. Historically, Spanish nationalism specifically emerged with
liberalism, during the
Peninsular War against occupation by the
Napoleonic France. As put by
José Álvarez Junco, insofar we speak of nationalism in Spain since 1808, the Spanish nationalist enterprise was a work of liberals, who turned their victory "to a feverish identity of patriotism and the defense of liberty". thus, in the last half of the century, a number of Conservative historians (most notably
Menéndez Pelayo, whose figure eventually became a lodestar of national catholicism) propelled a new canon of the
history of Spain underpinned by their idea of "Catholic unity" as tenet for the Spanish nationality and the
monarchy. The
menéndezpelayista nationalist construct was well defined in its Catholic matrix (Catholicism would end up becoming the keystone of the reactionary right wing in the 20th century) yet more nuanced in other regards accounting for both a staunch rejection of alternative nationalisms and separatisms and a recognition of the internal plurality of Spain.
Restoration prime minister and historian
Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, reproduced some of the best-known paragraphs of the
Memorial of the Count-Duke of Olivares in his book
Estudios del reinado of Felipe IV, published in 1888, and considered that the Memorial should be read as a manifesto in which the bases of the project of the Spanish nation state devised by the Count-Duke were established. With the loss of Cuba interpreted as the first crack on the unity of the nation (the
Cuban War had been seen by many in the country as a civil war rather than a foreign conflict), Spanish nationalism of the time had to come to terms with the loss of the island at a time when the possession of colonies was seen as a sign of the vitality of the nation. The so-called "spirit of the 98", created after
disaster of 1898, entailed a response coming from the elite intellectual milieus striving for the development of a new Spanish nationalism. While this reaction was not initially identified
per se with the right, (several of the representatives of the literary nationalism of the 98 were actually close to socialist or anarchist stances early in their life) many of the most prominent
noventayochistas espoused ideas compatible with the conservative thought and several of them eventually evolved towards non-liberal forms of Conservatism, and a group of them would have a substantial intellectual influence in the moulding of the later Fascist ultranationalism. While not yet Fascist nor proto-Fascist, the socalled :
Azorín,
Pío Baroja and
Ramiro de Maeztu, laid the seeds for a potential doctrinal articulation susceptible of being seized by a Fascist movement.
19th century First Moroccan War After continued incidents, in October 1859 the First Moroccan War began, with a patriotic enthusiasm to imitate the French colonial advances in
Algeria, and the dazzle by the opportunities. Articles and books about it were published everywhere, telling about Spain's mission in
Africa, and creating a story that contrasted
Morocco and Spain, identifying them with despotism and freedom, or integrism and tolerance, respectively, and they listed Spanish exploits throughout history. Numerous speeches were also made, such as that of Francisco Javier Simonet at the
Ateneo de Madrid, in 1859, legitimizing the right to assist Spain in its civilizing mission, given that in his opinion,
North Africa was populated by two great races, Tamites (Arabs) and Semites (Berbers), both in a state of ignorance and barbarism. By itself or through the patriotism of the media, the war acted as a nationalist agent among the population. Nevertheless, journalists like Ruperto de Aguirre go further, and talk about race and degeneration applied to the North African population,
20th century demonstration in
Salamanca in 1937 In the view of
Ismael Saz, within
regenerationism, a diverse brand of nationalism, the two main antiliberal nationalist political cultures in the 20th century in Spain would come to be forged: the reactionary nationalist one (
national catholicism) and the fascist one, both enjoying hegemony during the
Francoist dictatorship. Spanish liberal philosopher and essayist
José Ortega y Gasset defined Spain as an "enthusing project for a life in common"
(proyecto sugestivo de vida en común). Meanwhile, the Fascist leader
José Antonio Primo de Rivera preferred the definition of a "unity of destiny in the universal" and defended a return to the traditional and spiritual values of
Imperial Spain. The idea of
empire makes it universalist rather than localist, this is what makes it singular among other forms of nationalisms, but closer to others (
Italian fascism).
