Speak the Culture: Spain: Be Fluent in Spanish Life and Culture

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1. Identity: the
   building blocks of
   2. Literature
   and philosophy
   3. Art and
   architecture
   4. Performing
   arts
   5. Cinema
   and fashion
   6. Media and
   communications
   7. Food and drink 8. Living culture:
   the details of

Faction parade

Spain became increasingly divided at the turn of the

20 thcentury. Industrial growth had occurred in certain

regions despite the previous century’s turbulence, and

a new class-consciousness fermented in the Catalan

textile mills and Basque iron foundries. Regions like

Galicia, Andalusia and, again, Catalonia and the Basque

Country hankered after regional independence,

railing against Castile, home of central government.

Meanwhile, in the depopulating countryside, the

friction between labourers and oligarchic landowners

intensified. Peasants and workers turned to the left –

some went for anarchism, some for socialism, others

for communism. In contrast, the old guard, the

Church and the wealthier portions of society became

increasingly right wing. All elements solidified in the

early 20thcentury, watching revolutionary Russia and

the First World War (from which Spain abstained)

with interest.

1909 Dozens are killed
when the military breaks
a general strike in
Barcelona.

1931 Spain’s Second
Republic fills the power
void when Alfonso XIII
flees Spain for France.

1936-9Hundreds of
thousands die in the
Spanish Civil War.

1953 Dictator Franco
does a deal with the
USA and Spain begins
its ‘economic miracle’.

1975 Franco dies and
King Juan Carlos
restores the Bourbon
monarchy.

1981 The King’s refusal
to back a military coup
secures Spain’s fledgling
democracy.

1992 A good year for
modern Spain with
Seville’s Expo and
Barcelona’s Olympics.

2004 191 people are
killed and more than
2,000 injured in the
Madrid train bombings.

Key dates

1.2.3 Ruin to resurrection: war, dictatorship

and democracy in modern Spain

Catalonia’s tragic week

The Spanish army

looked to Catalonia for

reservists in 1909 to help

a foundering campaign

against Berbers in

Morocco. Resenting the

call, socialists and

anarchists joined forces

to strike in protest on

Monday July 26th.

By Tuesday workers

were stopping trains and

by Thursday they were

rioting and setting fire to

convents. The army were

sent in to subdue the

protesters and killed

over a hundred. In Spain,

the week became known

as theSemana Trágica

and galvanised many

in opposition to the

government and military.

Shooting the messenger:

Spanish Flu

The Spanish Influenza

pandemic that killed as

many as 50 million

around the world in 1918

and 1919 wasn’t actually

worse in Spain than

elsewhere, nor did it

originate there. The

name stuck because

Spain, being neutral in

the First World War,

didn’t censor reports of

the outbreak. So when

the virus, a form of bird

flu, hit Spain (where

they called it French

Influenza), everyone in

Europe was introduced

to the problem.