Antonio Cánovas del Castillo 1275091 225582757 2008-07-14T12:26:44Z 121.97.213.130 /* Years as Prime Minister */ {{Unreferenced|date=December 2006}} {{Infobox_President | name=Antonio Cánovas del Castillo | nationality=[[Spain]] | image=Canovas2.jpg | predecessor= | successor= | birth_date={{birth date|1825|2|8|mf=y}} | birth_place=[[Madrid]], [[Spain]] | dead= | death_date={{death date|1897|8|8|mf=y}} | death_place=[[Mondragón]], [[Gipuzkoa]] | spouse= | religion = | party=Liberal-Conservative Party | vicepresident= |office1=[[Prime Minister of Spain]] (first term) |term_start1=[[31 December]], [[1874]] |term_end1=[[12 September]], [[1875]] |preceded1=[[Práxedes Mateo Sagasta]] |succeeded1=[[Joaquín Jovellar y Soler]] |office2=Prime Minister of Spain (second term) |term_start2=[[2 December]], [[1875]] |term_end2=[[7 March]], [[1879]] |preceded2=Joaquín Jovellar y Soler |succeeded2=[[Arsenio Martínez Campos]] |office3=Prime Minister of Spain (third term) |term_start3=[[9 December]], [[1879]] |term_end3=[[8 February]], [[1881]] |preceded3=Arsenio Martínez Campos |succeeded3=Práxedes Mateo Sagasta |office4=Prime Minister of Spain (fourth term) |term_start4=[[18 January]], [[1884]] |term_end4=[[27 November]], [[1885]] |preceded4=[[José Posada Herrera]] |succeeded4=Práxedes Mateo Sagasta |office5=Prime Minister of Spain (fifth term) |term_start5=[[5 July]], [[1890]] |term_end5=[[11 December]], [[1892]] |preceded5=Práxedes Mateo Sagasta |succeeded5=Práxedes Mateo Sagasta |office6=Prime Minister of Spain (sixth term) |term_start6=[[23 March]], [[1895]] |term_end6=[[8 August]], [[1897]] |preceded6=Práxedes Mateo Sagasta |succeeded6=[[Marcelo de Azcárraga y Palmero]] }} '''Antonio Cánovas del Castillo''' ([[February 8]], [[1828]] – [[August 8]], [[1897]]) was an important 19th century [[Spain|Spanish]] [[politician]] and [[historian]] known principally for his role in supporting the restoration of the [[House of Bourbon|Bourbon]] monarchy to the Spanish throne and for his death at the hands of an [[Anarchism|anarchist]] assassin, [[Michele Angiolillo]]. ==Early career== Born in [[Málaga]], Cánovas Del Castillo moved to [[Madrid]] after the death of his father where he lived with his uncle, the writer Serafín Estébanez Calderón. Although he studied [[law]] at the [[University of Madrid]], he showed an early interest in politics and Spanish history. His active involvement in politics dates to the 1854 revolution led by the general [[Leopoldo O'Donnell, 1st Duke of Tetuan|Leopoldo O'Donell]], when he wrote the "Manifiesto de Manzanares" that accompanied the military overthrow of the sitting government and laid out the political goals of the movement. During the final years of [[Isabel II]], he served in a number of posts, including a diplomatic mission to [[Rome]], governor of [[Cádiz]], and director general of local administration. This period of his political career culminated in his being twice made a government minister, first taking the interior portfolio in 1864 and then the overseas territories portfolio in 1865-1866. After the 1868 Glorious Revolution (Revolución Gloriosa), he retired from the government, although he was a strong supporter of the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy during the [[First Spanish Republic]] (1873-1874) and as the leader of the [[Conservatism|conservative]] minority in the [[Cortes]], he declaimed against [[universal suffrage]] and [[freedom of religion]]. ==Years as Prime Minister== Cánovas Del Castillo returned to active politics with the 1874 overthrow of the Republic by [[Arsenio Martínez Campos|General Martínez Campos]] and the [[Spain under the Restoration|elevation]] of Isabell II's son [[Alfonso XII]] to the throne. He served as Prime Minister (''Primer presidente del Consejo de Ministros'') for six years starting in 1874 (although he was twice briefly replaced in 1875 and 1879). During this period, he was a principal author of the [[Spanish Constitution]] of 1876, a document which formalised the constitutional monarchy that had resulted from the restoration of Alfonso and limited suffrage in order to reduce the political influence of the working class. Cánovas Del