Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil War was fought from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939 between the Republicans, who were loyal to the established Spanish Republic, and the Nationalists, a rebel group led by General Francisco Franco. The Nationalists prevailed, and Franco ruled Spain for the next 36 years, from 1939 until his death in 1975.

The war began after a pronunciamiento (declaration of opposition) by a group of generals of the Spanish Republican Armed Forces under the leadership of José Sanjurjo against the elected government of the Second Spanish Republic, at the time under the leadership of President Manuel Azaña. The rebel coup was supported by a number of conservative groups, including the Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right, monarchists such as the religious conservative Carlists, and the Fascist Falange.

The coup was supported by military units in Morocco, Pamplona, Burgos, Valladolid, Cádiz, Cordova, and Seville. However, rebelling units in important cities such as Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Bilbao, and Málaga were unable to capture their objectives, and those cities remained in control of the government. Spain was thus left militarily and politically divided. The Nationalists, now led by General Francisco Franco, and the Republican government fought for the control of the country. The Nationalist forces received munitions and soldiers fromNazi Germany and Fascist Italy, while the Soviet Union and Mexico intervened in support of the "Loyalist", or "Republican", side. Other countries, such as Britain and France, operated an official policy of non-intervention, although France did send in some munitions.

The Nationalists advanced from their strongholds in the south and west, capturing most of Spain's northern coastline in 1937. They also besieged Madrid and the area to its south and west for much of the war. Capturing large parts of Catalonia in 1938 and 1939, the war ended with the victory of the Nationalists and the exile of thousands of left-leaning Spaniards, many of whom fled to refugee camps in southern France. Those associated with the losing Republicans were persecuted by the victorious Nationalists. With the establishment of a fascist dictatorship led by General Francisco Franco in the aftermath of the war, all right-wing parties were fused into the structure of the Franco regime.

The war became notable for the passion and political division it inspired, and for the atrocities committed by both sides in the war. Organized purges occurred in territory captured by Franco's forces to consolidate the future regime. A smaller but significant number of killings took place in areas controlled by the Republicans, normally associated with a breakdown in law and order. The extent to which Republican authorities connived in Republican territory killings varied.

Background

 At the end of the nineteenth century the owners of large estates, called latifundia, held most of the power in a land-based oligarchy. The landowners' power was unsuccessfully challenged by the industrial and merchant sectors. In 1868 popular uprisings led to the overthrow of Queen Isabella II of the House of Bourbon. In 1873 Isabella's replacement, King Amadeo I of the House of Savoy, abdicated due to increasing political pressure, and the short-lived First Spanish Republic was proclaimed. After the restoration of the Bourbons in December 1874, Carlists and Anarchists emerged in opposition to the monarchy. Alejandro Lerroux helped bringrepublicanism to the fore in Catalonia, where poverty was particularly acute. Growing resentment of conscription and of the military culminated in the Tragic Week in Barcelona in 1909.

After the First World War, the working class, the industrial class, and the military united in hopes of removing the corrupt central government, but were unsuccessful. Fears of communism grew. A military coup broughtMiguel Primo de Rivera to power in 1923, and he ran Spain as a military dictatorship. Support for his regime gradually faded, and he resigned in January 1930. There was little support for the monarchy in the major cities, and King Alfonso XIII abdicated; the Second Spanish Republic was formed, whose power would remain until the culmination of the Spanish Civil War.

Niceto Alcalá-Zamora became the first prime minister. The Republic had broad support from all segments of society; elections in June 1931 returned a large majority of Republicans and Socialists.With the onset of the Great Depression, the government attempted to assist rural Spain by instituting an eight-hour day and giving tenure to farm workers. Fascism remained a reactive threat, helped by controversial reforms to the military. In December a new reformist, liberal, and democratic constitution was declared. It included strong provisions enforcing a broad secularization of this Catholic country, which many moderate committed Catholics opposed. In October 1931 Manuel Azaña became prime minister of a minority government. In 1933 the right won thegeneral elections following an unsuccessful uprising by General José Sanjurjo in August 1932.

Events in the period following November 1933, called the black two years, seemed to make a civil war more likely. Alejandro Lerroux of the Radical Republican Party (RRP) formed a government and rolled back changes made under the previous administration. Some Monarchists joined with the Fascist Falange Española to help achieve their aims. Open violence occurred in the streets of Spanish cities and militancy continued to increase, reflecting a movement towards radical upheaval rather than peaceful democratic means as solutions.

In the last months of 1934, two government collapses brought members of the right-wing Confederation of the Autonomous Right (CEDA) into the government. Farm workers' wages were cut in half, and the military was purged of Republican members. A Popular Front alliance was organized,which narrowly won the 1936 elections. Azaña led a weak minority government but soon replaced Zamora as president in April. Prime Minister Casares ignored warnings of a military conspiracy involving several generals, who decided that the government had to be replaced to prevent the dissolution of Spain.

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