El impulso nacionalizador de la Revolución de 1868

Abstract

The pre-Republican years of the Revolutionary Sexenium (i. e., 1868-1872), witnessed a strong push for nation-building in Spain. In spite of their internal divisions, revolutionary élites shared several basic agreements: they all believed in a centuries-old Spanish identity; they agreed on its Liberal essence; they claimed that the 1868 revolution had been a product of the national will; and they were certain that building a modern and progressive Spain would locate the country among the major European powers. This is why so important efforts were made to build and strengthen national symbols (flag, anthem, festivities, coins, stamps, monuments and lieux de mémoire). But these efforts had to confront internal divisions, political instability, weakness of the political structure that was being built parallel to the national identity and, above all, the close intermix between the national and the liberal project, something which excluded Catholic-conservative Spaniards.