The People’s Dictator : The Life of General Primo de Rivera

This book is the first major biography of General Miguel Primo de Rivera, dictator of Spain between 1923 and 1930, who profoundly transformed Spain and played a key role in the shaping of a counterrevolutionary Europe in the interwar era.

This book is the first major biography of General Miguel Primo de Rivera, dictator of Spain between 1923 and 1930, who played a key role in the shaping of a counterrevolutionary Europe in the interwar era. Following new historiographical trends, this book combines biographical experiences of the dictator with a sociopolitical reading of the dictatorship to reflect on the configuration of national, political, and gender identities at individual and group levels. It challenges traditional readings of Primo de Rivera as a benign, non-ideological leader who established a paternalistic dictatorship, instead showing an astute and ambitious politician who created a nationalist, highly repressive, authoritarian regime profoundly influenced by Italian fascism. The monograph also explores Primo de Rivera's role as the creator of right-wing populism in Spain, who portrayed politicians and judges as enemies of the Spanish people, used 'fake news' in his propaganda machine, and presented himself as a charismatic leader ready to destroy the liberal elites. This book is intended for scholars and students specialising in Spanish history and politics, along with those interested in nationalism, populism, far-right movements, Fascism, dictators and authoritarian regimes in twentieth-century European history. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.