UNIT 9.� �SPAIN. RESTORATION, REPUBLIC AND CIVIL WAR.

Almudena Corrales Marbán

Dpto. GEOGRAFÍA E HISTORIA

The First Republic putting its house in order, political satire from the magazine La Flaca

Monument to Alfonso XII of Spain, in Parque del Buen Retiro, in Madrid. José Grases Riera, 1922.

​

The historical evolution of Spain in the period between 1875 and 1939 has been organised into four stages: 1. the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy, focused on the rotation of political parties, increasing the strength of the labour movement, regionalism and the 1898 crisis; 2. the reign of Alfonso XIII marked by the crisis of the Cánovas’ system and the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, which marked the end of the monarchy; 3. the Second Republic; 4. and the Civil War, focusing on its stages and consequences. Then the economic and social features of the period are summarised; and the main artistic manifestations: modernist architecture, sculpture, Impressionism and the first avant-garde painting, highlighting Picasso, Dalí and Miró. Working with historical texts helps students practise using historical resources.

THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT. What are the stages that we are going to study in this unit?

Here you have a more specific timeline about the last decades of the 19th century.

The crisis of the restoration

CHAPTER 1. THE BOURBON RESTORATION. POLITICAL SYSTEM �

1.1. THE PERIOD OF THE RESTORATION

​

In 1875 the monarchy was restored under Alfonso XII of Bourbon (1875–1885), son of Isabella II. The Bourbon Restoration in Spain was made possible by two processes:

Through the political manoeuvring (maniobra política) of Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, the leader of the future Conservative Party. The support of the bourgeoisie and the army, anxious for political stability.

On 1 December 1874, Cánovas wrote a manifesto, signed in Sandhurst, where he promised a constitutional government.

​

​

1

2

Through a pronunciamiento (military revolution) by General Martínez Campos, 29 December 1874, in Sagunto, Alfonso XII was proclaimed king.

MANIFIESTO DE SANDHURST

​

"Por virtud de la espontánea y solemne abdicación de mi augusta madre, tan generosa como infortunada, soy único representante yo del derecho monárquico en España [...].

​

Afortunadamente la Monarquía hereditaria y constitucional posee en sus principios la necesaria flexibilidad y cuantas condiciones de acierto hacen falta para que todos los problemas que traiga su restablecimiento consigo sean resueltos de conformidad con los votos y la conveniencia de la nación.

​

No hay que esperar que decida yo nada de plano y arbitrariamente; sin Cortes no resolvieron los negocios arduos los Príncipes españoles allá en los antiguos tiempos de la Monarquía, y esta justísima regla de conducta no he de olvidarla yo en mi condición presente, y cuando todos los españoles están ya habituados a los procedimientos parlamentarios. Llegado el caso, fácil será que se entiendan y concierten las cuestiones por resolver un príncipe leal y un pueblo libre.�

Nada deseo tanto como que nuestra patria lo sea de verdad. A ello ha de contribuir poderosamente la dura lección de estos tiempos, que si para nadie puede ser perdida todavía lo será menos para las honradas y laboriosas clases populares, víctimas de sofismas pérfidos o de absurdas ilusiones.

​

Cuanto se está viviendo enseña que las naciones más grandes y prósperas, y donde el orden, la libertad y la justicia se admiran mejor, son aquellas que respetan más su propia historia. [...].

​

[...] Sea l que quiera mi propia suerte, ni dejaré de ser buen español, ni como todos mis antepasados, buen católico, ni, como hombre del siglo, verdaderamente liberal."

�

Manifiesto de Sandhurst, London. 1 de Diciembre de 1874. Alfonso XII

The Catholic faith was the official religion, however, no one was persecuted for their opinions, unless they didn’t respect Catholicism.

A broad range of rights were recognized.

The legislative power resided in the Cortes along with the king, who could summon, suspend or dissolve the Parliament. So the three powers were not completely separated.

Important to understand

Suffrage could either be universal or limited depending on the party in power.

1. 2. HOW THE POLITICAL SYSTEM WORKED

The political system during the Restoration rested on two fundamental pillars: the Constitution of 1876 and the practice of rotation in power –turnismo- of the political parties.

