Spanish Civil War

A republican soldier seeks cover on the Plaza de Toros in Teruel, east of Madrid.

For an article about the 1820-1823 civil war in Spain, see: Spanish Civil War, 1820-1823

The Spanish Civil War (1936 - 1939) was the result of complex political differences between the Republicans — supporters of the government of the day, the Second Spanish Republic, mostly subscribing to electoral democracy and ranging from centrists to those advocating revolutionary change, with a primarily urban power base — and the Nationalists, who rebelled against that government: these had a primarily rural and more conservative power base.

The war took place between July 1936 and April 1939 (although the political situation had already been violent for several years before) and ended in the defeat of the Republicans, resulting in the fascist dictatorship of Francisco Franco. The number of casualties is disputed; estimates generally suggest that between 500,000 and 1,000,000 people were killed. Many of these deaths, however, were results not of military fighting, but were the outcome of brutal mass executions perpetrated by both sides. Many Spanish intellectuals and artists (including many of the Spanish Generation of 1927) were either killed or forced into exile; also thousands of priests and religious people (including several Bishops) were killed; the more military-inclined often found fame and fortune. The Spanish economy needed decades to recover (see Spanish miracle).

The political and emotional repercussions of the war reverberated far beyond the boundaries of Spain and sparked passion among international intellectual and political communities. Republican sympathizers proclaimed it as a struggle between 'tyranny and democracy', or 'fascism and liberty'. Franco's supporters, on the other hand, viewed it as a battle between the 'red hordes' (of communism and anarchism) and 'civilization'. However, these dichotomies were inevitably over-simplifications: both sides had varied, and often conflicting, ideologies within their ranks.

The military tactics of the war foreshadowed many of the actions of World War II.

Introduction

Political background

From 1934 to 1936, the Second Spanish Republic was governed by a center-right coalition that included the conservative Catholic Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas (CEDA). During this time, there were general strikes in Valencia and Zaragoza, street conflicts in Madrid and Barcelona, and a miners' uprising in Asturias, which was put down forcefully by the troops commanded by General López Ochoa and the Legionnaires commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Juan Yagüe, under the direction of Minister of War Diego Hidalgo. During this time, the government expended great efforts to annul the social gains that had been made in the previous years, especially in agrarian reform.

After a series of governmental crises, the elections of February 16, 1936, brought to power a Popular Front government supported by the parties of the left and centre and opposed by those of the right. The new government was unstable, and on April 7, 1936, President Niceto Alcalá Zamora was deposed by the new Parliament, which named Prime Minister Manuel Azaña as the new President.

During this period of rising tensions, according to official sources, 330 people were assassinated and 1,511 were wounded in politically-related violence; records show 213 failed assassination attempts, 113 general strikes, and the destruction of 160 religious buildings;¹ the actual numbers may be even higher. On July 12, 1936, José Castillo, a lieutenant in the Assault Guards and member of the Socialist Party, was murdered by a 'far right' group in Madrid. The following day a group of Assault Guards officers took revenge by murdering José Calvo Sotelo, a Member of Parliament and one of the leaders of the extreme anti-republican opposition, as well as a former finance minister under the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera. This assassination precipitated the following events.

On July 17, 1936, the conservative rebellion long feared by the leftist Popular Front government of Prime-Minister Santiago Casares Quiroga, began. Casares Quiroga, who had succeeded Azaña in the office, had in the previous weeks exiled the military officers suspected of conspiracy, including General Manuel Goded y Llopis and General Francisco Franco, sent to the Balearic Islands and to the Canary Islands, respectively. The rebellion was not only a military coup, but it had a substantial civilian component. The rebels had hoped to gain immediate control of the capital, Madrid, and all the other important cities of Spain. Seville, Pamplona, A Coruña, Cádiz, Jerez de la Frontera, Córdoba, Zaragoza and Oviedo all fell under control of the rebels, also known as the Nationalists, but failed in Barcelona and Madrid. Because of this, a protracted civil war ensued.

The active participants in the war covered the entire gamut of the political positions and ideologies of the time. The Nationalist side included the fascists of the Falange, Carlist and Legitimist monarchists, and Spanish nationalists and most conservatives. On the Republican side were most liberals, Basque and Catalan nationalists, socialists, Stalinist and Trotskyist communists, and anarchists of varying ideologies.

To look at the breakdown another way, the Nationalists included the majority of the Catholic clergy and of practicing Catholics (outside of the Basque region), important elements of the army, the majority of landowners and many businessmen. The Republicans included most urban workers, peasants, and much of the educated middle class, especially those who were not entrepreneurs.

The leaders of the rebellion were the generals Francisco Franco, Emilio Mola and José Sanjurjo. Sanjurjo was the unquestioned leader of the uprising, but he was killed in a plane crash on July 20 as he was going to Spain to take control of the rebel side. Franco, the overall commander of the Spanish army since 1933 and already a noted pro-Fascist, flew from the Canary Islands to the Spanish colonies in Morocco and took command there. For the remaining three years of the war, Franco was effective commander of all the Nationalists.

