Maura y Montaner, Antonio

Maura y Montaner, Antonio (äntō`nyō môr`ä ē mōn`tänār), 1853–1925, Spanish politician. He entered the Cortes in 1881 as a liberal but later joined the Conservative party. As premier (1903–4, 1907–9), he attempted to carry through an ambitious but reactionary program for reform (a "revolution from above"), but he was fiercely opposed by the liberals. He fell from power after the brutal suppression of an uprising in Barcelona in 1909 (caused by the call-up of Catalan troops to fight in Morocco). His great abilities and authoritarian personality made him the hero of a semi-Fascistic youth movement. But when he later (1918, 1919, 1921–22) headed coalition cabinets, he did nothing to advance non-democratic solutions. Although many of his followers joined the Primo de Riveira dictatorship, he personally isolated himself from it.