The Second Spanish Republic was established in 1931 after municipal elections resulted in victories for Republican candidates. A new constitution was drafted that established democratic reforms like universal suffrage and freedom of religion. However, tensions rose between Republicans and conservatives as left-wing reforms threatened landowners and the Catholic Church. After right-wing parties won elections in 1933, conservative policies were enacted that reversed earlier reforms. Growing unrest led to a general strike and revolution in 1934, which was brutally suppressed. Elections in 1936 brought the left-wing Popular Front to power, but rising political instability set the stage for a military coup in July 1936 that marked the beginning of the Spanish Civil War.
3. The Second Republic (1931-1936)
The end of Alfonso XIII’s
reign:
• 1876 Constitution was based upon
a continuous adulteration of the
elections and a reduction of
political rights
• 1923-1930 General Primo de Rivera
established a military dictatorship
with the support of the king
• Growing unpopularity of Alfonso
XIII
4. The Second Republic (1931-1936)
The proclamation of the
Republic:
• Municipal elections in April 1931
gave a majority to the Republican
candidates. Alfonso XIII, aware of
his lack of popular support, opted
for leaving the country.
• On 14 April 1931 the (Second)
Republic was proclaimed
7. The Second Republic (1931-1936)
The beginning of the
Republic:
• A democratic project that aroused
great hopes in the nation and some
misgivings in the privileged groups.
• Tense social environment: the
Catholic Church, the anarchists…
Some churches were burned and
the new regime lost the support of
the Catholic public opinion.
8. The Second Republic (1931-1936)
Hopes in working
and middle
classes
Misgivings in
upper classes,
Church and Army
11. The Second Republic (1931-1936)
The beginning of the
Republic:
• A Provisional Government
presided over by Niceto Alcalá
Zamora was set up. It was made up
by Republicans of all political slants.
• “Cortes Constituyentes” were
elected in June and a Republican-
Socialist coalition won.
• The new Cortes drafted and passed
the new Constitution (December
1931)
12. The Second Republic (1931-1936)
New
Republican
Regime
Anarchists
Catholic
Church
Some
incidents:
burning
churches
15. The Second Republic (1931-1936)
The Constitution of 1931
Popular sovereignty
Universal suffrage (one of the first
big European nations to grant women
the right to vote or franchise)
An extensive declaration of rights
and liberties (freedoms of meeting,
association, and expression; civil
rights: divorce, the insurance of the
equality of legitimate and illegitimate
children; right to education)
16. The Second Republic (1931-1936)
The Constitution of 1931
Regions were allowed to establish
their own Home Rule (“Estatutos de
Autonomía”).
Secular state: separation of church
and state which meant that the state
stopped subsidizing the Catholic
Church, that the Church was
prohibited to rule educational
institutions and the absolute
freedom of worship
18. The Second Republic (1931-1936)
The Republican-Socialist
two years (1931-1933)
A presided over by Manuel Azaña undertook
a widespread program of reforms:
Laws that improved the work conditions of
labourers and strengthened the unions
Extensive educational reforms (co-education
of boys and girls…)
Military reform to guarantee the loyalty of
the military to the new regime
19. The Second Republic (1931-1936)
The Republican-Socialist
two years (1931-1933)
Agrarian reform which attempted to
redistribute the ownership of land by
permitting day labourers to become land
owners. This greatly alarmed many
landowners even though in practice very few
plots of land were actually redistributed
among day labourers.
Devolution to Catalonia. The central
government granted certain powers to the
Catalan region by passing a Home Rule Law
(Estatuto de Autonomía).
20. The Second Republic (1931-1936)
Alcalá Zamora, presidente de la República, y Manuel Azaña, presidente del gobierno
21. The Second Republic (1931-1936)
Largo Caballero (PSOE), Minister of Labour (1931-1933)
22. The Second Republic (1931-1936)
Largo Caballero (PSOE), Minister of Labour (1931-1933)
25. The Second Republic (1931-1936)
The Republican-Socialist
two years (1931-1933)
• Opposition from the right: failed
military coup led by Sanjurjo in Sevilla
in 1932
• Opposition form the left: anarchist
uprisings trying to destroy the brand
new democratic republic
26. The Second Republic (1931-1936)
Azaña’s Government
Enemies
Sanjurjo’s
military coup
Seville 1932
Anarchists
uprisings
29. The Second Republic (1931-1936)
Anarchists deported to
Equatorial Guinea after
an insurrection in Catalonia
1932
30. The Second Republic (1931-1936)
The Republican-Socialist
two years (1931-1933)
• The serious economic crisis increased
the social discontent Azaña called
new elections in November 1933 and
the centre-right parties won
• Alejandro Lerroux (Radical Party) led a
governement supported in the Cortes
by the CEDA (Confederación Española
de Derechas Autónomas), the main
right-wing party, led by Gil Robles.
