The First Republic of Spain is the term referring to the government that ruled Spain between 1864, following the end of the military regency in the wake of the War of the Bourbon Restoration, and 1927, when the republic fell in a communist revolution. The First Republic was initially successful in rebuilding Spain and maintaining contorl of Spanish Africa, as well as expanding the country's control in India and parts of Africa, but it eventually declined beginning in the early 20th century, experiencing deep social and economic divisions.