Antonio Cánovas del Castillo

{{Short description|Spanish politician and Bourbon Restoration architect (1828–1897)}} {{distinguish|Antonio Canova}} {{family name hatnote|Cánovas|del Castillo|lang=Spanish}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Most Excellent | name = Antonio Cánovas del Castillo | honorific_suffix = | image = CFP Canovas del Castillo (cropped).jpg | caption = | office = Prime Minister of Spain | monarch = Alfonso XIII | term_start = 24 March 1895 | term_end = 8 August 1897 | predecessor = Práxedes Mateo Sagasta | successor = Marcelo Azcárraga | monarch1 = Alfonso XIII | term_start1 = 8 July 1890 | term_end1 = 13 December 1892 | predecessor1 = Práxedes Mateo Sagasta | successor1 = Práxedes Mateo Sagasta | monarch2 = Alfonso XII | term_start2 = 20 January 1884 | term_end2 = 28 November 1885 | predecessor2 = José Posada Herrera | successor2 = Práxedes Mateo Sagasta | monarch3 = Alfonso XII | term_start3 = 11 December 1879 | term_end3 = 10 February 1881 | predecessor3 = Arsenio Martínez Campos | successor3 = Práxedes Mateo Sagasta | monarch4 = Alfonso XII | term_start4 = 3 December 1875 | term_end4 = 8 March 1879 | predecessor4 = Joaquín Jovellar | successor4 = Arsenio Martínez Campos | monarch5 = Alfonso XII | term_start5 = 10 January 1875 | term_end5 = 12 September 1875 | predecessor5 = Himself (as President of the Ministry-Regency) | successor5 = Joaquín Jovellar | office6 = President of the Ministry-Regency<ref>As head of state until the reach of Alfonso XII</ref> | term_start6 = 31 December 1874 | term_end6 = 10 January 1875 | predecessor6 = {{Unbulleted list|Práxedes Mateo Sagasta|{{small|as Prime Minister}}|Francisco Serrano|{{small|as President}}}} | successor6 = {{Unbulleted list|''Himself''|{{small|as Prime Minister}}|Alfonso XII|{{small|as King}}}} | birth_name = Antonio Cánovas del Castillo | birth_date = {{birth date|1828|2|8|df=y}} | birth_place = Málaga, Spain | death_date = {{death date and age|1897|8|8|1828|2|8|df=y}} | death_place = Mondragón, Spain | resting_place = Pantheon of Illustrious Men | party = Conservative Party | nickname = ''El Monstruo'' | signature = Firma Cánovas del Castillo.png | office7 = President of the Congress of Deputies | monarch7 = Alfonso XIII | term_start7 = 26 December 1885 | term_end7 = 8 March 1886 | predecessor7 = Francisco de Borja Quiepo | successor7 = Cristino Martos y Balbí | office9 = Minister of Governance of Spain | monarch9 = Isabella II | prime_minister9 = Alejandro Mon y Menéndez | predecessor9 = Antonio de Benavides y Fernández de Navarrete | successor9 = Luis González Bravo | term_start9 = 1 March | term_end9 = 16 September 1864 | office10 = Minister of Overseas of Spain | monarch10 = Isabella II | prime_minister10 = Leopoldo O'Donnell | term_start10 = 21 June 1865 | term_end10 = 10 July 1866 | predecessor10 = Manuel Seijas Lozano | successor10 = Alejandro de Castro Casal | 1blankname2 = Regent | 1namedata2 = Maria Christina of Austria | 1blankname = Regent | 1namedata = Maria Christina of Austria | 2blankname1 = Regent | 2namedata1 = Maria Christina of Austria | 1blankname7 = Regent | 1namedata7 = Maria Christina of Austria | 2blankname7 = Prime Minister | 2namedata7 = Práxedes Mateo Sagasta | office11 = Minister of the Navy of Spain | status11 = Interim | term_start11 = 9 February | term_end11 = 8 June 1875 | monarch11 = Alfonso XII | prime_minister11 = Himself | predecessor11 = Mariano Roca de Togrores | successor11 = Santiago Durán Lira | term_start12 = 5 July 1890 | term_end12 = 23 November 1891 | status12 = Interim | monarch12 = Alfonso XIII | 1blankname12 = Regent | 1namedata12 = Maria Christina of Austria | 2blankname12 = Prime Minister | 2namedata12 = Himself | predecessor12 = José María Beránger | successor12 = Florencio Montojo y Trillo | term_start13 = 22 August 1860 | term_end13 = 21 January 1863 | monarch13 = Isabella II | prime_minister13 = Leopoldo O'Donnell | 1blankname13 = Minister of Governance | 1namedata13 = José Posada Herrera | office14 = Under Secretary of the Governance | term_start14 = 3 November 1867 | term_end14 = 8 August 1897 | predecessor14 = Juan Lorenzana | successor14 = Nicolás Suárez Cantón | office8 = Minister of State of Spain | status8 = Interim | monarch8 = Alfonso XII | prime_minister8 = Himself | predecessor8 = Francisco de Borja Queipo | successor8 = Marquess of Pazo de la Merced | term_start8 = 20 January | term_end8 = 19 March 1880 }}

