José Antonio Primo de Rivera Dean of the Illustrious College of Lawyers of Madrid". In 1931, he constituted "Agrupación al Servicio de la República" (Assembly at the Service of the Republic) "and" paradoxically ran for office under the monarchist banner of "Unión Monárquica Nacional"—he failed to get elected. He was detained briefly in 1932 for collaboration in General José Sanjurjo's attempted coup. On October 29, 1933, Primo de Rivera launched the Falange Española ("Spanish Phalanx"), a nationalist party, inspired in part with some ideas, such as the necessity of authority, hierarchical order of society, and grassroots populism, that were being expounded in Italy in the
Miguel Primo de Rivera was Bértrand Primo de Rivera (1741–1813), 21st Count of Sobremonte, a general and hero of the Spanish Resistance against Napoleon Bonaparte. The young Miguel grew up as part of what Gerald Brenan called "a hard-drinking, whoring, horse-loving aristocracy" that ruled "over the most starved and down-trodden race of agricultural labourers in Europe." Studying history and engineering before deciding upon a military career, he won admission to the newly created General Academy in Toledo, and graduated in 1884. His army career gave him a role as junior officer in the colonial wars in Morocco, Cuba and the Philippines. He then held