Castillo played a key role in bringing an end to the last [[Carlism|Carlist]] threat to Bourbon authority (1876) by merging a group of dissident Carlist deputies with his own Conservative party. An artificial two-party system designed to reconcile the competing militarist, Catholic and Carlist power bases led to an alternating prime ministership with the progressive [[Práxedes Mateo Sagasta]] after 1881. He also assumed the functions of the Head of State during the regency of [[Maria Christina of Austria|María Cristina]] following Alfonso's death in 1885. ==Political crisis== By the late 1880s, Cánovas Del Castillo's policies were under threat from two sources. First, his overseas policy was increasingly untenable. A policy of repression against Cuban nationalists was ultimately ineffective and Spain's authority was challenged most seriously by the [[1895]] rebellion led by [[José Martí]]. Spain's policy against Cuban independence brought her increasingly into conflict with the United States, an antagonism that culminated in the [[Spanish-American War]] of 1898. Second, the political repression of Spain's working class was growing increasingly troublesome, and pressure for expanded suffrage mounted amid widespread discontent with the ''cacique'' system of electoral manipulation. ==Man of Letters== At the same time, Cánovas Del Castillo remained an active man of letters. His historical writings earned him a considerable reputation, particularly his ''History of the Decline of Spain'' (Historia de la decadencia de España), for which he was elected at the young age of 32 to the Real Academia de la Historia in 1860. This was followed by elevation to other bodies of letters, including the [[Real Academia Española]] in 1867, the Academia de Ciencias Morales y Políticas in 1871 and the Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in 1887. He also served as the head of the Athenaeum in Madrid (1870-74, 1882-84 and 1888-89). ==Death and legacy== [[Image:Mausoleo de Cánovas del Castillo (Madrid) 01.jpg|thumb|Tomb of Cánovas at the ''[[Panteón de Hombres Ilustres]], Madrid.]] Cánovas Del Castillo eventually paid a personal price for his policies of repression. In 1897, he was shot dead by [[Michele Angiolillo]], an Italian [[anarchist]], at the spa ''Santa Águeda'', in [[Mondragón]], Guipúzcoa. He thus did not live to see Spain's loss of her final colonies to the [[United States]] after the [[Spanish-American War]]. The policies of repression and political manipulation that Cánovas Del Castillo made a cornerstone of his government helped foster the nationalist movements in both [[Catalan nationalism|Catalonia]] and [[Basque nationalism|the Basque provinces]] and set the stage for labour unrest during the first two decades of the twentieth century. The disastrous colonial policy not only led to the loss of Spain's remaining colonial possessions in the Pacific and Caribbean, it also seriously weakened the government at home. A failed post-war [[coup]] by [[Camilo García de Polavieja]] set off a long period of political instability that ultimately led to the collapse of the monarchy and the dissolution of the constitution that Cánovas Del Castillo had authored. ==Sources== ''The original version of this article draws heavily on the [[:es:Antonio Cánovas del Castillo|corresponding article]] in the Spanish-language Wikipedia, which was accessed in the version of 6 September 2007.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Canovas del Castillo, Antonio}} [[Category:Prime Ministers of Spain]] [[Category:Spanish politicians]] [[Category:Spanish nobility]] [[Category:Knights of the Golden Fleece]] [[Category:Members of the Royal Spanish Academy]] [[Category:Andalusian people]] [[Category:Assassinated Spanish politicians]] [[Category:Deaths by firearm in Spain]] [[Category:1828 births]] [[Category:1897 deaths]] [[ca:Antonio Cánovas del Castillo]] [[de:Antonio Cánovas del Castillo]] [[es:Antonio Cánovas del Castillo]] [[eu:Antonio Canovas del Castillo]] [[fr:Antonio Cánovas del Castillo]] [[gl:Antonio Cánovas del Castillo]] [[it:Antonio Cánovas del Castillo]] [[pt:Antonio Cánovas del Castillo]] [[sv:Antonio Cánovas del Castillo]]