España e Galicia: Restauración e Guerra Civil

España e Galicia: Restauración e Guerra Civil

Restauración Borbónica (Political System Introduced)

• The monarchy was restored in Spain in 1875 with Alfonso XII de Borbón (1875-1885) assuming the throne, following the reign of Isabel II.
• Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, leader of the future Conservative Party, played a crucial role in the Bourbon Restoration, securing Isabel II's abdication for her son.
• Cánovas established a constitutional monarchy, designed to bring stability and peace to the nation.
• After Alfonso XII's death in 1885, María Cristina served as regent (1885-1902) during Alfonso XIII's minority.

Functioning of the Political System

• The political system during the Restoration was based on two main elements:
  • The 1876 Constitution was moderately flexible, containing a broad declaration of rights that could be restricted.
  • There was shared sovereignty between the king and the Cortes, with suffrage determined by the ruling party.
  • "Turnismo" or peaceful alternation was present with the Conservative Party, led by Cánovas del Castillo supported by the upper classes.
  • The Liberal Party was led by Mateo Sagasta, supported by the bourgeoisie and middle classes.
• When the government became weak, the king would task the leader of the opposition with forming a new government.
• In order to win, manipulated elections, vote tampering, and pressure on voters was exerted through local political bosses, or caciques.

Political Problems During the Restoration

• The established political system faced serious challenges during the Restoration.
  • Political parties lacked opportunities to govern due to the corrupt nature of the system.
  • Notable parties included the Republican party, the Carlist party, and the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE).
• The labor movement expanded with the General Union of Workers (UGT) founded in 1888.
  • Anarchism resulted in the creation of the Federation of Workers of the Spanish Region (FTRE) in 1881.
• Regionalism and nationalism was rising with catalan, basque and galician nationalism
  • Basque nationalism was Catholic and conservative; the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) was founded in 1897

Crisis of '98: External Troubles, Internal Impact

• The loss of Spain's last colonies began with insurrections in Cuba and the Philippines.
• The United States supported the rebels, leading to war with Spain after the explosion of the USS Maine in Havana harbor in April 1898.
• The Spanish fleets faced destruction by the U.S. in the Pacific (Philippines) and Atlantic (Cuba and Puerto Rico).
• Independence was granted to Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines.
• A deep moral and ideological crisis resulted in the rise of "Regenerationism", an intellectual/political movement aimed at tackling corruption.

Alfonso XIII & the Primo de Rivera Dictatorship

• Alfonso XIII took the throne in 1902, when the crisis of the canovista system was very distinct.

Reign of Alfonso XIII

• Maintaining the Alternation of Parties 1902-1917
  • A key issue was the Moroccan War in two protectorates: a French and a Spanish.
  • A war against the Rif inhabitants led to the mobilization of reservists in 1909 and riots in Barcelona known as Tragic Week.
• Canovist System Crisis (1917-1923)
  • A major crisis occurred in 1917 because of rising prices caused by exporting basic goods to the countries in WWI, and a general strike from left wing parties and unions.
  • Between 1919 and 1923, governments were short-lived, dealing with conflicts between employers and workers which was called Pistolerismo.
• In 1921, the Disaster of Annual occurred in the Moroccan War, a military defeat with 10,000 deaths, and shock to the public.
• General Primo de Rivera led a coup d'état in 1923, imposing a dictatorship with royal support.

Dictatorship and End of Monarchy

• Primo de Rivera discontinued the constitution, dissolved the Cortes, banned political parties, repressed labor movements, and defeated the Moroccans.
• Victory and economic boom in the 1920s helped Primo de Rivera remain in power until 1930 when he resigned due to the economic crisis of 1929.
• There was increased unemployment and labor unrest, plus nationalistic problems and rejection by intellectuals.
• Municipal elections of 1931 had republican victories so Alfonso XIII tried to return to the parliamentary system.
• On April 14, 1931, Alfonso XIII left the country, and the Second Republic was proclaimed.

Second Republic 1931-1933

Republic and 1931 Constitution

• After the Second Republic proclamation, a provisional government formed, calling Constituent Courts elections in June 1931.
• The elections gave leftist parties a majority who wrote a new constitution.
• The 1931 Constitution established:
  • Broad declaration of rights to expression, assembly, and association
  • Popular sovereignty
  • Separation of powers, male and female suffrage
  • Regional autonomy
  • Separation of Church and State
  • Following this, the Republic passed through three phases.

