During the Dominican Restoration War, the rebel leadership had changed frequently, only to be deposed in coups for corruption, politics or in the case of Gaspar Polanco (who lasted 3 months) leading a disastrous direct attack on the Spanish at Monte Cristi in December 1864. Thus by the end of 1864, it could be said the Spanish were winning. However, military victory was trumped by political defeat. The price of war in terms of money and lives had been huge, disease and the hardy guerrilla fighters of the island causing many casualties that Spain could ill afford, and in 1865, the Bourbon Queen Isabella II signed a decree annulling the annexation.