Cuadernos de Historia Contemporánea (ISSN: 0214-400X, ISSN-e: 1988-2734) is a scholarly journal edited by the Department of Modern and Contemporary History (Faculty of Geography and History, Universidad Complutense de Madrid). It publishes research and review articles on both Spanish and International Late Modern and Contemporary History (19th and 20th centuries), having always in mind the most recent national and international historical debates. Every issue contains a Dossier as well as several miscellaneous articles and a collection of long and short book reviews.
In order to support the global exchange of knowledge, the journal Cuadernos de Historia Contemporánea is allowing unrestricted access to its content as from its publication in this electronic edition, and as such it is an open-access journal. The originals published in this journal are the property of the Complutense University of Madrid and any reproduction thereof in full or in part must cite the source. All content is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 use and distribution licence (CC BY 4.0). This circumstance must be expressly stated in these terms where necessary. You can view the summary and the complete legal text of the licence.
Spanish collaborationism in North Africa: Algeria and Morocco (1939-1945)
Based on primary sources and a bibliography consistent with the subject, this article aims to examine the policies of collaborationism with the Nazis during the Second World War in North Africa, starting with specific cases such as "Operation Cisneros", which sought to annex Oranie -Algeria- to Franco's Spain, or the consular contacts in French Morocco to pass information to the German services with Operation Torch underway.
Copyright (c) 2026 Cuadernos de Historia Contemporánea
The dispute about the political use of the Italian Risorgimento: from the advent of fascism to the emergence of the republic
In this article, we will analyze the dispute over the political use of risorgimento between fascist and anti-fascist intellectuals from the march on Rome in 1922 to the advent of the Republic, passing through the crucial years of the Resistenza. First, we will examine the two main and contrasting souls of the risorgimento myth: the Savoyard monarchist and the Mazzinian republican. Secondly, we will describe the struggle within fascism between the traditionalist current and the modernists, as well as between the conservatives and the revolutionaries, to impose their own version. And, thirdly, we will try to specify the ideological position of the characters and political movements of the heterogeneous anti-fascist front. Furthermore, we will stop at Benedetto Croce's concept of pre-fascist liberal restoration; We will explain the shareholder story of the Resistance as a second risorgimento; and we will analyze the ideological annexation that the Italian Communist Party made of the figure of Garibaldi.
New look at the management of the rescue of the Annual prisoners (1921-1923)
In the context of Spanish colonialism in Morocco, between July 22 and August 9, 1921, the tragedy of Annual took place. It meant the loss of all the territory of the General Command of Melilla. The military catastrophe resulted in thousands of deaths, injuries and disappearances. Also, the prisoners captured by the rifeños. Hundreds of soldiers, officers, chiefs, civilians and a general, Felipe Navarro, suffered a captivity that lasted for eighteen months. It seems too long if we consider that the conditions for his release were known very soon: 4,300,000 pesetas. Why weren't they rescued earlier? There are three main reasons: the dignity of the uniform, the refusal to negotiate with a "rebel" in order not to enhance his image and avoid the extension of the insurrection and the fear that the ransom will be used to acquire weapons. It was finally the last Government of the Restoration, which, overcoming the obstacles, freed the captives. Africanist militarism did not forgive him. The analysis of the archive documentation reveals the weakness of a sick political system, with restrained executive power, and the high military commanders, pampered for years by the throne and the dynastic parties, imposing their criteria. The management of the problem demonstrates, finally, the complexity that characterizes human affairs and relationships.
The Italian right wing and the Spanish democratic transition
The Italian Social Movement, the main party of the Italian right since the beginning of the Italian Republic, took a notable interest in the Spanish democratic transition. Through its main organs of communication, this text analyses the vision of the democratic transition and the interpretations made by the Italian right wing. The newspapers chosen are Il secolo d'Italia and Il Borghese, and the main publications that appeared from the year of Franco's death until the year in which Spain officially joined NATO are studied. During this period, the Msi itself evolved in its internal positions, aiming to become the main right-wing party, bringing together liberals and conservatives. This was reflected in its media's reading of the evolution of the Spanish political system. From the 1980s onwards, the party's position was further relaxed, coinciding with the new phase of de-ideologisation that characterised the Italian political landscape in general.
