During the first two decades of the Restoration the city council built public monuments, developing a nationalist rhetoric linked to the Navy, which was seen as a defender of the city, the country, and the colonial empire. In 1881 King Alfonso XII visited Ferrol and unveiled a monument in the 'Alameda' dedicated to Victoriano Sánchez Barcaíztegui, a native of the city who was Commander of the Dockyards in 1872 during the republican insurrection, which he opposed. Barcaiztegui was later Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Navy forces, and died in action in the closing stages of the Third Carlist War, whilst fighting for King Alfonso's claim to the throne.