Second Spanish Republic
Spanish Republic República Española | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1931–1939 | |||||||||||
Motto: President | | ||||||||||
• 1931–1936 | Niceto Alcalá-Zamora | ||||||||||
• 1936 (interim) | Diego Martínez Barrio | ||||||||||
• 1936–1939 | Manuel Azaña | ||||||||||
Prime Minister | |||||||||||
• 1931 (first) | Niceto Alcalá-Zamora | ||||||||||
• 1937–1939 (last) | Juan Negrín | ||||||||||
Legislature | Cortes Republicanas | ||||||||||
Historical era | Interwar period | ||||||||||
14 April 1931 | |||||||||||
9 December 1931 | |||||||||||
5–19 October 1934 | |||||||||||
17 July 1936 | |||||||||||
1 April 1939 | |||||||||||
Currency | Spanish peseta | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
The Spanish Republic (Spanish: República Española), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (Spanish: Segunda República Española), was the form of government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931 after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII. It was dissolved on 1 April 1939 after surrendering in the Spanish Civil War to the Nationalists led by General Francisco Franco.
After the proclamation of the Republic,
Soon, Azaña lost parliamentary support and President
In 1935, after a series of crises and corruption scandals, President
Amidst the wave of political violence that broke out after the triumph of the Popular Front in the February 1936 elections, a group of
During the Spanish Civil War, there were three Republican governments. The first was led by left-wing republican José Giral (from July to September 1936); a revolution inspired mostly by libertarian socialist, anarchist and communist principles broke out in its territory. The second government was led by the PSOE's Francisco Largo Caballero. The UGT, along with the National Confederation of Workers (CNT), were the main forces behind the social revolution. The third government was led by socialist Juan Negrín, who led the Republic until the military coup of Segismundo Casado, which ended republican resistance and ultimately led to the victory of the Nationalists.
The Republican government survived in exile and retained an embassy in Mexico City until 1976. After the restoration of democracy in Spain, the government-in-exile formally dissolved the following year.[11]
1931–1933, the Reformist Biennium
On 28 January 1930, the military dictatorship of General
1931 Constitution
In June 1931 a Constituent Cortes was elected to draft a new constitution, which came into force in December.[18]
The new constitution established
The legislative branch was changed to a single chamber called the
The Republican Constitution also changed the country's national symbols. The Himno de Riego was established as the national anthem, and the Tricolor, with three horizontal red-yellow-purple fields, became the new flag of Spain. Under the new Constitution, all of Spain's regions had the right to autonomy. Catalonia (1932), the Basque Country (1936) and Galicia (although the Galician Statute of Autonomy could not come into effect due to the war) exercised this right, with Aragon, Andalusia and Valencia, engaged in negotiations with the government before the outbreak of the Civil War. The Constitution guaranteed a wide range of civil liberties, but it opposed key beliefs of the right wing, which was very rooted in rural areas, and desires of the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church, which was stripped of schools and public subsidies.
The 1931 Constitution was formally effective from 1931 until 1939. In the summer of 1936, after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, it became largely irrelevant after the authority of the Republic was superseded in many places by revolutionary socialists and anarchists on one side, and Nationalists on the other.[24]
The Azaña government
With the new constitution approved in December 1931, once the constituent assembly had fulfilled its mandate of approving a new constitution, it should have arranged for regular parliamentary elections and adjourned. However, fearing the increasing popular opposition, the Radicals and Socialist majority postponed the regular elections, therefore prolonging their way in power for two more years. This way the republican government of Manuel Azaña initiated numerous reforms to what in their view would "modernize" the country.[2]
Landowners were expropriated. Autonomy was granted to Catalonia, with a local parliament and a president of said parliament. [2] Catholic churches in major cities were again subject to arson in 1932, and a revolutionary strike action was seen in Málaga the same year.[17] A Catholic church in Zaragoza was burnt down in 1933.
