Restoration and early twentieth century: caciquism, regionalism, labour and Morocco
This domain tests the political system of the Restoration, the rise of Catalan and Valencian regionalism, the labour movement, colonial warfare in Morocco and the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. The exam expects you to explain how a formally constitutional system functioned through caciquism and how new social and territorial challenges undermined it.
The Restoration political system
- The 1874 pronunciamiento at Sagunto, in Valencia, prepared the return of Alfonso XII. The Constitution of 1876 established a constitutional monarchy with a bicameral Cortes.
- Cánovas del Castillo and Sagasta alternated in power through the turno pacífico. Elections were manipulated by caciques, especially in rural districts; the system excluded the working class and most reformist movements from real power.
- The disaster of 1898 and the loss of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines stimulated regenerationism and criticism of the oligarchy.
Regionalism and labour
- Catalan regionalism grew through the Lliga Regionalista and demands for autonomy. Valencian regionalism was cultural and literary first: Lo Rat Penat (1878), Teodor Llorente and Constantí Llombart; later it acquired political forms, including republican federalism and Valencianist groups.
- The labour movement organised in the UGT (1888) and CNT (1910). Anarcho-syndicalism was strong in Valencia and Catalonia; strikes, repression and pistolerismo marked the period after 1917.
Morocco and Primo de Rivera
- Spanish intervention in Morocco led to the Melilla campaign of 1909 and the disaster of Annual in 1921. The landing at Alhucemas in 1925 reversed the military situation.
- General Primo de Rivera seized power in 1923 with royal support. His dictatorship suspended constitutional guarantees, repressed the labour movement and promoted public works, but failed to create a stable civilian base; he resigned in 1930.
Worked example
An election table for a Valencian district between 1891 and 1901 shows high turnout and the same family network alternating between Liberal and Conservative candidates. Classify it as an electoral source. Explain the mechanism: the turno required the interior ministry and local caciques to distribute districts. Then assess significance: formal suffrage existed, but the result was negotiated, not freely decided. The answer must use the table as evidence of caciquism, not as proof of a healthy democracy.
Traps that cost marks
- Calling the Restoration a full democracy because it had elections.
- Confusing the turno with universal suffrage; male suffrage existed from 1890 but was manipulated.
- Reducing Valencian regionalism to a single party or to separatism.
- Treating Primo de Rivera as a fascist dictator on the model of Mussolini; his regime was military and corporatist but not a single-party fascist state.
- Mixing the dates of Annual (1921) and Alhucemas (1925).