From the magazine La Flaca, 1872

ROTATION OF POLITICAL PARTIES

Turnismo was the practice of alternating power between the Conservative Party, the former Moderate Party, led by Cánovas del Castillo and supported by the wealthy classes, and the Liberal Party, the former Progressive Party, led by Práxedes Mateo Sagasta and supported by the bourgeoisie and urban middle class.

This cartoon shows how parties relied on methods of electoral fraud

pucherazo, in which ballot papers would be kept in a ‘pot’ and added or taken from the ballot box depending on the desired outcome

the Lazarus vote, or votes by the deceased who were on the electoral roll

cuneros vote, in which voters would register to vote in regions outside the territory which corresponded to them.

caciques, who were people with economic and social power in the region who pressured voters into voting one way or another

CHAPTER 2. POLITICAL PROBLEMS DURING THE RESTORATION 

2. 1. INTERNAL PROBLEMS

OPPOSITION TO TURNISMO

Political parties such as the Republicans, Carlists or Socialists did not accept the electoral system established by the Constitution of 1876.

LABOUR MOVEMENT

The labour movement gained momentum from the recognition of the right to assembly and association by the Constitution of 1876 and the law on associations in 1887.

• Socialism spread after the General Union of Workers (UGT) was founded in 1888. It took root mainly in Madrid, the Basque Country and Asturias.

​

• Anarchists, in turn, established the Federation of Workers’ Societies of the Spanish Region (FTRE)- In Spanish CNT (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo)-. It was especially popular with the Catalan industrial workers and Andalusian agricultural workers.

REGIONALISM AND LOCAL NATIONALISM

CATALAN NATIONALISM demanded official status for the Catalan language, the establishment of Catalan political parties and courts, and Catalan autonomy. In 1892, its proposals were declared in the Bases de Manresa, written by Prat de la Riba.

BASQUE NATIONALISM, driven by Sabino Arana, was Catholic and conservative, and defended regional charters and traditions. In 1897, the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) was founded.

Nationalism. Bases de Manresa

Base 3. The Catalan language shall be the only official language used in Catalonia and in the relations of this region with the central government.

Base 6. Catalonia shall be the sole authority over its domestic government; therefore, it shall freely draft its organic laws; shall establish its civil, penal, commercial, administrative and procedural laws; shall establish and collect taxes; shall mint currency ...

Base 7. Legislative power shall be held by the Catalan Cortes.

Base 8. Judicial power shall be organised by re-establishing the former High Court of Catalonia. Bases for the Regional Constitution of Catalonia (1892)

2.2. THE ‘CRISIS OF 1898’. A FOREIGN PROBLEM WITH DOMESTIC REPERCUSSIONS.

• The loss of the last Spanish colonies began with an uprising in Cuba in 1894, known as the ‘grito de Baire’, or ‘call for revolution’, and a revolt in the Philippines in 1896. The uprisings were a result of poor economies in both colonies and Spain’s refusal to grant the colonies more autonomy.

​

• The rebels had the support of the United States. The US declared war on Spain after the sinking of the US Navy battleship Maine in the Havana Harbour in April of 1898, accusing Spain of having caused the blast.

​

​

Spanish fleets were destroyed by the US. Spain was forced to sign the 1898 Treaty of Paris, where they recognised the independence of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines.

​

The war had a negative impact on Spanish exports. It also led to a deep moral crisis among the Spanish population, causing what was known as regenerationism, which was an intellectual and political movement that sought to solve the country’s deep-rooted problems, such as political corruption.

LOS ÚLTIMOS DE FILIPINAS. EL ASEDIO DE BALER.

CHAPTER 3. THE REIGN OF ALFONSO XIII

Alfonso XIII acceded to the throne in 1902 in a political environment characterised by the crisis of Cánovas del Castillo’s political system. Cánovas died in 1897 and Sagasta in 1903.

WE DISTINGUISH TWO STAGES OR PERIODS

5.1.

Useful documents

The assassination of Canalejas, 1912

SPANISH PREMIER ASSASSIN WAS ANARCHIST

​

While Looking in Window of Book Store Three Shots Are Fired Into Canalejas’ Back—Murderer Then Attempts Suicide, but Fails—Atrocious Crime Creates Consternation in Madrid.

​

Click on the link under the pictures to read the complete piece of news.