'''Antonio Cánovas del Castillo'''<ref name=Karnow>{{cite-Karnow|Antonio Canovas}}</ref> (8 February 1828{{snd}}8 August 1897) was a Spanish politician and historian known principally for serving six terms as prime minister and his overarching role as "architect" of the regime that ensued with the 1874 restoration of the Bourbon monarchy. He was assassinated by Italian anarchist Michele Angiolillo.<ref>{{cite web|title=Canovas nunca morirá |url=http://www.triscaidecafilo.es/canovas-nunca-morira |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150920205658/http://www.triscaidecafilo.es/canovas-nunca-morira/ |archive-date=2015-09-20 }}</ref>

As leader of the Liberal-Conservative Party—also known more simply as the Conservative Party—the name of Cánovas became symbolic of the alternate succession in the Restoration regime along with Práxedes Mateo Sagasta's.{{Sfn|Ruiz|1998|pp=14–15}}

==Early career== thumb|left|170px|Portrait of Cánovas ({{Circa|1869}}) Born in Málaga as the son of Antonio Cánovas García and Juana del Castillo y Estébanez, Cánovas moved to Madrid after the death of his father where he lived with his mother's cousin, 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 General Leopoldo O'Donnell, when he drafted the Manifesto of Manzanares, which accompanied the military overthrow of the sitting government, laid out the political goals of the movement, and played a critical role as it attracted the masses' support when the coup seemed to fail. 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. That 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 to 1866. After the 1868 Glorious Revolution (Revolución Gloriosa), he retired from the government, but 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 conservative minority in the Cortes, he declaimed against universal suffrage and freedom of religion. He also drafted the Manifesto of Sandhurst and prevailed upon Alfonso XII to issue it, just as he had done years previously with O'Donnell.

==Prime minister== Cánovas returned to active politics with the 1874 overthrow of the Republic by General Martínez Campos and the 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). He was a principal author of the Spanish Constitution of 1876, which formalised the constitutional monarchy that had resulted from the restoration of Alfonso and limited suffrage to reduce the political influence of the working class and assuage the voting support from the wealthy minority becoming the protected status quo. [[File:Turnismo.jpg|thumb|left|Cartoon in ''El Motín'' depicting Cánovas and Sagasta on a see-saw whose fulcrum is an allegory of Spain]] Cánovas del Castillo played a key role in bringing an end to the last Carlist threat to Bourbon authority (1876) by merging a group of dissident Carlist deputies with his own Conservative party.{{Specify|date=June 2016}} More significantly, his term in office saw the victory achieved by the governmental Spanish troops in the Third Carlist War, the occupation of the Basque territory and the decree establishing an end to the centuries-long Basque specific status (July 1876) that resulted in its annexation to a centralist Spain. Against a backdrop of martial law imposed across the Basque Provinces (and possibly Navarre), heated negotiations with Liberal Basque high-ranking officials led to the establishment of the first Basque Economic Agreement (1878).

An artificial two-party system designed to reconcile the competing militarist, Catholic and Carlist power bases led to an alternating prime ministership (known as the ''turno pacifico'') with the progressive Práxedes Mateo Sagasta after 1881. He also assumed the functions of the head of state during the regency of María Cristina after Alfonso's death in 1885.

==Political crisis==  By the late 1880s, Cánovas' 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.

Cánovas' policies included mass arrests and a policy of torture: <blockquote>During a religious procession in 1896, at Barcelona, a bomb was thrown. Immediately three hundred men and women were arrested. Some were Anarchists, but the majority were trade unionists and Socialists. They were thrown into the notorious prison at the fortress of Montjuïc in Barcelona and tortured. After a number had been killed, or had gone insane, their cases were taken up by the liberal press of Europe, resulting in the release of a few survivors.

