Miguel Primo de Rivera

Miguel Primo de Rivera 1870-1930, Spanish general and dictator. After a rapid and brilliant military career in Cuba, the Philippines, and Morocco, he became governor of Cádiz (1915), then in turn captain general of Valencia, Madrid, and Catalonia. From Catalonia he staged a coup in Sept., 1923, dissolving the Cortes and then establishing, with the full approval of King Alfonso XIII, a military directory. The constitution of 1876 as well as civil liberties were suspended. The military dictatorship was replaced by a civil one (1925); both ruled quite moderately, without the brutalities and extreme repression that characterized later dictatorships. Primo de Rivera ended the war in Morocco (1926), introduced many measures aimed at economic modernization and administrative reform, and launched an ambitious program of public works, but his rule aroused the opposition of anarcho-syndicalists, Catalan regionalists, and all liberals. An uprising in 1929 by the liberals did not succeed, but various political and economic failures of the regime soon led to his resignation (Jan., 1930). He died in exile in Paris.

Primo de Rivera, Miguel (1870–1930) Spanish general. In 1923, he staged a coup with the support of King Alfonso XIII. He dissolved Parliament, and established a military dictatorship modelled on the government of Mussolini. He restored order and helped to end the revolt of Abd-el-Krim in Morocco (1926). The poor state of the economy forced him to resign in 1930. His son, José Antonio (1903–36) founded the Falange in 1933.

Falange, the (Spanish, ‘phalanx’) A Spanish political party, the Falange Española. Founded in 1933 by José António Primo de Rivera, the son of General PRIMO DE RIVERA, its members were equally opposed to the reactionary Right and the revolutionary Left. It proposed that Spain should become a syndicalist state on Italian fascist lines. During the SPANISH CIVIL WAR Franco saw the potential value of the Falange and adopted the movement in April 1937. After World War II it ceased to be identified with fascism and its influence waned. It was formally abolished in 1977.