Ramón Casas i Carbó Barcelona, España, 1866 – 1932

​

​

LA CARGA, Barcelona, 1902

GARROTE VIL, Barcelona, 1894

Ramon Casas depicted the instability of Barcelona during this period

The crisis of the Cánovas system (1917-1923)

• ​

​

​

• In 1917, Spain suffered a crisis that deeply affected three different areas:

​

• Military. The army demanded wages to be increased and the army rank determined by seniority instead of merit.
• Politics. A decentralized state with autonomous regions was demanded by Catalan parliamentarians.
• Society. Left-wing political parties and trade unions carried out a general strike on 13 August to protest the rise in prices and overthrow the government.

5.2.

Concluding………

When the crisis was finally over, in the period from 1919 to 1923 Spain experienced a period of political decline and was forced to form unity governments made up of members from all the different parties –Pluralism-

These governments did not last long and faced several domestic and foreign challenges.

4.1.The Military Directory (1923–1925)

In this stage, Primo de Rivera suspended the constitution, dissolved the Cortes, prohibited political parties, suppressed the labour movement and defeated the Moroccans after the Alhucemas landing - Desembarco de Alhucemas (1925).

​

4.2. The Civil Directory (1925–1930)

The military victory in Morocco and the economic boom of the 1920s helped Primo de Rivera maintain power until 1930.

Remember that in 1929, the economic crisis that started in the United States spread to Europe with the exception Russia.

​

​

​

CHAPTER 4. THE DICTATORSHIP OF MIGUEL PRIMO DE RIVERA

THE DICTATORSHIP OF PRIMO DE RIVERA WENT THROUGH TWO STAGES, WHICH HAD TWO DIFFERENT GOVERNMENTS.

CHAPTER 5. THE SECOND SPANISH REPUBLIC (1931-1936). TWO YEARS OF REFORMS.

• With the proclamation of the Republic on April 14, 1931, the Restoration period came to a close, and a short period of deep political and social changes began.
• In January of 1930, due to the 1929 economic crisis, the rise in unemployment, the spread of the labour movement, nationalist problems and rejection by many intellectuals, Primo de Rivera was forced to resign.
• In the 1931 municipal elections, the Republicans won almost all provincial capitals. While the Monarchists had won overall, the Republicans considered that their victory in the capitals, less controlled by caciques, was definitive. The Monarchists themselves accepted this point of view.
• Once the results were known, Alfonso XIII was exiled and a provisional government was formed, which proclaimed the Second Republic on April 14, 1931, in a peaceful manner.

Cacique. In the Spanish language, both in Spain and Latin America, the term has come to mean a local political boss who exercises excessive power. The derivative term "Caciquismo" has been used to describe a democratic system subverted by the power of such local bosses successfully influencing the electoral process in their favour. It has been used most notably to refer to late nineteenth century Spain and twentieth century Mexico.

• 5. 1. REFORMIST BIENNIUM (1931-1933)
• Over the course of almost two years, Azaña’s government implemented the most important reforms of the Republic, under the presidency of Niceto Alcalá-Zamora. It attempted to transform Spain into a modern, democratic, secular nation.

​

• The Reforms:

​

• Agrarian reform

​

• Catalonian was granted autonomy

​

• Military reform

​

• Labour reforms

Explained in the next slide

• Political reforms. The government began a process of political decentralisation, passing a statute of autonomy for Catalonia and initiating projects on similar statutes for the Basque Country and Galicia.

​

• Military reform. It reduced the number of military officials and sought to guarantee their loyalty to the Republic by forcing the retirement (with a full salary) of any official who would not swear loyalty to the Republic.

​

• Economic reforms. In 1932, the Cortes enacted an agrarian reform programme, under which large private landholdings that were underexploited were confiscated and distributed among peasants or divided into cooperatives.

​

• Social reforms. Labour conditions for workers improved. A forty-hour workweek was established, wages were increased and insurance was provided. The influence of the Church was reduced, civil marriage and divorce were established, thereby eliminating the payment to priests, and in schools the religious orders were barred from teaching.

​

• Cultural reforms. There was a strong push for public education, creating 10 000 schools and increasing the number of teachers.

Important

These reforms led to protests by both the right and the left, the former considering them too radical and the latter upset that the reforms had not done enough. As a consequence, Azaña was forced to resign and elections were called for November 1933.