In November 1932, Miguel de Unamuno, one of the most respected Spanish intellectuals, rector of the University of Salamanca, and himself a Republican, publicly raised his voice to protest. In a speech delivered on 27 November 1932, at the Madrid Ateneo, he protested: "Even the Inquisition was limited by certain legal guarantees. But now we have something worse: a police force which is grounded only on a general sense of panic and on the invention of non-existent dangers to cover up this over-stepping of the law."[25]
In 1933, all remaining religious congregations were obliged to pay taxes and banned from industry, trade and educational activities. This ban was forced with strict police severity and widespread mob violence.[26]
1933–1935 period and miners' uprising
The majority vote in the
The inclusion of three CEDA ministers in the government that took office on 1 October 1934 led to a country wide revolt. A "
With this rebellion against an established political legitimate authority, the Socialists showed identical repudiation of representative institutional system that anarchists had practiced.[31] The Spanish historian Salvador de Madariaga, an Azaña supporter and an exiled vocal opponent of Francisco Franco, is the author of a sharp critical reflection against the participation of the left in the revolt: "The uprising of 1934 is unforgivable. The argument that Mr Gil Robles tried to destroy the Constitution to establish fascism was, at once, hypocritical and false. With the rebellion of 1934, the Spanish left lost even the shadow of moral authority to condemn the rebellion of 1936."[32]
The suspension of the land reforms that had been attempted by the previous government, and the failure of the Asturias miners' uprising, led to a more radical turn by the parties of the left, especially in the PSOE (Socialist Party), where the moderate Indalecio Prieto lost ground to Francisco Largo Caballero, who advocated a socialist revolution. At the same time, the involvement of the Centrist government party in the Straperlo and Nombela scandals deeply weakened it, further polarising political differences between right and left. These differences became evident in the 1936 elections.
1936 elections
On 7 January 1936,
American historian Stanley G. Payne thinks that there was major electoral fraud in the process, with widespread violation of the laws and the constitution.[33] In line with Payne's point of view, in 2017, two Spanish Scholars, Manuel Álvarez Tardío and Roberto Villa García, published the result of a research where they concluded that the 1936 elections were rigged.[34][35] This view has been criticised by Eduardo Calleja and Francisco Pérez, who question the charges of electoral irregularity and argue that the Popular Front would still have won a slight electoral majority even if all of the charges were true.[36]
In the thirty-six hours following the election, sixteen people were killed (mostly by police officers attempting to maintain order or intervene in violent clashes) and thirty-nine were seriously injured, while fifty churches and seventy right wing political centres were attacked or set ablaze.
The right reacted as if radical communists had taken control, despite the new cabinet's moderate composition; they were shocked by the revolutionary masses taking to the streets and the release of prisoners. Convinced that the left was no longer willing to follow the rule of law and that its vision of Spain was under threat, the right abandoned the parliamentary option and began to conspire as to how to best overthrow the republic, rather than taking control of it.[41][42]
This helped the development of the fascist-inspired Falange Española, a National party led by José Antonio Primo de Rivera, the son of the former dictator, Miguel Primo de Rivera, although it only received 0.7 percent of the votes in the election. By July 1936, the Falange had a mere 40,000 members among millions of Spaniards.
The country quickly moved towards anarchy. Even the socialist Indalecio Prieto, at a party rally in Cuenca in May 1936, complained: "we have never seen so tragic a panorama or so great a collapse as in Spain at this moment. Abroad Spain is classified as insolvent. This is not the road to socialism or communism but to desperate anarchism without even the advantage of liberty."[43]
In June 1936, Miguel de Unamuno, disenchanted with the unfolding of the events, told a reporter who published his statement in El Adelanto that President Manuel Azaña should commit suicide as a patriotic act.[44]
Assassinations of political leaders and beginning of the war
On 12 July 1936, Lieutenant
In response, a group of
Prominent rightists blamed the government for
When the antifascist Castillo and the anti-socialist Calvo Sotelo were buried on the same day in the same Madrid cemetery, fighting between the
Three days later (17 July), the
The revolt was remarkably devoid of any particular ideology.[contradictory][55] The major goal was to put an end to anarchical disorder.[dubious ][55] Mola's plan for the new regime was envisioned as a "republican dictatorship", modelled after Salazar's Portugal and as a semi-pluralist authoritarian regime rather than a totalitarian fascist dictatorship. The initial government would be an all-military "Directory", which would create a "strong and disciplined state." General Sanjurjo would be the head of this new regime, due to being widely liked and respected within the military, though his position would be a largely symbolic due to his lack of political talent. The 1931 Constitution would be suspended, replaced by a new "constituent parliament" which would be chosen by a new politically purged electorate, who would vote on the issue of republic versus monarchy. Certain liberal elements would remain, such as separation of church and state as well as freedom of religion. Agrarian issues would be solved by regional commissioners on the basis of smallholdings, but collective cultivation would be permitted in some circumstances. Legislation prior to February 1936 would be respected. Violence would be required to destroy opposition to the coup, though it seems Mola did not envision the mass atrocities and repression that would ultimately manifest during the civil war.