Spain’s 1898 Crisis: Political & Social Transformations
Cánovas and the New Liberalism
Cánovas aimed to articulate a new model of liberalism, addressing the partisan and exclusionary nature of moderate military intervention in politics and the proliferation of civil strife. The objectives were twofold: to develop a constitution that would create a bipartisan political system and to pacify the country by ending the war in Cuba and the Carlist conflict.
The first policy measure was the convening of elections for a Constituent Assembly, as the Constitution of 1869 had been terminated after the proclamation of the republic. The first election of the new regime was to be done by universal suffrage, later reverting to a restricted censitario suffrage. Following the Peace of Zanjón, a series of reforms were expected, granting the same rights of political representation, participation in the island’s government, freedom of trade, and the abolition of slavery.
The administration’s inefficiency in reforming the colony stimulated the desire for emancipation, and the independence movement gained ground against autonomy. José Martí founded the Cuban Revolutionary Party, aiming for independence, and immediately received support from abroad, backed by revolutionary warlords. In 1879, another insurrection against the Spanish presence on the island, known as the Little War, erupted. The uprising was defeated the following year due to lack of support, weapons, and the superiority of the Spanish army.
After Cánovas’s assassination, the new Liberal government removed him from office and ordered General Blanco to take command. A strategy of conciliation was initiated, hoping to drive the separatists to agree on a formula to maintain Spanish sovereignty and avoid conflict with the United States. Simultaneously, a rebellion occurred in the Philippines. The colony had received few Spanish immigrants, had a low military presence, and its Spanish economic interests were much lower than in Cuba, primarily focused on snuff production and serving as a gateway for trade with mainland Asia.
The United States had set its initial sphere of influence in the Caribbean region. Interest in Cuba had led to various proposals to purchase the island, which Spain had always rejected. The American commitment to the Cuban cause became evident in 1895 when President McKinley openly supported the rebels, who received arms by sea. The opportunity to intervene arose with the incident of the U.S. battleship Maine, which exploded in the port of Havana in April 1898. The U.S. falsely blamed Spanish agents and sent an ultimatum to Spain demanding the withdrawal from Cuba. The Spanish government denied any involvement in the Maine incident and rejected the U.S. ultimatum, threatening to declare war in case of an invasion of the island.
The 1898 Crisis and its Aftermath
Aware of the Spanish military inferiority, the government considered accepting the ultimatum without a fight humiliating. The Spanish-American War began. Despite the scale of the 1898 crisis, the immediate impact was less than expected. Although significant losses of war materials occurred in the colonies, the economic crisis in the metropolis was much less severe. The need to address the debts of the Cuban war prompted a treasury reform.
The 1898 crisis was fundamentally a moral and ideological crisis, causing a major psychological impact among the population. The defeat plunged Spanish society and the political class into disappointment and frustration, signifying the destruction of the myth of the Spanish Empire and relegating Spain to a secondary role in the international context.
The failure of the 1868 revolution had left a significant mark on progressive intellectuals, who felt they had lost a great opportunity to modernize the country. This sentiment was shared by a group of intellectuals gathered at the Free Institution of Education, which included Francisco Giner de los Ríos, a great promoter of educational reform in Spain. Some intellectuals believed that Spanish society and politics, influenced by Catholic doctrine, did not promote the modernization of culture and the development of science. This movement became known as Regeneration, with its greatest exponent being the Aragonese Joaquín Costa.
The 1898 crisis deepened the Regenerationist critique, denouncing the defects of the Spanish collective psychology and calling for the country’s regeneration. The group of literary figures and thinkers known as the Generation of ’98 attempted to analyze the “problem of Spain” in a critical and pessimistic tone. They believed that after the loss of the last remnant of the Spanish Empire, it was time for moral, social, and cultural regeneration.
The military defeat was also a result of military factors. Faced with growing militarism in certain social sectors, the military leaned towards more authoritarian and intransigent positions, attributing the defeat to the inefficiency and corruption of politicians. Within the army, a sentiment grew that the military should have a greater presence and role in political life. This interference resulted in the coup d’état by Primo de Rivera.
The disaster of 1898 caused a commotion in the country. Following this, the Restoration regime entered a new phase, marked by the ascent to the throne of Alfonso XIII upon reaching the age of majority in 1902, which ended in 1931 with the fall of the monarchy and the proclamation of the Second Republic.