Until the beginning of the Second Republic, Spanish society seemed to have managed to avoid the problems and troubles that had beset most other European countries since 1914. Spain had not taken part in the First World War, and therefore had not undergone the upheaval that this war had caused, with the fall of empires and their subjects, the demobilising of millions of ex-combatants and massive debt caused by the vast spending on the war effort.

The Spanish Monarchy was overthrown not by a war, but by its inability to provide the Spanish with a smooth transition from an oligarchic and cacique-style regime to one of reform and democracy. The fall of Primo de Rivera's dictatorship on 28 January 1930, in power from September 1923, led to a process of political radicalisation and an upswing in republicanism. This surge brought together old conservatives who had decided to abandon the King, lifelong republicans, new republicans, socialists who felt the need to influence the movement from the inside, and prominent intellectuals. Together they made a commitment to prepare the uprising against the Monarchy and to implement the Republic.

The insurrectional approach, with its long history of setting the military against politicians, failed in Jaca in December 1930. Just four months later, the local elections of 12 April were turned into a plebi­scite between Monarchy and republicanism. It was soon clear that the republicans had won in most of the provincial capitals.