Despite a successful period as dictator, Rivera did not survive the world depression which started in 1929. It would appear that this success only stopped as a result of the depression and showed the publics’ satisfaction for a dictatorship. The public did not revolt against the government and the country was becoming more influential in the world market. Only the exterior problem of depression led to the downfall of six thriving years. It is clear to see that no other government lasted this long and so signalled the way for more dictatorships in the future. Unemployment in Spain rose hugely and his dictatorship skills were not helpful in solving the countries financial problems. The army that he had used to his advantage throughout his premier lost confidence and he was forced to resign. The Spanish people who were increasingly fed up with poor government and dictatorship, held elections in April 1931. The republicans won the election with a landslide victory due to the support of all the major cities. King Alfonso abdicated as the Second Republic abolished the monarchy for a pluralist democracy in a modernised Spanish society.
Like many previous democratic governments in Spanish history it appears that this republic was met with trepidation. It had huge opposition from the church as they believed a republic would bring Protestants and atheists to Spain. Landowners and industrialists also failed to support the republic as they presumed it would increase the cost of labour and affect their livelihoods. The other significant opposition to this new era in Spain were the military leaders who felt unemployment in the army was inevitable as the republic pushed for regional autonomy and army officials were made to retire early. The leader of this new government was a conservative, Catholic republican called Niceto Alcalá Zamora. He was joined by the liberal Manuel Azaña. They both aimed to reform the country with such measures which included taking control of the army and improving the dreadful conditions of rural and industrial workers.
Due to disagreements over the religious clauses in the constitution Azaña replaced Zamora in December 1931 with a new constitution which separated church and state and withdrew powers of the church such as control over religious education and all Jesuits were expelled from Spain, having being the country that founded them centuries ago. It seems that the church had been transformed from being the ‘one of the official expressions of Spain’s identity into a mere voluntary association.’ Azaña declared that “Spain is no longer Catholic.” With this huge enemy the republic needed the support of the working class. This did not happen because of high unemployment in industry as iron production fell by 33% and steel by 50%. In agriculture exports in wine and olive oil fell drastically and land became unused and ruined. It is obvious that these problems stemmed from the world recession although the government did little anyway to transform the beleaguered tax system and Agrarian Reform law was not properly maintained. This did not assist the poor that needed the reforms.
Other problems that would lead to an eventual civil war were created by two important regions in Spain that wanted autonomy and independence. The Catalans and Basque country wanted their own power after the Catalans had rediscovered their past and the Basque movement had become more ‘political and religious than literary.’ These regional conflicts spilled over into social ones as middle classes and workers had conflicting interests. These problems led to a huge rise in union membership to over one million by the end of 1932. Law and order was a prime manifesto promise of the republic to restore respect within the army and have laws that were followed. This policy had failed for the republic due to the lack of respect by the public and so paved the way for strikes. The Civil Guard was used to kill protesters at anarchist staged uprisings. This use of force by the government did not win any support and led to the fall of Azaña. Although this was not the only reason, the divisions in the party itself did not help him. Azaña declared in his book that, ‘si los sentimientos revolucionarios y regionalistas destruyen el Estado republico desde dentro, la no-intervención selló su destino desde fuera.’ The anarchists wanted to overthrow him whilst capitalists wanted to modernise Spain. It appeared too late for that and reforms of the church led to several resignations as the coalition government failed to agree on anything.
The government had become an arena for arguments and there became a distinct lack of consensus and agreement due to the severe social and economic problems in the south that no one in power could solve. It would lead to social revolution. The government went on the retreat and began to attack those rich few that, it was believed, had too many privileges. This inevitably angered the backbone on Spanish society including the land owners, military and Catholics. It is clear that this powerful body of elites had realised that if they united they would gain support from fascist leaders in Europe like Mussolini and Hitler who were both scared of Communist Russia. These groups wanted to get rid of what seemed to be a Communist government and so would become an ally although Hitler was not in power until January 1933.
