SPANISH CIVIL WAR: BEGINNING, CAUSES, DEVELOPMENT, END - HISTORY

The Spanish Civil War was an armed confrontation that originated after the armed uprising by the Spanish army against its republican government. The war, which lasted three years (193-1939), pitted those sectors that defended conservative and religious values against those that defended republican legality and its reforms.

The Second Republic had developed in an environment of high political tension. As in the rest of the European continent, there was a confrontation, often violent, between extremists from the right and the left. The attacks committed by the fascist Spanish Falange party were answered by the anarchists and communists.

Source: Pablo Picasso, via Wikimedia Commons

A group of soldiers, supported by the most conservative factions of society, landowners, monarchists and ultra-Catholics, decided to change the regime by force. The coup began on July 17-18, 1936. Failing to achieve a quick victory, the situation turned into open confrontation.

The Civil War is considered by many historians as the prelude to World War II. Nazis and Italian fascists came to support General Franco's uprising troops and tested strategies and weapons in the conflict.

On April 1, 1939, the Nationals (name given to the rebel side) issued the statement announcing their victory and the end of the War. A 40-year long dictatorship succeeded the conflict.

Background

Since the end of the 19th century, Spain had been dragging a series of social, economic and political problems that hampered coexistence. These problems, in turn, were inherited from previous decades, in which there was a continuous struggle between conservative sectors and the more enlightened, who tried to get closer to Europe.

The Second Republic

Without these tensions having been resolved and with a convulsed political situation, in January 1930 there was the fall of the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera, supported by King Alfonso XIII. The monarch appointed Berenguer to replace him, but the instability continued. The next president, Juan Aznar, called elections in February 1931.

Held on April 12 of that same year, the votes show even results between Republicans and Conservatives. The former managed to win in the big cities and their supporters mobilized in the streets.

Alfonso XIII, faced with the demonstrations, left the country on April 14. That same day, the Republic was declared and Alcalá-Zamora assumed the presidency.

The first two years served to promulgate a new Constitution. The government was made up of a republican coalition and left-wing parties, with Manuel Azaña being president of the government.

The decisions taken were intended to modernize the country in all aspects: economy, society, politics and culture.

The Sanjurjada

The reforms met with opposition from traditionalist sectors. Landowners, big businessmen, employers, the Catholic Church, monarchists or the military stationed in Africa feared losing their historical privileges.

It was the military who took the first step and, in August 1920, General Sanjurjo tried to carry out a coup.

The revolutionary left

From the most radical left there were also organizations that were opposed to the Republican government. The main ones were those of anarchist ideology, such as the CNT or the FAI. They staged several uprisings in 1933, which were harshly repressed.

Revolution of 1934

The government was unable to continue with its functions and called new elections for November 1933. On this occasion, the CEDA (Catholic right) was the most voted party along with the Radical Republican Party (center-right). His program was intended to stop the previous reforms, although without returning to the monarchy.

It was not until October 1934 that the CEDA entered the government. The reaction of the socialist left was to take up arms, although it only had a notable impact in Asturias for a couple of weeks. The insurrection was put down by the army.

Another event that occurred that same month was the proclamation by Lluis Companys (President of the Generalitat of Catalonia) of the Catalan State, although within a Spanish Federal Republic. As in Asturias, repression accompanied the announcement.

Despite his electoral strength, Alcalá Zamora refused to nominate the CEDA leader as President of the Government and advocated the creation of a government led by an independent.

The lack of stability caused that, finally, Alcalá Zamora himself called elections for February 1936.

Popular Front Government

The voting left, again, a very balanced result. The advantage went to the left, grouped in the Popular Front, although by a few percentage points. The electoral system, which favored the majority, caused the government to enjoy much more difference in seats.

One of the first measures of the new government was to remove the military less loyal to the Republic from the centers of power. Thus, Emilio Mola was assigned to the Balearic Islands and Francisco Franco to the Canary Islands.

Fulfilling an electoral promise, the government granted amnesty to those condemned by the 1934 Revolution. It also reinstated the mayors that the right had replaced during their time in power.

Finally, the Government of the Generalitat of Catalonia was reinstated and its politicians amnestied.