[56][57] Of particular importance to Mola was ensuring the revolt was at its core an Army affair, one that would not be subject to special interests and that the coup would make the armed forces the basis for the new state.[58] However, the separation of church and state was forgotten once the conflict assumed the dimension of a war of religion, and military authorities increasingly deferred to the Church and to the expression of Catholic sentiment.[59] However, Mola's program was vague and only a rough sketch, and there were disagreements among coupists about their vision for Spain.[60][61]
Franco's move was intended to seize power immediately, but his army uprising met with serious resistance, and great swathes of Spain, including most of the main cities, remained loyal to the Republic of Spain. The leaders of the coup (Franco was not commander-in-chief yet) did not lose heart with the stalemate and apparent failure of the coup. Instead, they initiated a slow and determined war of attrition against the Republican government in Madrid.[62] As a result, an estimated total of half a million people would die in the war that followed; the number of casualties is actually disputed, as some have suggested that as many as a million people died. Over the years, historians kept lowering the death figures, and modern research concluded that 500,000 deaths were the correct figure.[63]
Civil War
On 17 July 1936, General Franco led the
The
Economy
The Second Spanish Republic's economy was mostly agrarian, and many historians[attribution needed] call Spain during this time a "backward nation". Major industries of the Second Spanish Republic were located in the Basque region (due to it having Europe's best high-grade non-phosphoric ore) and Catalonia. This greatly contributed to Spain's economic hardships, as their center of industry was located on the opposite side of the country from their resource reserves, resulting in immense transportation costs due to the mountainous Spanish terrain. Compounding economic woes was Spain's low export rate and heavily domestic manufacturing industry. High levels of poverty left many Spaniards open to extremist political parties in search of a solution.[67]
See also
- Spanish Republican Armed Forces
- Spanish Republican government in exile
- Flag of the Second Spanish Republic
- Coat of Arms of the Second Spanish Republic
- Order of the Spanish Republic
- LAPE (Líneas Aéreas Postales Españolas), the Spanish Republican Airline
- Catholicism in the Second Spanish Republic
- Sanjurjada
- Electoral Carlism (Second Republic)
- Reign of Alfonso XIII of Spain
Notes
- .
- ^ a b c Hayes 1951, p. 91.
- ^ a b Payne & Palacios 2018, pp. 84–85.
- ^ a b Payne & Palacios 2018, p. 88.
- ^ a b Payne, Stanley G. (2008). The collapse of the Spanish republic, 1933–1936: Origins of the civil war. Yale University Press. pp. 84–85.
- ISBN 978-8494418068.
- ^ a b Payne 1993, p. 219.
- ^ The Splintering of Spain, p. 54 CUP, 2005
- ^ Presto 1983.
- ^ a b Beevor, Antony. The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936–1939. Hachette UK, 2012.
- ^ Rubio, Javier (1977). "Javier Rubio, Los reconocimientos diplomáticos del Gobierno de la República española en el exilio". Revista de Política Internacional (149). Archived from the original on 13 October 2017. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
- ^ Casanova 2010, p. 10
- ^ Casanova 2010, p. 1
- ^ Mariano Ospina Peña, La II República Española, caballerosandantes.net/videoteca.php?action=verdet&vid=89
- ^ Casanova 2010, p. 18
- ^ Casanova 2010, p. vii
- ^ a b "abc.es: "La quema de iglesias durante la Segunda República" 10 May 2012". Archived from the original on 26 October 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2014.
- ^ Casanova 2010, p. 28
- ^ Smith, Angel, Historical Dictionary of Spain Archived 24 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine, p. 195, Rowman & Littlefield 2008
- ^ Stepan, Alfred, Arguing Comparative Politics Archived 15 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine, p. 221, Oxford University Press
- ^ Paz, Jose Antonio Souto Perspectives on religious freedom in Spain Archived 16 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine Brigham Young University Law Review 1 January 2001
- ^ Dilectissima Nobis, 2 (On Oppression Of The Church Of Spain)
- ^ Payne, Stanley G. (1973). "A History of Spain and Portugal (Print Edition)". University of Wisconsin Press. 2, Ch. 25. Library of Iberian resources online: 632. Archived from the original on 18 February 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2007.
- ^ Payne, Stanley G. (1973). "A History of Spain and Portugal (Print Edition)". University of Wisconsin Press. 2, Ch. 26. Library of Iberian resources online: 646–647. Archived from the original on 8 November 2017. Retrieved 15 May 2007.
- ^ Hayes 1951, p. 93.
- ^ Hayes 1951, p. 92.
- ^ Spain 1833–2002, p. 133, Mary Vincent, Oxford, 2007
- ^ a b c d Thomas 1977.
- ^ Cueva 1998, pp. 355–369.
- ^ Preston, Paul. The Spanish Holocaust: Inquisition and Extermination in Twentieth-Century Spain. Norton, 2012. p. 269
- ^ Casanova 2010, p. 138.
- ISBN 978-8494418068.
- ^ Payne, Stanley G. (8 April 2016). "24 horas – Stanley G. Payne: "Las elecciones del 36, durante la Republica, fueron un fraude"". rtve. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
- ^ Villa García & Álvarez Tardío 2017.
