As 1847 ended with an escalation of fighting, Carlists, backed by progressives and republicans, gathered 4,000 men in Catalonia. In 1848, Carlists rose up in many parts of Spain, especially in Catalonia, Navarre, Gipuzkoa, Burgos, Maestrat, Aragon, Extremadura and Castille. The uprisings failed in almost all parts of Spain except for Catalonia and Maestrat, where Ramón Cabrera arrived in mid-1848 to create the "Ejército Real de Cataluña", or the Royal Army of Catalonia. However, Carlist failures in the rest of Spain, in addition to the campaign conducted by government commander Manuel Gutiérrez de la Concha to weaken the Carlist presence in Catalonia during fall 1848, condemned the Carlist cause to failure. In January 1849, the Liberal army in Catalonia numbered 50,000, while Carlist army numbered only 26,000. The detention of the Carlist pretender, Carlos VI, on the frontier when he was attempting to enter Spain put an end to the uprising in April 1849. Outnumbered, without a leader and having failed to achieve a victory in all fronts, Ramón Cabrera and the Carlists in Catalonia fled to France in April and May 1849. Later, an amnesty announced by the government convinced some to return to Spain, but most stayed in exile.