Spanish Civilization And Culture

SESSION 8 Spanish/American War and Restoration Crisis SPANISH CIVILIZATION AND CULTURE CEA BARCELONA GLOBAL CAMPUS SUMMER 2007 PROGRAMME Instructor: Victor Lapuente Gine e-mail: [email protected]

Session 8. Spanish/American War and Restoration Crisis

OUTLINE OF THE SESSION •

The Spanish National Identity during the 19th century (Alvarez Junco)

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The 1898 Spanish/American War

Session 8. Spanish/American War and Restoration Crisis

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The Spanish National Identity during the 19th century (Alvarez Junco)

-Why Spain, one of the oldest political units in Europe (no major changes in borders since the 16th century), was not a nation-state?

Session 8. Spanish/American War and Restoration Crisis How can be characterized the Spanish ethno-patriotic identity? 4 traits for Alvarez-Junco: - A fusion of religious and political identity. The Church has an important role even in the Cadiz Constitution - A deep-rooted xenophobia, primarily anti-English & antiFrench - Eurocentrism - Defensive, self-pitying tone What does Alvarez-Junco mean with these traits? Do you think that any of these traits survives nowadays? Have you found any proof of that during your presence in Spain?

Session 8. Spanish/American War and Restoration Crisis Which factors threatened the success of the Spanish national identity building? 1) The acute political crisis suffered by Spain throughout the 19th century 2) From an international perspective, Spain was a third-rate power. 3) No ‘nationalization of the masses’ 4) The state was chronically indebted. Limited to the ‘extraction-coercion’ cycle, typical of the early-modern period in Europe.

Session 8. Spanish/American War and Restoration Crisis 5) Authorities were apathetic in relation to the intellectual elites’ effort to create a national identity 6) State service did not occupy an important place in the scale of values of upper or upper-middle-class Spanish families, contrary to the strong military tradition in Prussia-Germany or the civil service in France 7) Lack of national symbols

Session 8. Spanish/American War and Restoration Crisis

2) The 1898 Spanish/American War

Session 8. Spanish/American War and Restoration Crisis -The Spanish political system at the time: On the surface, the political system was based on a democratic model similar to the British one. Liberals and Conservatives alternated in power. In reality, parties were just mere assemblies of notables representing 2 factions of the oligarchy It was a stable system but the price to pay was a weak projection of the liberal state over its citizens and the subordination of the liberal elite to the ideological remains of the ancien regime.

Session 8. Spanish/American War and Restoration Crisis -The Spanish Public Administration: Largely inefficient Patrimonial Administration (contrary to the Bureaucratic Administrations of France or Germany) Inflation of positions at the top of both the Civil and the Military Administration (e.g. one officer for each 5 enlisted men in the army)

Session 8. Spanish/American War and Restoration Crisis -The Spanish-Cuban war (1895-98) and the war with the US (1898) created widespread social discontent In 4 years, over 200,000 troops were sent to Cuba & Philippines, drawn mainly from the poorer classes because the better-off could buy exemptions from military service. Almost everybody lost somebody (Habaneras). Which was the reaction of the Spanish nationalism?

Session 8. Spanish/American War and Restoration Crisis If the war lasts a long time

Si la guerra dura mucho

The price of ham will fall

Se abaratara el jamon

Because of the many yankees

Por los muchisimos yankees

That the Spaniard will kill

Que matara el espanol

Session 8. Spanish/American War and Restoration Crisis

US: President McKinley

Session 8. Spanish/American War and Restoration Crisis The Disaster of 1898 triggered a dramatic internal reaction: the consensus among the intellectual elite was that Spain was in mortal crisis Many intellectuals blamed the Catholic Church Why?