1805
Spanish sea power is ended when a Spanish-French
fleet is defeated by Britain at Trafalgar.
1808-13
Spanish War of Independence (Peninsular War):
Spanish guerillas, with British and Portugese
support, drive out the French occupiers.
1813-25
Most of Spain’s American colonies win
independence.
Late 1860s
Anarchist ideas reach Spain and soon gain
a wide following.
1873
First Republic: liberals
declare Spain a federal republic of 17 states,
resulting in chaos and restoration of the
monarchy.
1898
Spanish-American War: Spain loses its last
overseas possessions (Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam
and Philippines).
1909
The ‘Tragic Week’ in Barcelona:
a general strike turns into a frenzy of violence.
1917
A general strike is crushed by the army, anarchist
and socialist movements grow and political
violence escalates.
1923-30
Mild dictatorship of General Miguel Primo
de Rivera.
1931-36
Second Republic: King Alfonso XIII goes into
exile and, under successive left-wing, right-wing
and left-wing governments, Spain polarizes
and political violence grows.1936-39 Spanish
Civil War: right-wing Nationalists rebel led
by General Francisco Franco, helped by Nazi
Germany and Fascist Italy, defeat left-wing
Republican forces helped by the Soviet Union;
about 350,000 Spaniards are killed.
1939-75
The Franco dictatorship: an estimated 100,000
are killed or die in prison as Nationalist
repression continues after the civil war;
economy in late 1940s años de hambre
(years of hunger) are followed by a boom in
the 1960s.
1975
Franco dies and is succeeded by King Juan
Carlos I.
1976-81
Juan Carlos’ prime minister, Adolfo
Suarez, engineers a return to democracy; Spain
becomes a parliamentary monarchy with no official
religion.
1982-96
Spain is governed by the centre-left Partido
Socialist Obrero Español (PSOE) party
led by Felipe Gonzalez, which introduces a
national health system, improves education
and takes Spain into the then-EC (1986).
1996-2004 The
centre-right Partido Popular (PP) party, led
by Jose Maria Aznar takes power.
2004
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
(PSOE) returns the Socialists to power in
an unexpected victory. Aznar's loss attributed
to the backlash resulting from the Madrid
terrorist bombings and his unpopular deployment
of troops in Iraq.
Source:
Lonely
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