Foreign trade as an instrument to save Franco's regime (1943-1946)
In 1943, the Axis victory in the war seemed increasingly unlikely, which led the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to develop a new trade policy in order to preserve the regime. Trade ties between Spain and the United Kingdom were important for both countries, but after the conflict, they became even more so for the British due to the deep economic weakening caused by the war. As a result, trade relations intensified, and despite Clement Attlee's political rejection of Franco, when he was the British Prime Minister, he maintained a lukewarm attitude and even defended the Franco regime against Stalin. This was aimed at preserving good trade relations, involving their great ally, the United States, in this policy. At the same time, there were diplomatic efforts to provoke a regime change, but these did not succeed, as Franco consolidated his power through force, and trade ties. In this way, the regime survives, since both the United Kingdom and the United States did not wage economic warfare as they had done during the war.
Natural gas in Spain: beginnings and expansion
This paper seeks to analyse the process of implementation and development of the natural gas industry in Spain, highlighting its particularities with respect to other European countries. It examines how historical, political and economic factors influenced the configuration of this sector, especially from the post-war period until the consolidation of key infrastructures and companies. The study is mainly based on documentary analysis, with special attention to the Libro de Actas of the Board of Directors of Catalana de Gas (1960-1970), as well as a bibliographical review of relevant works published in recent decades. A historical approach is used that combines statistics, political decisions, business evolution and international relations. Thus, four distinctive features of the Spanish case are identified: the late introduction of natural gas, the hegemony of private initiative, the initial centrality of Catalonia and the rapid expansion of infrastructures. State intervention was intense in the early years through companies such as ENCASO and REPESA, favouring liquefied petroleum gases (LPG) over piped natural gas. From 1965, with the arrival of Algerian gas, the transition to natural gas began, led by Catalana de Gas and later reinforced by the creation of Gas Natural, S.A. and Enagás. All in all, the Spanish natural gas development model was built on a hybrid basis of state intervention and private initiative. Energy geopolitics, the lack of own resources and territorial fragmentation conditioned its evolution, marking a singular trajectory compared to its European counterparts.
The Nationalization of Gas in the United Kingdom and France through the Trade Press (1939–1949)
This article analyzes the reaction of the gas industry in the United Kingdom and France to the nationalization of the service after the Second World War, as reflected in the sector’s specialized press. The research aims to comparatively study the role played by the main British and French periodicals in interpreting, disseminating, and fostering public debate on gas nationalization in both countries between 1939 and 1949. To this end, the study relies primarily on the critical and qualitative analysis of the Gas Journal and the Journal des Usines à Gaz.
The years 1935-1961 are a period of crisis, adaptation and transformation of the gas industry in Spain. The Civil War, the autarkic policy and technological obsolescence affected production, forcing the closure of many factories. In 1958, a new competitor merged the gas manufactured with coal, butane gas, which was cheap and more versatile. In the mid-sixties, gas made from petroleum naphtha began to replace the traditional one. The aim of the article is to study the impact of this context on gas consumption. The starting point is the situation before the Civil War; the end point, the moment before the take-off of production with naphtha, and with disaggregated data available (now with a certain relevance of butane gas), which allows its impact on the manufactured gas to be assessed. An analytical methodology will be applied, studying consumption at several geographical scales: local (by population size), regional and national, in different chronological sections and throughout the whole time series. An attempt will be made to explain the variations over time and the differences between different spaces. Finally, an international comparison will be carried out, in significant moments, with other countries in Latin Europe, in order to compare whether there was a peculiarity in the Spanish case and its causes. For this, sources such as the Datos estadísticos técnicos de la industria del gas and Les Statistiques Européennes de l’Industrie du Gaz will be used.
Foreign and national capital: the history of gas and urban transformations in the port cities of Lisbon and Venice in the mid-20th century
The main objective of this article is to contribute to the study of the history of gas in the mid-twentieth century in the port cities of Lisbon and Venice, through a comparative study. In these cities, the capital of the concessionary companies for the production and distribution of gas was both foreign and national. They located their first gasometers in what are today their urban centres, next to the river or the lagoon, having had important influences on the urban transformations of the cities. Their second industries, on the other hand, were located in industrial and port areas, and far from the city centre. In this context, we intend to find out in what historical context the extensions of the gasometers took place and how these industries influenced the urban transformation of the two cities, especially in the middle of the 20th century.
