Restoration, Second Republic and Civil War (1874–1939)
What the exam tests
The functioning and collapse of the Restoration regime, the reformist and polarising experience of the Republic, and the military rupture of July 1936 with the war that followed.
The Restoration system (1874–1923)
- Cánovas designs the Constitution of 1876: shared sovereignty between Crown and Cortes, bicameralism, restricted suffrage (universal male suffrage only from 1890 under Sagasta).
- Turno pacífico between conservatives and liberals, sustained by caciquismo, the encasillado and electoral fraud; the king's prerrogativa kept the system running.
- 1898 disaster and regenerationism (Costa, the Generation of '98); 1909 Tragic Week; 1917 crisis (military juntas, general strike, Assembly of Barcelona); 1921 Annual disaster.
- Primo de Rivera (1923–30): military directory, then civil; end coincides with the 1929 crash; Berenguer's dictablanda; Pact of San Sebastián (1930); Jaca rising.
The Second Republic (1931–36)
- 12 April 1931 municipal elections, 14 April proclamation; Constitution of 1931 (popular sovereignty, women's vote thanks to Clara Campoamor, secular state, Statute of Autonomy framework).
- Reformist biennium: military and agrarian reform, labour legislation, Catalan Statute 1932; Sanjurjada 1932; Casas Viejas 1933.
- Radical-Cedist biennium: reversal of reforms, October 1934 (Asturias, Catalonia); Frente Popular victory February 1936; Calvo Sotelo's murder 13 July.
Civil War (1936–39)
- Coup 17–18 July 1936; failure in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia; Burgos hosted the Junta de Defensa Nacional and became Franco's headquarters (October 1936).
- Non-Intervention Committee, International Brigades, Condor Legion (Guernica, 26 April 1937); battles of Madrid, Jarama, Guadalajara, Brunete, Belchite, Ebro (1938); Casado's coup (March 1939); 1 April 1939.
Worked example
With a graph of general-election results 1931–36, do not read it out loud. Identify variable and unit, describe the trend (growth of the right in 1933, of the left in 1936), connect it to the electoral law, to the reversal of reforms, and to polarisation, and conclude with the political consequences - not with a moral judgement.
Mark-losing traps
- 1876 (Restoration) is not 1869 (democratic monarchy).
- Caciquismo is a mechanism, not a party: describe encasillado and pucherazo.
- October 1934 (revolution) and July 1936 (coup) are different ruptures.
- Clara Campoamor defended the women's vote; Victoria Kent opposed it.
- Franco's headquarters at Burgos is a locale detail the exam can ask for.