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Catholic Church
The Catholic Church was given a power over education in the agreement between Spain and Rome. -
Spanish Empire
Spain had an overpopulated and overpowerful army after the loss of cuba. -
Tragic Week
Socially, problems of poverty for the peasantry and the proletariat had led to bloodshed in ‘Tragic Week”, when the army fired on protestors. -
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Spain was a constitutional monarchy headed by King Alfonso XIII. Politically, Spain had an inefficient and corrupt government. Regionally, Catalonia and the Basque region wanted independence. -
Spain lost it's pride
When The Spanish Army tried to put down a rebellion it was massacred to Morocco.This defeat further dented the Spanish pride. -
1924-29
Rivera finally ended the war in Morocco and introduced public works schemes like roads, railways, irrigation schemes. Industrial production increased by threefold. Rivera suspended the Cortes (Parliament), trial by jury and freedom of speech/ press. -
1929-32 Causes of the Depression
Spain had very hard time during the depression. Agricultural prices plummeted, Industrial production collapsed by up to 50%, Unemployment skyrocketed. -
Rivera Resigned
Rivera resigned as a government leader because the army withdrew its support. -
1931-33
1931-33: The reforms Republican government provoked with anger on the four most powerful elements of the society -military, industrialists, landowners, the Catholic Church. These for powerful elements looked toward the Fascists for help against their Left-Wing, at this time the Falange (a new Spanish Fascist party) was formed under Jose Antonio de Rivera, Primo’s son. -
1931-33(2)
1931-33: Catalonia received some self-government. The Church: Jesuits was expelled, RE in schools banned and now divorce was allowed. Many soldiers were forced to retire early on half-pay. There were changes in the economy as well, the huge estates in Spain (latifundia) were now nationalised. -
Republicans won the elections
Republicans won the elections and took over all the major cities in Spain. Spain became a republic and Alfonso abdicated to avoid civil war. -
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The government was divided into two parts, left and right Wing Republicans – the former wanter rapid social reform to appeal to the working classes; the latter wanted more moderate change to reduce the opposition of the church, landowners and military. -
General Primo de Rivera
General Primo de Rivera took over Spain to prevent the collapse of the monarchy. He ruled over Spain till 1930. -
Elections
General Sanjuro led an army coup to overthrow the government lead by Manuel Azana, the prime minister. The military coup was unsuccessful as the army remained loyal to the government- after all, it had won the elections fairly. -
The Republic
Republic offends the Right: A reactionary political party was formed- the Ceda –determined to protect the interest of the Roman Catholic Church and landlords. Republic offends the Left: Two powerful left wing political parties, the anarchists and syndicalist (powerful trade union groups) , felt that Azana’s government was too moderate. Both wanted the overthrow of capitalism. -
The extreme left
The extreme left organised strikes and riots in an effort to destabilise the government of Azana. 25 people were killed by government troops who were attempting to catch some anarchists near Cadiz. This lost the government a great deal of support among the working class and the socialists withdrew their support from the government. -
November
Azana resigned as prime minister and elections were called; CEDA won a majority of support and formed a government by Gil Robles which held power for what the Left called ‘Two Black Years’. Robles withdrew all of the reforms introduced by the Azana government. The left wing parties joined together to form the Popular Front. They organised strikes, riots and vandalism. -
General Franco
When the Coal miners in Asturias Sparked off a general strike, General Franco’s army brutally put them down. Spain was heading towards a disaster. The Catalans had their privileges withdrawn and turned against the government. -
The left and the Right wing
A general election was called to restore order. The left-wing Popular Front coalition won and Azana once again became prime minister. The right-wing formed a Notional Front coalition in reaction= more polarisation. The socialists withdrew their support from the Popular Front government in protest at its moderation. Public disturbances occurred soon started spiralling the country out of control. -
General Franco
General Franco assumed /seized control of the military and Spanish Morocco and then crossed over mainland to take over the government, the Civil War had begun. -
Right wing in danger
Sotelo, who was a right wing politician was murdered. The politicians who were in the right wing felt that were in a danger of a communist to takeover and began to argue in the favour of a military dictatorship, led by General Mola.
