Choose a language study trip to Spain to improve your command of Cervantes’ language while discovering a foreign culture means setting out to explore a country with centuries of history. Because our organization wants to paint the most complete picture possible of this history for you, LEC takes a look today at the First Spanish Republic.
First Spanish Republic
During a conversation about history with locals on a language study trip to Spain, we will discuss Primera República Española : this is the Castilian name for the period known on this side of the Pyrenees as the First Spanish Republic.
The First Spanish Republic in a Nutshell
If one were to summarize in a few words what the First Spanish Republic was, one would say the following: it was the republican regime established in the leading country of the Iberian Peninsula during the second half of the 19th century, a regime that followed the Kingdom of Spain and was succeeded by the Kingdom of Spain.
The Sequel to *Gloriosa*
As you may learn through your reading or during a language study trip to Spain, this First Spanish Republic came into being amid utter chaos, following the revolution of September 1868 (known as the Gloriosa), which attempted to establish a constitutional monarchy but failed to find a king capable of sustaining such a change. The First Republic in the country’s history was proclaimed in February 1873.
The Return of the Bourbons to Power
This new regime was essentially federalist; yet within just a few years, the newly established republic descended into anarchy, prompting a military reaction in favor of restoring the monarchy. Following a coup d’état, the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty became official. In January 1875, the monarchy was restored underAlfonso XII and became constitutional; Spain’s brief republican experiment was already over.