Spain’s Crisis: 1898 Disaster & Dictatorship
The Disaster of 1898 to the End of Alfonso XIII’s Reign
The Crisis of 1898
The main crisis during the Regency of Mª Cristina was the insurrections in Cuba and the Philippines.
The promise of autonomy given to Cuba was not fulfilled. Political issues created strong tension between the colony and the metropolis, which, added to the protectionist economic policy, made Cuba a space reserved for Spanish producers, hampering trade with the U.S., a major buyer of Cuban products in the late nineteenth century.
In the Philippines, the uprising also began. The uprising was harshly suppressed, and the separatist movement called Katipunan capitulated. To end the rebellion, the government reinforced its military personnel by sending a large force. The Spanish army was poorly modernized and made up of ill-prepared soldiers. On the other hand, the insurgents were receiving U.S. support, as the U.S., in full expansion, was interested in displacing imperial Spain from the Caribbean and Pacific.
In 1898, the accidental blast of the American cruise ship Maine, anchored in Havana, unleashed a furious campaign in newspapers, which invented a sabotage. This was the excuse for the U.S., accusing the Spanish of sabotage, to send an ultimatum to the government to renounce its domination of Cuba. Spain’s refusal to the ultimatum led the president of the United States to declare war on Spain. The war was quick, and the United States was victorious after the destruction of the Spanish Armada. The Spanish government requested an armistice, and the signing of the Treaty of Paris ceded Cuba, Puerto Rico, an island in the Philippines to the U.S. in exchange for economic compensation.
The defeat and the loss of the last colonies, the disaster of 1898, had a strong impact on Spanish public opinion.
The Dictatorship of Primo de Rivera (1923-1930) and the “Dictablanda” of Berenguer
General Primo de Rivera’s arguments for staging a coup and establishing a system of doctrine were to preserve Spanish unity against nationalism and to end social violence and the war in Morocco.
The first government was formed only by a Military Directory. Primo de Rivera dissolved the Cortes, suspended the Constitution, restricted liberties, and curtailed the activities of unions and parties, especially those on the left and the nationalists. He resolved the war in Morocco with the landing of Alhucemas and the defeat of Abd el-Krim. The Dirty War ended, public order improved, and the economy was boosted. He created a Patriotic Union.
The problems started when he wanted to transform the dictatorship into a permanent form of government. In 1925, he replaced the Military Directory with a Civil Directory, which imitated the fascist model.
This attempt to perpetuate the dictatorship mobilized most political royalists against Primo de Rivera: the opposition demanded the return of the constitutional regime. General Dámaso Berenguer replaced him, inaugurating a government that the press called the “Dictablanda.” He restored the Constitution of 1876, which allowed the opposition to reorganize fairly quickly. Republicans, Socialists, Catalan nationalists, and some Galician groups signed a pact to form a united front against the monarchy to prepare for the arrival of the parliamentary republic.