Spanish Civil War: Social Revolution and Rebel Control
The Two Sides of the Spanish Civil War
Social Revolution in the Republican Zone
The defense of the Republic largely relied on party members and left-wing trade unions. This led to the formation of committees, bodies of popular power, which directed the war effort and civilian life in the rear. Workers’ committees occupied factories and collectivized them. Land was confiscated from landlords and distributed to peasant groups.
This revolutionary process was driven by labor forces, especially anarcho-
Read MoreSpain’s History: Monarchy to Franco (1875-1975)
Timeline of Key Events in Spain (1875-1975)
1875-1939: Restoration, Crisis, and Republic
- 1875: Monarchy restored.
- 1876: Moderate constitution adopted.
- 1877: Law of Association.
- 1888: UGT (General Union of Workers) formed.
- 1894: Loss of Cuba.
- 1896: Loss of the Philippines.
- 1897: PNV (Basque Nationalist Party) formed.
- 1898: Spain signs the Treaty of Paris.
- 1902: Alfonso XIII accedes to the throne.
- 1917-1923: Crisis of the Cánovas system.
- 1923: Coup d’état.
- 1931: Second Republic declared.
- 1931-1933: Reformist
Catalan Left and Renaissance: History and Political Movements
The Catalan Left
The Catalan Left: During the early twentieth century, Catalan esquerres (left-wing movements) often lacked cohesion. Until 1910, left-wing sectors of Solidaritat Catalana were working to establish a Catalan Republican Party with autonomy: the Federal Union Nationalist Republican (UFNR). In the elections of 1910, the UFNR achieved some success but could not overcome the dominance of the Radical Republican Party. Founded in 1908, Lerroux’s Radical Republican Party had successfully
Read More19th-Century European Nationalism: Italy and Germany
The Rise of Nationalism in 19th-Century Europe
Nationalism developed in the 19th century when people who shared the same culture and language began to think of themselves as a ‘nation’. At the same time, many nationalists wanted political boundaries to coincide with religious, ethnic, and linguistic boundaries. In this way, a nation would live in a single country: a nation-state. Nationalism greatly influenced the political history of Europe in two different ways:
- Disintegration of states: Some nations
The Fall of the Monarchy and the Rise of the Second Spanish Republic
Berenguer’s Government (January 1930 – February 1931)
Berenguer’s government shared the same goal as Aznar’s government under Alfonso XIII: to save the monarchy. Having already failed by associating with the dictatorship, it sought a return to the pre-coup regime of 1923. This is known, as per Ortega y Gasset, as the “Berenguer error.” This was because:
- It was believed that a return to the system was possible, ignoring the connections to the already exhausted dictatorship.
- Elections should have been
Spanish Constitution of 1978: Key Aspects & Evolution
The Spanish Constitution of 1978
In 1978, political leaders and society at large were aware of the weakness of democracy. So, for the first time, the supreme law was not imposed by the ruling party, but was negotiated by political forces. This is called the *development policy of consensus*. The Constitution begins when a paper is composed of 7 members representing UCD, PSOE, PCE, AP, and the Catalan group.
Key Features of the Constitution
The 1978 Constitution consists of 169 articles, included in
Read More