It seems that the right saw this as the perfect opportunity to seize government and takeover the country. A coalition, CEDA, was formed in 1933 under the leadership of José María Gil Robles who was a Catholic lawyer that had little involvement in politics before. The coalition included several powerful bodies including the Acción Popular who was staunchly backed by the clergy and landed oligarchy. It wanted to recapture the church and resolve the crisis in Spain. The right led an attempt to bring down the Republic by resisting legislation to improve living conditions and ignoring Agrarian reforms to help the situation. CEDA, using the seats they had in government, blocked any new legislation so that divisions would be widened within the Republic. This huge effort in preventing the government from functioning properly was helped when 25 people were killed by government troops in an uprising in Cadiz in 1933. This angered the working classes and led to the fall of Azaña’s coalition as the socialists, who had been a main backer in the campaign, withdrew their support as they became unhappy with the cooperation of the reformists. This polarisation led to the president of Spain, Alcalá Zamora, withdrawing his support for Azaña. He called for an election to take place.
In the election of November 1933 CEDA became the largest party in parliament and began to overturn the legislation of the previous government. These repeals were met with opposition, as expected, by the left as the miners formed the Workers’ Alliance to start a revolution that lasted for two weeks. The army quashed this rebellion whilst the Catalans set up their own government. This demonstrated the incompetence of the government especially as they had allowed the Catalan district to set up their autonomy. This led to unrest among the public and the left leaving only one option for the CEDA leaders. They decided to imprison Labour leaders and jailed leading opposition figures including Azaña. Even some army officers who were seen to support the Republicans were sent away paving the way for the nationalist General Francisco Franco to take control of the army. He had gained experience as General Military Academy director under Rivera.
This deepening hatred for the right forced the left to unite and form the Popular Front as a way to stop CEDA. The party was supported by every single organisation of the left as the ‘alliance of socialist and reformist republicans was painstakingly rebuilt.’ After organising strikes, riots and general violence towards to the country, yet another election was called. In February 1936 the Popular Front won the election and Azaña became prime minister again.
As had been evident in Italy and Germany, the Spanish public realised that the only way to get rid of democracy and return to the days of a successful dictatorship was to hold a military coup. The election sent shockwaves through the right wing of politics. An authoritarian right-wing catholic called Calvo Soleto felt the need to create new right wing parties as the less extreme groups were not doing enough to stop the Republic. He created the National Block as the leading competitor to the government; they now wanted to use the army to overthrow the Republic.
As a result more extremist groups were seeking dictatorship so CEDA had to adopt a fascist-type approach with ‘mass rallies, salutes, flags, and the celebration of the Führerprinzip around the figure of Robles.’ This group promoted strikes to achieve a destabilisation of the Republic. The strikes troubled the Republican leaders who began to put army officials who they suspected were orchestrating the strikes into outposts. For example Franco was made commander of the Canaries. The argument put forward by Bolloten, an historian, was that ‘the extreme pressures of earlier stages of industrial development together with the concentration of masses of alienated and low-waged workers in new urban environments created explosive conditions.’ These pressures came to a head when Soleto was assassinated on 13 July 1936. I believe this was the final straw for the right and was used as the detonator for Franco and the military to begin their coup on the government and start decades of dictatorship in Spain. After invading Morocco and overthrowing the government there, four days after the Soleto murder, the army headed home to get rid of all left wing politicians. The conditions for civil war were beginning to take root.
Bibliography
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Alvarez Junco, José. Spanish History since 1808. London: Arnold, 1999
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Azaña, Manuel. Causas de la Guerra en España. Barcelona: Crítica, 1986
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Bolloten, Burnett. The Spanish Civil War: Revolution and Counterrevolution. London: University of North Carolina Press, 1991
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Brasillach, Robert y Bardéche, Maurice. Historia de la Guerra en España. Valencia: 1966
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Carr, Raymond. Spain: A History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000
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Jackson, Gabriel. The Spanish Republic and the Civil War 1931-39. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1965
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The History Learning Site @
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El Sitio Web de la Historia del Siglo XX @
The word count is 2,073 words.
Jackson, Gabriel. The Spanish Republic and the Civil War 1931-39 (Princeton, 1965), p. 6.
Alvarez Junco, José. Spanish History since 1808 (London, 1999), p. 203.
Carr, Raymond. Spain: A History (Oxford, 2000), p.245.
The Spanish Republic and the Civil War 1931-39, p.16.
Azaña, Manuel. Causas de la Guerra en España (Barcelona, 1986), p.18.
‘If the regionalist and revolutionary feelings destroy the republic state from the inside, the non-intervention sealed its destiny from the outside’
Spanish Confederation of Autonomous Right-Wing Groups.
Bolloten, Burnett. The Spanish Civil War: Revolution and Counterrevolution. (London, 1991).
