Key Figures and Events in Spanish History: 18th-20th Centuries

Key Figures in Spanish History

Calvo Sotelo

A Galician politician, he was born a deputy governor and served in civil courts. During the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, he occupied official positions.

Manuel Azaña

A political writer, he studied law and was a senior official in the Ministry of Justice. Devoted to politics, in the Second Republic he was appointed Minister of War. He was then elected President of the Government, carrying out a comprehensive reform policy. After the 1936 elections, he became President again but was later removed.

Francisco Largo Caballero

A politician, he joined the UGT at a very young age. He held various positions and collaborated with the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. Upon the arrival of the Second Republic, he was appointed Minister of Labor. He was then also President of the PSOE. At the start of the Civil War, he became Prime Minister. Faced with the Communists, he left office and went to France, where he was taken prisoner during the Second World War.

Niceto Alcalá-Zamora y Torres

A politician who held various ministerial portfolios under the monarchy of Alfonso XIII. Disappointed, he went over to republicanism. A practicing Catholic, he was elected President but was eventually removed by the leftist parties.

José Antonio Primo de Rivera

Son of dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera. A lawyer, he founded the anti-liberal political group Falange, which eventually became the Spanish Falange. He became a deputy to the Cortes.

Autarky

A stage of the Spanish economy in the early days of Franco's regime, which tried to overcome the limitations of the international market and restrictions on Franco.

Lausanne Manifesto

This document offered Spanish society a representative regime, forgetting the past responsibilities of the Civil War.

National Movement

The name that took the side led by Franco during the Civil War, i.e., those who legitimized the uprising against the Republic.

Battle of the Ebro

The most important battle developed during the Civil War. The government of the Republic took the decision to launch it in order to relieve pressure on other nationalist fronts. Franco responded well, and after extremely hard fighting, succeeded in destroying the army of the Republic.

Statute of Autonomy

The legal instrument that enables a region to exercise its levels of self-government.

Key Events in Spanish History

1700

Death of Charles II. The new king, Philip V of Spain, established the Bourbon dynasty, beginning the War of Succession to the Spanish crown.

1707-1716

Decrees of Nueva Planta: A new political absolutism was established in Spain.

1713

Treaty of Utrecht: Ended the War of Succession. Philip V was recognized as King of Spain in exchange for ceding power over other European territories that still remained.

1759

Elizabeth became regent until her son Charles moved from Naples to Madrid.

1788

Beginning of the reign of Charles IV, who kept the Count of Floridablanca as chair of the Supreme State Board.

1808

Encounters in Bayonne: Fernando VII and Carlos IV attended Bayonne, mandated by Napoleon. Beginning of the War of Independence.

1812

The year in which the Courts of Cadiz approved the first Spanish constitution. This ended the king's absolute power.

1820

A military takeover of troops destined for America, led by Rafael del Riego, forced King Fernando VII to swear allegiance to the Constitution of 1812.

1823

The French entered Spain and restored Fernando VII to the throne without much resistance.

1833

The last absolute monarch of Spain died. He left his daughter Elizabeth as heir, but his uncle Carlos also claimed the throne.

1868

A military uprising began in Cadiz. The September Revolution expelled Queen Isabel II from Spain.

1873

The First Republic was proclaimed. In its few months of life, it was full of serious political and social tensions.

1898

War broke out in the last Spanish colonies in America and Asia, where the Spanish exercised sought independence. The Americans then intervened and defeated Spain.

1923

Primo de Rivera dissolved Parliament and ended constitutional life, ruling for more than six months.

April 14, 1931

The Second Republic was proclaimed in Spain after the triumph of the Republican-Socialist coalition.

October 1934

The announcement of the entry of CEDA ministers into the government led leftist and regionalist forces to organize an uprising. It had two main foci: Asturias and Catalonia.

July 18, 1936

Start of the uprising of Melilla troops against the government of the Republic. In the Canary Islands, the military commander, Franco, declared a state of war in Morocco.

April 1939

General Franco issued the last war dispatch, with the arrival of troops at the ports of the east coast, ending the Civil War.