The Catalan Remences: Feudal Struggles in 14th-15th Century Catalonia
The Catalan Remences (14th-15th Centuries)
Definition
In Catalonia, feudal Remences referred to farmers (also known as Remences farmers) bound by serfdom. These farmers, tied to the land they worked, could not leave their homes without paying a redemption fee to their lord. This redemption, or Remences, affected not only the farmers themselves but also their wives and children.
Origins of the Conflict
During the 13th and early 14th centuries, Catalonia’s rural areas were densely populated. The old system
Read MoreThe Decline of Spain’s Restoration Monarchy (1902-1923)
The End of the Restoration: World War I’s Impact
The Regency of Maria Cristina and Alfonso XIII
In May 1902, Alfonso XIII came of age, ending his mother Maria Cristina’s regency. His reign witnessed the crisis of the parliamentary monarchy and the turno party system. By 1917, the army, Catalan, and labor movements disrupted the system, leading to a decline towards dictatorship and the monarchy’s end.
Factors Contributing to the Crisis
- Increased Political Instability: Frequent government changes and
The Crisis of the Parliamentary Monarchy in Spain (1917-1923)
Post-WWI Social and Political Tensions
The years following World War I were a period of intense conflict across Europe, and Spain was no exception. The end of the wartime economic boom exacerbated social tensions, while the failure to fully democratize the political system and the disastrous defeat at Annual in the Moroccan War led conservative forces to seek a solution in a military dictatorship.
Coalition governments repeatedly failed, giving way to the Turno system, where conservatives and liberals
Read MoreThe Second Spanish Republic (1931-1936)
Introduction
The outcome of the elections of April 12, 1931, gave victory to the Republicans, gaining more power than the monarchy. Given the situation, Alfonso XIII left Spain, and the Republic was proclaimed two days later.
This policy shift gave hope for establishing democracy definitively by making reforms and modernizing the state.
The Republic came at a bad time. Europe was undergoing a serious crisis, there was a struggle between different ideologies, and the Soviet Revolution had succeeded.
Read MoreThe Rise of Totalitarianism in Europe: Fascism and Nazism
Totalitarianism
Defining Totalitarianism
The term “totalitarianism” encompasses both totalitarian communism and fascism due to their shared characteristics:
- One-party dictatorships
- State control of the labor market
- Rigid and exclusionary ideology
- State-controlled media and monopolized political and economic planning
These movements and regimes believed in the delegation of individual sovereignty to the State, which would organize lives and defend rights in the common interest. They featured a hierarchical
Read MoreThe History of Spain: 1830-1874
The Pragmatic Sanction and the First Carlist War
In 1830, Ferdinand VII issued the Pragmatic Sanction, which recognized the right of women to inherit the throne. This excluded Don Carlos from the throne, and his followers opposed the legitimacy of the Pragmatic Sanction. Taking advantage of the king’s illness, Don Carlos’ supporters, through the minister Calomarde, obtained a document in 1832 that repealed the Pragmatic Sanction. However, Ferdinand VII recovered and confirmed the inheritance of his
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