Reformist Biennium (1931-1933)

• Niceto Alcalá-Zamora was elected president, and Manuel Azaña led a coalition government of leftist republicans and socialists.

• Azaña's government launched an ambitious reformist policy:

  • Political Reforms included political decentralization, approval of a Statute of Autonomy for Catalonia, and draft statutes for the Basque Country and Galicia.
  • Military Reforms reduced the number of officers, ensuring loyalty to the Republic.
  • Economic Reforms carried out land reform, expropriating underutilized large estates with compensation, settling peasants on land, and established rural education
  • Social Reforms fixed a 40-hour work week and a minimum wage, creating insurance programs.
  • Reduced the Church's influence, authorizing civil marriage and divorce, and prohibiting religious orders from teaching.
  • Cultural Reforms promoted public education, built schools, hired teachers.

• Reforms caused both right-wing mobilizations, that deemed them radical, plus left-wing feelings that they fell short

  • Azaña resigned, calling elections in November 1933 due to the Sanjurjo coup attempt, and anarchist revolt.

Second Republic (1933-1936)

Conservative Biennium (1933-1936)

• Elections of 1933 resulted in a victory for the right and center parties.
• The Radical Party, led by Alejandro Lerroux, formed a government with parliamentary support from the Spanish Confederation of Autonomous Rights (CEDA).
• A majority of previous reforms shut down, increasing strikes and mobilization of leftist parties.
• CEDA demanded to join the government, thus provoking the October Revolution of 1934:
  • In Asturias, miners led a social revolution, brutally suppressed by the government.
  • In Barcelona, the Catalan Republic was proclaimed within the Spanish Republic; The movement was crushed, the Statute of Autonomy suspended, and the Generalitat dissolved.
• Left-wing discontent, economic problems, and Radical Party corruption scandals led to elections in February 1936.
• The left united in a large coalition, named the Popular Front and subsequently won the election.

Popular Front (February-June 1936)

• A new government was formed by Manuel Azaña and then Santiago Casares Quiroga.
• Political prisoners were granted amnesty, economic reforms continued from the previous government, and agrarian reforms pursued.
• Increasing political radicalization was happening, namely a stronger leftist PSOE wing.
• Falange Española was established to implement a fascist regime, being an ultrarightist party created led by José Antonio Primo de Rivera
• Political violence manifested in attacks and clashes between Falangist, communist, and anarchist militants.
• Military sectors conspired against the Government, deciding to end the Republic through a coup led by General Emilio Mola.
• José Calvo Sotelo's assassination in Madrid provided pretext for military insurrection on July 13, 1936.

Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)

Military Uprising

• The coup began in Spanish North Africa on July 17, 1936, spreading across Spain the next day
• The coup succeeded in rural areas and failed in industrialized zones.
• Spain was split: a Republican and a rebel "Nationalist" zone, the military coup became a long Civil War.
• The uprising was supported by conservative military; landowners; upper bourgeoisie; monarchists, Carlists, and Catholics.
• Republican legality was backed by progressive military; landless peasants; petty bourgeoisie; republicans and left parties.
• The Committee of Non-Intervention restricted international aid, Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy aided the rebels, and the USSR aided the Republican government.

Stages of the War

• The goal was to occupy Madrid; General Emilio Mola led an army from Navarra, and General Franco led another from Africa.
• Because of strong resistance from the Republican army, the war shifted to the Cantabrian coast where harsh combat was seen in the bombing of Gernika, the German air force, in 1937.
• This helped the rebels control important industrial/mining zones.
• Then the war moved to the Mediterranean with intent to split and prevent the Republicans to launch the Ebro offensive in 1938, causing casualties on both sides.
• Rebels eventually won, seizing Catalonia in 1939, entering Madrid without resistance, and ending the Civil War on April 1, 1939.

Republican and National Evolution

• Republican Areas
  • There was social revolution which collectivized lands/industries, strong anticlericalism, and approval of Basque autonomy statute.
  • Socialist Party led till 1937 by Largo Caballero, then Juan Negrín, weakening due to a divide: anarchists who wanted revolution to win the war vs communists who wanted to win to have revolution.
• National Zone
  • The region was controlled by the rebels with the reforms cancelled.
  • Civil military power was concentrated with General Francisco Franco and named "Generalísimo" of the armies.
  • Forces supporting the rebellion were unified into one party, Spanish Traditionalist Falange and of the JONS.
  • This favored military victory with all the factors of war geared towards this.

