4º ESO 25/26. UNIT 2. THE RESTORATION SYSTEM

The Restoration system and the socio-economic characteristics of 19th century spain

6. Was the restoration of the monarchy in 1875 necessary?

CONSTITUTION OF 1876

Really important

the alternation between parties

liberal PARTY

CONSERVATIVE PARTY

Turnism: political system in which the two dynastic parties (conservative and liberal) alternated in government, using systematic electoral fraud.

Sagasta

Cánovas del Castillo

the alternation between parties

Electoral fraud

The distribution of deputies was agreed between the party in power and the party in opposition. For this purpose, they used:

Caciquism: Political system based on the power of the cacique, the most powerful person in a village or region.

Caciques forced people to vote one way or another.

Electoral fraud

However, if the expected results were still not achieved, they used the:

Pucherazo: Electoral fraud which consists of altering the result of the vote count.

• The first major crisis of the Restoration was the death of Alfonso XII, at the age of 27.

• Before Alfonso's death, his wife had become pregnant, so although he never knew her son, the continuation of the dynasty was assured.

Pardo pact: pact signed between Cánovas and Sagasta that ensured the permanence of the turnist system for the rest of the Restoration.

New forces Supports

OPPOSITION DURING THE FIRST HALF OF THE RESTORATION SYSTEM

Requeté: paramilitary militia organised by the Carlists.

Carlists

Peripheral nationalism

Catalan and Basque bourgeoisie.

IMPORTANT: they were nationalists but they were NOT left-wing. In fact, they repressed workers several times.

Republican parties

Middle class.

The Restoration system went into trobule because the rotation in the government didn't take into account the new political forces.

Working class.

Labour movement

Cuban War of Independence

• It began in 1895 and the conflict became more complicated for Spain when the United States entered the Cuban side due to its imperialist interests.

• The Americans used the blowing up of war ship Maine as a casus belli to enter the conflict, even though this was a staged event.

José Martí, leader of Revolutionary Cuban Party

Finally, Spain was defeated and the Paris Peace treaty was signed with United States. Spain lost Cuba, together with the Philippines and Puerto Rico.

Caricature showing the defeat of the Spanish army and the triumph of the Americans, who take Cuba (1898).

Most of the Spanish population was relieved not to have to go to war and die.

Cuba became "independent" (under American control)

Treaty of Paris

Philippines and Puerto Rico turned into American colonies.

7. Why was Spain slow to modernise agriculture?

Rate of growth of Spanish economy in the 19th century was slower than in the rest of Western Europe.

Spain continued with traditional agriculture. New farming machinery wasn't introduced. It is true that there was some growth but it was due to clearing new lands.

After the desamortizaciones, the form of ownership hanged but the owners were still the richest. Most of the peasants could not afford to buy land, and when communal goods were privatised, they lost access to pastures, firewood and orchards. The concentration of land in the hands of large landowners and the abundance of peasants kept wages low and perpetuated the practice of traditional agriculture.

Lack of agricultural modernisation was one of the reasons for the moderate demographic growth. There was a growth but it was really low compared to the rest of Western Europe. Furthermore, this growth was focused in the coastal areas (especially País Vasco and Cataluña) and Madrid.

At the same time, there was an intense migration process. There was a rural exodus, where people left rural areas to look for work in industrial areas, like Barcelona, Bilbao or Madrid. There was an initial growth of cities.

There were also a foreign emigration, directed especially towards Latin America, in particular Cuba and Argentina, in search of job opportunities.

8. What caused the delay in industrialisation?

4.2. A limited industrialisation

The main obstacle to economic modernisation was the delay in Industrial Revolution, because land reform was necessary for this. Also, there was:

• Lack of investment.
• Absence of a strong industrial bourgeoisie.

Moreover, there were transport problems due to the lack of good roads and the delay of the railway lines.

The remote position of Spain with respect to the most industrialised areas in Europemade it difficult to get raw materials and sell products.

The only significant industrialisation was:

• Mining in Asturias.
• Iron and steel in País Vasco.
• Textile in Cataluña.