One of the principal motives claimed at the time of the initial Nationalist uprising was to confront the anticlericalism of the Republican regime and to defend the Roman Catholic Church, which was censured for its support for the monarchy and which many on the Republican side blamed for the ills of the country. In the opening days of the war, churches, convents and other religious buildings were burnt without action on the part of the Republican authorities to prevent it. Articles 24 and 26 of the Constitution of the Republic banned the Jesuits, which deeply offended many of the Nationalists. Notwithstanding these religious matters, the Basque nationalists, who nearly all sided with the Republic, were, for the most part, practicing Catholics. John Paul II has recently canonized several of these martyrs of the Spanish Civil War, murdered for being priests or nuns.

Foreign involvement

The rebellion was opposed by the government (with the troops that remained loyal to the Republic), as well as by Socialist, Communist and anarchist groups. European powers such as Britain and France were officially neutral but still imposed an arms embargo on Spain, and actively discouraged the anti-fascist participation of their citizens. Both fascist Italy under Benito Mussolini and Nazi Germany violated the embargo and sent troops (Corpo Truppe Volontarie and Legión Cóndor) and weapons to support Franco. In addition, there were a few volunteer troops from other nations who fought with the Nationalists, such as Eoin O'Duffy of Ireland.

The Republicans received aid and purchased arms extensively from the Soviet Union. These arms included 1,000 aircraft, 900 tanks, 1,500 artillery pieces, 300 armored cars, hundreds of thousands of small arms and 30,000 tons of ammunition. To pay for these armaments the Republicans used US$500 million dollars in gold reserves; at the start of the war Spain had the world's fourth largest reserves of gold, about US$750 million [1], [2]. While some have contended that the Soviets were motivated mainly by the desire to sell armaments, and that they charged extortionate prices [3], there is no question that they also sent significant numbers of "advisors" who actively participated in the war, including in combat, on the Republican side. Later, the "Moscow gold" was an issue during the Spanish transition to democracy.The other country that helped Republican side was Mexico which provided rifles and food for Spanish republic.

Volunteers from many countries, collectively known as the International Brigades were organized and directed by the Comitern through the NKVD to aid the Spanish Republicans . American volunteers formed the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and Canadians formed the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion (the "Mac-Paps"). Among the more famous foreigners participating in the efforts against the fascists were Ernest Hemingway and George Orwell, who went on to write about his experiences in Homage to Catalonia. Orwell's novel Animal Farm was loosely inspired by his experiences, and those of other Trotskyists, at the hands of Stalinists when the Popular Front began to fight within itself, as were the torture scenes in 1984. Hemingway's novel For Whom the Bell Tolls was inspired by his experiences in Spain. Norman Bethune used the opportunity to develop the special skills of battlefield medicine. As a casual visitor Errol Flynn used a fake report of his death at the battlefront to promote his movies.

However, though the Nationalists were receiving overt aid in the form of arms and troops from Germany and Italy, the Republicans received no aid from any major world powers (e.g. Britain or France or the United States) besides the aforementioned Soviet Union contribution. Many of these powers were still practicing a policy of appeasement towards Fascist regimes, or they viewed social revolutionary elements within the anti-fascist forces with distaste, or they believed that the Republicans were Communists.

Germany used the war as a testing ground for faster tanks and aircraft that were just becoming available at the time. The Messerschmitt Me-109 fighter and Junkers Ju 52 transport/bomber were both used in the Spanish Civil War. In addition, the Soviet I-15 fighter and I-16 fighters were used. The Spanish Civil War was also an example of total war, where the bombing of the Basque town of Guernica by the Legión Cóndor, as depicted by Pablo Picasso in Guernica, foreshadowed episodes of World War II such as the bombing campaign on Britain by the Nazis and the bombing of Dresden by the Allies.

The war: 1936

In the early days of the war, over 50,000 people who were caught on the "wrong" side of the lines were assassinated or summarily executed. The numbers were probably comparable on both sides of the lines. In these paseos ("promenades"), as the executions were called, the victims were taken from their refuges or jails and taken by armed people to be shot out of town. Probably the most famous of these was the poet and dramatist Federico García Lorca. The breaking out of the war provided an excuse for settling accounts and resolving long-standing feuds.

Any hope of a quick ending to the war was dashed on July 21, the fifth day of the rebellion, when the Nationalists captured the main Spanish naval base at El Ferrol in northwestern Spain. This encouraged the Fascist nations of Europe to help Franco, who had already contacted the governments of Germany and Italy the day before. On July 26, Germany and Italy cast their lot with the Nationalists.

The Axis Powers helped Franco from the very beginning. His Nationalist forces won another great victory on September 27, when the city of Toledo was captured. (A Nationalist garrison under Colonel Moscardo had held the Alcazar in the center of the city since the beginning of the rebellion). Two days later, Franco proclaimed himself Generalísimo and Caudillo ("chieftain") while unifying the various Falangist and Royalist elements of the Nationalist cause in one movement. In October, the Nationalists launched a major offensive toward Madrid, but increasing resistance by the government and the arrival of "volunteers" from the Soviet Union halted the advance by November 8. In the meantime, the government shifted from Madrid to Valencia, out of the combat zone, on November 6.

