Fighting for the National Memory The Commemoration of the Spanish "War of Independence" in 1908-1912 JAVIER MORENO-LUZON Commemorations reveal core characteristics of nationalism and nation-build- ing processes. This article studies Spanish nationalism by examining a series of important commemorative events held from 1908 to 1912 to celebrate the first centennial of the Spanish "War of Independence." Three conclusions are sug- gested by the analysis: first, that nineteenth -century nationalist myths still held extraordinary sway at the beginning of the tventieth century; second, that most local and regional identities did not run counter to Spanish identity but rather reinforced it; and third, that the national memory constituted a battleground for different political opinions, which used the past to support their own agendas. These conclusions cast doubt on the prevailing arguments concerning the weakness of Spanish nationalism and nation building, while underlining the importance of memory politics in modern nationalist discourses in general. Spanish nationalism, a subject that until a few years ago barely man- aged to attract the attention of historians, is now a very popular field of study. The traditional lack of interest for a phenomenon associated with Francoism, and the resulting preference for retracing the genealogy of peripheral nationalist movements-such as Catalan, Basque or Galician nationalism-have given way to a new upsurge in historical research into espafiolismo. As a result, we have learnt much about the nationalist dis- courses of the intellectual elites, but somewhat less about how they were adopted by political figures, and considerably less about how they fit in with specific nationalist strategies maneuvered from positions of power. 68