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In 1898 Spain lost the Spanish-American War. Cuba gained its independence, and Spain lost its remaining New World colonies—Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico—to the United States. Spain's colonial possessions were reduced to Spanish Morocco, Western Sahara and Equatorial Guinea.

The 20th century initially brought little peace; colonisation of Western Sahara, Spanish Morocco and Equatorial Guinea was attempted as a substitute for the loss of the Americas. A period of dictatorial rule (1923-1931) ended with the establishment of the Second Spanish Republic. The Republic offered political autonomy to the Basque Country and Catalonia and gave voting rights to women. However, with increasing political polarisation and pressure from all sides, coupled with growing and unchecked political violence, the Republic ended with the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in July 1936. Following the victory of the nationalist forces in 1939, General Francisco Franco ruled a nation exhausted politically and economically until his death in 1975.

The Napoleonic invasion gave the opportunity to the American colonies, led by Libertadores, to claim their independence. Between 1810 and 1824, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and the other colonies declared and won their independence. The only New World colonies Spain was left with were the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico. The Allies fought Napoleon's forces in the Peninsular War, with Joseph Bonaparte ruling as king at Madrid. In 1812 the Cortes took refuge at Cádiz and created the first modern Spanish constitution, the Constitution of 1812 (informally named La Pepa).

Contemporary Madrid came into its own after the death of the Fascist dictator Franco. Years of the Franco regime left Madrid and much the country in economic shambles due to isolation. With his death, Madrid and Spain as a whole began to re-assert itself on the international stage. Within Spain, reaction against the dictatorial bureaucracy centered in Madrid and a history of centralism that pre-dated Franco by centuries has resulted in the successful modern movement towards increased autonomy for the regions of Spain, considered as European regions, under the umbrella of Spain.

Spanish rule in Morocco ended in 1956. Though militarily victorious in the 1957-1958 Moroccan invasion of Spanish West Africa, Spain gradually relinquished its remaining African colonies. Spanish Guinea was granted independence as Equatorial Guinea in 1968, while the Moroccan enclave of Ifni had been ceded to Morocco in 1969.

Spain suffered a shocking terrorist attack, the March 11, 2004 Madrid attacks on its capital's commuter train network, killing 200. Al-Qaeda has been blamed for this attack. Some have attributed the fall of the Aznar government to this attack, which took place just two days before the 2004 elections. At first the public believed ETA was responsible for the bombing. When they learned Al-Qaeda was the true culprit, many voters lashed out at the media and Aznar's government, believing the two had colluded to deceive the public.