Alicante 20th cetury

The first mayor of this period was Lorenzo Carbonell Santacruz, elected in the Republican-Socialist candidate with 81% of votes. He made several major development projects and promoted the construction of public schools.

In 1933, with the advent of universal suffrage, people voted for women for the first time in Alicante, and the PSOE won the general elections on February 16, 1936, with 80.72% of votes.

At the start of the Spanish Civil War, the rebel camp made a failed attempt to site the city from other towns of Orihuela and the Vega Baja. Another major event was the shooting of the leader Falangist Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera, who was jailed in Alicante on November 20, 1936. Alicante suffered retaliation a few days later with the famous bombing that lasted eight hours.

The city suffered during the war, with 71 bombings that killed 481 people and collapsed 705 buildings. The attack that caused more casualties was the bombing of aircraft by Italian Savoia at 11 a.m. Sunday, May 25, 1938. After dropping 90 bombs, 313 people were killed, and they were mostly women and children in the Central Market. Many historians today on the Spanish Civil War agree on par with the bombing of Guernica.

Despite the bombing, the city remained loyal to the Republic until the end of the war and, therefore, was subject to a weakening of psychological techniques, such as the launch of white bread wrapped in fascist slogans in times of famine.

Since Alicante was the last city to fall into the hands of Franco’s troops, the port experienced dramatic scenes between the ships waiting to go into exile. They had been ordered to kill anyone who was in the area trying to flee.

The foreign ships did not accept anyone because of the threat on the sinking of any ship that picked up exiles. The only vessels that were at risk to save the civilian population were Algerians and other vessels as they departed the overloaded Stanbrook port.

Hundreds of Alicante Oran left Cologne, creating a stable and a twinning between the two cities that still persists.

On the afternoon of March 30, 1939, units of the Littoria Division came into the city. They were commanded by General Gambara and led an ostentatious parade in front of City Hall and the main streets of the city.

The subsequent repression was considered significant to the city and the province. When the war ended Mayor Lucianez proposed the city be renamed the city of Alicante, Jose Antonio. Although never approved, the change occurred.

The ’60s brought economic development and population growth that continued in the following decades. The economy evolved toward the service sector, especially tourism, and was the largest urban development in the city, with the birth of new neighborhoods in the suburbs.

During the period of 1920–1935, the economy of Alicante was industry, while agriculture was plunged into a second crisis. Alicante was one of the cities where the Republicans won the municipal elections of 1931, and throughout the Second Republic, the leftist parties had a comfortable majority in both the city and the province.

With the arrival of democracy in the city’s government came the move to PSOE PSPV from 1979 to 1995, and since then the ruling PP. In the ’80s they sought to solve urban chaos by creating new channels of communication (Gran Via, Via Park), and the envelope to the city health centers, schools, institutes, centers, and other municipal services especially in some neighborhoods, were born in the developmental stage.

A bug in the Mediterranean climate, but also of climate change and urban planning, are the floods. On October 19, 1982, rain fell to 220 mm in the city—a new record for rainfall in less than 24 hours, which caused numerous losses.

La Rambla de Sheep reached 400 mł/s, a record high, and there was chaos in San Gabriel, with two deaths. On September 30 1997, the record was broken again with 270 mm of rain, and the city suffered the worst floods in its history, with four deaths and a height of water in some neighborhoods such as Playa San Juan or St. Augustine that exceeded meters.

This day was declared an official day of mourning in which the authorities drained water that flooded entire neighborhoods. Economic losses were substantial, especially in the city center and beaches, which led to a great plan of defense against floods, whose effectiveness is yet to be proven.

Alicante Twenty-first Century

With the new century, Alicante has experienced exceptional population growth resulting from the influx of immigrants. This is because many generations are currently looking for housing, which has caused a boom in town that carries an urban sprawl.

To improve communications is the construction of the TRAM Metropolitano de Alicante, a combination of tram and light rail that is underground in some sections, is being carried out.

It connects the city center of Alicante and Benidorm, and it is hoped that this line extends to the localities in the northern province (Denia). In the future it is expected to connect to the Airport of Alicante, with the IFA and the town of Elche.