The Fall of the Monarchy: From Dictatorship to the Second Republic
Political parties of the Restoration began to probe the army to see the possibility of launching a coup against the dictator. The collaboration between politicians and the military resulted in the Sanjuanada, an artillery protest. He refused promotions within the military scale that were made on merit. The protest was held on the night of San Juan of 1926, and although Primo de Rivera won that battle, the artillery became a permanent conspiratorial element.
The regime’s opponents had other avenues, like the world of culture, with Unamuno as the highest representative, or the universities, which in 1929 closed most of their departments. The truth is that since mid-1928, the system was showing signs of exhaustion, in part due to Primo de Rivera’s diabetes, which caused his death. In late 1929, in a last attempt, Primo de Rivera proposed to the king the formation of a single assembly, but the plot of Andalusia advanced division, which occurred in January 1930. The dictatorship showed the exhaustion of the oligarchical liberalism that had been Spain, and was another step in the fall of the monarchy. The replacement of Primo de Rivera, General Berenguer, made the mistake of attempting a return to the exhausted liberalism when really the only way out was to create a separate system. General Berenguer encouraged a return to the Constitution, and perhaps that was well received. In fact, his term in office was known by the name of “soft dictatorship.”
However, the return to normalcy was too slow, which eventually caused distrust of his intentions. Meanwhile, the Republicans began to have the support of the middle classes, and in August 1930, an alliance was formed between the old Republicanism and the new, including Lerroux, Alejandro Alcalá Zamora, and Manuel Azaña, known as the Pact of San Sebastián. In that pact, it was agreed to create a provisional government headed by Alcalá Zamora, hold its meetings at the Ateneo de Madrid, and be ready to assume the functions of government at any time.
From that moment, culture and much of the army supported the republican cause. Ortega y Gasset, Gregorio Marañón, and Pérez de Ayala grouped with others in a grouping called the Service of the Republic. The military publicly manifested in the revolt of Jaca in December 1930, which ended with the execution of their leaders, García Hernández and Galán. General Berenguer, who survived a military uprising, ended up submitting his resignation for refusing to call the election calendar. In February 1931, he was replaced by Admiral Aznar, which brought together a monarchical concentration government with regional presence, called the elections in the natural order, and also announced the formation of a Constituent Cortes. The municipal elections were agreed for April 12, 1931, and the result was an overall victory for monarchist parties, though in cities the Republican victory was clear. The government and the king interpreted these results as meaning that in places where the vote could be exercised more freely, the people had chosen the Republican options, in the very places where the monarchy had always legitimized his power.
Given the facts, Alfonso XIII thought at first of the temporary abandonment of the throne, but due to the facts developed in Madrid, with massive support to the Republic, decided to leave Spain and to suspend the exercise of real power, ending with the proclamation of the Second Republic on April 14, 1931.