The industrialization of Spain took place in the 20th century. This very late development is the consequence of a process that began in the first half of the 19th century, although the Spanish case stands out for its delay. The failure of the industrial revolution in nineteenth-century Spain is a point about which practically all historians agree. On the contrary, its interpretation has given rise to opposed analysis. At one extreme, the historian Gabriel Tortella places emphasis on endogenous factors: «Spain's delay is its own fault. You can blame it on its political problems, its social structure, perhaps even its natural resources, but certainly not on foreign influence». At the other extreme, José Acosta maintains the absolute relevance of exogenous factors: «our hypothesis focuses on the blocking of Spanish industrial development due to the presence of foreign capital. In this way, foreign businessmen secured a network of economic domination in Spain, taking advantage of the mineral resources and railway networks».

NADAL, Jordi, El fracaso de la Revolución Industrial en España, Barcelona, 1981

General Railway Law (1855)

9. What was unusual about 19th-century Spanish society?

RULING CLASSES

• Landed nobility still owned most of the lands so they played an important role in the power.

• Upper bourgeoisie owned the new industries, big companies and banks. They became landowners by buying confiscated lands.

• Middle bourgeoisie was small. It consisted of small entrepreneurs, merchants, liberal professionals, civil servants...

WORKING CLASSES

• Peasants constituted most of the Spanish population. Some were tenant farmers but most of them were employed as day labourers.

• The new industrial proletariat was formed by the former peasants that had migrate to cities in search of work. They were employed in the new factories and lived in crowded neighbourhoods, working long hours for low wages.

• Rest of the working class was composed by people dedicated to services, such as servants, drivers and street vendors.

Quintas: it was a system of forced recruitment of young men for the Spanish Army. The rich could pay to get out of doing it

Day labourer: a person who is employed for one day at a time, usually in agriculture.

labour movement

Marxism: It is a political movement that seeks the advent of a classless society, with a middle stage known as the dictatorship of the proletariat.

Anarchism:. It is a political movement that seeks the advent of a classless society through a direct revolution, with no middle stages.

Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE), led by Pablo Iglesias. It has nothing to do with the current party.

Spanish Regional Federation, anarchist trade union, was founded in 1870 and was especially strong in Aragón, Andalucía and Cataluña.

Unión General de Trabajadores, or UGT (trade union connected to PSOE) was founded in 1888.

They defended direct action and even carried out terrorist attacks, like the assasination of Cánovas del Castillo in 1897.

10. Why was 19th-century art both traditional and modern?

FRANCISCO DE GOYA Y LUCIENTES

(Fuendetodos, 1746​ - BORDEAUX, 1828)

• Francisco de Goya was one of the most important painters of art history, and he was born really close to Zaragoza, where he spent his youth.

• His style was completely revolutionary and inspired most of the painters of the 19th century.

• In the 19th century, his deafness and the impact of the War of Independence marked a turning point in his painting. He lived his last years in the exile in France, where he died.

• His painting can be divided into different phases.

In his early stages, he painted atmospheric conditions, people and everyday scenes of the working classes.

As a court painter, he painted scenes featuring the families of Carlos III and Carlos IV, and members of the Spanish nobility.

After the impact of the War of Independence, he created a series of works (e.g. The Disasters of War and The Disparates) that became known as the Black Paintings. This expressionist style has a lack of beauty and light and uses muted colours to stimulate human conscience and prevent new horrors from being committed.

JOAQUÍN SOROLLA

(1863-1923)

• He is the most important representant from the Impressionism in Spain.

• He aims to represent the changing effects of light on objects, subordinating form to colour.

MODERNIST ARCHITECTURE

• Modernism represented a break with academic tradition, the use of the technology and industry of the time and the integration of the other arts in architectural structures.

• In modernist buildings, the predominance of curved, wavy lines and of asymmetry prevailed. These forms were inspired by nature. Imitating nature allowed architects to enjoy absolute creative freedom.

The centre of Modernist architecture was in Cataluña, especially the work of Antoni Gaudí.