Relationship between Spanish nationalism and Argentine nationalism Many of the people involved in the establishment of the word
Hispanidad have a relationship with
Argentina, to live there, such as the Spanish writer
José María Salaverría, resident in Argentina between 1910 and 1913, the Spanish priest Zacarías de Vizcarra, resident in
Buenos Aires, or
Ramiro de Maeztu, ambassador to Argentina between 1928 and 1930. In fact, throughout the first third of the 20th century there is a fluid relationship between Spanish nationalism and Argentine nationalism, which would include the creation of material of great impact on both sides of the Atlantic, such as now the book
El Solar de la raza, by the argentine Manuel Gálvez, from 1913. An impact that would extend to the
Spanish Civil War, for example in the instructions of the Fiscalía del Ejercito de Ocupación, of January 1939, preparing the occupation of
Barcelona, which unified the criteria of the military prosecutors in the
Memoria de la Fiscalía de Ejercito de Ocupación, with instructions such as:"
The national site must be disinfected. And here is the work - glorious and glorious - entrusted by chance to military justice... This immense pyre in which so much dross is being eliminated... The Inquisition must be resurrected,... of very Spanish originality. .. [There is] a need for a new legal building on the site of the race... stripped of all feelings of personal piety... The enemies are factions guilty of the crime of Military Rebellion, factions of rebels against the Fatherland " it was called to attack
Jews and
Catalans indiscriminately can be placed within the relations with Spanish nationalism . The reasons are not clear, especially considering that, in the case of Buenos Aires, the Catalan colony, established mainly in the neighborhood of Montserrat, came from the very foundation of the city. It could be pointed to the fact that Spanish nationalism already at that time qualified the Catalans as of Semitic ethnicity. In addition to soldiers from the Spanish Military Union, very active in the spread of Spanish nationalist and coup ideology, both people from the
CEDA and the
Falange, like the respective parties, had relations with Nazism, and when the revolt against the Spanish Republic began, an intense collaboration was established, numerous German soldiers collaborated with the Spanish rebels, and even military units, such as the
Condor Legion, fought there. or the intense cooperation between the
Ahnenerbe and Falangist archaeologists, in which even the secretary of the Falange, José Luis Arrese, reported
Himmler personally about the interest in creating a kind of Spanish Ahnenerbe dependent on the Falange to investigate Spanish prehistory, as was done by the Nazi organization, with whom he wanted to coordinate.
Spanish civil war By calling itself "national", the rebel side makes both a declaration of intent and a great advertising maneuver, complemented by the designation of the red side towards the republicans, and generally Anti-Spain to all those they considered enemies. It is a successful propaganda action, given that currently there are still those who call the sides (or on "national" radio) with the fascist denomination. In each of the dams of a population, the motto
Entra España or
Ya es España was repeated; and in addition to identifying the Republican side as red and anti-Spanish, they also did it with
Russia and the
Jews. In the case of Russia, it continued to be done obsessively after the war with the topics, turned into clichés, of Russia is guilty and Moscow's gold). In the case of the Jews, after the fall of the Axis, public culpability decreased drastically. In the context of the civil war, the rebel side issued orders of an ultra-nationalist nature:Order and Hand: Article 1: Any extremist element who, when given the cry of VIVA ESPAÑA, does not respond in the same way, will be executed by firing squad in the act. Article 2: When the authorities present themselves in the vicinity of their homes and the personnel who are inside before the arrival of the force do not come out with their arms open in the air shouting VIVA ESPAÑA they will be passed by the weapons in the act (...) Falces, August 11, 1936. His Excellency. Mr. Military commander of the square.