The modernization of the Spanish petrochemical sector. The construction of the Málaga-Puertollano oil pipeline
This article constitutes a first approach to an ongoing study on foreign technical consulting for the construction of energy infrastructure in Spain during the developmentalist period, with special attention to the role of Italian companies in projects related to the development of the petrochemical industry. In this work, we examine the evolution of ENCASO's autarkic proposals towards the conversion of its Puertollano facilities into a petrochemical complex and the construction of the pipeline that ensured the supply of raw materials. The Empresa Nacional Calvo Sotelo (ENCASO), created in 1942, was integrated into the National Institute of Industry (INI). Its objective was the production of hydrocarbons and lubricants from lignite and bituminous shale, in a context of shortages and autarkic aspirations. The project to build an industrial complex in Puertollano absorbed enormous resources and was excessively prolonged. When the plant was completed in 1956, the domestic and international situation was very different in terms of production, trade, and consumption. The plan then arose to convert the facilities into a petrochemical complex to supply the central region of the country with products such as liquefied gas, fuel oil, naphtha, bitumen, lubricants, and other petroleum derivatives. The refinery project entailed the construction of an oil pipeline, which would be the first major oil transportation infrastructure project for civil use in Spain. The project, conceived as a cornerstone of the country's gradual shift towards dependence on oil and its derivatives, was largely the result of Spanish-Italian technical collaboration. Technologies and working methods were introduced that were pioneering in the country in a sector closely linked to the key energy raw materials of the second half of the 20th century.
Cao, David y Michonneau, Stéphane (Eds.): La muerte pública. Los usos políticos del culto fúnebre en la España Contemporánea. Granada, Comares Historia, 2025. 337 pp.
Introducción. La industria gasista en la Europa latina del siglo XX (1945-1981)
El dossier analiza la evolución de la industria gasista en la Europa latina entre 1945 y 1981, un periodo clave marcado por la reconstrucción tras la Segunda Guerra Mundial, la Guerra Fría y la modernización energética. A través de un enfoque comparativo, los trabajos reunidos examinan la transición del gas manufacturado al gas natural, los procesos de nacionalización y liberalización, la transformación tecnológica y empresarial, y las relaciones entre energía, territorio y desarrollo urbano. Los estudios de caso sobre España, Portugal, Francia e Italia abordan tanto la intervención del Estado como el papel del capital privado y extranjero en la configuración del sector. El dossier, en su conjunto, ofrece nuevas perspectivas historiográficas y conceptuales para comprender el impacto del gas en la economía, la sociedad y la cultura urbanas, así como su relevancia para los debates contemporáneos sobre sostenibilidad, seguridad energética y modernidad tecnológica.
Navarra Ordoño, Andreu: El comunismo en España: mito, pueblo y revolución. Madrid, Cátedra, 2024. 305 pp.
Urquijo, Mikel: Pilar Careaga. La alcaldesa de Franco, Madrid, Los libros de la Catarata, 2025, 254 pp.
López Fernández, Tamara: Á marxe da lei. A delincuencia común en Lugo durante o franquismo (1945-1966). Lugo, Servizo de Publicacións Deputación de Lugo, 2024. 310 pp.
Municipal gas companies in France and Spain in the post-war period: the cases of Bordeaux and Bilbao
With the exception of Italy, municipal gas companies were not exactly abundant in Latin Europe. It is true that in countries such as France, Spain, and Portugal, there was no shortage of debates on municipalization, but the achievements were significantly less than those in Northern Europe, for example. Fundamentally, institutional and economic conditions meant that municipal gas companies were rather scarce. This does not mean that we don't have some cases worth analyzing. Here we will refer to the Bilbao Factory and the Régie du gaz de Bordeaux in the years immediately following Civil War and World War II, that is, at a time when national companies played a decisive role in the economy of Western Europe. In a time of severe difficulties, most governments opted for the nationalization of companies in strategic sectors and the implementation of multi-year economic plans. In the cases at hand, both companies had a long tradition of public service, although, given the poor economic conditions of those years, they had no choice but to adapt to the new market conditions.
Orain, Arnaud: Le monde confisqué. Essai sur le capitalisme de la finitude (XVIe – XXIe siècle). Paris, Flammarion, 2025. 368 pp.
Simón Alegre, Ana I.: Concepción Gimeno de Flaquer (1850-1919). Cartas, cuentos cortos y artículos periodísticos. Wilmington (Delaware), Vernon Press, 2023. 281 pp.
Shining Path: Theory and practice in the exercise of political violence (1964-1992)
The following paper aims to present the construction and application of the devices of violence developed by the Communist Party of Peru (PCP-SL), which was one of the most violent formations of the 20th century in Latin America and, of course, in the history of Peru. Responsible for more than half of the nearly 70,000 officially reported violent deaths between 1980 and 1992, the Shining Path always took into consideration the need to direct all efforts to deploy a revolutionary process that would put an end to the oppressive elements that supported the Peruvian State. Through a continuous evocation of violence, this appears in the whole process of ideological modulation of the formation, between 1964 and 1980, always inseparable from the figure of Abimael Guzmán, its maximum leader. On the other hand, it also adapts to the circumstances and coordinates of the armed confrontation (1980-1882), initially circumscribed around the province of Ayacucho and ending, not without contradictions, in the capital city of Lima. To illustrate the argument offered, documentary sources such as the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2003) and Guzmán's own writings are used, in addition to the use of some fifteen accounts obtained in interviews, so far unpublished, with former Shining Path militants. The above, thanks to fieldwork carried out in the cities of Ayacucho, Huancavelica, and Lima, and which took place between 2015 and 2018.
