On 13 September 1923, Miguel Primo de Rivera, the captain general of Catalonia, led a military uprising to put an end to the constitutional government; he came to power with the blessing of the king, the support of the army as well as employers’ and Catholic organisations, and the indifference and apathy of most of the population. In the early stages, up to the spring of 1924, the dictator aimed to quash public disorder, the threat of regional nationalism, the affair of the ‘responsibility’ for the Morocco disaster and the blight of caciquismo, which were, in his view, the main evils affecting Spain. His was a firm hand in an iron glove.

From then on, exceptional measures implemented by decree gave way to a process of institutionalisation. If the regime wanted to survive, it had to tackle social and economic problems and embark on the mobilisation of its social support, basically the somatén and the Unión Patriótica. In the autumn of 1925, capitalising on the success of the military campaign in Morocco, the dictator began thinking of a political solution that would give his regime legitimacy and stability. Before the year was out, the Military Directorate gave way to a civilian-style government that promoted administrative reforms and legislation of a social nature that played a big part in reducing labour conflicts. The summer of 1926 saw the beginning of a plan to set up a corporate parliament, the National Assembly, which opened its doors a year later with the mission of drawing up a new constitution.