Polarisation and political parties under the Second Republic (1931–1933)

Describe birth of the Republic

Birth of the Republic (April 1931):

• After municipal elections delivered anti-monarchist victories, King Alfonso XIII fled.

• The Second Republic was declared, raising hopes for democratic reform and renewal.

List Second Republic policies

• progressive reforms

• agrarian reform

• conflict with the church

• army reform

Describe progressive reforms

• The Constitution of 1931 introduced

  • universal suffrage (including women)

  • secularism with separation of Church and state

  • regional autonomy for Catalonia,

• marking a radical break with the past.

Describe agrarian reform

• The Law of 1932 aimed to redistribute 45,000 estates to landless peasants

• but implementation was slow and ineffective:

  • by 1933, only 12,000 families had been resettled

  • disappointing rural supporters.

Describe conflict with the Church

• The Republic banned religious orders from education

• dissolved the Jesuits

• reduced Church influence in society.

• These measures alienated Catholics and provoked bitter hostility from the right.

Describe army reform 

• Measures cut officer numbers and closed military academies to curb army privilege.

• Instead of loyalty, this bred resentment among conservatives and military elites, undermining stability.

Describe polarisation and violence

• Right-wing groups like CEDA (under Gil Robles) and monarchists mobilised against reforms

  • branding the Republic “anti-Spain.”

• Meanwhile, anarchists condemned reforms as too moderate

  • escalating strikes and unrest.

• Political violence surged, foreshadowing future conflict.

Evaluate the Second Republic’s rule 

The Republic’s early reforms sought to modernise Spain, but slow agrarian change, anticlericalism, and army antagonism fuelled polarisation.

With the right branding reforms revolutionary and the left condemning them as insufficient, the Republic quickly lost broad support, entrenching division and instability.