File:GuerraCivil-Italia.jpg

Helping the Nationalist forces from the start of the conflict, the Italian government assembled troops, composed of "volunteers" for legal purposes (the Kingdom of Italy never declared war against the Spanish Republic). A poster of the Republican forces urges Spaniards: "Rise up against the Italian invasion of Spain!".

On November 18, Germany and Italy officially recognized the Franco regime, and on December 23, Italy sent "volunteers" of its own to fight for the Nationalists.

Detailed chronology: 1936

February 16: Popular Front electoral victory
July 12: Police lieutenant José Castillo is murdered in the afternoon hours by four fascist gunmen. The gunmen were awaiting the recently married lieutenant in the afternoon hours in front of his house. He was Member of the UMRA, an antifascist organization for military members, and also worked with socialist youth.
July 13: Calvo Sotelo, leader of the right-wing monarchist party, is murdered in retaliation by police officers. Around 3am, only a few hours after the assassination of Castillo, his close friend Police Captain Fernando Condes and other police officers, acting on their own initiative, arrested Calvo Sotelo in his house. Driving with him in a police car of the Assault Guard (Guardia De Assalto) police officer Luis Cuenca shot him in the back of the neck. His dead body is given to a municipal undertaker.
July 14: Shootout between Police Assault Guard and fascist militias in the streets surrounding the cemetery of Madrid, where the burials of Jose Castillo and Calvo Sotelo are taking place. Four people killed.
July 17: Army uprising in Morocco. Military uprising of the Foreign Legion in Morocco. General Manuel Romerales, commanding officer of the East Army, murdered by rebels, who also imprisoned commanding General Gomez in the late afternoon. Loyal police troops from the Guardia Civil and Guardia De Assalto hold the cities Tetuan and Larache, but are under heavy attack by the rebels. General Franco orders the killing of his nephew, a major in Tetuan, for standing loyal to the government.
By late evening, all of Morocco is in the hands of the rebels. From the Canary Islands, General Franco declares a "state of war" for all of Spain. Prime Minister Casares Quiroga spends the whole day telephoning different regional military administrations to clarify the situation. Pamplona, Saragossa, Oviedo, Salamanca, Avila, Segovia, and Cadiz are already in the hands of the rebels.
July 18: Uprising extends to Iberian Spain. The rebels gain control over about one third of Spain.
July 19: Franco flies from the Canary Islands to Tetuán and takes command of the army in Africa.
Santiago Casares Quiroga resigns as chief of the Republican government.
Diego Martínez Barrio tries to form a new government, but cannot obtain broad enough parliamentary support.
José Giral forms a government, which orders that arms be issued to the general populace.
Seville, one of the most important cities in the south, is unsuccessfully defended by local police troops and a poorly armed workers' militia. While the heaviest weapons police possess are machine guns, the rebel General Queipo de Llano sends in artillery and heavily armed troops. Seville falls to the rebels.
The People's Olympiad opens in Barcelona, a protest agains the official 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, the capital of Nazi Germany. In Barcelona, heavy streetfighting breaks out between police, workers militias and loyal troops on one side and around 12,000 rebel soldiers on the other. After it becomes obvious that Civil Guard, Assault Guard and City Police would not be enough to keep control of the city, the Generalitat (regional government of Catalonia), decide belatedly to arm the people.
July 20: Start of the siege of the Alcázar de Toledo. The rebels in Madrid and Barcelona are defeated, Mallorca falls to the rebels. In Madrid, around 10,000 citizens, among them police officers and soldiers, attack the Montana Barracks, held by rebel General Fanjul and around 2,500 soldiers. Some soldiers in the Barracks wanted to surrender and waved a white flag. The crowd moved towards the barracks, while the soldiers who wanted to surrender where overwhelmed by the rebels. The rebels then immediately fired with heavy machine guns and grenades into the masses, leaving many wounded or dead. The crowd then stormed the Barracks and massacred the defenders. General Fanjul was among the few captured alive.
Barcelona: The combined forces of local police troops, workers' militias and citizens gained back control over the city in a dramatic two days barricade fight.
Mallorca: After heavy resistance, especially at the Air Base, the rebels gain control over Mallorca.
The official leader of the uprising, General Sanjurjo, dies in an air accident in a small airplane bringing him back to Spain from his exile in Portugal. He had insisted, against the advice of the pilot, on taking all of his possessions with him. The overloaded airplane crashed taking off.
July 21: The Nationalist insurgents have control of the Spanish zones of Morocco, the Canary Islands, the Balearics (except Minorca), the part of Spain north of the Sierra de Guadarrama and the Río Ebro (except Asturias, Santander, the north of the País Vasco (Basque Country), and Catalonia). Among the major cities, the insurgents hold Seville, but the Republicans retain Madrid and Barcelona.
July 22: Vallehermoso in La Gomera, a village of 4,000, is that last place in the Canary Islands to fall to the rebels. Police Officer Francisco Mas García had organized the hopeless resistance. The actual battle for the town lasted several hours. The councilor, the police officers and the leader of the local workers' council were condemned to death. In the hour before his execution, police chief Don Antonio wrote to his wife: "I die calm, because I believe in the justice of God".
The Navy and Air Force remain loyal to the government. Thanks to the initiative of noncommissioned officer Benjamin Balboa, most of the Navy stayed loyal to the Republic. He was on duty in the central military radio station. As soon as he got notice of the uprising he informed the Naval Ministry and arrested his commanding officer, Captain Castor Ibanez. Then he spent the night informing navy ships about the uprising. The soldiers on the ships formed councils and gained control of the ships despite heavy resistance from the officers. Spain lost three quarters of its navy officers that night, but the Navy was saved for the Republic.The officers of the Spanish Air Force are traditionally very Republican, but the air force has only a few obsolete planes.
July 23: The Nationalists declare a government in the form of the Junta de Defensa Nacional, which meets for the first time in Burgos.
