Spanish history has always been linked to Cuban historiography. It is not possible to study Cuban history without taking into account the economic, political and social characteristics of the metropolis as well as cultural expression in general. However, it has not always been obvious that it was necessary to know about the colonial world and its influence on the metropolis in order to study Spanish history and in particular the 19th and 20th centuries.
With the commemoration of the centenary of important dates for Cuba and Spain, 1868-78 and 1895-98, both Spanish and Cuban specialists of history and other human and social sciences, have become more interested in the linking of colonial and metropolis histories. They came to the conclusion that we have, more than we used to think, a common history.

1. Cuban fight for Independence, 1895-98. Jose Marti and the Cuban Revolutionary Party. Projects of colonial reform.

The last years of the 19th century as well as the first years of the 20th century can be considered as a transition period, from various points of view. The transition was expressed in several spheres of the society and almost everywhere in the world, in different forms. The scientific and technical advances opened the door to modernity to a part of Humanity. The various cultural events in the fields of literature, philosophy, art and music, lead to a new way of life, especially in the developed countries. The scientific and technical revolution was the first step in world development, which opened new horizons in the knowledge of humanity and relationships between countries. This lead to changes in political mentality; internal transformations within the countries increased and sometimes resulted in confrontations between nations for the inhabitance of new places, for worldwide hegemony. The territorial redistribution was one of the principal problems of that period. New states appeared on the international stage, such as Germany, USA and Japan, which begged for a place among the former colonial powers, such as Spain, France, England and Russia. Spain found itself reduced to a second or third-rate power, which kept a meager but still important and scattered “colonial empire”. That is why the year 1898 was part of the worldwide redistribution; it was the transition from one century to another, of which Tunon de Lara speaks in his “El salto del siglo, 1895-1905”. For Spain, it is called the “difficult end of the century”, which was going to be a turning point in the imperialist expansion process. The Cuban fight for independence which had started in February 1895 brought again, as in 1868, the problem of separation from the Spanish metropolis. Fundamental changes took place between the end of the “Ten Year War” in 1878, and the beginning of the new war.

There was an economic, demographic and social increase in Cuba. As a result of the “Zanjon Pact”, which put an end to the separatist war, political parties were founded in the Caribbean, who had similarities with the Spanish ones due to the “Restoration”. Most of these parties answered the needs of the most important economic groups of the colony, and was quite strongly linked to Spanish political or economic characters.
In Cuba, the “Partido Union Constitucional” (Constitutional United Party) was decisively in favor of the maintenance of the legislation in force, with no amendment or reform. The Liberal Party, later Autonomist Party, fought for the autonomy of the island. The Spanish political parties which were linked to colonial business encouraged mainly the fundamentalists located in Cuba. A large interest network came with any reformist or autonomist decision that the Spanish Government was about to make. That is why the reforms raised by Foreign Secretary Antonio Maura in 1893, called “Bill for the Government and the Civil Administration of Cuba and Puerto Rico”, were stopped immediately by the social sectors of the opposition, which had interests in colonies. The reforms were strongly attacked, in the Government as well as in the Spanish and Cuban fundamentalist press. The “Partido Union Constitucional” was opposed to any reform, which lead to the excision of a group which founded the “Reformist Party”. The members of this new group were totally conscious of the fact that if none of the forms of colonial domination were changed, the supporters of independence, which they knew quite well, would attract a following with the danger it implies. Maura’s colonial reform was rejected in the “Cortes” (Spanish Government); it was a success for Spanish conservatives and particularly for the Caribbean fundamentalists. However, the situation of the island and the separatist preparations for emigration, gave rise to a new reformist proposal, the “Abarzuza Project”, supported by Romero Robledo, one of the conservatives very close to colonial interests. The new Project was a reduced view of the “Maura Project”. It was the right time for this project to be defended by the Spanish and Cuban conservatives, who tried to slow down the preparations of the “supporters of independence” for Cuban emigration. On February 13th, the “Abarzuza Project” was approved by the “Congress of Deputies”. Only eleven days after, the Cuban insurrection exploded