Selectividad / EvAU (Spain) · History of Spain

Spanish History from the 1808 Independence War to the Democratic Transition

40 practice questions, each with the answer and an explanation.

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Random questions from this topic, one at a time. You see the answer and the explanation straight after each one.

All 40 questions

  1. Which constitution promulgated by the Cortes of Cádiz established national sovereignty and universal indirect male suffrage in Spain?
  2. Which Spanish military general initiated the 1820 liberal pronunciamiento in Las Cabezas de San Juan, forcing Ferdinand VII to restore the 1812 Constitution?
  3. What name was given to the French military expedition sent by the Holy Alliance in 1823 to restore Ferdinand VII to absolute power?
  4. Which finance minister implemented the 1836 disentailment (desamortización) that expropriated and sold off regular Catholic Church properties in Spain?
  5. What convention signed in August 1839 between Generals Espartero and Maroto brought an end to the First Carlist War in northern Spain?
  6. Who was proclaimed King of Spain by the Cortes in 1870 following the overthrow of Queen Isabella II during the Glorious Revolution?
  7. Which conservative statesman designed the political architecture of the Restoration regime and drafted the Constitution of 1876?
  8. What political practice in the Restoration system involved manipulating voter registries and local bosses to guarantee election victories?
  9. Which treaty ended the Spanish-American War in December 1898, forcing Spain to cede Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines?
  10. Which Spanish political leader founded the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) in 1879 and the General Workers' Union (UGT) in 1888?
  11. What 1909 event in Barcelona began as a general strike against the conscription of reservists for the Rif War and turned into violent anti-clerical riots?
  12. What military disaster occurred in northern Morocco in July 1921 when Rif tribesmen led by Abd el-Krim routed Spanish colonial forces?
  13. In which year did General Miguel Primo de Rivera carry out a coup d'état that established a military dictatorship with the consent of King Alfonso XIII?
  14. Which Spanish member of parliament fiercely defended women's right to vote during the 1931 constitutional debates against objections from Victoria Kent?
  15. What political coalition comprising Republican Action, the PSOE, the Communist Party, and left-wing regionalists won the Spanish general elections of February 1936?
  16. Which major battle of the Spanish Civil War fought along the river from July to November 1938 represented the Republican army's last large-scale strategic offensive?
  17. What official economic stabilization plan implemented by Francoist technocrats in 1959 dismantled autarky and opened Spain to foreign investment?
  18. Who was appointed President of the Government by King Juan Carlos I in July 1976 and led the peaceful dismantling of Francoist institutions?
  19. On which date did Spanish citizens ratify the current democratic Constitution in a nationwide referendum?
  20. What lieutenant colonel of the Civil Guard stormed the Congress of Deputies on February 23, 1981, in an attempted coup d'état?
  21. In which city were the abdications of Charles IV and Ferdinand VII forced by Napoleon Bonaparte in May 1808?
  22. Which Carlist motto encapsulated their defense of traditional Catholic monarchy, regional fueros, and opposition to liberal centralization?
  23. Which Spanish prime minister was assassinated by an anarchist militant in August 1897 at the thermal spa of Santa Águeda?
  24. Which agrarian reform law enacted during the Second Republic aimed to redistribute uncultivated large estates (latifundios) to landless peasants?
  25. Which military commander led the July 1936 uprising in Pamplona, acting as the chief planner ('El Director') of the conspiracy against the Republic?
  26. What agreement signed in September 1953 granted the United States military airbases in Spain in exchange for economic and military assistance?
  27. Which Basque industrial city suffered catastrophic aerial bombing on April 26, 1937, carried out by the German Condor Legion and Italian Aviazione Legionaria?
  28. Who was the Spanish prime minister assassinated in Madrid in December 1973 by an ETA car bomb that detonated under his vehicle?
  29. What political declaration published in December 1874 by Prince Alfonso proclaimed his commitment to constitutional monarchy, paving the way for the Restoration?
  30. Which regional manifesto adopted in 1892 in Catalonia laid out early demands for political autonomy, regional parliament, and official use of Catalan?
  31. Which Battle of July 1808 represented the first major open-field defeat of an imperial Napoleonic army in Europe?
  32. What political document presented to Ferdinand VII in April 1814 by 69 absolutist deputies requested the annulment of the 1812 Constitution?
  33. In which Spanish city did the popular rebellion of May 2, 1808, break out against the French occupation forces commanded by Murat?
  34. Who served as Regent of Spain from 1840 to 1843 after Queen Mother María Cristina was forced into exile by progressive politicians?
  35. What legal measure issued by Ferdinand VII in March 1830 repealed Salic law and allowed his daughter Isabella to inherit the Spanish throne?
  36. Which Spanish political party won an absolute parliamentary majority in October 1982, initiating nearly fourteen years of government under Felipe González?
  37. What military corps was founded in 1844 under the Moderate Decade by the Duke of Ahumada to provide public security in rural Spain?
  38. Which international pact signed in Paris in 1953 by Francoist Spain with the Holy See granted the regime moral legitimacy and fiscal privileges to the Church?
  39. Which political system established in Spain in 1873 was characterized by severe cantonal insurrections in cities such as Cartagena?
  40. In which year did Spain officially join the European Economic Community (EEC, later the European Union)?

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