democratic formula for organizing the state. Most of these cantons were crushed by the army sent by the new centralist republican government led by Nicolás Salmerón.
But it was in Cartagena (a well-fortified city with a fleet that had risen in support of the rebels), headquarters of the self-proclaimed Canton of Murcia, where the intransigent Republican-Federal leaders established a stronghold and established the capital of the provisional government of the Spanish Federation. From there, they unsuccessfully attempted to spread the revolution to the provinces of Alicante, Albacete, Almería, Granada, and Málaga, minted their own currency, and published their own newspaper, "El Cantón Murciano" (The Murcian Canton); but they soon found themselves surrounded by the centralist army. The siege became truly severe when, at the end of November, the city began to be shelled daily. It is estimated that more than 27,000 shells fell on Cartagena. After almost two months of continuous bombardment, which reduced much of the city to rubble, and after the explosion of the Artillery Park on January 6, 1874, which caused hundreds of civilian casualties, the Canton's fate was sealed. The leaders and some of the cantonal volunteers fled by boat to Oran (Algeria), while General López Domínguez entered the city on the 13th of the same month. A few days earlier, General Pavía's coup d'état had taken place, marking the beginning of the end of the First Republic.
The cantonal revolt aroused the suspicion of most European powers, who feared a recurrence of the recently suppressed "Paris Commune," and their fleets collaborated in the naval blockade of Cartagena. French and British illustrated magazines reported promptly on the events of the insurrection, one of whose engravings serves as the motif for the issue of this postage stamp, marking the 150th anniversary of the end of the Canton of Cartagena.
