Spanish Civil War

• The Spanish Civil War was an armed conflict that began with a military uprising against the Republican government.
• The Republican side defended the constitutional government, was headed by the Popular Front (a coalition of leftist parties) and was supported by the workers, the peasantry and the Basque and Catalan nationalists.
• The rebel side was against popular government measures, was directed by Francisco Franco and was supported by the Church, the monarchists, the landowner aristocracy and the conservative groups.
• At the end of the war, Francisco Franco became a dictator of Spain until 1975.

Background of the Spanish Civil War

Since the beginning of the 20th century, with the triumph of the Russian revolution in 1917, it spread A great fear of communism between European high classes . In Spain, King Alfonso XIII and the Army began to intervene actively in politics, with the aim of neutralizing the emergence or action of communist groups.

In 1923, General Miguel Primo de Rivera carried out a coup d’etat and installed a de facto government. Then, he founded the Patriotic Union party to legitimize its regime and sought to form political corporations that replaced traditional political parties.

Before the dictatorial government of Primo de Rivera, a heterogeneous opposition was formed that involved different sectors of society: intellectual elites, workers’ groups, republican supporters, university students and leftist militants. Due to the pressure of these groups, the King and the Army took away their support for the Government and Primo de Rivera summoned elections in 1931.

In the 1931 elections, the republican and socialist forces won in the main cities of the country, although the monarchists were imposed in the rural areas. This result was seen as a rejection of the monarchical regime, which led to the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic on April 14, 1931 and the abdication of King Alfonso XIII.

Second Spanish Republic

The new government was made up of a coalition of Republicans and Socialists. He sanctioned a new Constitution and promoted structural reforms in Spanish politics, economy and society. With these reforms, it was sought to separate the Church from the State, expropriate land to large landowners to distribute them between the peasantry and promulgate labor laws in favor of workers’ rights to businessmen. Consequently, the different groups that were affected by these measures (the church, the monarchists, the conservatives, the aristocratic landowners and the army) were agglutinated as a great opposition.

In 1934, the coalition government appointed as ministers the members of the opposition, the Spanish Confederation of Autonomous Right (CEDA). This generated a strong reaction from the left, which perceived this alliance as an advance towards fascism. In response, the most radical groups of socialists, communists and anarchists formed the revolutionary committee and organized a general strike throughout Spain. The insurrection was especially strong in Asturias, where the miners rose in arms and proclaimed a revolutionary government. However, the uprising was brutally repressed by the army and ended with thousands of dead and imprisoned. The troops were in command of General Francisco Franco.

The end of the Second Republic

In the 1936 elections a coalition composed of communist, socialist and the Republican left, called Popular Front. In response, the military groups supported by the opposition, tried to make a coup d’etat, which was dismantled by the new government.

However, in July the general Francisco Franco began a second uprising, with the support of the Church the high land classes and the monarchical groups. His campaign proclaimed the defense of private property, the nation, family and religion.

The Francoist insurrection achieved enough support but did not have an immediate success. Since then, a civil war between republican forces and nationalist forces began.

Faced groups

In the Spanish Civil War, two factions faced each other:

• Republican forces. Composed of sectors related to the constitutional government, headed by the Popular Front. They were made up of the Republican parties added to the Spanish Socialist Workers Party, to anarchist, trade union and communist sectors. And were supported by the peasantry, the proletariat and the Basque and Catalan regional movements.
• The rebel nationalist forces. They represented the monarchical, landowner, conservative groups, the church and the high bourgeoisie. They were organized around the Military High Command, composed of the National Defense Board and was chaired by Generalissimo Francisco Franco, appointed Head of State of Insurrect Spain. This faction was made up of conservative political movements such as the Spanish Falange, the Spanish Confederation of Autonomous Right (CEDA), among others, and had the support of the Catholic Church and business elites.

International situation

While throughout Europe there was a climate of fear of communism, the powers took different positions in relation to the Spanish conflict. In 1936, France, England, Germany and Italy integrated the Non -Intervention Committee And they agreed not to get involved in the Spanish Civil War .

This neutrality position was promoted by France and England. However, months later, Germany and Italy broke the pact and got involved in the conflict.

The rebel nationalists received the direct support of the totalitarian governments of Italy and Germany. Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler sought to defeat all leftist governments and sent military assistance. The intervention was increasing and in 1937 the German Air Force bombed the city of Guernica.

The Republican government did not have the help of European democracies: France and England remained neutral. However, they received support from the USSR and Mexico, which attended the side in a way supported by politics, diplomatic and military resources.

An international coalition of European communist parties was also formed, known as international brigades. These brigades were made up of civilians from different countries, who were willing to take arms to fight fascism and defend the Republic.

Development of the Spanish Civil War

The military uprising that began the Spanish Civil War was led by General Francisco Franco in Melilla, on July 17, 1936. The insurrection extended but failed to impose itself throughout the country:

Triumphs

The military insurrection began in Melilla and from there quickly extended to the Morocco Protectorate as a whole. On July 18 and 19, the coup spread to the Peninsula and the archipelagos. While the Government of Casares Quiroga reacted slowly to the events.

The coup triumphed in:

• Galicia, Castilla-León, Navarra.
• Pamplona (Western Andalusia) with General Mola.
• Seville and Balearic Islands (except Menorca), with Queipo de Llano.
• The Canary Islands, from where Franco, after ensuring the triumph of the coup in the archipelago, moved to Morocco to lead the army of Africa.
• Oviedo, with General Aranda.
• Granada, where García Lorca took place.
• Zaragoza, with General Cabanellas.

