Unit 4

UNIT 4 – THE POLITICAL SYSTEM OF THE RESTORATION PERIOD (1875-1923)
OUTLINE
1. Introduction
2. The Restoration political system
* The system in operation (1875-1898)
* Basis of the system : - Monarchy
-1876 Constitution
- Bipartidism & “turno pacífico”-Caciquismo
* The system working
* Oppossition to the system
* The crisis of the system (1898-1923)
* Crisis of the end of the century
* Growing opposition to the system
* Division within the “turno” parties
* The question of Morocco
* The Tragic Week (1909)
* Economical, social and political history of Spain (1914-1923)
* The crisis of 1917
* The end of theRestoration system (1918-1923)
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The Restoration was the name given to the period that began in December 29, 1874 when the First Spanish Republic ended with the restoration of Alfonso XII to the throne.
The political system which ruled Spain between 1875 to 1923 is usually referred as the “Restoration Settlement”. Thearchitect of the Restoration system was Antonio Cánovas del Castillo.
After almost a whole century of political instability and many civil wars, the aim of the Restoration was to create a new political system, which ensured stability by the practice of turnismo. This was the deliberate rotation of the Liberal and Conservative parties in the government.
We can divide this period following thereigns of Alfonso XII and Alfonso XIII. The reign of Alfonso XII will coincide with the peak period of the Restoration system, which ends with the death of Cánovas del Castillo and the “disaster of 1898”. In contrast, the reight of Alfonso XIII will be linked to the crisis of the system, leading to the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera in 1923, and the arrival of the Second Spanish Republic.
OnSeptember 1923, Primo de Rivera, orchestrated a coup d’etat, after emitting a manifesto blaming the problems of Spain on the parliamentary system. Alfonso XII backed the General, and named him Prime Minister. He proceeded to suspend the Constitution and asume absolute powers as a dictator, abolishing all other parties. He caused his government to go bankrupt, and opposition to his regime was so great thatAlfonso XIII stopped supporting him and forced him to resign in January 1930.
Alfonso XIII, in an attempt to return to the previous system, called on General Dámaso Berenguer to form a government, the “Dictablanda”. This failed, as the King was considered a supporter of the dictatorship. Berenguer resigned and the King gave the government to Admiral Aznar. Aznar called for local elections onApril 13, 1931 to replace the dictatorship’s local governments and to gradually re-introduce the restoration.
The republican and socialist parties won a major victory. The Second Spanish Republic was immediately established under a provisional government led by Alcalá-Zamora.
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In 1871, Cánovas became the young pretender’s tutor. He admired the English political system, and he sent the youngprince to the military academy of Sandhurst. In December 1874, Alfonso addresed the famous “Sandhurst Manifest” written by Cánovas. In this manifest, the young prince declared to be in favor of constitutional monarchy and presented monarchy as the only solution for all the problems Spain had in that moment. The 29th of December, the democratic experience ended with a military pronunciamiento of Saguntoby General Martínez Campos.
Cánovas gained support, became regent and set out structuring the new system.
He believed that Spain’s greatness was dependent of the unión of two components of the natio’s internal constitution: the Crown and the Cortes.
His aims were to stabilize Spanish political life, to assure stability preventing the army from meddling (entrometerse) in politics. He felt...