The six years in which Spain endured a turbulent chapter of its history become clearer when looking at the events surrounding Miguel Primo de Rivera. A coup on September 13, 1923, brought a pause to the political chaos of the time with a seemingly quiet, bloodless style. It marked the beginning of a dictatorship that lasted six years and four months, and it ultimately reshaped the monarchy and the nation’s governance under King Alfonso XIII.
There are verified figures and historical data available, yet this period has often faded into silence in broad histories. A scholar from Alicante, Gerardo Muñoz, has spent recent years challenging that silence, presenting a careful account that places Primo de Rivera and the 1923 coup in full view. The work, The dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, revisits the era and helps readers grasp its scope, including how it was perceived on the eve of the centenary in 2023.
Primo de Rivera was not a mindless fanatic, but a capable and pragmatic politician who ruled with a patriarchal touch. He is described as a figure who also showed moments of conscience, seeking a national project that could align with European models of governance. Muñoz portrays him as a controversial leader who created a regime that, in many ways, sought to harmonize conservative ideas with the pressures of a modern state and with currents found across Europe at the time.
He was a politician marked by contradiction. In Muñoz’s account, he emerges as a leader who managed to bring various groups into a single political frame, but whose decisions continually left both supporters and opponents dissatisfied. The book emphasizes the period’s volatility, noting that the historian’s portrayal aligns with an annual cycle of political and social upheaval that characterized those years.
He also points out the complexity behind Primo de Rivera’s domestic approach. The regime sought a balance between different factions and institutions, sometimes courting reform and sometimes suppressing dissent. The author argues that the dictatorship did not rely on outright annihilation but instead used a mix of coercion, control, and negotiation, an approach that provoked mixed reactions from left, right, the Republicans, Falangists, and the labor movement alike. The narrative coincides with the centennial reflection after the war, offering a nuanced view of the era’s social and political dimensions.
Annual Disaster: Gateway to Change
Muñoz describes the maneuvering during Primo de Rivera’s rule as an attempt to please multiple constituencies. He sought to accommodate Catalan regionalists and the business community while also wrestling with the demands of a nation pulling away from traditional structures. The withdrawal of the Spanish army from Morocco and the debates over retaining or relinquishing colonies became focal points. The plan to reposition military influence and governance under new conditions led to a tense moment when a key speech was met with rejection in a distant fortress, underscoring the friction at the heart of the regime.
Social, economic and political balance
Muñoz’s book includes illustrative data and a wide range of scenes to show how the era affected daily life. Rather than offering a simple biography, it constructs a social, economic, and political balance sheet of the period, presenting a broader portrait of the times as the most distinctive aspect of the work.
The author has published numerous essays and novels, gathering in these pages a visual and textual map of the period. The narrative explains that Primo de Rivera did not order arrests, disappearances, or executions simply for political opposition; he implemented controls and punishments that were different in character from those seen later under Franco. Some contemporaries even labeled his rule as comparatively softer in some respects.
The cousin of Primo de Rivera clashed with the church over collaboration with workers’ organizations, attempting to build a system that could manage social forces without provoking open conflict. The regime created its own political lane, a patriotic union that still allowed limited cooperation with existing unions and organized labor, provided they stayed within acceptable boundaries. The authorities argued for preserving social order while permitting restricted forms of collective action as long as it did not challenge the regime’s political structure.
Regarding economic policy, Primo de Rivera’s administration pushed for reform that aimed to create a fairer tax base while resisting radical upheaval. It also pursued a strategy of state intervention in the economy, including attempts to nationalize key industries and to reorganize public utilities and infrastructure. The regime moved to reclaim a central role for the state in economic life, though these moves were met with both support and resistance from various sectors.
The personal life of Primo de Rivera reflected the era’s contradictions. He was described as a figure swayed by strong impulses, often divided between personal indulgence and political responsibility. Critics note that his governance was marked by a paradox: the same leader who imposed moral and social controls also faced accusations of hypocrisy and inconsistency. In Muñoz’s analysis, the ruler’s approach to lawmaking sometimes resembled managing a military operation more than governing a democratic polity, a pattern that influenced public sentiment and political culture.
As the decade wore on, Spain faced a series of monetary challenges and uneven economic prosperity. While some urban areas enjoyed periods of relative stability, agriculture and rural communities experienced hardship. The overall social climate was one of cautious optimism mixed with underlying tensions that would shape later events in Spanish history.
The downfall of Primo de Rivera followed the pressures of the king and the broader political realities. Exile came to define the end of the regime, and the subsequent transition shed light on how a monarchy could bear the burden of military dictatorship. The story is not merely a tale of power entrenchment; it is a study of how political authority, economic interests, and social forces intersect in shaping a nation’s path forward.