Some historians[citation needed] consider it a direct Catalan revolt against Madrid, fought primarily in Catalonia by the Carlists under General Ramón Cabrera against the forces of the government of Isabella II.

Theoretically, the war was fought to facilitate the marriage of Isabella II with the Carlist pretender, Carlos Luis de Borbón (or Carlos VI), which was supported by some doctrinaire elements from the moderate party and by the Carlists.

The marriage never took place, as Isabella II was wed to Francisco de Borbón.

[citation needed] It coincided with the democratic Revolutions of 1848, when Maria Christina revoked the constitution of Ramón de Narváez.

Narváez himself led the counterattack against the revolt in Galicia while Fernando de Córdova, captain-general of Catalonia, put down the isolated rebel cells in that region by early 1849.