Afrancesado (, ; "Francophile" or "turned-French", lit. "Frenchified" or "French-alike") refers to the Spanish and Portuguese partisan of Enlightenment ideas, Liberalism or the French Revolution. In principle, afrancesados were upper-and-middle class supporters of the French occupation of Iberia (Portugal and Spain), preferring the reforms of the "enlightened despots" Napoleon I and his brother Joseph Bonaparte (installed by Napoleon as king of Spain) or, as a lesser evil, preferring to avoid the consequences of outright war with the greatest military power in Europe. Spain Origins In Spain, the term afrancesado surfaced during the reign of Charles III, and had a neutral meaning, being used to designate those who followed French fashions and customs. Subsequently, it became popular as a pejorative reference to those members of the Spanish nobility and bureaucracy who swore allegiance to Joseph I Bonaparte, installed as king of Spain by his brother, Napoleon. The term extended to cover a predominantly middle-class intellectual, merchant or manufacturer who saw the French as agents of change in the rigid structure of Spanish society, and who reacted against the perceived corruption and incompetence of Charles IV and the House of Bourbon in general (including Joseph's competitor Ferdinand VII). Political program Appointed king by his brother Napoleon Bonaparte, Joseph found himself at war with the majority of his subjects. He relied on the afrancesados to enforce a project that would gradually replace tradition and absolutism with a system Leandro Fernández de Moratín defined as based on razón, la justicia y el poder ("reason, justice, and power"). Progressive but not entirely liberal, this political creation was soon rejected by both conservatives and liberals (many liberals joined the guerilla against the occupation). The afrancesados were also weary of French designs: more favorable to the Revolution than of the Empire, they aimed to withdraw Spain from the Napoleonic Wars, and tried in vain to prevent Napoleon's separate administration of Spanish provinces (Catalonia, Aragon, Navarre, and Biscay) after 1809. The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata had a French viceroy at the time, Santiago de Liniers. However, his appointment took place before the Peninsular War, and France was not involved at all in it: it was instead a consequence of the British invasions of the Río de la Plata, a conflict between Britain and the Spanish colonies. Napoleon and Joseph sent the Marquis of Sassenay to the zone, seeking support from Liniers to the new monarchy,