Manuel Azaña
Manuel Azaña | |
|---|---|
| President of Spain | |
| In office 7 April 1936 – 3 March 1939 | |
| Prime Minister | |
| Preceded by | Niceto Alcalá-Zamora |
| Succeeded by | Francisco Franco (Caudillo of Spain) |
| Prime Minister of Spain | |
| In office 19 February 1936 – 10 May 1936 | |
| President | Niceto Alcalá-Zamora |
| Preceded by | Manuel Portela Valladares |
| Succeeded by | Santiago Casares Quiroga |
| In office 14 October 1931 – 12 September 1933 | |
| President | Niceto Alcalá-Zamora |
| Preceded by | Juan Bautista Aznar Cabañas |
| Succeeded by | Alejandro Lerroux |
| Minister of War | |
| In office 14 April 1931 – 12 September 1933 | |
| Preceded by | Dámaso Berenguer |
| Succeeded by | Juan José Rocha García |
| Member of the Congress of Deputies | |
| In office 16 March 1936 – 31 March 1939 | |
| Constituency | Madrid |
| In office 8 December 1933 – 7 January 1936 | |
| Constituency | Vizcaya |
| In office 14 July 1931 – 9 October 1933 | |
| Constituency | Valencia |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Manuel Azaña Díaz 10 January 1880 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Kingdom of Spain |
| Died | 3 November 1940 (aged 60) Montauban, Midi-Pyrénées, Vichy France |
| Resting place | Montauban Cemetery, France |
| Political party | Republican Left (1934–1940) |
| Other political affiliations | Republican Action (1930–1934) |
| Spouse | Dolores de Rivas Cherif |
| Occupation | Jurist |
| Signature | |
_firma.png){kind=link}
Manuel Azaña Díaz (Spanish pronunciation: [maˈnwel aˈθaɲa]; 10 January 1880 – 3 November 1940) was a Spanish politician who served as Prime Minister of the Second Spanish Republic (1931–1933 and 1936), organizer of the Popular Front in 1935 and the last President of the Republic (1936–1939). He was the most prominent leader of the Republican cause during the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939.
A published author in the 1910s, he stood out in the pro-Allies camp during World War I. He was sharply critical towards the Generation of '98, the reimagination of the Spanish Middle Ages, Imperial Spain and the 20th century yearnings for a praetorian refurbishment of the country. Azaña followed instead the examples of the French Enlightenment and the Third French Republic, and took a political quest for democracy in the 1920s while defending the notion of homeland as the "democratic equality of all citizens towards the law" that made him embrace republicanism.
After the Proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic in April 1931, Azaña became Minister of War of the Provisional Government and enacted military reform, looking to develop a modern armed forces with fewer army officers. He later became Prime Minister in October 1931.
The Spanish Civil War broke out while he was President of Spain. With the defeat of the Republic in 1939, he fled to France, resigned from office, and died in exile only a year later at age 60.