Cieza en 1898: control político, condiciones de vida y participación de la población en la guerra

Abstract

Cánovas del Castillo constructed a political platform in Murcia upon the basis of those familyties which united the regional conservative hierarchy. His intermediary in Cieza was the ‘cacique’ Juan Pérez, leader of the local propietary-class, who had aquired absolute control over local power, with a view to perpetuting the active hegemony of the oligarchic-group. An attempt, by the liberals in 1898, to break this monopoly by means of appeals to the figure of López Puigcerver, was unsuccessful. Due to the miserable living-conditions imposed upon them by a grave lack of nutrition, the average height of those soldiers enlisted in the same year, was no more than 1 metre 60 centimetres; and given their immersion in the oral-tradiction, 85 % of them were illiterate. In 1898, a complete dissociation was produced between those locals who remained in the town, and those who, along with their families, became involved in the war, among which latter group, one soldier posted in Baler is deserving of particular atención.