Reputedly it was Cánovas del Castillo who ordered the torture, including the burning of the victims' flesh, the crushing of their bones, and the cutting out of their tongues. Similar acts of brutality and barbarism had occurred during his regime in Cuba, and Canovas remained deaf to the appeals and protests of civilized conscience.<ref>{{cite book |last=Goldman |first=Emma|title=Anarchism And Other Essays|chapter=The Psychology Of Political Violence|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2162/2162-h/2162-h.htm#violence|publisher=Gutenberg}}</ref></blockquote>

His attempts to stabilize Spain's parliamentary system achieved a measure of success until World War I in which Spain was not spared the disturbances that ravaged much of the European continent. According to some views, his regime was a welcomed change from Spanish liberalism, considered by some to deny equal participation to political rivals. The restored parliamentary monarchy recognized the principle of allowing rival political opponents within the framework of a constitution. Yet, it would be decades before universal male suffrage and other typical characteristics of modern democratic systems were implemented; it was still very much an electoral system dominated by parties of established local elites.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Payne |first1=Stanley G. |title=The Collapse of the Spanish Republic 1933-1936 |date=2006 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=United States}}</ref>

==Man of letters== At the same time, Cánovas 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. That was followed by elevation to other bodies of letters, including the {{lang|es|Real Academia Española}} in 1867, the Academia de Ciencias Morales y Políticas in 1871 and the Real 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).

== Assassination == [[File:Angiolillo-assassinato.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.7|Assassination of Antonio Cánovas del Castillo on 8 August 1897, Mondragón.]] {{main|Assassination of Antonio Cánovas del Castillo}} In 1897, he was shot dead by Michele Angiolillo, an Italian anarchist, at the spa ''Santa Águeda'', in Mondragón, Guipúzcoa.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Michele Angiolillo e l' assassinio de Cánovas del Castillo |first=Francesco |last=Tamburini |journal=Spagna Contemporanea |issn=1121-7480 |issue=9 |year=1996 |pages=101–130 |language=it |via=Dialnet |url=https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=2930946}}</ref> Angiolillo invoked vengeance on Canovas on behalf of the execution of Jose Rizal and other Barcelona anarchists.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Anderson |first1=Benedict |title=Under Three Flags: Anarchism and the Anti-Colonial Imagination |date=2005 |publisher=Verson |location=London |isbn=1-84467-037-6 |page=193}}</ref> He thus did not live to see Spain's loss of her final colonies to the United States after the Spanish–American War.

== Personal life == He married María de la Concepción Espinosa de los Monteros y Rodrigo de Villamayor on 20 October 1860; he was widowed on 3 September 1863.<ref>{{Cite journal|journal=ABC|first=Eugenio|title=Una carta inédita de Cánovas del Castillo|last=Espinosa de los Monteros y Ortega|date=8 August 2019|url=http://hemeroteca.abc.es/nav/Navigate.exe/hemeroteca/madrid/abc/1963/04/25/027.html}}</ref> He married Joaquina de Osma y Zavala on 14 November 1887.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.memoriademadrid.es/doc_anexos/Workflow/4/230299/hem_genteconocida_19010821.pdf|title=La Duquesa de Cánovas del Castillo|journal=Gente Conocida|date=21 August 1901}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.openedition.org/cvz/1192?lang=es#ftn107|chapter=La elite político-administrativa del Ministerio de Ultramar: los subsecretarios (1863-1899)|first=Inés|last=Roldán de Montaud|location=Madrid|publisher=Casa de Velázquez|year=2015|pages=99–118|editor=Jean-Philippe Luis|title=L'État dans ses colonies|series=Collection de la Casa de Velázquez|isbn=9788490961506}}</ref> No progeny survived him.

== Ideology and thought ==

Cánovas was the chief architect of the Restoration regime, that strived for bringing stability to the Spanish society.<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OuAzDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA108|chapter=Civil and Military Relations in Spain in the Context of World War I|last=Gow|first=Richard|location=Leiden and Boston|publisher=Brill|editor=Gearóid Barry, Enrico Dal Lago & Róisín Healy|title=Small Nations and Colonial Peripheries in World War I|date=11 February 2016|page=108|isbn=978-90-04-29296-3}}</ref> It has been emphasized that the two figures most influential to his political ideas were Edmund Burke (from whom he derived a brand of traditionalism with a historicist rather than religious matrix) and Joaquín Francisco Pacheco.{{Sfn|Gómez Ochoa|2000|p=152}} Cánovas embraced an essentialist, metaphysical and providentialist conception of the nation.{{Sfn|Osés Gorráiz|1999|p=193}} A staunch opponent to universal suffrage, he held the view that "universal suffrage begets socialism in a natural, necessary and inevitable way".{{Sfn|Osés Gorráiz|1999|p=202}}

