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Niceto Alcala-Zamora

Niceto Alcala-Zamora (6 July 1877-18 February 1949) was President of the Second Spanish Republic from 11 December 1931 to 7 April 1936, succeeding Alfonso XIII of Spain (as King of Spain) and preceding Manuel Azana.

Biography[]

Niceto Alcala-Zamora was born on 6 July 1877 in Priego de Cordoba, Spain. He was active in the Spanish Liberal Party while being a lawyer, and he became the Spanish representative to the League of Nations after its foundation in the Interwar Years. Alcala-Zamora was imprisoned for taking part in a failed uprising in Aragon against King Alfonso XIII of Spain and Miguel Primo de Rivera's dictatorship, and on 11 December 1931 he was elected as President of the Second Spanish Republic, and on 1933 he lost the support of the left by dissolving the Cortes, and the resulting November 1933 elections led to the right gaining power. He again dissolved the Cortes in 1936 to prevent Jose Maria Gil-Robles y Quinones from becoming Prime Minister, so on 7 April 1936 he was deposed by the newly-elected Cortes to prevent him from becoming a dictator. Alcala-Zamora was in Scandinavia at the start of the Spanish Civil War, and he decided to go to France when the Frente Popular militias plundered his home. When World War II broke out, Alcala-Zamora was forced to flee once more, going to Argentina - he died there in 1949.

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