July 24: Start of French aid to the Republican side. The help involves for the moment only the sending of a handful of obsolete airplanes for the Spanish Republican Air Force, but the single fact that France seem to be willing to help is from eminent moral important for the Spanish people.
The Durruti Column, around three thousand men, mostly workers, led by Buenaventura Durruti are the first volunteer militia to leave Barcelona, heading for the Aragon front.
July 28: First arrival of German and Italian planes in aid of the Nationalist side.The German and Italian planes cross Moroccan troops to mainland Spain.
July-August: The "spontaneous" social revolution, collectivizations.
August 1: Under the pressure of Britain, France resigns its declaration to help Republican Spain, and together both nations found the Committee of Non-Intervention.
Mussolini sends airplanes in support of the rebels. Mussolini was convinced with the help of Marques de Viana and the exiled ex-king of Spain, Alfonso XIII. Mussolini wants money for his help, the Spanish Billionaire Juan March pays for the italian airplanes. Cause Franco has no air personal and pilots, Mussolini sends the airplanes with italian pilots. After two of the airplanes crush on their way in France-Marocco, the world gets notice of this clear break of nonintervention.
August 2: Troops of the rebellious Foreign Legion start their advance in direction Madrid from Seville.
August 8: France closes its border with Spain.
While Mallorca is still in hand of the fascists, Ibiza and Formentera are back in republican hand.
August 10: The fascists take Merida on their way to Madrid cutting Republicans in Badajoz.The republican activist Leiva, a well known woman in Spain, executed by the fascists.
August 14: Nationalist forces under Colonel Juan Yagüe take Badajoz, uniting the two parts of the Nationalist territory.Around 4000 people die during and after the attack in Badajoz, there happened a systematically mass raping under the women population. The mass raping is official politic of the fascists generals, proved by many radio speeches of General Queipo de Llano, who is very proud of the sexual behaviors of his troops. In first line involved in this mass rapings and killings are the so named "moros", Moroccan volunteers, who now get the chance to revenge the colonial occupation of their country by Spain. Of course, they fight on the side of the colonialists against the people of Spain, but they will become an elite troop of the fascist army.In the local "Plaza de Toros" thousands of people get shot down by the fascists with machine guns.
August 16: Under heavy bombardment by italian airplanes, the Republican Army land on the coast of Mallorca.Captain Alberto Bayo establishes a small base on the coast. He and his men are under heavy bombing by italian airplanes
August 19: Viznar, Grenada: Frederico Garcia Lorca is murdered among others by members of the fascist "Escuadra Negra". They have to dig their own grave and are then killed. Later, the official excuse for the brutal assassination of Frederico Garcia Lorca will be that he was homosexual.This gives them the possibility to participate in the international blockade of Spain, in fact Italian and German war ships are now allowed to stay in Spanish territorial water and prevent other ships from reaching the Spanish shore.
August 24: Italy and Germany join officially the Non-Intervention agreement.
September 3: The Republican forces under Captain Alberto Bayo retreated today from Mallorca. After establishing a small base on the shore of Mallorca two weeks ago, the Republican troops could not make it to the inner area of the island. Under permanent attack by enemy land - and air forces the retreat was more a flight, leaving behind many men, weapons and valuable material.
September 4: Prime Minister Francicso Largo Caballero present new government.The government is formed by 6 Socialists, 4 Republicans, 2 Communists, 1 Catalan Republican and 1 Basque Nationalist.
September 5: After heavy fighting's, the Basque city Irun is taken by the Fascists. Anarchist militias, defending the city, destroy most of the government buildings with dynamite, to prevent their use by the Fascists. The Fascists control now a big, nowhere interrupted, part of Spain. Basque country is separated from the rest of the Republic, cut off eventually supply lines over the French border. The seaside of the Basque country is already blocked by warships of the "Non Intervention" states.
September 9: First official meeting of the Non-Intervention committee in London.23 countries assisted today in the first official meeting of the so called "Non-Intervention" committee in London. The psychological effect on the Spanish people is horrible. Instead of helping the legally elected democratic government, the democratic nations turn away, in favor of the Insurgents. "One country alone reacted without fear, and with great generosity, towards the plight of the Spanish republic. Mexico supported fully and publicly the claim of the Madrid government. Mexico refused to follow the French-British Non-Intervention proposals, recognizing immediately the great advantage they offered the Insurgents. Contrary to the United States, Mexico did not feel that neutrality between an elected government and a military junta was a proper policy.[...] Mexico's attitude gave immense moral comfort to the Republic, especially since the major South American governments - those of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Peru - sympathized more ore less openly with the Insurgents. But Mexican aid could mean relatively little in practical terms if the French border were closed and if the dictators remained free to supply the Insurgents with a quality and quantity of weapons far beyond the power of Mexico.
Under the leadership of Colonel Moscardo and after three days of street battles against forces loyal to the government, about 1000 Civil and Assault Guards, Falangists (comparable to the German S.A.), and a handful of infantry cadets, had to retread into the Alcazar, a stone fortress set on high ground overlooking the Tagus River and the city of Toledo, on July 21. They took with them a few hundred women an children as hostages, most of them families of well known leftists. They also took with them their own families. Since then they are under besiege by loyal troops.Today Lt. Colonel Vicente Rojo Lluch entered the fort under a flag of truce to try to obtain its surrender, and failing that, the release of the hostages. Colonel Moscardo refuses both proposals
September 13: Basque city San Sebastian was taken today by the Fascists. They advance now in direction to the Basque capital city, Bilbao.
