A symposium on the historical conflict between Catalonia and Spain took place in Barcelona some days ago, with the participation of key Catalan historians like Josep Fontana or Josep Maria Solé i Sabate and under the direction of Jaume Sobrequés i Callicó. It was jointly organized and supported by the Centre of Contemporary History of Catalonia, a department that depends on the Counselling of Presidency of the Catalan Government, and the Institute on Catalan Studies, an organization which investigates and promotes the Catalan culture and language. It took place among the events that both institutions have organized to commemorate the tercentennial of the defeat of Barcelona during the War of Succession, on 11 September 1714. The result of the armed confrontation marked the end of the traditional institutions and cultural particularities of Catalonia and the beginning of a period of hardship in the relationship between Catalonia and Spain.
Though it can be hard to believe, this conference was hardly criticized by the Spanish government, right wing parties and some rightist intellectuals who blamed the Generalitat for incitating hatred speech and manipulating history. Furthermore, some far right parties threatened with asking the prosecution to investigate whether the symposium was illegal or not. They claimed that its content insisted in a conflict which had never existed with the single purpose of splitting Catalonia from Spain. On the contrary, they always try to convey an image of unity of Spain and political stability. So, are Catalan authorities manipulating history?
Some examples on conflict either between Catalonia and Spain or within the whole country are shown below.
The Spanish army bombed Barcelona 9 times between 1640 and 1939.
The capital city of Catalonia has been bombed many times throughout history. The first incidents took place during the armed conflict called Guerra dels Segadors (war of the reapers, in Catalan), which confronted the Catalan institutions with the Spanish monarchy between 1640 and 1652 because of the consequences of the Thirty Years War in Catalonia. The war finished after the Spanish siege of Barcelona and the signature of the Treaty of Pyrenees between Spain and France, which supposed the mutilation of Catalonia by putting the north of the region (Rosselló and Cerdanya) under French sovereignty.
The second, third and forth sieges and bombing incidents (on 1705, 1713 and 1714) took place during the Spanish War of Succession. This war supposed the end of the Austrian Dynasty in the Iberian Peninsula, as well as the end of the Generalitat of Catalonia, its particular rule of law and its institutions. It also supposed the annihilation of the Catalan language and culture, and a huge repression against those who had not supported Borbonic Dynasty.
Unlike the two examples we have referred above, the episodes which took place in 1842, 1843 and 1909 were not the result of a war but part of the repression against a citizen revolt. The first two bombardments were conducted by the former regent Espartero, who claimed that the city should be bombed every 50 years, to stop two uprising that took place in Barcelona. By its side, the incident of 1909 took place after a week of riots in the city due to the mobilisation of reserve soldiers to the war in Africa, known as the Tragic Week.
Finally, the last series of bombardments took place during the Spanish civil war in 1938 and were partly led by fascist Italian air forces which aided Franco's troops during their occupation of the country. Dozens of people died because of them and they helped to demoralize the whole Catalonia thus far paving the way for the final invasion on 26 January 1939.
Spain is the European country where there have been more coups since the end of the Napoleonic invasion.
This data can be hard to believe but it is true. Spain had lived coups and pronouncements even during critical periods of war, which often led to civil wars. There were 10 pronouncements only during the first 6 years of reign of Ferdinand VII. The most important of them was the led by Lieutenant Colonel Rafael de Riego on 1 January 1820, who forced the king to obey the Constitution which had been approved by the Courts of Cádiz amidst the Napoleonic invasion of the Iberian peninsula on 1812. This inaugurated the Liberal Triennium, which would end because of the invasion of the "Hundred Thousand Sons of San Luis", a French contingent which imposed the return to the absolutism. Ten years later, on 1833, the death of the king brought a dynastic conflict between his brother, supported by the traditionalist sector, and his daughter, who was still a minor and was supported by the liberals. It would be the first civil war to take place in the 19th century. The war finished in 1839 when absolutist troops were definitively defeated.
However, the liberal victory would not bring any political stability. The nonage of queen Elizabeth was characterized by two regencies, the first one of her mother María Cristina, Ferdinand's wife; the second one, of the General Espartero, who substituted the former queen after a revolt in 1840. That period would witness nine more uprisings, including the attempt to kidnap the minor queen or the bombardments against Barcelona we have mentioned above. The most remarkable pronouncing was the so-called Pronunciamiento de la Granja, a military coup which took place at the town of La Granja de San Ildefonso (Segovia) in 1836 that forced the regent to reenforce the 1812 Constitution and to appoint a progressive government. The regency of Espartero and the nonage of Elizabeth would finish when members of both progressive and moderate would unite in a mutiny led by Generals Narváez, Serrano and O'Donnell which forced the regent into exile.
Nevertheless, the full age of queen Elizabeth would not bring the definitive peace to Spain, as there were many pronouncements during this period too. There were 11 all along her reign, the most important of whom were the assault against the queen in 1852 and the military coup called Vicalvarada on 1854, which ended up a series of moderate governments and inaugurated the Progressive Biennium which would last until 1856. The social tensions that took place during the first months of that year, alongside some popular revolts due to the lack of food in Castille and the strikes in Catalonia, prompted Generals O'Donnell and Serrano to face the then-president Espartero, who had came back from his exile after the mutiny of 1854 and split him from power. After that, some progressive representatives occupied the parlamentary house demanding the return of Espartero, but the governmental forces led by O'Donnell ordered the army to bomb the building. Thus far the tension rose and some cities revolted claiming the new government to be overthrown. However, they would not achieve their goal as the troops surrendered Barcelona and Madrid.