Problems for the government

In addition to all of the above, the government had a long-postponed effective agrarian reform pending. The peasants were beginning to mobilize and the Minister of Agriculture decided to recover the repealed Agrarian Reform Law of 1932.

Legislative action allowed many peasants to settle on their lands. However, this did not end the tension: landowners and peasant organizations clashed in various parts of the country, with several workers killed by the repression of the Civil Guard.

Meanwhile, Manuel Azaña was appointed President of the Republic to replace Alcalá Zamora. Azaña was sworn in on May 10, 1936 and Casares Quiroga did the same with that of President of the Government.

The newly appointed did not have any quiet moments. The anarchist left organized several strikes, while the PSOE was divided between moderates and those who wanted to reach a socialist state when the conditions were met.

For its part, the right wing was beginning to speak of a military coup, especially from the National Bloc of José Calvo Sotelo.

Start

Political violence

As in other European countries, a fascist organization had appeared in Spain, the Spanish Falange Party. At the beginning of 36 it did not have many supporters, but it grew after the victory of the Popular Front.

Very soon, as Benito Mussolini did, the Falangists began to organize violent actions. The first was on March 12, when they attacked a socialist deputy and murdered his bodyguard. The government banned the party and imprisoned its leader, José Antonio Primo de Rivera, but this did not stop his violent acts.

It was in April, 14 and 15, when the most serious incidents occurred. During the anniversary of the Republic, a bomb exploded, followed by shots that ended the life of a Civil Guard. Right and Left accused each other.

At the funeral of the deceased, a shooting broke out that left six dead, including a Falangist family member of Primo de Rivera.

This was followed by two months full of Falangist attacks, responded with equal violence by the working-class left. Similarly, some churches and convents were burned, although without victims.

The perception created, favored by the right-wing media, was that the government was incapable of handling the situation.

Murders of Castillo and Calvo Sotelo

On July 12, the socialist José del Castillo Sáenz de Tejada was assassinated by far-right militias. The answer was the kidnapping and murder of the leader of the monarchists, José Calvo Sotelo. The tension over these acts grew notably, although most historians argue that the country was ungovernable.

According to a study carried out on the fatalities of this period prior to the Civil War, there were about 262 deaths. Among these, 148 were from the left and 50 from the right. The rest were police or have not identified themselves.

The military conspiracy

The noise of sabers, present since the triumph of the Popular Front, has worsened in recent months. On March 8, 1936, generals such as Mola, Franco or Rodríguez del Barrio met to begin preparing a “military uprising”. In principle, the government that emerged from the coup would be a Military Junta presided over by Sanjurjo.

Mola took command of the plot from the end of April. He began to write and distribute circulars among his supporters, with the idea that a very violent repression was going to be necessary.

Despite having the declared support of various military garrisons, Mola was not clear about the success of the attempt. Not all the army was willing to carry out the coup and the leftist organizations were well organized and armed. For this reason, the date was delayed several times while he sought to expand the number of conspirators.

July 1936

By the first days of July, the military involved had everything ready. According to his plan, all the party garrisons would rise up in a state of war, starting with the Army of Africa.

The place they considered the most complicated was Madrid, so Mola himself planned to go with his troops to surrender it.

In case he could not, it was planned that Franco, after rising in the Canary Islands, would travel to Spanish Morocco and then cross to the peninsula. A plane, the Dragon Rapide, chartered by a correspondent for the ABC newspaper, was prepared to take it to Morocco.

The aforementioned assassination of Calvo Sotelo increased support for the coup among Carlists and other rightists. Likewise, he convinced those soldiers who were not very sure. Paul Preston assures that, among the latter, was Francisco Franco himself.

The hit

The military uprising began on July 17, 1936, in Melilla and spread throughout the Moroccan protectorate very quickly.

Between 18 and 19, the peninsular garrisons in favor of the coup did the same. The Republican government did not seem to react to what was happening.

In general terms, the insurrection was successful in Galicia, Castilla-León, Navarra, Western Andalusia, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands. Franco, responsible for the latter territory, traveled as planned to Morocco on the 19th, placing himself in command of the Army of Africa.

In a week, the country was divided into two almost equal parts. Republicans managed to keep the most industrial and resource-rich areas

Causes

Economic causes

Spain had never modernized its economic structures, being out of phase with Europe. The Industrial Revolution practically passed by and agriculture was centered on large estates in the hands of the Church and the nobility, with a large number of poor peasants.

One of the traditional evils of the Spanish economy was the great existing inequality. The middle class was very small and had not reached the levels of prosperity of other countries.

All of this caused frequent tensions and workerist groups ended up appearing with great force.

Social causes

The labor and peasant movement was very powerful on the peninsula. The confrontations with the privileged classes were frequent, accompanied by those that took place between republicans and monarchists.

The Popular Front managed to unite many of the left movements and the Church and the ruling classes saw their privileges threatened.

The right, for its part, saw the emergence of a fascist party, which looked to the past and advocated the idea of a return to the glories of the empire. The return to Tradition was one of its principles.

Religion

Although the expression did not appear in the first meetings of the coup plotters, very soon the uprising began to be called a "crusade" or even "holy war." The reaction of some republicans attacking religious favored this identification.

Sides

The sides faced in the Spanish Civil War were called Republican and National.

Republican side

Among the Republicans were all the parties of the left, as well as others of the Basque nationalist right. Thus, there were the Republican Left, the Communist Party, the Spanish Socialist Workers Party, the Marxist Unification Workers Party, the Republican Esquerra of Catalonia and the Basque Nationalist Party.

Apart from these, the anarchists also participated in the war, especially the CNT. The General Union of Workers was another union, in this case Marxist, which joined the Republican side.

National side

The right-wing parties supported the military raised in arms against the Republic. The Spanish Falange, the National Bloc, the Traditionalist Communion and part of the CEDA stood out.

The Catholic Church, except in some areas, joined this party. Her objective was to put a military dictatorship in government.

army

Not all the army participated in the coup: the aviation, the Infantry and part of the Navy remained faithful to the legal government.

Those who joined the uprising from the beginning were a part of the Infantry, the rest of the Navy and the Legion. As for the other security forces, the Civil Guard supported the coup, while the Assault Guard defended the Republic.

Support from the Nazis and Italian Fascism

Mussolini's fascist Italy sent 120,000 soldiers to support Franco's troops. Another 20,000 men arrived from Portugal, where Salazar ruled.

For its part, Hitler's Germany contributed the Condor Legion. It was an air force, made up of almost 100 planes, that bombed the cities of Guernica and Durango, even though they were not military targets. Similarly, ships from his navy bombed Almería.

International Brigades

Faced with this support, the Republic could only count on some weapons sold by the Soviet Union and the so-called International Brigades, made up of antifascist volunteers (without military experience) from around the world.

Development

The advance of the rebel military led them to control part of the peninsula in a few days. However, the initial idea to seize power quickly was a failure. With the country divided in two, the Civil War was a reality.

Madrid and the war of columns (July 1936- March 1937)

The main objective of the insurgents was to reach the capital, Madrid. With that intention, four columns of troops headed towards the city. However, the first attempt failed before the resistance of the citizens.

Franco, on the other hand, crossed the Strait of Gibraltar from Morocco. Together with Queipo de Llano, who has controlled Seville exercising brutal repression, they undertook the conquest of the southern area.

Once they got it, they headed for Madrid, taking Badajoz, Talavera and Toledo along the way. In these days, Franco was appointed head of the rebellious armies.

In this way, Madrid was besieged from the north and south. Largo Caballero, who assumed command of the republican government, transferred his ministers to Valencia due to the situation. In the capital, the resisters proclaimed the famous "They will not pass."

In Guadalajara and Jarama, the Republicans achieved important victories, lengthening the contest. The same happened in Guadalajara and Teruel, already at the beginning of 1937.

National Offensive in the North (March-October 1937)

Part of the northern part of the peninsula was taken by General Mola as soon as the war began. The rest were conquered between March and October 1937.

On April 26 of that year, one of the most symbolic events of the war took place: the bombing of Guernica. The Germans of the Condor Legion decimated the population.

Mola died near Burgos on June 3, being replaced by General Dávila. This continued its advance along the Cantabrian coast with the help of the Italians.

The Republicans also began to have another problem that would be fundamental to the outcome of the war. The internal differences between the different groups that formed this side began to destabilize the troops. Clashes broke out between anarchists, communists, socialists and other sensitivities on the left.

