seven-time prime minister of Spain (1871–72, 1874, 1881–83, 1885–90, 1892–95, 1897–99, 1901–02).

Born into a family of modest means, Sagasta became an engineer. He was exiled twice for opposing Queen Isabella II's rule but returned in 1868 to help in the revolution that overthrew her. From 1880 he led the new Liberal Party. His attempt to conciliate both the Cubans and the United States by a tardy offer of Cuban home rule, along with other concessions, did not avert the disastrous Spanish-American War, and Spaniards criticized him for the humiliating peace treaty.