The government agree to send part of the national gold reserves to the Soviet Union.The gold is send as security for future buying of war material from the Soviet Union.
September 14: The Pope condems the Republican Government for their "satanic hate against God"
September 19: The Fascists take the island of Ibiza.
September 24: Franco postpone the advance to Madrid in favor to aid the Insurgents in the Alcazar of Toledo.The besiege of the Alcazar has meanwhile an immense importance for both sides. It became the symbol of the Civil War. Against the recommendation of his German advisors Franco decides to end the siege of the Alcazar.
September 26: The new Catalan government (Generalitat de Catalunya) includes now the groups who gained power resisting the military rebellion. The Socialist P.O.U.M. and the Anarchist C.N.T./F.A.I. send ministers.
September 27: Toledo falls to the Fascists.Some hundred militia man tried to stop the Fascist advance into the city and were all killed by Foreign Legion and Moroccan mercenaries, the "Moros". Around 40 Anarchist running out of ammunition, set fire to the building they were defending and burned alive before becoming prisoners. The Fascists murder the doctor and the nurses in the hospital of Toledo, the unarmed and wounded militias were killed in their beds.The hostages taken by Fascist Colonel Moscardo were killed in the beginning of the siege, what explains why Moscardo refused to handle them over on the 9th of September.
September 27: The Non-Intervention committee refuses to hear charges against Portugal for his open support of the Insurgents and the clear ignorance of the blockade.
September 29: The Fascist junta in Burgos declare Franco Generalissimo.
September: Comintern approves the creation of the International Brigades.
October 1: Franco declares himself head of state and Generalísimo.
The Republican government concedes autonomy to the Basque Country (in practice, Biscay and Guipúzcoa) as Euzkadi, with José Antonio Aguirre as its president.
October 3: In order to "legitimate" the Fascist rebellion inside and outside Spain, Franco establish a civil government for the "National Zone". This Civil Junta has practically nothing to say, cause the rebellious generals declared "the state of war over whole Spain" at the beginning of their uprising.
October 6: The Soviet Union declared today, they will not be more bound to the Non-Intervention than Portugal-Italy-Germany. Due to the massive support of those countries for the Fascist rebels, this means that the Spanish Republic will be able to buy know, 3 months after the uprising, armament and ammunition. Unlike the "National Zone", who is supplied openly over the Portuguese border, the Republic still suffers under the closed French border and the "Non-Intervention" blockade at sea.
October 7: The first International Brigades were founded today in Albacete.The Italian Communist chief Togliatti and the French Communist Andre Marty where the effective organizational heads.
October 9: Foundation of the "Popular Army" in the Spanish Republic.It is planned to organize the loyal rest of the former army and the militias under a modern and efficient officers corps and under controlled command.
October 12: Miguel de Unamuno opposes Fascist General Millán Astray.During a celebration in the University of Salamanca (National Zone), world famous philosopher and chairman of the university, Miguel de Unamuno, opposed General Millan Astray, first commander of the Foreign Legion. While being till now a supporter of the Fascist Rebellion, which he misinterpreted as a national one, he realize listening to the official speech of General Millan Astray before the guests (between them the wife of Franco) the inhuman and unnoble nature of the uprising. Meanwhile supporters of the General are shouting "Long Live Death", Unamuno says in a loud voice to the General that they have not only to win (vencer), but to convince (convencer), and that he don't think they were fitted for the latter task, and that the general himself, a cripple who lost an eye and an arm in an former war, is also an cripple in his mind, and therefore he wants to cripple in his hate all the others. The choleric General become so furious, that he wants to strike Unamuno, shouting "Death to Intelligence". Only the intervention of Franco's wife prevents this. Unamuno is removed as rector of the university.Cause the international fame of Unamuno and the trouble after the brutal assassination of the poet Frederico Garcia Lorca, Franco refused his own and Millan Astrays wish to execute Unamuno. Instead he is ordered to stay at his house and is not allowed to express himself in public. He will die of chagrin in December. The same day he dies, his two sons enlist themselves voluntarily in the Republican Militias to fight Fascism.
October 24: First Shipment of the Spanish Gold Reserves to the Soviet Union.The Soviet Union insists in have a security for selling armament and ammunition. Spain has to send more than half his gold reserve to Russia (at $35 per ounce the shipment was worth $578.000.000).
October 27: The first Russian tanks arrive in Madrid.The first Russian tanks, heavy armored tanks from type T-26, with more than 10T weight, arrive in Madrid. They drive from the central train station directly into battle. The defenders of Madrid, who had to use till now Molotov cocktails (glass bottles filled with gasoline and burning cloth) against the German and Italian tanks on the Fascist side, can slow down the advance of the Fascists.
October 27: 16 people dead and 60 wounded in air raid against Madrid.Six bombs detonate today in the "Plaza de Colon" in the middle of the City. One bomb fall into a queue of women, waiting for milk for their kids. This is the first bombing in modern history without any military meaning, only to spread terror under the civil population. The air raid was made by German pilots in Junkers Ju 52. Madrid has nothing to prevent enemy airplanes from flying over the city.
November 4: With the Nationalists at the gates of Madrid, the anarchist CNT joins the Largo Caballero government.
November 6: The defense of Madrid is organized under the newly created Junta de Defensa directed by General Jose Miaja.
The Republican government moves to Valencia.
November 8: Start of the battle of Madrid.
Arrival of the first International Brigades.
November 18: Italy and Germany recognize the Franco government.
November 19: Anarchist leader Buenaventura Durruti is gravely wounded during the fighting in Madrid. He dies the next day.
November 20: José Antonio Primo de Rivera, son of dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera and founder of the Falange, is executed in a jail in Alicante, where he had been held prisoner since before the insurgency.
November 23: Battle of Madrid ends; with both sides exhausted a front stabilizes.

