Spanish History: Republic, Restoration, and Canovist System

The Republic (1873-1874)

After the abdication, the Cortes voted the Republic as the new form of government. However, the regime was unstable, headed by a political minority, the Republicans, who were themselves divided into those in favor of a unitary state, those in favor of a federal one, and finally the supporters of a presidential Republic.

These disputes undermined the credibility of the Republic. Therefore, the monarchists (such as Cánovas del Castillo), supporting the candidature of Isabella's son, Prince Alfonso of Bourbon, began to pave the peaceful way to the restoration of the monarchy, which they wanted to identify with political tradition and stability.

Eventually, it was a military coup (led by General Pavia) that really ended the Republic in December 1874. At the same time, General Martínez Campos proclaimed Isabella's son, Alfonso of Bourbon, King of Spain (Alfonso XII).

The Restoration of the Monarchy (1874-1898): Alfonso XII

The Canovist System

The Canovist system is the political system created by the minister Antonio Cánovas del Castillo that tried to provide political stability by establishing a peaceful power rotation between the two main parties: the moderate one (called the Conservative Party, led by Cánovas del Castillo) and the progressive one (called the Liberal Party and led by Sagasta). When one of both parties lost momentum, the King granted power to the opposition party.

• Manipulated elections validated this decision with the help of caciques, a form of social coercion, by which caciques were influential individuals in the countryside.

This bipartisan system sidelined other political options, which could not be represented in the Cortes (the Carlists, Democrats, Republicans, Socialists).

Constitution of 1876

The new political landscape demanded a new constitution. It was ideologically inspired by moderate Liberals (sovereignty shared by the nation and the crown, census suffrage; the Cortes comprised two chambers: Congress and Senate), but it was open enough to admit either the Conservatives or the Liberals to rule without the need to modify it.

Nationalism

Most of the problems faced by the Canovist system had to do with nationalism.

The centralized state established since the Moderate Decade caused the opposition of the regions historically well-defined by their own political traditions:

• Catalonia: The cultural movement called Reinaxença tried to revive the Catalan language. Nationalist parties arose demanding autonomy for the region: Unió Catalanista and Lliga Regionalista.
• Basque Country: After the Carlists' defeat, who had found their stronghold in the Basque Country, the laws of this region were revoked. As a response, a new nationalist party was created, the Nationalist Basque Party.

The Cuban War of Independence (1895-1898)

• A further attempt to reach independence came out in Cuba in 1895 with the financial and military support of the USA, following the first Cuban War of Independence (1868-1878). The USA declared war on Spain after the sinking of the US battleship Maine in Havana.
• Spain was defeated in 1898 and, according to the treaty of peace that followed this defeat, it lost the remaining colonies (Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines).