PhDThe subject of this thesis is a study of Spain during
the First World War. The Spanish case is analyzed as the regional
version of the general crisis which engulfed the rest of Europe
during these years. This crisis was produced by the ideological
militancy and social struggle caused by four years of
devastating international conflict. It heralded the arrival of
mass politics which put an end to a previous era marked by
hierarchical and clientelist politics.
This thesis examines how the maintenance of strict
neutrality did not save the existing regime in Spain from the
impact of the conflict raging in Europe. Spain did not enter the
war but the war entered the country and, ironically, a conflict
in which Spain did not take part was to alter its contemporary
history.
The analysis explores the gradual disintegration of the
foundations of the ruling system, the Liberal Monarchy restored
in December 1874, during and as a consequence of the First World
War. Considerable attention is paid to the impact and importance
of the war in producing the decay of the Liberal Monarchy. This
process is examined at two levels: the political polarization and
subsequent division of the country which was provoked by the
debate about belligerence or neutrality, and the social and
economic transformations that Spain underwent as consequence a
of its privileged position as a supplier to both sides. The
result was galloping inflation, widespread social discontent and political turmoil. Under these pressures, the hegemonic system,
based on electoral falsification, widespread patronage and mass
apathy, collapsed and gave way to an inexorable process of
growing working class and right-wing militancy which led to the
military coup of 1923