The war: 1937

With his ranks being swelled by Italian troops and Spanish colonial soldiers from Morocco, Franco made another attempt to capture Madrid in January and February of 1937, but failed again. The large city of Málaga was taken on February 8, and on April 28, Franco's men entered Guernica, in the Basque Country, two days after the bombing of that city by the German Condor Legion equipped with Heinkel He-51 biplanes (the legion arrived in Spain on May 7). After the fall of Guernica, the government began to fight back with increasing effectiveness.

In May, the government made a move to recapture Segovia, forcing Franco to pull troops away from the Madrid front to halt their advance. Mola, Franco's second-in-command, was killed on June 3, and in early July, despite the fall of Bilbao in June, the government actually launched a strong counter-offensive in the Madrid area, which the Nationalists repulsed with some difficulty.

File:GuerraCivil-Cruzada.jpg

The frequent and violent attacks by Republican forces on clergy, laity, and property of the Catholic Church led the Nationalist side to call the Spanish Civil War a modern-day Crusade. This Nationalist poster proclaims: "CRUSADE. Spain, spiritual guide of the world".

After that, Franco regained the initiative, invading Aragon in August and then taking the city of Santander (now in Cantabria). Two months of bitter fighting followed and, despite determined Asturian resistance, Gijón (in Asturias) fell in late October, which effectively ended the war in the North.

Meanwhile, on August 28, the Vatican recognized Franco under pressure from Mussolini, and at the end of November, with the Nationalists closing in on Valencia, the government moved again, to Barcelona.

