The Second Spanish Republic and the Road to Civil War

The Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931, following the collapse of the monarchy of Alfonso XIII. A governing coalition of republicans and socialists headed by Manuel Azaña approved the progressive Constitution of 1931, recognized universal female suffrage, pursued a land reform targeting the great landed estates of southern Spain, and pushed through sweeping secularist legislation separating Church and State and dissolving the Society of Jesus. Catalonia was granted a Statute of Autonomy in 1932. These changes provoked mounting opposition from the Catholic Church, landowners, and monarchist sectors: violent episodes at Castilblanco and Arnedo (1931-1932) were followed by General José Sanjurjo's failed coup attempt of August 1932 and by the harshly repressed anarchist rising at Casas Viejas in January 1933. On the right, 1933 saw the founding of the CEDA under José María Gil-Robles and of the Falange Española under José Antonio Primo de Rivera, and in the elections of November 1933 a fragmented left allowed the right and center to win, closing the 'reformist biennium.'