The Great Depression hit Spain hard, triggering economic and political upheavals that lasted throughout the 1930s.
Gross domestic product fell about 15 percent from 1929 to 1931 while investment and imports dropped. Exports, especially wine and oranges, trended upward until other nations raised tariff rates, hindering sales.
The Depression coincided with Spanish political turmoil. Dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera resigned in early 1930, and a year later, one of his principal supporters, King Alfonso XIII went into exile. Spain became a republic, and left-wing parties dominated the new Cortes parliament.