Detailed chronology: 1937

January 17: The Nationalists begin the battle to take Málaga. Three Nationalist columns converge on the city from Seville and Granada.
February 6: The Republican troops arrive in Almería, after a badly organized retreat from Málaga under continuous bombardment by German artillery. The troops and between 60,000 and 100,000 civilians flee along the coast road, pounded by artillery fire from the vessels Canarias and Almirante Cervera.
February 6-24: The Nationalist offensive of Jarama, by the forces under General Orgaz, attempts to isolate Madrid. In heavy combat, Republican forces under Generals Pozas and Miaja prevent them from achieving this objective.
March 8-18: The Guadalajara offensive, another attempt to isolate Madrid. After a rapid advance of Nationalist and Italian troops, the Republicans counterattack, aided by Soviet tanks and airplanes; the Italians suffer a serious defeat.
March 31: Start of General Mola's Nationalist offensive to take Bilbao, defended by forces under the command of General Llano de la Encomienda.
April 19: Decree of Unification: Franco declares the amalgamation of the Falange and the Carlists, creating the Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista (FET y de las JONS).
April 26: Bombing of Guernica by the Luftwaffe's Condor Legion.
May 3-8: Fighting breaks out among anti-Nationalist forces in Barcelona, with the Trotskyist POUM and anarchist CNT on one side and the socialist PSUC on the other.
May 17: The government of Largo Caballero falls. Doctor Juan Negrín, socialist, becomes head of the government.
May 31: German forces bomb Almería to repress Republican air attacks on the battleship Deutschland.
June 3: Nationalist General Mola dies in an airplane accident. Fidel Dávila takes over as commander of his troops, attacking Bilbao.
June 16: The POUM is outlawed and its leaders are arrested.
June 17: The Jaime I, one of the Republican's best ships, is sunk in Cartagena.
June 19: Bilbao is taken by the Nationalists, causing the collapse of the defensive system optimistically named the Cinturón de Hierro ("Belt of Iron").
June 21: Soviet agents assassinate the POUM leader Andreu Nin.
July 7-26: The Battle of Brunete. Attempting to reduce the Nationalist pressure on Madrid, General Miaja orders an offensive directed by Generals Juan Modesto and Enrique Jurado. They take Brunete, moving the front some eight kilometers. The Nationalist counterattack directed by General José Enrique Varela almost completely wipes out this gain.
August 26: The fall of Santander.
September 4-5: Asturias is invaded from the East after the river Deva is crossed; Llanes falls.
September 6-22: The battle of El Mazuco; fewer than 5,000 Asturians and Basques hold off more than 33,000 Nationalists and the Legión Cóndor in and around the Sierra del Cuera.
September 22: The VI Brigade of Navarre overruns Peñas Blancas. The battle of Sella begins.
September 27: Solchaga’s forces enter Ribadesella.
October 1: Nationalist forces occupy Covadonga.
October 10: The Navarrese Brigades enter Cangas de Onis.
October 17: The Consejo Soberano decides to evacuate Asturias.
October 21: The fall of Gijón.
November 31: The Republican government abandons Valencia for Barcelona.
December 15: Start of the Battle of Teruel.

The war: 1938

The two sides clashed over possession of the city of Teruel throughout January and February, with the Nationalists finally holding it for good by February 22. On April 14, the Nationalists broke through to the Mediterranean Sea, cutting the government-held portion of Spain in two. The government tried to sue for peace in May, but Franco demanded unconditional surrender, and the war raged on.

The government now launched an all-out campaign to reconnect their territory in the Battle of the Ebro, beginning on July 24 and lasting until November 26. Their failure all but determined the final outcome of the war. Eight days before the new year, Franco struck back by throwing massive forces into an invasion of Catalonia.

Detailed chronology: 1938

January 8: Republican troops commanded by Generals Hernández Sarabia and Leopoldo Menéndez take the city of Teruel, surrendered by Colonel Rey d'Harcourt. The hard winter conditions prevent the timely arrival of troops sent by Franco under the command of Generals Varela and Aranda.
February 20: Republican troops are forced to abandon Teruel and follow the highway to Valencia, under pressure of Moroccan troops commanded by General Yagüe. End of the Battle of Teruel.
March 6: The naval battle at Cape Palos (a Nationalist heavy cruiser Baleares is sunk by Republican destroyers).
March 13: France reopens its borders for the transit of arms to the Republican zone.
April 5: Socialist minister of defense Indalecio Prieto quits in protest of the level of Soviet influence over the army.
April 15: The Nationalists reach the Mediterranean at Vinaroz, dividing the Republican zone in two.
June: France once again closes the border.
July 24: Start of the Battle of the Ebro. Republican forces attempt to divert the Nationalists from attacking Valencia and to diminish the pressure on Catalonia. At first, the Republican troops, commanded by General Modesto, achieve considerable success, but were limited by superior Nationalist air power. Heavy combat continued into November
September 21: Doctor Negrín, head of the Republican government, in a speech to the League of Nations, announced that the International Brigades will be pulled from the combat zones.
October 30: The Nationalists counterattack, forcing Republican troops back across the Ebro.
November 16: End of the Battle of the Ebro.
December 23: The battle for Barcelona begins. A six-pronged Nationalist attack is launched, with separate defiles from the Pyrenees to the Ebro. They take Borges Blanques, surround Tarragona and reach the outskirts of Barcelona. The Republican government retreats from Barcelona to Gerona, although troops continue to maintain the defense of the city.

The war: 1939

The Nationalists conquered Catalonia in a whirlwind campaign during the first two months of 1939. Tarragona fell on January 14, Barcelona on January 26 and Girona on February 5. Five days after the fall of Girona, the last resistance in Catalonia was broken.

On February 27, the governments of the United Kingdom and France reluctantly recognized the Franco regime.

Only Madrid and a few other strongholds remained for the government forces. On March 28, with the help of pro-Franco forces inside the city (the infamous "fifth column" General Mola had mentioned in propaganda broadcasts in 1936), Madrid fell to the Nationalists. The next day, Valencia, which had held out under the guns of the Nationalists for close to two years, also surrendered. Victory was proclaimed on April 1, when the last of the Republican forces surrendered.