- ^ Redondo, Javier (12 March 2017). "El 'pucherazo' del 36" (in Spanish). El Mundo.
- ^ Calleja, Eduardo González, and Francisco Sánchez Pérez. "Revisando el revisionismo. A propósito del libro 1936. Fraude y violencia en las elecciones del Frente Popular." Historia Contemporánea 3, no. 58 (2018).
- ^ Alvarez Tardio, Manuel. "Mobilization and political violence following the Spanish general elections of 1936". Revista de Estudios Politicos 177 (2017): 147–179.
- ^ Jensen, Geoffrey. Franco. Potomac Books, Inc., 2005, p. 66
- ^ Brenan 1950, p. 300.
- ^ a b Brenan 1950, p. 301.
- ^ Preston 1983.
- ^ Beevor 2006, pp. 19–39.
- ^ Hayes 1965, p. 100.
- ^ Rabaté, Jean-Claude; Rabaté, Colette (2009). Miguel de Unamuno: Biografía (in Spanish). Taurus.
- ^ "Uneasy path". Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 85, 9 April 1936. Archived 2 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine National Library of New Zealand. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
- )
- ^ Beevor 2006, p. 51.
- ^ Thomas 2001, pp. 196–198.
- ^ Preston 2006, p. 99.
- ^ Payne & Palacios 2018, p. 115.
- ^ Esdaile, Charles J. The Spanish Civil War: A Military History. Routledge, 2018.
- ^ Beevor 2006.
- ^ Seidman, Michael. Transatlantic Antifascisms: From the Spanish Civil War to the End of World War II. Cambridge University Press, 2017, p. 17
- ^ Payne 2012.
- ^ a b Hayes 1965, p. 103.
- ^ Payne 2012, pp. 67–68.
- ^ Payne & Palacios 2018, p. 113.
- ^ Payne 2011, pp. 89–90.
- ^ Payne 2012, pp. 115–125.
- ^ Payne 2011, p. 90.
- ISBN 978-1574886443.
- ^ a b Imperial War Museum (2002). "The Spanish Civil War exhibition: Mainline text" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 December 2013. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
- ^ Thomas Barria-Norton, The Spanish Civil War (2001), pp. xviii & 899–901, inclusive.
- ^ Time magazine: October 5th, 1936
- ^ "La Pasionaria's Farewell Message to the International Brigade fighters". Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 30 October 2010.
- ^ "Ángel Viñas, 'La Soledad de la República'". Archived from the original on 30 June 2015.
- ^ "Simpson, James" (PDF).
References
- ISBN 978-0143037651.
- Brenan, Gerald (1950). The Spanish Labyrinth: an account of the social and political background of the Spanish Civil War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-04314-X.
- ISBN 978-0-521-49388-8.
- Cueva, Julio de la Cueva (1998). "Religious Persecution, Anticlerical Tradition and Revolution: On Atrocities against the Clergy during the Spanish Civil War". Journal of Contemporary History. 33 (3). Sage Publications, Ltd.: 355–369.
- ASIN B0014JCVS0.
- ISBN 978-0299110741.
- ISBN 978-0-521-17470-1.
- ISBN 978-0299302146.
- ISBN 978-0-00-723207-9.
- ISBN 978-0060142780.
Further reading
- Álvarez, José E. (2011). "The Spanish Foreign Legion during the Asturian Uprising of October 1934". War in History. 18 (2): 200–224. S2CID 159593285.
- ISBN 0-297-84832-1.
- Buckley, Henry (1940). The Life and Death of the Spanish Republic: a Witness to the Spanish Civil War.[ISBN missing]
- Casanova, Julián (2010). The Spanish Republic and Civil War. Cambridge University Press. p. 113. ISBN 978-1139490573.
- ISBN 978-0521459327.
- Hodges, Gabrielle Ashfod (2002). Franco : a concise biography (1st US ed.). St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0312282851.
- ISBN 978-0691007571.
- ISBN 978-0299110703.
- ISBN 978-0300110654.
- ISBN 978-0299165642.
- ISBN 978-0299136741.
- OCLC 186010979.
- ISBN 978-0-300-12282-4.
- S2CID 153836234.
- ISBN 978-0-00-686210-9.
- ISBN 978-0-00-723207-9.
- ISBN 978-0393345919.
- Ruiz, Julius (2015). The 'Red Terror' and the Spanish Civil War: Revolutionary Violence in Madrid. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1107682931.
- Raymond Carr, ed. The Republic and the Civil War in Spain (1971) [ISBN missing]
- Raymond Carr, Spain 1808–1975 (2nd ed. 1982) [ISBN missing]