The end of the Restoration Period came in 1898 with the war with the United States. In a few months Spain lost the last of its colonial possessions – the Philippines, Cuba and Puerto Rico. The disaster had for many years been predictable. Unless the Cubans, who had risen in arms against the shameful misgovernment of the mother country, could be granted autonomy, it was certain that the United States would interfere. Cánovas, who had before him the fatal example of Olivares, seems to have understood this, but the jingoistic mood in Spain, the insistence of the upper classes and of the Army upon firm measures, made concessions impossible. General Weyler was sent out to subdue the islanders by fire and by sword and the horrors of his concentration camps created a feeling in America which led to intervention. Cánovas died from the bullet of an Italian anarchist a few months before war broke out.

The loss of the last relics of the once immense colonial empire produced consternation in the country, but so little reflection as to its causes and so little change of heart that Silvela, the Conservative Prime Minister, remarked with despair that he ‘could scarcely feel the pulse of Spain’. Yet this in fact was the lowest moment and the end of an era. From now on a new Spain begins.