Dictatorship of Primo de Rivera
General Miguel Primo de Rivera's dictatorship over Spain began with a coup on 13 September 1923 and ended with his resignation on 28 January 1930.
In establishing his dictatorship, Primo de Rivera ousted the liberal government led by Prime Minister Manuel García Prieto and initially gained the support of King Alfonso XIII and the army.
[2] Under Primo de Rivera's dictatorship, Spain won the Rif War, where Spanish forces fought Riffian tribes in Morocco.
It invested heavily in Spanish infrastructure, such as roads and railways,[3] and expanded labour laws to assist nursing mothers in the workforce.
Primo de Rivera resigned in 1930, ending his dictatorship, and General Dámaso Berenguer succeeded him before Spain's Second Republic was established in 1931.
[15] Primo de Rivera stated he would create a temporary government to save Spain from the corrupt politicians that had been mismanaging it since 1898.
[16][note 1] Shortly after, on 14 September, King Alfonso XIII declared his support for Primo de Rivera's coup and dismissed the civilian government,[17] suspending the 1876 Spanish constitution.
"[13] The Catholic Church and the wider Spanish public also showed their backing of the dictatorship,[23][24] and the stock market rising immediately after the coup is indicative of the confidence Spaniards had in the new regime.
[30][31][32][33] Through this, Primo de Rivera presented himself as Joaquín Costa's 'Iron Surgeon,' who would perform surgery on Spain to cure the political corruption and social chaos that plagued it.
[38][39][40][34][37] Primo de Rivera ordered the termination of all local governments as he attempted to remove political corruption in Spain,[41][34] replacing the civil officials with military supervised positions.
[55] Primo de Rivera promised early into the Military Directory that he would find a quick solution to the Rif War,[56][57] where Riffian rebels opposed the Spanish colonial presence in northern Morocco.
[64] The pressure from the africanistas,[65] along with an escalating Riffian offensive in 1924, persuaded Primo de Rivera that continuing his withdrawal would have severe political consequences and could endanger his regime.
[66][67] His dictatorship secured French aid in 1925, and following a successful military operation in Al Hoceima, Spain and France pushed back Abd-el-Krim's forces and regained some control of the Spanish protectorate.
[77] With the creation of the Civil Directory, Primo de Rivera rejected returning to a parliamentary system, as promised in 1923,[52][78] and oriented towards a long-term rule for his dictatorship.
[88][90] After the Rif War, Primo de Rivera's dictatorship pushed for Tangier to be included in the Spanish protectorate in Morocco.
All the dictatorship gained was the post of the city's chief of police and improvements in the protection of arms trafficking in Tangier's international zone.
[97][98][99] Primo de Rivera also raised tariffs on foreign goods, with the League of Nations labelling Spain the most protectionist country in the world in 1927.
[95] Primo de Rivera's dictatorship increased spending on public infrastructure and worked to improve roads, railways,[3] irrigation networks,[96] and more.
[109] In 1929, Spain experienced an economic downturn that coincided with the start of the Great Depression, and Spaniards lost confidence in Primo de Rivera's dictatorship.
[111][112][113] In 1924, the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera gave unmarried women the right to vote in local elections if they were older than 23 and not subject to any parental authority.
[133][134][135] In Spain's next elections in 1931, republicans and their coalition (including the communists and socialists) won a majority of city council seats over monarchists in urban centres and provincial capitals.