A supporter of slavery, he declared in November 1896 in a press interview: "Blacks in Cuba are free; they can enter into contracts, work or not work, and I think that slavery was much better than this freedom which they only took advantage of to do nothing and form masses of unemployed. Anyone who knows the blacks will tell you that in Madagascar, the Congo, as in Cuba, they are lazy, savage, prone to misbehavior, and that you have to lead them with authority and firmness to get anything out of them. These savages have no owner other than their own instincts, their primitive appetites".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Caballero |first=José Luis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UDMfEAAAQBAJ&dq=Los+negros+en+Cuba+son+libres%3B+pueden+contratar+compromisos%2C+trabajar+o+no+trabajar%E2%80%A6+y+creo+que+la+esclavitud+era+para+ellos+mucho+mejor+que+esta+libertad+que+solo+han+aprovechado+para+no+hacer+nada+y+formar+masas+de+desocupados.+Todos+los+que+conocen+a+los+negros+os+dir%C3%A1n+que+en+Madagascar%2C+en+el+Congo%2C+como+en+Cuba+son+perezosos%2C+salvajes%2C+inclinados+a+actuar+mal%2C+y+que+es+preciso+conducirlos+con+autoridad+y+firmeza+para+obtener+algo+de+ellos.+Estos+salvajes+no+tienen+otro+due%C3%B1o+que+sus+propios+instintos%2C+sus+apetitos+primitivos&pg=PT56 |title=Enigmas de la historia de Barcelona |date=2021-02-19 |publisher=Ma Non Troppo |isbn=978-84-9917-620-8 |language=es}}</ref>

In reference to his political and intellectual stature, Cánovas was nicknamed as ''el Monstruo'' ("The Monster") by his peers.{{Sfn|Seco Serrano|1997|p=415}}

==Legacy== [[File:Mausoleo de Cánovas del Castillo (Madrid) 01.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|Cánovas's tomb at the Pantheon of Illustrious Men in Madrid]] {{unreferenced section|date=July 2019}} The policies of repression and political manipulation that Cánovas made a cornerstone of his government helped foster the nationalist movements in both Catalonia and the Basque provinces and set the stage for labour unrest during the first two decades of the 20th century. The disastrous colonial policy not only led to the loss of Spain's remaining colonial possessions in the Pacific and Caribbean but also seriously weakened the government at home. A failed postwar coup by Camilo de Polavieja set off a long period of political instability, which ultimately led to the collapse of the monarchy and the dissolution of the constitution that Cánovas had authored.

His white marble mausoleum was carved by Agustí Querol Subirats at the Pantheon of Illustrious Men, in Madrid.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2010/06/07/madrid/1275914995.html |title=El arte y la muerte en el Panteón de Hombres Ilustres |first=Pilar |last=Heatley |date=8 June 2010 |access-date=23 November 2019 |location=Madrid |newspaper=El Mundo |publisher=Unidad Editorial Internet, S.L.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.libertaddigital.com/fotos/desconocido-oculto-panteon-hombres-ilustres-madrid-cultura-1016644/panteon-hombres-ilustres-madrid-14.jpg.html |title=El desconocido y oculto Panteón de los Hombres Ilustres en el centro de Madrid |first=David Alonso |last=Rincón |date=31 October 2019 |access-date=23 November 2019 |newspaper=Libertad Digital |language=es}}</ref>

==Arms== <gallery class="center" widths="200" heights="200"> File:Coat of Arms of Antonio Cánovas del Castillo.svg </gallery>

