Spain Of The Many Reforms example essay topic

1. Briefly explain the rise, rule and fall of Miguel Primo de Rivera. In 1923 Primo de Rivera overthrew the government in a military pronunciamento (coup d'etat). Hardly anybody protested to his take over and once in charge he restored order to Spain. Initially it seemed he was doing a good job as he suppressed the anarchist's trade union, the CNT and Catalan nationalism. He also brought peace to Morocco and during his rule experienced a short economic boom.

The public became increasingly hostile towards Rivera and his former allies such as the wealthy classes, his military colleagues and Alfonso were no longer supporting him. His style of leadership was very close to that of Mussolini's however most people did not object to the lack of political freedom or censorship until Rivera proved incapable of dealing with Wall Street Crash and its disastrous after effects. In January 1930 Primo de Rivera stepped down from his position. In elections the following year the republican parties gained the majority vote.

2. How and why did the monarchy end in 1931? In effect the monarchy ended in 1923 when Rivera took over. However in 1930 when Rivera resigned it was the King's job to find a replacement for him.

In August 1930 the republicans signed a pact at San Sebastian to overthrow the monarchy. In October the Spanish Socialist Party also signed the pact. An unsuccessful rising of pro-republican officers caused Alfonso to call for local elections. The republicans and socialists won by a landslide victory despite the monarchy receiving a lot of support from the countryside. On the 14th April 1931 Alfonso the X 111 prepared to leave Spain and the Revolutionary Committee made up of socialists and republicans.

There are many reasons why the people turned against the monarchy during the beginning of the 1900's. Firstly the people of Spain were fed up with their backward country and many wanted institutional and constitutional reforms. The military was humiliated by its defeat in Morocco and this in turn embarrassed Spain as a nation. People wanted social unrest in Catalonia and Andalusia to be suppressed something the monarchy proved unsuccessful in doing.

Lastly, Alfonso's quick decision to back Rivera when he took over and the fact that he was undermining the monarchy's constitution made him unpopular. 3. Briefly describe what was new about the Republican constitution. Multi-member constituencies and a new voting system were introduced. They produced a 'Constituent' parliament which was mainly dominated by those parties who sympathized with the new regime. Spain was now a democratic country with Church and state separated.

In fact in the draft constitution in the summer of 1931 they declared that Spain had 'ceased to be Catholic'. The new constitution passed in December 1931 declared that Spain no longer had an official religion, recognized the freedom of worship, legalized divorce, ended state support for the salaries of clergy, dissolved the Jesuit Order and nationalized its property. 4. What were the many reforms of the period 1931-1933?

The newly elected parliament (the Corte) made a series of reforms when they came into power. They encouraged political freedom and allowed civil marriage and divorce. The Church's power was suppressed and the state stopped funding priesthood and religious education. This led to religious toleration which means people were moving away from Catholicism and reaching an understanding of other religions, sometimes even embracing these other religions. In 1932 the Republicans undermined the power of the army and navy- whose members had many privileges. A new Agrarian Law was introduced in 1932 under which most landowners had land taken away from them and given to peasant co-operatives.

More reforms to improve workers rights were introduced in 1933.5. What were the "black years"? In November 1933 the Socialists lost power in the elections to two conservative groups- the CEDA (led by Gil Robles) who were a Catholic party and the Falange (led by Jose Antonio de Rivera) who were Fascists. These new governments started to rid Spain of the many reforms that where introduced between 1931 and 1933. CEDA's leader Robles gained much support especially from those who had felt threatened by the new reforms. The Conservative government took power right from Leroux who was the leader of Spain, he was a Radical.

In September 1934 the CEDA was officially admitted to the new cabinet. Revolts broke out in Asturias and Barcelona. In October 1934, 1300 workers were killed when a minor rebellion broke out in Asturias and troops came and crushed it brutally by killing most of the rebels. By 1935 there were around 30,000 political prisoners in Spain. 6. Explain how the "popular front" ended the rule of the right?

The "popular front" were all the Left Wing parties fighting together defeated the Right slightly in the 1936 elections. Churches were burned and peasants themselves seized land expecting more reforms. Calm did not prevail so the military was sent in and by brutal force they suppressed the troublemakers, killing 1500. In February 1936 many of the policies put in place between 1931 and 1933 were resurrected.