Copyright (c) 2025 Cuadernos de Historia Contemporánea
Making homeland between sabotage and applause. Radical Basque nationalism facing the Tour de France (1977-2007)
Between 1977 and 2007 Iparretarrak, ETA and their political-social environments executed strategies, not always coincident, aimed at politically instrumentalizing the Tour de France as it passed through the Basque Country, Navarre and the French Basque Country. The cycling race, which has become the maximum French national symbol and one of the sporting spectacles of greatest repercussion, has attracted the interest of the radical Basque nationalist collective from 1977 onwards. The initiatives, identifiable as nationalizing campaigns, mainly aimed at spreading nationalist demands, have been resolved through a double intertwined path: an intense social mobilization and a calculated violent threat. The chronological structure is designed to provide a detailed account of the development and outcome of the different strategies, as well as the Tour's responses to the pressures and coercion to which it was subjected. The 1992 edition, with departure from San Sebastian, can be considered a turning point, as it implied a political victory for ETA, similar to those achieved in relation to the construction of the nuclear power plant in Lemóniz or the Leizarán highway, as the management of the event ended up giving in to the threat, accepting the majority of the demands made. In subsequent editions, with the terrorist threat active, the management of the event showed a greater predisposition to consider certain requests, especially with regard to the presence of the Basque language in the official acts.
They were all brave. The Africanist soldier in the fictional cinema of the 1940´s.
The Spanish-Moroccan Campaigns were the environment in which the Africanist military identity appeared and grew. Its imperialism, warmongering values and exclusionary nationalism, laid the foundations of a worldview that ended up justifying a coup d'état and the development of an atrocious civil war. This article studies, from a visual history perspective, exactly the legacy of this ideology and its imaginaries (from an updated historiographical viewpoint) as it was reflected in the films Harka! (1941) and Alhucemas (1948), which deal with the war experience in the Protectorate. Both productions are, without a doubt, an unavoidable reference point, as will be shown in their analysis, when it comes to understanding the self-perception that the Africanists held of themselves, after the end of the colonial wars, and the need to reaffirm their military values as an immaterial inheritance, from a medium as relevant as cinema, after the victory in the fratricidal conflict.
From family to the people: Espartero as an archetype of progressive masculinity until the beginning of his regency (1793-1840)
The image of Espartero became commonplace of many political cultures of 19th-century Spain, yet, it was the Progressivist who made more used of it due to his own personal affiliation. Among the uses of Espartero’s image, that of a role model is perhaps the most interesting and the least addressed. Thus, the present article seeks to explore how the different biographers of the Duke of la Victoria built the idea of Espartero as the ideal man, infusing him with an aura of charisma tailored for him. These biographies show how Progressivisim sought to legitimize, through Espartero, a flexible sense of masculinity, which could, at times, be excessively virile, setting it in contrast to the normative masculinity of posrevolutionary Europe.
Juana Mordó’s return to Spain. Breaking with the past, reconfiguration and international artistic projection
This article analyses the figure of Juana Mordó through her return to Spain as a place of refuge during the Second World War. The renowned gallery owner of Sephardic origin admitted her identity problems due to the break with the past and its subsequent reconfiguration, linking herself to the Franco regime, which meant her consecration by the cultural and artistic elite. This political approach of Mordó is fundamental to understand how her figure evolved until reaching a great social impact at the time, so we analyses who her closest circle was. However, with the opening of her gallery in 1964, a progressive change in her ideological positioning occurred as the democratic transition arrived until she became known for her leftist ideas and admitted her Sephardic origins that she had kept hidden during the regime. The interviews she gave after the dictatorship are key to detecting unconnected data in her figure that she herself wanted to hide from her past. Therefore, her trip to Spain was fundamental for the reconfiguration of a new identity that has transcended to the present day.