31. The Second Republic (1931-1936)
1933 Elections. Women voted for the first time in Spain
32. The Second Republic (1931-1936)
1933 Elections. Women voted for the first time in Spain
33. The Second Republic (1931-1936)
Lerroux, Prime Minister with the CEDA support in the Cortes
35. The Second Republic (1931-1936)
The Conservative two years
(1933-1936)
• The new conservative executive
initiated a rectification policy of
reforms adopted the previous two
years:
• It stopped the agrarian reforms,
with the consequent expulsion of
the few day labourers who had
occupied lands through these
reforms.
36. The Second Republic (1931-1936)
The Conservative two years
(1933-1936)
• It halted the military reforms and
designated clearly anti-Republican figures
to important military positions. such as
Franco, Goded, and Mola
• Political concessions to the Catholic
Church
• The government confronted Catalan and
Basque nationalism. It rejected a project of
Basque Country home rule in 1934 and
clashed with the Catalonian Generalitat,
(Catalan regional government)
39. The Second Republic (1931-1936)
CEDA ministers
in the
Government
PSOE, UGT and
CNT called for a
general strike
The Revolution of October of 1934
• Growing international tension: Hitler had just risen
to power in Germany in 1933.
• The entrance of some CEDA ministers into the
government in 1934 brought the left to the point
of rebellion most of left-wingers considered the
CEDA’s joining the government as the preface of
the victory of fascism
• The ever-more radical left (PSOE, UGT, CNT the
anarchist union, and the minority Communist Party
or PCE) called for a general strike against the
government.
40. The Second Republic (1931-1936)
New Lerroux’s government including CEDA ministers
41. The Second Republic (1931-1936)
The Revolution of October
of 1934
The movement was a failure in most parts of the
country.
In Barcelona, Companys, from his post of
president of the Generalitat, led an uprising with
clear secession undertones. The rebellion was
quickly repressed by the military.
The worst occurred in Asturias, where the general
strike succeeded and resulted in a real revolution
organized by the UGT and the CNT. The uprising´s
persistence led the national government to opt
for a more brutal repression. The Legion, directed
by Franco, was in charge of putting an end to the
revolt.
49. The Second Republic (1931-1936)
The outcome of 19334
Revolution
The outcome of the October Revolution of 1934
was terrifying: there were more than 1.500/2.000
deaths, double the number of wounded, and
30,000 arrests made (among them veryimportant
opposition leaders)
Later, various corruption scandals in 1935 led
Lerroux´s government to call for new elections in
February of 1936. Polls brought a win of the
Popular Front (“Frente Popular”), a leftish
coalition of parties, led by the Republican Manuel
Azaña.
56. The Second Republic (1931-1936)
The Popular Front (January
– July 1936)
The Manuel Azaña was named President of the
Republic and a government made up by the most
moderate parties of the PF was named.
Amnesty of the thousands of prisoners detained
in the aftermath of the 1934 uprising.
Resumed the political reforms of the first two
years of the Republic such as the agrarian reform,
the reestablishment of the Catalonian Home
Rule, and the beginning of the debate over new
autonomy statutes of Galicia and the Basque
Country.
59. The Second Republic (1931-1936)
The Popular Front (1936)
The social environment was getting more and
more tense.
The left had taken on a more revolutionary slant
and the right was very evidently seeking out a
way to carry out a military coup that would put
an end to the democratic system.
From the month of April onwards, a number of
violent street clashes took place meanwhile a
great section of the military plotted against the
Republic.
Democracy lived its last few days in Spain.
67. The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
The outbreak of the war
The military coup (17-19 July 1936), led by Franco,
succeded in some areas of the country, but key areas
like Madrid, Catalonia and the Basque Country remained
in the hands of the government of the Republic.
This half-success, half-failure led to the civil war
Amid a brutal repression, Spain was divided into two
zones:
the Republican zone (“zona republicana”), where the
government tried to impose legal authority to workers'
militia
the Nationalist zone (“zona nacional”), where the
military established a harsh dictatorship.
68. The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
July 1936-March 1937.
The military rebels managed to
control Africa’s army which had
been fighting for years and was
the best trained and equipped
in the Spanish Army.
A number of generals, such as
Franco, made their career
in Northern Morocco
(“militares africanistas”).
With a German-Italian aid, this
army was airlifted to the
peninsula and conquered and
consolidated Nationalists’
control in wide sections of the
country.
However, Franco’s army failed
in its attempt to take
Madrid in November 1936.
69. The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
Madrid
Cuartel de la
Montaña after
the rebel
military’s
Surrender
1936
84. Shelling of
the Gran Via
“La Avenida
del Obús”
The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
85. April 1937-November 1937.
Franco’s troops conquered the
Northern strip still held by the
Republicans and launched an
offensive towards the
Mediterranean Sea to break the
Republican zone into two
isolated sections.
December 1937-February 1939.
The insurgent troops arrived at the
Mediterranean Sea in Castellon.
The last Republican offensive and
the toughest battle of the war was
the Battle of the Ebro in July-
November 1938.
The Republican failure precipitated
the end of the war with the capture
of Catalonia and Madrid. The Spanish
civil war ended on 1st April 1939.
The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)