v61_0691 - ESPAGNE - ROYAUME D'ESPAGNE - ALPHONSE XIII 20 pesetas or 1889 Madrid

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(05/17/1886-04/14/1931)

Alphonse XIII (05/17/1886-02/28/1941) is the posthumous son of Alphonse XII (1857-1885) and Marie-Christine of Austria (1858-1929). His reign began under the regency of Marie-Christine. In 1898, after a short war (1895-1898) against the United States, Spain lost Cuba and the Philippines. In 1906, Alphonse married Victoria-Eugénie de Battenberg (1887-1969), granddaughter of Victoria I. Neutral during the First World War, Spain caught up with its economic backwardness. After the dictatorship of General Primo de Rivera between 1923 and 1930, the insurrection broke out in 1931. Alphonse left Spain, but never abdicated. The Republic is proclaimed and five later the civil war breaks out. It lasts three years and costs more than a million deaths. Alfonso XIII dies in exile in Rome.