Spain’s Restoration: Events, Constitution, and Political Turmoil
The Tragic Week and Its Aftermath
The events of the Tragic Week unfolded in Barcelona between 26 and 30 July 1909. It started when Antonio Maura called up reservists to fight in Morocco. The result was street protests, a general strike, and the burning down of the city’s religious institutions. Martial law was imposed throughout Spain, and wide-scale arrests and executions followed. There was a protest movement throughout Western Europe. The impact of the First World War (1914-1919) in Spain can be summarized by the crisis of 1917. It was a failed attempt by representatives of the Catalan industrial bourgeoisie and middle classes, the Spanish left, and part of the Army to overthrow the Cánovas Restoration system and put in place a system more in accord with their interests. They challenged the “turno system,” demanding constitutional and political changes.
The 1876 Constitution and the Restoration System
The 1876 juridical text is a constitution, the body of doctrines and principles that form a political state. It is a political text. The author is collectively Cánovas del Castillo (Spanish historian and experienced politician) and the Spanish Cortes. The aim of this Constitution was to impose a new legal framework that met the principles of the Restoration System. Issued on the 30th of June in Madrid, it is located after the failure of the 1st Republic, which ended the 6 Democratic Years, and at the beginning of the monarchy of the Bourbons with Alfonso XII, a period of great political stability known as the Restoration Period.
The main idea is the shared sovereignty between the King and the Cortes. The 75th article applies centralization to the State.
Instability and the Rise of the Restoration
Before the issuing of this Constitution, there was great instability and social issues in Spain because of the failure of the 6 Democratic Years (1868-1874). Such discomfort ended when in December 1874 democracy ended with a military pronouncement. With the support of the Spanish politician Cánovas, the Bourbon monarchy was restored, and Alfonso XII (son of Isabel II) became King of Spain after signing the Sandhurst Manifest, written by Cánovas. This was the beginning of the Restoration, a period of political stability and economic growth. It also installed the political basis, the social basis (composed of the oligarchy), and the legal basis. This Constitution was based on the legal system designed by Cánovas. The text was moderate, monarchical, eclectic, and resembled its antecedents, the 1845 moderate constitution and the 1869 liberal constitution. It settled the division of powers, a bicameral parliament, a confessional state, and gave some new rights. Cánovas admired the British parliament, and it became a model for the bipartidism settlement in Spain. He wanted two political parties, one liberal-conservative and the other liberal-progressive. The two political parties alternated in the government – turnism. Cánovas’s Liberal Conservative party was set up in 1875, and the Liberal-Fusionist party was set up by Sagasta in 1880. To achieve this, they resorted to caciquismo. As a result of this social conflict and the loss of Spain’s colonies (1898), the 1909 Tragic Week, and the crisis the State underwent in 1917, the restoration system failed and ended in 1923 with the imposed dictatorship of Rivera.
Comparison to the 1869 Constitution
Compared to the 1869 Constitution, this one is a step backwards because of the loss of National Sovereignty, and it didn’t encourage the participation of diverse ideologies in politics, like socialism, republicanism, and nationalism (which became the opposition). However, it did lay the foundations for the Restoration System, turno pacífico, and bipartidism. It was accepted by both parties as it was a flexible text and established political stability. This Constitution lasted for the longest time in the Spanish Constitutional regimes as it was maintained till 1931, when the Second Republic began.
Joaquin Costa’s Critique of the Restoration
This is a political narrative. The author is Costa. It is written for all Spanish citizens, so it is public, specifically for the oligarchy. It was written in 1901, in Madrid, during the restoration system. The purpose of the text is to criticize that system.
The text is a clear analysis of the current political system in Spain: First, he lists the elements that constitute the system: the oligarchs, caciques, and civil governor. Then, he evaluates the leading class as a foreign faction that by force occupied ministries, captains, railroads… to impose taxes and collect them. Finally, he denounces the corruption of the electoral system: he describes the manipulation in the elections, declaring that the ones that falsified the voting had the power and authority. So, they did it abusing the power.
The 1898 Disaster and Regenerationism
In 1874, General Pavía finished the first republic with a coup d’état that dissolved the cortes. During that time, so many things happened, like the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy. In 1898, Spain was immersed in economic, social, and political instability as a consequence of the 98’ disaster. Regenerationism appeared during the 1890s because some writers like Costa were criticizing the restoration system of Cánovas, and they had clear that the disaster of 98 was in fact due to the restoration system and the corruption that was in Spain. The most influential book was “Oligarquía y Caciquismo” (OyC). Costa criticized the restoration system of Cánovas. Some years later, he created the political party “Unión Nacional,” whose main objective was to destroy the caciquismo, but he didn’t achieve that, and because of that, he said that an Iron Surgeon was required in Spain. This was basically a leader that would have unlimited power to raise up Spain again. In 1911, Costa died, and around that time, Rivera made a coup d’état where he used some of Costa’s ideas. Spanish citizens started to think that he was the leader that Spain needed to become a powerful country, and they thought that he was the “Iron Surgeon” that Spain needed, as Joaquin Costa mentioned in his book.
This text was one of the most interesting and influential sources of the period as it describes the corrupted political system that Spain had at that time. Costa did not only criticize the failures of the restoration; he tried to find out solutions in order to make Spain more developed. His analysis helped writers, politicians, and historians to identify the problems of Spain, and many tried to implement the solutions he proposed. This corrupted period was very stable for a long period since its 1876 constitution was in force for a long time. It triggered the regenerationism, which had a little success and caused the dictatorship of Rivera.