Until the 1850s, the economy of Spain was primarily based on agriculture. There was little development of a bourgeois industrial or commercial class, J Poch-Noguer in a biography of murdered general Prim, who attempted sending away Bourbons, born in Reus, pointed authorities favoring importers from UK and other places against local industry. The land-based oligarchy remained powerful; a small number of people held large estates called latifundia as well as all the important government positions. The landowners' power was challenged by the industrial and merchant sectors, largely unsuccessfully. In 1936, the conservatives won ballots in industrialized cities, while revolutionaries obtained more support in country areas. In 1936, the contribution of agriculture to Spanish GDP was less than 33%.
Members of the Condor Legion, a unit composed of volunteers from the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) and from the German Army (Heer).
In 1868 popular uprisings led to the overthrow of Queen Isabella II of the House of Bourbon. Two distinct factors led to the uprisings: a series of urban riots, and a liberal movement within the middle classes and the military (led by General Joan Prim), who were concerned about the ultra-conservatism of the monarchy. In 1873, Isabella's replacement, King Amadeo I of the House of Savoy, abdicated due to increasing political pressure, and the short-lived First Spanish Republic was proclaimed. After the restoration of the Bourbons in December 1874, Carlists and Anarchists emerged in opposition to the monarchy. Alejandro Lerroux, Spanish politician and leader of the Radical Republican Party, helped bring republicanism to the fore in Catalonia, where poverty was particularly acute. Growing resentment of conscription and of the military culminated in the Tragic Week in Barcelona in 1909.
Spain was neutral in World War I. Afterwards the working class, the industrial class, and the military united in hopes of removing the corrupt central government, but were unsuccessful. Fears of communism grew. A military coup brought Miguel Primo de Rivera to power in 1923, and he ran Spain as a military dictatorship. Support for his regime gradually faded, and he resigned in January 1930. He was replaced by General Dámaso Berenguer and then Admiral Juan Bautista Aznar-Cabañas, who both continued to rule by decree. There was little support for the monarchy in the major cities, and King Alfonso XIII gave in to popular pressure for the establishment of a republic and called municipal elections for 12 April 1931. The socialist and liberal republicans won almost all the provincial capitals and with the resignation of Aznar's government, King Alfonso XIII fled the country. The Second Spanish Republic was formed and would remain in power until the culmination of the Spanish Civil War.
Republican troops at Guadalajara, 1937
The revolutionary committee headed by Niceto Alcalá-Zamora became the provisional government, with Alcalá-Zamora as president and head of state. The republic had broad support from all segments of society. In May, an incident where a taxi driver was attacked outside a monarchist club sparked anti-clerical violence throughout Madrid and south-west Spain; the government's slow response disillusioned the right and reinforced their view that the Republic was determined to persecute the church. In June and July the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo called several strikes, which led to a violent incident between CNT members and the Civil Guard and a brutal crackdown by the Civil Guard and the army against the CNT in Seville; this led many workers to believe the Second Spanish Republic was just as oppressive as the monarchy and the CNT announced their intention of overthrowing it via revolution. Elections in June 1931 returned a large majority of Republicans and Socialists. With the onset of the Great Depression, the government attempted to assist rural Spain by instituting an eight-hour day and giving land tenure to farm workers.
Fascism remained a reactive threat, helped by controversial reforms to the military. In December, a new reformist, liberal, and democratic constitution was declared. It included strong provisions enforcing a broad secularization of the Catholic country, which many moderate committed Catholics opposed. In October 1931, Republican Manuel Azaña became prime minister of a minority government. In 1933, the right won the general elections, largely due to the anarchists' abstention from the vote, increased right wing resentment of the incumbent government caused by an illegal decree confiscating the land of the aristocracy, (some 3,900 'Nobility Titles' exist in Spain today, the largest land owner in this 'aristocracy' class was probably the Duke of Alba, owning some 24,000 hectares and buildings scattered all over Spain, Cayetana Fitz James Stuart, duchess of Alba, had her surname from a British general who fought in the Bourbon side after the 1700 'coup d'etat' and succession war), the Casas Viejas incident, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party dissatisfaction with the caution of Republicans and perceived brutality of Manuel Azaña and the formation of a right-wing alliance, Spanish Confederation of Autonomous Right-wing Groups (CEDA); women's newfound right to vote also contributed to this (most women voted for centre-right parties).
Republican volunteers at Teruel, 1936.
Events in the period following November 1933, called the "black two years," seemed to make a civil war more likely. Alejandro Lerroux of the Radical Republican Party (RRP) formed a government and rolled back changes made under the previous administration and also granted amnesty to the collaborators of the unsuccessful uprising by General José Sanjurjo in August 1932. Some monarchists joined with the then fascist-nationalist Falange Española y de las JONS ("Falange") to help achieve their aims. Open violence occurred in the streets of Spanish cities, and militancy continued to increase, reflecting a movement towards radical upheaval, rather than peaceful democratic means as solutions.
In the last months of 1934, two government collapses brought members of the CEDA into the government. Farm workers' wages were cut in half, and the military was purged of Republican members. A popular front alliance was organized, which narrowly won the 1936 elections. Azaña led a weak minority government, but soon replaced Zamora as president in April. Prime Minister Santiago Casares Quiroga ignored warnings of a military conspiracy involving several generals, who decided that the government had to be replaced to prevent the dissolution of Spain.
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