The Crisis of 1898 and its Aftermath in Spain
“Table of misery and immorality that began in the year 98”:
This phrase refers to Primo de Rivera liquidation of the last vestiges of the Empire as a result of colonial wars (1895 – 1898) and the U.S. Defeat, as well as the regeneracionista experience failure that followed: cacique system maintenance, regionalism, social unrest, etc.
Military Directory:
first of two that characterized the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. His chronology extends from 1923 to 1925, during which the dictator developed the program to announce the Inaugural: suspension of constitutional rule, the militarization of public order and landing in Alhucemas (1925), which ended the conflict in Morocco.
Problem Morocco colonial problem that faced the government of Spain on the Moroccan protectorate that the Conference of Algeciras (1906) and the Treaty Spanish – French (1912) assigned. Control over this area was contested from the beginning by the Berber tribes that. Kabyle organized, inflicted major defeats on the Spanish troops: the Barranco del Lobo (which triggered the Tragic Week in Barcelona), or the disaster of Annual, one of the causes of the coup Primo
Cuba war:
In February 1895 he was an uprising for independence in Cuba, along with Puerto Rico, the Philippines and some Pacific islands insignificant, last vestiges of the Spanish Empire. The Cuban insurrection responds, in essence, to the confluence of two factors: 1.
Maturation of the independence movement
After the Peace of Zanjón in 1878 (which closes the Ten Years War), the promise of General Martinez Campos to grant some degree of self-government had not met. Neither the abolition of slavery in Cuba (1886), or the timid administrative reform projects (most notably, a project of self-government because Maura, but rejected by the courts), gave satisfaction to the various sectors of Cuban society : sacarócratas local bourgeoisie and organized in the Cuban Liberal Party (autonomy), and nationalists, grouped in the Cuban Revolutionary Party (founded in 1892 by José Martí) 2.
U.S. Backing the insurgents
American politicians were in favor of the independence of Cuba because it meant the end of European colonialism, and therefore the possibility of exploiting the island exclusively. In 1891 the Cánovas government passed a law banning duty free Cuban trade with the USA and since then the American attitude became more active (and propaganda material support).
The war in Cuba had two stages:
between 1895 and 1898, when there is war between the Spanish army and the native-independence groups, and in 1898, the year in which occurs the U.S. Direct intervention in the conflict, which confrontation led to the Spanish – American. 1.
War Cuban – Spanish
Developed in three phases:
“From the Grito de Baire (February 1895) until January 1896
It was the time of the further advance of rebel troops from the east to the west of the island, a development that General Martinez Campos was unable to stop.
“January 1896 – December 1897
Cánovas sent Weyler, who replaced Martínez Campos. Weyler recovered by fortified lines dividing territory (trails) and concentrating on the civilian population into compartments to prevent them from supporting the insurgents, driven into the mountains. Thus began a war of attrition, characterized by the Spanish military superiority despite American support for the rebels. Canovas was assassinated in August. Sagasta a government and try to launch a broader project of autonomy.-December, 1897 – April 1898.
Weyler replaces White.
In the liberal consensus Peninsula – conservative on the Cuban question begins to break.
2
Spanish – American war of 1898
McKinley’s government, supported by an intense media campaign for the Cuban cause, pressed the Spanish government for the sale of the island (300 million $) and with the expected negative threatened Spanish war. The clash was inevitable as it is a matter of prestige. The incident that led to war was the explosion of the battleship Maine (15 February, 1898) anchored in the bay of Havana.
The declaration of war came two months later (April 25) starting the hostilities in the Philippines. The development of rapid and decisive operations was due to technical and material superiority of Americans.
Cavite was taken on May 1, destroying the Spanish fleet, and Manila fell almost without resistance only on 14 August. In Cuba the fleet of Admiral Cervera, after being besieged in Santiago, was defeated on July 3. This month, U.S. Troops landed at Guantanamo Bay and Puerto Rico.
On August 12 Spain claims the armistice.
By the Treaty of Paris (December 10, 1898) Spain renounces definitively ceded to the U.S. Cuba and the Philippines, Puerto Rico and the island of Guam in the Marianas. In 1899, would shed the last vestiges of former colonial empire to cede to Germany the rest of the Marianas, the Carolines and Palau.
The consequences of defeat were of different type (demographic, economic …), but overall was a blow to the national consciousness began to consider the need for a profound change in the sociopolitical and economic structures of the country:
1.
Regeneracionismo politician, whose main representative was Silvela Francisco.
Between 1899 and 1900 presided over a government Silvela concentration with which he attempted several reforms that could not take effect unless the treasury. At the beginning of the century regeneration was assumed by conservatives, liberals, Republicans … But the real political effect of the regeneration was very limited.
2. 98 The disaster also prompted the Catalan and Basque nationalism.
In the first case was radicalized nationalist discourse of conservative, which led to the founding in 1901 of the Regionalist League of Catalonia (Prat de la Riba, Cambo), while in the Basque Country, the PNV (founded in 1895) beginning to have an active life in politics.
3. The intellectual regeneration resulted in a large group of writers, thinkers who developed a full diagnosis of the Spanish situation.