Pre 1930s

• Before 1930, Spain was predominantly agricultural with more than half of the population employed in working the land
• In southern Spain, such as Andalusia and Extremadura, semi-feudal conditions prevailed with labourers paid starvation wages, leading to poverty and illiteracy
• In northern Spain, farms were owned or rented by peasant proprietors, but rents were high and smallholdings were too small to generate a reasonable living wage
• Despite long-standing commercial links with the rest of Europe, there was little industrial development in Spain, with industrialisation still in its early stages
• Main industrial regions of Spain


  • Catalonia: textile and shipping industries around Barcelona port
  • Asturias: coal mining areas
  • Basque Country: iron, steel, engineering had developed
• The absence of a strong industrial base led to emigration to colonies in South America, which alleviated the pressures of population growth, but post-World War I tighter immigration controls meant more rural-urban migration and a consequent rise in housing issues
• The Catholic Church and the army were very influential in Spain, with the Church almost always supporting the interests of the wealthier classes, leading to resentment from poorer Spaniards
• The army was too large and expensive for Spain's diminished world role, with a top-heavy officer corps that was impossible to reduce or reform, as it employed mainly the upper and middle classes and symbolised former greatness
• The tradition for officers and generals to take political initiatives and inaugurate coups meant the army still had the power to create and destroy governments
• Political movements in Spain


  • Socialist Party (PSOE): pursued aims through parliamentary channels
  • UGT: Socialist Trade union popular in Madrid, grew rapidly in WW1
  • Communist Party: formed in the 1920s after a split in the PSOE over support for the Bolsheviks
  • CNT: Anarchist trade union, supported by workers in Catalonia and peasants in Andalusia
• Unlike most European countries at the time, Spain had a strong Anarchist presence, with Bakunin's ideas advocating land reform, destroying the state through spontaneous revolution and general strikes to create self-governing communes
• Spain's constitutional monarchy system was more akin to an oligarchy than a genuine democracy, with the "caciquismo" system of local notables controlling elections through intimidation, ballot rigging, and patronage
• Catalonia and the Basque Country were dissatisfied with the central government, leading to the rise of separatist movements demanding self-governance
• Spain's loss of most of its colonies in South America, such as Cuba and the Philippines, during the war with the US, reduced it to a third-rate power
• During World War I, Spain's neutrality temporarily boosted its economy, freeing it from foreign competition, but the end of the war led to renewed competition, unemployment, and a fall in demand for agriculture
• In 1917, army officers protested low pay, which escalated to include Catalan separatists, trade unions, and anarchists in the "Assembly Movement" that demanded Catalan autonomy
• From 1918 to 1921, Barcelona was the scene of terrorism and gun battles between the CNT and employers, resulting in around 1,000 deaths
• In 1906, Spain acquired part of Morocco, leading to a series of campaigns against the Riff Tribes, which promoted the emergence of a cohesive and experienced breed of army officers, the Africanistas, including Franco
• In July 1921, the Rif leader Abd el Krim defeated Spanish forces at the Battle of Annual, leading to the death of 100,000 Spanish troops and a parliamentary committee investigation into the responsibility for the disaster
• To forestall the report of the parliamentary committee, which was thought might blame the King and precipitate the fall of the monarchy, Miguel Primo de Rivera, the military governor of Barcelona, declared a pronunciamento in September 1923, and Spain was ruled by patriots, not politicians
• The dictatorship of Primo de Rivera (1923-1930) came to power as a result of accumulated social problems, particularly in Morocco
• Primo de Rivera, seen as Alfonso's "Mussolini", suspended the constitution, closed the Cortes, banned political parties, and set up a Directory of Generals to run the government
• Primo de Rivera's regime coincided with political prosperity and was supported by socialists and the UGT, but he failed to reconcile the interests of key interest groups, leading to the rise of republicanism and the army turning against him
• Primo de Rivera resigned and self-exiled in France in January 1930