This was especially virulent in Barcelona and, in the end, the pro-Soviet communists succeeded in making Largo Caballero lose the presidency to Juan Negrín.

Aragon and advance towards the Mediterranean (Year 1938)

Catalonia was becoming the fundamental piece of the contest. The republicans, knowing this, tried to relieve the pressure on the city and managed to conquer Teruel. However, it was short-lived in their hands. The rebel counterattack recovered the city on February 22, 1938.

The capture of Vinaroz by the nationals made them get an exit to the Mediterranean and, in addition, left Catalonia isolated from Valencia.

One of the bloodiest and most decisive battles of the conflict took place on July 24: the Battle of the Ebro. The Republicans tried to cut off the nationals, covering the Ebro line. Three months later, the Francoists attacked and forced the Republicans withdraw.

The border with France, in the Pyrenees, was filled with refugees who tried to pass to the neighboring country. Among them, some members of the government, fearful of reprisals. It is estimated that more than 400,000 people fled.

On January 26, 1939, the Francoists took Barcelona. Days later, on February 5, they would do the same with Girona.

The end of the War (February-April 1939)

With little hope left, on March 4 Negrín suffered a coup by General Casado. This one tried to converse with the nationals to establish the conditions of the surrender, but the Francoists demanded that they do it unconditionally.

Negrín left for Mexico and, internationally, he continued to be considered President of the Republic.

Madrid, without strength after the long siege, surrendered on March 28, 1939. In the three subsequent days, the last republican cities did the same: Ciudad Real, Jaén, Albacete, Cuenca, Almería, Alicante and Valencia.

The last were Murcia and Cartagena, which lasted until March 31.

The rebels' radio station aired on April 1 the following part signed by Franco: “Today, the Red Army captive and disarmed, the national troops have reached their last military objectives. The war is over".

End

The three years of the Civil War were, according to experts, one of the most violent conflicts in history. The so-called nationals, commanded by General Franco, achieved victory and he assumed power.

There is no consensus about the number of deaths caused by the war. The figures vary between 300,000 and 400,000 deaths. In addition, another 300,000 went into exile and a similar number suffered prison terms.

Apart from these circumstances, Spain suffered several years of suffering, with part of the population going hungry. According to historians, many of those who lived through this time called them "the years of famine."

Repression and exile

The regime established by Franco after the Civil War began with the repression of supporters of the Republic and against anyone who had any relationship with the political left. This accentuated the flight of those who feared the consequences. In recent years, it has also been confirmed that there were thefts of babies from Republican parents.

The exiles were divided mainly between France, England and Latin America. Mexico, for example, was one of the most generous countries in its welcome.

Many of those who fled were part of the more intellectual classes of the time, thus impoverishing the country. The Mexican consulate in Vichy made a list of aid petitioners in 1942 that showed that there were some 1,743 doctors, 1,224 lawyers, 431 engineers and 163 professors requesting asylum.

Dictatorship

Franco established a dictatorship without political freedoms. He gave himself the name of Caudillo de España, a phrase that was accompanied by the legend "by the Grace of God." His ideology became known as National Catholicism.

In the first years of the dictatorship, Spain found itself totally isolated internationally. Few countries maintained diplomatic relations after the end of World War II.

The Cold War meant that, little by little, relations were reestablished with the Western bloc. The military bases that it allowed the US to install had a lot to do with this.

Republicans waited for international aid after the end of World War II. They thought that, once fascism had been defeated in Italy and Germany, it would be Spain's turn. This never happened.

Franco's regime lasted until his death on November 20, 1975.

References

History. Spanish Civil War. Phases of War. (Years 1936-1939). Obtained from historiaia.com
Flores, Javier. How did the Spanish Civil War start? Obtained from muyhistoria.es
History of Spain. Spanish Civil War. Obtained from historiaespana.es
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Spanish Civil War. Retrieved from britannica.com
The George Washintong University. Spanish Civil War. Retrieved from gwu.edu
International Institute of Social History. Spanish Civil War - Organizations. Retrieved from socialhistory.org
Nelson, Cary. The Spanish Civil War: An Overview. Retrieved from english.illinois.edu
Sky News. Human remains in mass grave from Spanish Civil War uncovered. Retrieved from news.sky.com

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