One exile and two endings. Emili Blanch and Jordi Tell, return or stay
The end of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) forced almost half a million people into exile, fleeing the repression and retribution wrought by the Fascist victors. Eager for immediate political refuge and hope for the future, men and women crossed borders, especially the border with France, leaving their homes behind and cutting ties with their habitual social and occupational circles. In some cases, exile buried a flourishing career; in others, it cut short careers that were just beginning to take flight. However, in many other cases, it enabled them to continue and consolidate. This paper proposes to analyse two parallel and, at the same time, diverging exiles when viewed through the lens of returning, specifically, two Republican architects: Emili Blanch Roig (1897-1996) and Jordi Tell Novellas (1907-1991). The same profession, but two different professional moments. The same political militancy, but a very different involvement. One exile, but two countries: Mexico and Norway. A geographical separation with two opposing endings: a possible return and an impossible return. Through their work (designed and/or actually built) and their words (memoirs and correspondence), they tell us about the experience of delocation, adapting to a new cultural environment, their ideas about what returning would be like, and the difficulties and distress experienced when actually attempting to return.
A New Geography of Remembering: Unveiling the Harki Silences in Dalila Kerchouche’s Mon père, ce harki
This article analyses Mon père, ce harki (2003), by Dalila Kerchouche, to shed light on the exile experienced by those harkis who left Algeria for France in the aftermath of the Franco-Algerian war (1954-1962), locating this episode in the context of the complex postcolonial relationship between France and Algeria in recent decades. As it is used today, ‘harki’ refers to those Algerian subjects (and their families) who somehow found themselves on the French side during the conflict. In her book, a literary testimony, Kerchouche revisits the story of her father, a former harki, to conduct her own search for identity within the harki universe. She borrows from familial and collective memories and dialogues with an array of texts that have helped her make sense of and write over the historical silences, which the harkis – constructed as traitors – have had imposed on them by both the French and the Algerian administrations. Throughout her “harkeological quest”, Kerchouche retraces her father’s steps and visits first the camp where she was born and then Algeria itself, the homeland that her family abandoned and from which she was also symbolically exiled. This return draws an alternative map of her family history and, at the same time, equips her with the historical accounts and family memories that she uses to write a counter-narrative to the French hegemonic account of its relationship with Algeria. Read against the backdrop of the work of historians and literary critics, Mon père, ce harki allows for a nuanced understanding of the position of the harkis in post-imperial France.
Rifts: Homecoming Experiences in the artworks of Adrian Paci and Maja Bajević
This article examines a body of artworks by Maja Bajević and Adrian Paci within their contexts of production in order to explore questions of exilic identities in relationship to homecoming. Both artists have lived the experience of exile. When war broke out in Yugoslavia in 1991, Maja Bajević was in Paris on a Beaux-Arts scholarship, and was unable to return to her homeland until the end of the 1990s. As for Adrian Paci, after graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts in Tirana, he left Albania in 1997, during the financial crisis, and took refuge in Italy. From analyses of artworks, artists’ statements, exhibition catalogues, historical research, and academic writings about the issue of return, I explore different relationships and temporalities of return: what does the permanent loss of exile mean in terms of homecoming?
“We Never Spoke About Cinema”: Rosa Chacel and Pere Gimferrer's Correspondence Prior to Her Return to Spain
Between 1962 and 1963, Rosa Chacel (1898-1994), exiled in Latin America, experienced a frustrated attempt to return to Spain. In 1971, she had a stay in Spain that was considerably more satisfactory than the previous one. Finally, in 1974, her definitive return materialized and was successful. This work aims to analyze the correspondence between Gimferrer and Chacel, carried out between the failed return and the definitive return, in order to examine how this correspondence helped overcome disappointment and transform the idea of return into a viable and attractive possibility. The analysis of dialogues about cinema, developed in the epistolary exchange between Chacel and Gimferrer, constitutes the central axis of this study. The analysis shows that two national cinematic worlds in their golden decade, those of France and Italy, were conducive to offering the correspondents a space of refuge entirely distinct from their real environment. Cinema's imagery plays a central role in this context prior to the return, acting simultaneously as an escape route toward international horizons and as a starting point for mutual understanding and self-discovery. The pre-return correspondence between Chacel and Gimferrer not only documents a historically significant intellectual exchange but also establishes a bridge between the "two Spains." The letters are an affirmation of art's transformative power as a means of forging connections and resisting alienation, both at a personal and collective level.
Stefan, Adelina: Vacationing in Dictatorships. International Tourism in Socialist Romania and Franco’s Spain. Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 2024. 279 pp.
Gingeras, Ryan: Los últimos días del Imperio Otomano. Barcelona, Galaxia Gutenberg. 2023. 359 pp.