Racism and eugenics within Franco's Spanish nationalism Both before and after the civil war, Spanish nationalism was heavily imbued with
racism. Even the influential lawyer and politician
José Antonio Primo de Rivera wrote an essay titled "Germans against Berbers", with clear racial connotations. The speeches, articles and harangues of the
fascists were full of allusions to the "Spanish race". Since it does not seem to have had consequences, not much has been investigated, but there are works that postulate that the war served to purify impurities within the Spanish race. Several Francoist scientists and intellectuals proposed racial selection, such as
Antonio Vallejo-Nájera:...the race received parasitic Hebrew and Arab elements, which continued to adhere to it, despite the exile of Jews and Moors. Today, as during the Reconquest, we fight the Spanish-Roman-Goths against the Jews-Moriscos. The pure racial trunk against the spurious.We must kill, kill, you know? They're like animals, you know? And you don't have to wait for them to get rid of the virus of Bolshevism. After all, rats and lice are the carriers of the plague. Now I hope you understand what do we mean by the regeneration of Spain.... Our program consists... in exterminating a third of the male population of Spain.The purge pointed to tens of thousands of individuals throughout the State, but also special attention to the peripheral territories that had been independent from Castile: Galicia, the Basque Country, the old
Al-Andalus (
Andalusia and
Extremadura), where the repression was brutal, and especially the
catalan language zones of the
Crown of Aragon, where the repression was continued over time until it was consolidated as state policy. Peripheral nationalisms have acquired a significant presence and territorial power, especially in
Catalonia (
Convergence and Union Republican Left of Catalonia) and the
Basque Country (
Basque Nationalist Party, as well as among
EA and so-called
abertzale left). The numbers are substantially lower in comparison to Catalonia and Basque Country, but these nationalisms are still present in
Navarre (Nabai) and
Galicia (Galician National Bloc) too. The
Canary Islands (
Coalición Canaria),
Andalusia (
Partido Andalucista) and other autonomous communities also have less obvious nationalism and are often grouped as
regionalisms, based on linguistic or historical differential facts no less distinct than the previous ones. In comparison to other nationalisms, "Spanish nationalism" is often referred to as
españolismo, an equivalent to
centralism. Usually with a controversial political purpose, it may be identified with
conservative nostalgia for Franco's regime or with alleged state oppression in those territories, which in extreme cases (particularly
ETA in the
Basque Country and
Navarre) is used as justification for
terrorism that sees itself as
armed struggle for
national liberation. By contrast, none of the major political parties affected by such designation of
españolistas or "Spanish nationalists", self-identify as such. Instead, they use the phrase
non-nationalist to separate themselves from the
nationalist, which is how they usually designate the so-called "periphery" or outliers. It seeks to respect the different visions of Spain and fit it into a pluralistic framework,
inclusive and
non-exclusive. Concepts which often coincide the majority's political parties,
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party and
People's Party, the minority's,
United Left,
Union, Progress and Democracy, and other regional or nationalist parties sometimes called
moderate, despite maintaining deep political differences.
21st century Democracy consolidated an apparent asymmetric regime of
bilingualism of sorts, wherein the Spanish government has employed a system of laws that favored Spanish over other Spanish languages (such as Catalan) which becomes the weaker of the two languages' relationship, and therefore, in the absence of other states where it is spoken, is doomed to extinction in the medium or short term. In the same vein, its use in the Spanish Congress was not allowed until 2023, with previous attempts before that year blocked. During the Spanish EU presidency in 2023, there was a formal request to add Catalan, Basque and Galician to the list of official languages of the EU, following past requests from
Ireland with
Gaelic with less speakers. In other institutional areas, such as justice,
Plataforma per la Llengua has denounced
Catalanophobia. The association
Soberania i Justícia have also denounced it in an act in the
European Parliament. It also takes the form of
linguistic secessionism, originally advocated by the Spanish extreme right and which has finally been adopted by the Spanish government itself and state bodies. Aside, the fiscal drainage of the Catalan-speaking territories is something studied by some public and private bodies, from Chambers of Commerce to banks. This is added to the investment deficit in infrastructure, and even in political actions of business relocation of Catalan companies, initiated by the Franco regime and continued during democracy, Also, after the
2017 thwarted referendum on Catalan independence, hitherto stigmatized public displays of Spanish nationalism (such as flags hanging from buildings) increased.
Banal nationalism The language and culture of a population of around 10 million
Catalan-Valencian speakers is non-existent in the Spanish media for all the state. At the same time, the media and social networks are a vehicle for the dissemination of a subtle or explicit Catalanophobia accompanying banal Spanish nationalism. Often the message emerges from the media or from ultra-nationalist groups and then becomes more clearly or discreetly incorporated into the discourse of the major Spanish parties and their majority of voters. == Linguistic nationalism ==