Rebellion failures

The coup failed in Asturias, Cantabria and part of the Basque Country, where the PNV finally collaborated with the Republic, Catalonia, Levante, Madrid, Castilla La Mancha, Murcia and the Eastern Zone of Andalusia.

The most serious failures took place in Madrid, where the new Giral President gave weapons to the workers’ militias, and in Barcelona, ​​where an unusual collaboration of the CNT workers with the Civil Guard and the assault guard aborted the insurrection.

In general, except in Navarra and Castilla-León, the uprising had hardly any popular support and was based on the insurgents. Factors such as doubts or resolution of the rebels and the authorities in charge of suppressing the coup, the capacity for labor mobilization and the role of the Civil Guard were key to understanding the final result of the coup in each area of ​​the country.

The country’s division in two zones: the beginning of the civil war

The partial failure of the coup led to the division of the territory in two zones and at the beginning of the war:

• Nationalist zone. The national zone had cereal and cattle reserves of Castilla and Galicia, and the Leon and Riotinto coal mines in Huelva. First of all, it had a much more prepared army that had full divisions in Castilla, Galicia and Andalusia and, above all, with the Army of Africa, the Legion and the Regular.
• Republican zone. In the Republican area, industrial regions were included, and had wheat in La Mancha and the products of the Levantine orchards. He could also have the gold reserves of the Bank of Spain. However, the army units were practically dismantled. Most of the officers revolted and the government itself dissolved many units whose fidelity was doubtful. The Navy (without many of its officers) and aviation remained in the hands of the Republican government.

Republican defeat

The military superiority of the rebels was noticed above the republican ranks, divided between political factions and devoid of war experience . In 1936 the nationalists had advanced on Madrid and subjected her to place, without being able to conquer the university area.

During the summer of the following year The Basque provinces and then Asturias submitted . After capturing Teruel and obtaining departure to the Mediterranean in 1938, the Francoists managed to divide the Republic into two. Thus, the enemy troops were incommunicado.

A war of wear began then which charged in famine, misery and thousands of lives. At the end of that year they advanced on Catalonia, forcing republican troops into exile in France.

In early 1939 Republican forces were unwown: Those who could be exiled and the rest began the surrender process. The Francoists entered Madrid at the end of March and on April 1 the war was over.

The National Defense Board

After demolishing the republican government in some parts of the country, The rebel side decided to organize its forces in a National Defense Board. The goal was to make the party and the unions of the Popular Front illegal. In addition, he prohibited any form of working or trade unionist political manifestation.

At the end of 1936, after conquering Toledo, the Board appointed Francisco Franco Generalissimo of the rebel Army and head of the State Government. In 1939, with the triumph over the Republican side, the entire Spanish territory was under the government of the National Defense Board. Since then, and until 1975, General Francisco Franco ruled Spain through a dictatorial government .

The position of the Catholic Church

During the Spanish civil war, The Catholic Church supported the nationalist rebel forces that led Francisco Franco to power.

During the Second Republic, the Republican Government had established the separation of the Church from the State and, in this way, threatened the power of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. In addition, within the Republican faction, anarchist and communist groups denounced the power of the Church and their oppression over the people. In turn, the high religious hierarchy was affected by the reforms established in the Lay Constitution of the New Republic.

In this context, the Catholic institutions supported from the beginning the conformation of the opposition to the Republican government and were proclaimed in favor of the Francoist uprising. Such is the case of Bishop Plá and Deniel, who published his vision in which he identified the Civil War as a “crusade” against “evil” (which was the Republican government), carried out by the “good” (which were the coup forces).

During the war, priests and church members were persecuted and killed in the territories controlled by the Republican side.

With Franco’s triumph in the Civil War, the Catholic institution regained its power institutionally and initiated a strong Christianization policy of Spanish society.

Consequences of the Spanish Civil War

The main consequences of the conflict were:

• The establishment of Francoism, a military, nationalist and Catholic dictatorship under the command of Franco, who pursued and tortured his opponents for decades.
• The loss of thousands of lives, among military casualties of both sides and summary executions in the rear of both sides. Among the most famous deaths of the fascist side are those of artists and intellectuals, such as Federico García Lorca.
• The exile of thousands of Spaniards who fled the conflict or the dictatorship that followed.
• The destruction and devastation of Spain, which prevented them from participating in World War II and thus returning the favors received to their Nazi and fascist allies.

Francoism

At the end of the Spanish Civil War, the Government of the National Defense Board controlled the entire territory of the country and the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco was imposed. The dictatorial government lasted until the death of the leader in 1975, almost forty years.

During the Franco government, liberal and Catholic conservative principles were imposed, with certain features of German and Italian fascism: social and political control through terror, propaganda and the elimination of the opposition.

Presence in culture

Numerous literary, film and artistic works have portrayed the horror of the Spanish civil war. Among them we can highlight:

• The paintings Guernica by Pablo Picasso, The mercury source by Alexander Calder and the Catalan peasant in rebellion by Joan Miró.
• The films Bicycles are for summer (1984) by Jaime Chávarri; Oh, Carmela! (1990) by Carlos Saura, The butterflies (1999) by José Luis Rope or The devil’s spine (2001) by Guillermo del Toro.
• Literary works WHICH THE BELLS DOUBT from Ernest Hemingway, Salamina soldiers by Javier Cercas or The wall by Jean Paul Sartre.

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References

• Martorell, M. and Juliá, S. (2012). The Spanish Republic. In Manual of Political and Social History of Spain (1808-2011). Editorial UNED.
• Tusell, J. (2012). History of Spain in the twentieth century (II). The crisis of the thirties: Republic and Civil War. Taurus
• Valdeon, J., Pérez, J., Santos., J. (2003). Military rebellion, social revolution and civil war. In History of Spain. Mexican Calpe Espasa.