REPERCUSSIONS

Under the Reformist Biennium a new constitution was written

CONSTITUTION OF 1931

Article 1. Spain is a democratic Republic of workers of all classes, organised around Freedom and Justice. The powers of all its bodies derive from the people.

​

Article 3. The Spanish State has no official religion.

​

Article 8. The Spanish state ... shall be made up of municipalities joined together as provinces, and of the regions which adopt autonomy.

​

Article 9. All municipalities of the Republic shall be autonomous in matters within their authority and shall elect their councils through universal suffrage, with direct elections and a secret ballot, except when operating under a system of open council.

​

Article 34. Every person has the right to freely express his or her ideas and opinions. Article 36. Citizens of both sexes, over twenty-three years old, shall have the same voting rights ...

​

Article 67. The President of the Republic is the Head of State and represents the Nation.

​

Article 86. The President of the Council and the Ministers shall constitute the government.

​

Article 94. Justice shall be administered by the State ... . Judges shall be independent in their functions. They shall be subject only to the law.

National sovereignty

Religious freedom, civil marriages, divorced was permitted.

Autonomy of the regions for the election of their representatives.

Freedom of speech

A republic instead of a monarchy. The head of the state is now the President of the Republic

5.2. THE CONSERVATIVE BIENNIUM (1933–1936).�

• From the 1933 to 1935 the Center and the Right controlled the republic; they even froze the previous reforms. The 1934 revolution increased political friction and the Popular Front , a combination of left- wing parties, gained the power.

​

• It was expected that the coup of July 17, 1936, would end quickly, with a Popular Front government. That did not, however, happened; Spain instead became enveloped in a bloody civil war.

​

​

THE COUP D’ETAT AND THE DIVISION OF SPAIN

• The army’s uprising-levantamiento militar- in Africa moved to the Peninsula on July 18, 1936. It had been supported by the Catholic Church, part of the Army, as well as the Carlists, Royalists, Conservatives, and Falangists. The overthrow divided Spain into two regions.

​

• The region dominated by the insurgents, or the Nationalists (Bando Nacional).

​

• The Republicans (Bando Republicano): social revolution, people’s militias.

​

​

CATHOLIC CHURCH

FALANGISTS

ROYALISTS

MOROCCAN TROOPS

CHAPTER 6. THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR(1936-1939)

• The conflict lasted almost three years. It was a long, hard war with three distinct phases.

​

6. 1.-The Campaign for Madrid (July, 1936- March,1937)

• At the beginning of August, with the assistance of the Italians and Germans, the Moroccan troops, crossed the Strait of Gibraltar to arrive at Cadiz. They moved on to Extremadura and Toledo, and stood at the gate of Madrid by the end of October.

​

• The arrival of the first International Brigades and Soviet airplanes and tanks slowed the capture of the capital. Franco’s troops were defeated in the Battle of Jarama (February 1937) and Guadalajara (March 1937).

​

• 6. 2.-The Northern Front of the Northern Campaign

(April- November 1937)

• Franco’s troops advanced to the northern front with the intention of taking the industrial zones of the Cantabrian Sea. On April 26, 1937 the German Air Force (Condor Legion) bombed Guernica. This act propelled the fall of the Basque Country into Nationalist hands. In August Santander and Asturias, fell too.
• Republicans launched a counter-attack in Brunete (Madrid) and Belchite (Zaragoza), but were unsuccessful.

• 6.3.- The End of the War- The Battle of Ebro

(December 1937-April 1939)

​

• Near the end of 1937, Franco sent his troops to the Eastern front: his army took Teruel. The Republican troops crossed the Ebro and attacked Franco’s army from behind. And also began the bloody Battle of the Ebro, which lasted more than three months and in which the Republican army ended practically destroyed.

​

• The Nationalists advanced over Catalonia with scarcely any opposition, and took Barcelona in January 1939. In March of that year, Franco’s troops entered Madrid and the war was considered ended.

CHAPTER 7. THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE WAR

• Hunger and repression.

​

• Food was seriously limited. Shortage (racionamiento), Black market arose.

​

• Strolls (paseos): an armed party took someone out of his home and, with the excuse of “taking him for a stroll”, distanced him from the area and shot him.

​

• Refugees and Exiles.

​

• Children of the War: 30,000 children left Spain, going to Mexico, France, England or the Soviet Union.