Repercussions of the War

• The conflict led to roughly 380,000 deaths, and 350,000 political exiles.
• There was devastation of fields, industries, transport, buildings and infrastructure and social triumph of the most conservative groups and the Church because they helped cause the rebellion.
• The culture was impoverished because of the exiles of people from the arts and culture, and the creation of a political dictatorship by Franco.

Population, Economy, and Society (1875-1939)

Demographic Evolution

• The Spanish population increased from 16.4 to 26 million between 1875 and 1939 because there was less childbirth and mortality.
• Improved food and medicine were the cause of the reduction in deaths, there was exception only during Spanish Civil War and Influenza epidemic.
• Migration was increased although there was a slight decay after the 1920's.
  • Rural Exodus: affected interior of peninsula - elevated growth periphery, and cities like Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Zaragoza and Bilbo/Bilbao.
  • Foreign Migrations; mostly to Latin America, in order to escape military/rural poverty

Culture and Art (I): Architecture and Sculpture

Silver Age of Culture

• Spanish culture exploded during the first 3rd of the 20th century which was known as Silver Age.
  • Humanitarians: Unamuno, Maeztu, Baroja, Valle-Inclán and Azorín, formed the generation of '98 in literature.
  • Juan Ramón Jiménez and Jacinto Benavente, were modernism figures, and Federico García Lorca, Rafael Alberti and Vicente Aleixandre, who were of the generation of '27.
  • Ortega y Gasset were notable philosophers.
  • Jaime Ferrán and Santiago Ramón y Cajal were leading scientists in medicine and engineering.

Galicia Between 19th & 20th Centuries

Political and Social Transformations

• Caciquismo system of Restoration
  • The political foundation depended on electoral fraud/turnismo which affected society.
  • Cacique leaders served as connection to the electorate to the elite families which allowed for exchange of support.
• Emigration to America
  • Migration to America affected many Galician societies around the first 3rd of the 20th century with many who migrated to America becoming aware because of the social gatherings
  • they contributed to Galicia by consolidating organizations
• Agrarianism
  • Agrarianism was a labrador move that fought against the caciquismo
  • It wasn't solely political, but formed into many different movements like republicanism

Dictatorship of Franco

• Francisco Franco's Rise and Support

Evolution of Franco's Regime

• Franco imposed from winning the Civil War a similar Italian and German style dictatorship
• Certain stages in the regime's evolution can be told:
  • 1939-1959 Legal foundations of the new State were established along with a repression of political actions.
  • Economy isolation with autosufficiency led to a reduction in relations with the international community.
  • 1959-1975Opposition to the dictatorship grew reducing the power of the regime.

Foundations of the Regime

• Ideological Supports
  • From the beginning of 1934 the Franco Regime rejected communism/ economic liberalism and declared itself against liberty and very orthodox ideals.
  • Fascism: influence led to increased power for Franco as caudillo as he implemented Falangist salutes and emblems, and outlawed political organizations.
  • National Catholicism: Catholicism gave legitimacy to his coup and against communism
• Political support had Falanxe who controlled and created front lines. His Regime had strong social political support
• Military officials controlled political roles.
• Social support - Landowners and military officals

Internal politics under the Regime

Totaliarian Regime -1939-1942

• Franco implemented a totalitarian regime, taking the office as head of state.
• The national movement a singular governing ideology.
• Labour foundation ideas created vertical unions,

Simulated Democracy

• Tried to create appearance of the Regime.
• Democratic appearance to other european countries.

Imobolism, Apertura and crisis - 1959-1975

• The Regime softened and tried to maintain its position, to have continued support
• Franco appoints Juan Carlos as his successor

Oppostion to Dietatorship

• Franco lead a serious amount of repression to the dictatorship.
• Maquis - 10,000 guerrileros in mountainous regions.
• From 1960 onwards, growth in strikes.
• The regime was against the church

External opposition

• exiled republicans restored their institutions.
• After 1960 some groups demanded a democracy.

Politics and relationships outside of Regime

• Franquista relationship evolved in these stages
• Franco declared spain did not want war.
• Franquist has its roots in exis.
• Approached the Franquista regime.

Explora a Restauración Borbónica en España, co reinado de Alfonso XII e a rexencia de María Cristina. Analiza o sistema político do 'Turnismo' e a Constitución de 1876, marcando o preludio á Guerra Civil.