==References== ;Citations {{reflist|2}}

;Bibliography * {{Cite journal|url=https://recyt.fecyt.es/index.php/RevEsPol/article/view/46636|title=Ideología y cultura política en el pensamiento de Antonio Cánovas del Castillo|first=Fidel|last=Gómez Ochoa|year=2000|location=Madrid|publisher=Centro de Estudios Políticos y Constitucionales|journal=Revista de Estudios Políticos|issn=0048-7694|issue=108|pages=143–166}} * {{Cite journal|title=El sistema de Cánovas del Castillo. Las verdades madres en la política|first=Jesús María|last=Osés Gorráiz|journal=Revista de Estudios Políticos|issn=0048-7694|location=Madrid|publisher=Centro de Estudios Políticos y Constitucionales|url=https://recyt.fecyt.es/index.php/RevEsPol/article/view/46726|issue=103|year=1999|pages=187–212}} * {{Cite journal|first=Octavio|last=Ruiz|title=Spain on the Threshold of a New Century: Society and Politics before and after the Disaster of 1898|journal=Mediterranean Historical Review|year=1998|volume=13|issue=1/2|pages=7–27|doi=10.1080/09518969808569733}} * {{Cite journal|journal=Boletín Oficial de la Real Academia de la Historia|location=Madrid|publisher=Real Academia de la Historia|volume=CXCIV|issue=III|title=El centenario de Cánovas: aproximación cordial al 'Monstruo'|year=1997|first=Carlos|last=Seco Serrano|issn=0034-0626|pages=411–424|author-link=Carlos Seco Serrano|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ULCf8ka7PpsC&pg=PA415}}

==Further reading== {{Commons}} *{{cite EB1911|wstitle = Canovas del Castillo, Antonio|volume=5|pages=206-207}} * [https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/22/world/europe/spain-conservative-leader-assassination.html 1893: Spanish Conservative Leader Escapes Dynamite Attack], The New York Times

===Other sources=== ''The original version of this article draws heavily on the corresponding article in the Spanish-language Wikipedia, which was accessed in the version of 6 September 2007.''

{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{s-bef|before=Antonio de Benavides}} {{s-ttl|title=Minister of the Governation|years = 1864}} {{s-aft|after=Luis González Bravo}} {{s-bef|before=Manuel Seijas Lozano}} {{s-ttl|title=Minister of the Overseas|years = 1865–1866}} {{s-aft|after=Alejandro de Castro Casal}} {{s-bef|before=Francisco Serrano|as=President}} {{s-ttl|title=President of the Minister-Regency|years = 1874-1875}} {{s-aft|after= Alfonso XII|as=King of Spain}} {{s-bef|before=Práxedes Mateo Sagasta}} {{s-ttl|title=Prime Minister of Spain|years = 1875}} {{s-aft|after=Joaquín Jovellar Soler}} {{s-bef|before=Joaquín Jovellar Soler}} {{s-ttl|title=Prime Minister of Spain|years = 1875–1879}} {{s-aft|after=Arsenio Martínez-Campos Antón}} {{s-bef|before=Arsenio Martínez-Campos Antón}} {{s-ttl|title=Prime Minister of Spain|years = 1879–1881}} {{s-aft|after=Práxedes Mateo Sagasta}} {{s-bef|before=José Posada Herrera}} {{s-ttl|title=Prime Minister of Spain|years = 1884–1885}} {{s-aft|after=Práxedes Mateo Sagasta}} {{s-bef|before=Francisco de Borja Queipo de Llano}} {{s-ttl|title=President of the Congress of Deputies|years = 1885–1886}} {{s-aft|after=Cristino Martos Balbi}} {{s-bef|before=Práxedes Mateo Sagasta}} {{s-ttl|title=Prime Minister of Spain|years = 1890–1892}} {{s-aft|after=Práxedes Mateo Sagasta}} {{s-bef|before=Práxedes Mateo Sagasta}} {{s-ttl|title=Prime Minister of Spain|years = 1895–1897}} {{s-aft|after=Marcelo Azcárraga Palmero}} {{s-ppo}} {{s-bef|before=Party created}} {{s-ttl|title=Leader of the Conservative Party|years = 1874–1897}} {{s-aft|after=Francisco Silvela}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Canovas Del Castillo, Antonio}} Category:1828 births Category:1897 deaths Category:Politicians from Málaga Category:Assassinated prime ministers Category:Assassinated Spanish politicians Category:Deaths by firearm in Spain Category:Knights of St. Gregory the Great Category:Knights of the Golden Fleece of Spain Category:Leaders of political parties in Spain Category:Members of the Royal Spanish Academy Category:Members of the Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium Category:Economy and finance ministers of Spain Category:Presidents of the Congress of Deputies (Spain) Category:Conservative Party (Spain) politicians Category:People murdered in Spain Category:Prime ministers of Spain Category:Spanish untitled nobility Category:Spanish murder victims Category:People murdered in 1897 Category:Spanish political party founders Category:Politicians assassinated in the 1890s Category:19th-century regents