The queen Elizabeth herself would be forced into exile after a revolution called La Gloriosa erupted in 1868, when army generals Serrano, Topete and Prim led a coup d'État which overthrew the monarchy and appointed Amadeus of Savoye as the new Spanish king. However, his reign would not last a lot because a series of pronouncements and popular revolts would led to the proclamation of the Republic five years later. Furthermore, the Carlist war erupted in this period and its result would mark the end of Basque foral regime, which had lasted since the 15th century. In addition, there were two assaults against Prim (who succumbed) and the king before being deposed, as well as cantonal revolts all across the Iberian peninsula. All this is added to the insurrection in Cuba and the political instability during the republican period, which witnessed four different governments in less than four years. The Republican period finished after two new military mutinies, the first one led by Pavía and the second one by Martínez Campos. After them, a new regime would be established in Spain.
From the end of the Republican regime and the restoration of the monarchy in 1874 onwards, the wars and mutinies would take place only at the remains of the colonial empire. For example, the definitive loss of Cuba happened in 1898, causing a huge moral shock to the political and military forces. Furthermore, it would be a problem added to the endemic corruption of the new regime and the consequences that the continuous recruitment of male workers to fight both in Cuba and in the new colonial objective: Northern Africa. Several popular mutinies would take place during this period, the most important of them being the Tragic Week on July 1909, a succession of riots in Barcelona which ended with the bombing of the city, thousands of detentions and the execution of Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia, a Catalan pedagogist known for promoting new pedagogic methods at his Escola Moderna (Modern School, in Catalan) who definitively had nothing to do with the protests.
However, the first pronouncing of the 20th century would not take place until 1923, when General Miguel Primo de Rivera took over the power after a military coup that was supported by the king itself. Thus far, the general began a dictatorship that would last for seven years, until he lost the support of the monarchy and was forced to resign. Then, General Berenguer was commissioned to form a government in order to reverse the effects of the previous dictatorship and call for elections next year. Nevertheless, the so-called Dictablanda (soft dictatorship) had to face an attempt of coup by Captains Galán and García Hernández at Jaca, a city in the Aragonese Pyrenees, which would not succeed. Because of that, both militarymen were shot dead in March 1931, only a month before the polls that would force the exile of the monarchy and the proclamation of the 2nd Spanish Republic on 14th April.
From this moment onwards, the political tensions and the popular unrest would rise dramatically in Spain despite the promises a new regime could bring to its citizens. For this reason, there was another coup led by General Sanjurjo in 1932, which failed due to the lack of supports. Sanjurjo conducted his mutiny after a series of deadly clashes between the police and protesters in several Spanish cities and mining strikes, but he did not manage to succeed due to the combination of the police action and a general strike which stopped his troops in Seville. Sanjurjo would also be the leader of the next pronouncing against the Republican govenrment that would take place in Spain on 17 and 18 July 1936.
Unlike the previous one, the coup of 1936 had been largely planned for several months by a series of high officials of the Spanish army and led by Sanjurjo himself. It was due to erupt on 20th July, but the government discovered their plans and they were forced to advance it. However, Sanjurjo could not assume the direction of the coup because an aircraft accident when he was returning to Spain from Portugal. His death and the death of General Mola prompted Francisco Franco to led the coup and the subsequent civil war that would last for three long years.
There would be another pronouncing in the middle of the Spanish civil war. It was one of the latest operations that took place during the Republican faction to end up a conflict which had been too long and dramatic for the whole country. On 5th March 1939, Colonel Casado led a coup against the govenrment of Negrín and the communist forces who controlled the loyalist army, taking over the control of Madrid and establishing a board of defence which would be committed to negotiate the surrender of their troops to General Franco. However, the negotiations would not succeed and Franco finished occupating Madrid on 1st April 1939, thus starting nearly 40 years of dictatorship.
The last coup of the 20th Century took place once the dictator had died and a new constitution had been approved in Spain. It took place on 23rd February 1981, when members of the army and the Civil Guard organised a joint pronouncing against the new constitutional regime that was born as a result of the appointment of the king Juan Carlos by Franco himself. The occupation of the parliament was live broadcast at the Spanish TV so everybody could see the tanks taking the streets and the Civil Guard breaking into the parlamentary house. However, the coup did not succeed due to a public display of disagreement by the king at that night. Even though he denied any involvement, there is the belief that the monarchy had something to do with the coup.
The single democratically elected president to be executed in Europe has been the Catalan Lluís Companys.
It could seem incredible but it is true. Catalan president Lluís Companys was shot dead at Montjuïc castle in Barcelona on 15th October 1940. Companys went into exile after he realized that the defeat of the Republican government was close due to the evolution of the Spanish Civil War, but he was detained by Nazi Gestapo in France, following orders by Franco. After that, he was transferred back to Spain, where he was tortured and sentenced to death in a council of war.
The Spanish authorities have never issued an official statement of condemnation of this execution which has proved illegal, neither to rebuke his death sentence. By now, the only judge who is due to rebuke it is the Argentinian Servini, who is investigating all the crimes which had taking place during the war and the dictatorship.
The delegate of the Spanish government in Catalonia conducted a homage to Francoist soldiers who fought against the USSR
As I wrote on a previous post, María de los Llanos de Luna participated in a homage to veteran members from the División Azul, a group of volunteer soldiers who fought together with Nazis in Soviet territory. Her attitude caused many concerns to be risen on how a democratic country can permit a homage to remarkable figures of a bloody dictatorship which killed more than 500,000 people.
These ones are only a few examples on how Spain manipulates its own history, trying to erase the conflicts that have caracterized the Contemporary History of the country. There is a real hatred towards Catalans and Catalonia (as well as the Basque Country) and this hatred is not new.
