Antonio Canovas del Castillo

After the collapse of the First Spanish Republic, Canovas engineered the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy under Alfonso XII. He orchestrated a pronunciamiento by General Martinez Campos in December 1874, ending the republican experiment and establishing a stable monarchical regime.

Canovas del Castillo oversaw the drafting and implementation of the Spanish Constitution of 1876. This document established a conservative, constitutional monarchy under Alfonso XII, defining the political framework of the Bourbon Restoration and limiting democratic reforms.

Canovas established the turno pacifico, a system of alternating power between the Conservative and Liberal parties. This arrangement, based on electoral manipulation and caciquismo, ensured political stability but prevented genuine democratic representation in Spain.

Canovas del Castillo was shot and killed at the Santa Agueda spa in Mondragon by Italian anarchist Michele Angiolillo. The assassination was in retaliation for the execution of anarchists in the Montjuic trial following the 1896 Barcelona Corpus Christi procession bombing.