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JAVIER MORENO LUZÓN
155 century. Catalan historiography, in contrast, has been dominated by
perennialism. In this context the period from 1875 to 1939 becomes crucial
for the development of nationalisms and national construction in Spain. In
this period Spain was initially under a constitutional monarchy, up to 1923,
then under a Spanish-nationalist military dictatorship, between 1923 and
1930, then under a democratic republic, from 1931, and then finally went
through the Civil War, from 1936 to 1939.
As Jose Älvarez-Junco has argued, two distinct versions of Spanish
nationalism emerged in the course of the nineteenth century, which were
consolidated in the 1870s. The mutual confrontation between them marked
Spanish history from then onwards.® On the one hand, there was a civic
and patriotic vision in the French revolutionary style, advocated by liberal
democratic sectors. The nucleus of this idea was the concept of the people,
commonly confused with that of the nation, a people that was virtuous in the
face of wicked elites. This vision’s historic myths spoke of this people’s love of
liberty; demonstrated against tyrants, as in the sixteenth-century rebellions
against the Habsburg monarchs, and against foreign invaders, from ancient
times to the conflict known in Spain as the “War of Independence’ against
the armies of Napoleon. The first Spanish Constitution, issued in 1812, and
the liberal Generals who had defended it against absolutism completed this
account. This nationalism acquired its own special symbols, such as the song
the Himno de Riego or Riego Hymn, dedicated to one of these officers and
the Spanish equivalent of the Marseillaise, which would become the national
anthem of the republic founded in 1931.
On the other hand, there was a nationalism that was conservative,
religiously-based and Catholic, more cultural than civic, and which identified
the nation with the Church and considered that no one could be Spanish
who was not a Catholic. It was in parallel with other nationalisms such as
those of Poland, Ireland or Croatia. Its mythologized narratives emphasized
the Christian reconquest of the national territory from the Muslims in the
Middle Ages, the Catholic Counter-Reformation against Protestantism and
the Evangelization of the Americas. These formulas were expanded upon in
the final decades of the nineteenth century, aided by the protection given
under the monarchy to the religious orders dedicated to education.
With regard to Spanish national construction, a number of important
elements stand out in the last quarter of the 19 century. A number
of generally-accepted and virtually undisputed symbols had become
consolidated, such as the red and yellow national flag, which was deployed in
very diverse contexts, from the theatre to social protests. Greater difficulties
5 José Alvarez-Junco: Spanish Identity in the Age of Nations, Manchester, Manchester
University Press, 2011.
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