The Spanish navy was badly defeated by the US navy in a war involving the last important imperial colonies: Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. The humiliating defeat revealed the economic, social and military weakness in the country. It is known as el Desastre (the ‘Disaster’). Spanish intellectuals of the time wrote in favor of a ‘regeneration’ of the country. Spain also faced domestic rebellions in its protectorate in Morocco and with the conscription of troops. Conscription was compulsory unless one could afford to pay the required amount to avoid it. As a result, it was poor workers and peasants who made up the troops that would fight in miserable conditions.

A week of violence took place in Barcelona. Socialists and Republicans had called for a strike to protest the massacre of Spanish soldiers in a military assault in Morocco. The strike turned violent and some churches and convents were set on fire. These events, known as the Semana Trágica (the ‘Tragic Week’), were harshly dealt with by the army and the government.

In a bigger massacre in Morocco, 4,000 Rif native rebels killed 15,000 Spanish soldiers in the battle of Annual.

In order to avoid a further destabilization of the regime, General Miguel Primo de Rivera staged a coup, with the king’s blessing. Primo de Rivera installed a ‘soft’ dictatorship until 1930 as the country was becoming more politically torn between left and right-wing extremes.

The rebellions in Morocco were cruelly suppressed, with mustard gas used against the rebels. Acts of torture and mutilation were performed on enemy bodies on both sides. These wars were the training ground for military officers, including future dictator Francisco Franco. Some of the war tactics used in Morocco would be deployed against the Republicans in the Civil War.

Republican parties won in most big cities in local elections As this result was interpreted as a clear rejection of the monarchy, the king fled the country and the Second Republic was declared on April 14. The Republic raised people’s expectations of modernity and social justice. Industrial workers hoped to improve their working conditions and peasants hoped for agrarian reform. The ‘historical regions’ (Basque Country, Catalonia, and Galicia) saw this as their opportunity to achieve some form of self-government within Spain. But it was interpreted as a threat by industrialists, landowners, the Church, and high-ranking military officers.

The election was won by a coalition of Republicans, Socialists, and Communists under the name Frente Popular (Popular Front). This was a much more radical left-wing coalition than the one that won in 1931, and was supported by the Anarchist union CNT (Confederación Nacional de Trabajadores). This government restored the Catalan Statute and granted a statute to Basque Country as well. A new agrarian reform policy, more radical than the previous one, was implemented.

The right-wing parties and their followers found it impossible to tolerate a new stint of left-wing policies that went against their interests, whereas many landless labourers and workers saw the new government as the first step towards a full-blown revolution that would change Spain forever. The unrest in some military quarters was also noticed. The government posted some “dangerous” generals far from centres of government, including General Franco, who was posted to the Canary Islands. Despite this, a small group of generals hatched a new plot. On July 17, the Spanish Army of Africa arose in Morocco, with support by garrisons in different parts of Spain. The country split in two sections: Republican, loyal to the government, and Nationalist, supporters of the coup.

The Spanish Civil War began.

1898

1909

1931

1936

1921

1923

1926

Timeline source