Detailed chronology: 1939

January 15: France once again allows arms to flow to the Republic.
January 26: Barcelona falls into Nationalist hands.
February 5: The Nationalists take Gerona, the Republican army in Catalonia has virtually disintegrated.
February 27: France and the UK recognize the Franco regime.
February 28: Manuel Azaña resigns as President of the Republic
March 4-12: Anti-communist coup by Colonel Segismundo Casado. In the streets of Madrid, there is a Civil War within the Civil War. The Consejo de Defensa Nacional, headed by Colonel Casado, tries without success to negotiate with Franco.
The Republican government goes into exile in France.
March 28: With the virtual disintegration of the Republican army, the Nationalists take Madrid.
March 29: Effective end of hostilities.
April 1: Franco announces the end of the war.

Social Revolution (Spanish Revolution)

In the anarchist-controlled areas, (Aragon and Catalonia), in addition to the military success, there was a vast social revolution in which the workers and the peasants collectivised land and industry, and set up councils parallel to the (non-functioning) government. This revolution was opposed by both the Soviet-supported communists and the democratic republicans. The agrarian collectives had considerable success despite the vast opposition and profound lack of resources (Franco had already captured lands with some of the richest natural resources). This success survives in the minds of libertarian revolutionaries as an example that an anarchist society can flourish, under the right conditions.

As the war progressed, the government and the communists were able to leverage their access to Soviet arms to restore government control over the war effort, both through diplomacy and force. Revolutionary militias (anarchists and the POUM) were integrated with the regular army, albeit with resistance (the POUM was outlawed, falsely denounced as an instrument of the fascists). In the May Days of 1937, many hundreds or thousands of anti-fascist soldiers killed one another for control of strategic points in Barcelona, as George Orwell relates in Homage to Catalonia.

People

Figures identified with the Republican side

Figures identified with the Nationalist side

Political parties and organisations

The Popular Front

The Popular Front was an electoral alliance formed between various left-wing and centrist parties for elections to the Cortes in 1936, in which the alliance won a majority of seats.

UR (Unión Republicana - Republican Union): Led by Diego Martínez Barrio, formed in 1934 by members of the PRR who had resigned in objection to Alejandro Lerroux's coalition with the CEDA. It drew its main support from skilled workers and progressive businessmen.
IR (Izquierda Republicana - Republican Left): Led by former Prime Minister Manuel Azaña after his Acción Republicana party merged with Casares Quiroga's Galician independence party and the PRRS (Socialist Radical Republican Party). It drew its support from skilled workers, small businessmen and civil servants. Azaña led the Popular Front and became President of Spain. The IR formed the bulk of the first government after the Popular Front victory, with members of the UR and the ERC.
- ERC (Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya - Republican Left of Catalonia): The Catalonian faction of Azaña's Republicans, led by Lluís Companys.
PSOE (Partido Socialista Obrero Español - Spanish Socialist Workers' Party): Formed in 1879, its alliance with Acción Republicana in municipal elections in 1931 saw a landslide victory that led to the King's abdication and the creation of the Second Republic. The two parties won the subsequent general election, but the PSOE left the coalition in 1933. At the time of the Civil War the PSOE was split between a right wing under Indalecio Prieto and Juan Negrín, and a left wing under Largo Caballero. Following the Popular Front victory it was the second largest party in the Cortes, after the CEDA; it supported the ministries of Azaña and Quiroga but did not actively participate until the Civil War began. It had majority support amongst urban manual workers.
- UGT (Unión General de Trabajadores - General Union of Workers): The socialist trade union. The UGT was formally linked to the PSOE and the bulk of the union followed Caballero.
- Federacion de Juventudes Socialistas (Federation of Socialist Youth)
PSUC (Partido Socialista Unificado de Cataluna - Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia): An alliance of various socialist parties in Catalonia, formed in the summer of 1936, controlled by the PCE.
JSU (Juventudes Socialistas Unificadas - Unified Socialist Youths): Militant youth group formed by the merger of the Socialist and the Communist youth groups. Its leader, Santiago Carrillo, came from the Socialist Youth but had secretly joined the Communist Youth prior to merger, and the group was soon dominated by the PCE.
PCE (Partido Comunista de España - Communist Party of Spain): Led by José Díaz in the Civil War, it had been a minor party during the early years of the Republic but came to dominate the Popular Front after Negrín became Prime Minister.
POUM (Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista - Worker's Party of Marxist Unification): A Trotskyite party formed in 1935 by Andres Nin.
- JCI (Juventud Comunista Ibérica - Iberian Communist Youth): the POUM's youth movement.

Supporters of the Popular Front

Unión Militar Republicana Antifascista (Republican Anti-fascist Military Union): Formed by military officers in opposition to the Unión Militar Española.
Libertarian or Anarchist groups. The libertarians boycotted the 1936 Cortes election and initially opposed the Popular Front government, but joined during the Civil War, when Largo Caballero became Prime Minister.
- CNT (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo - National Confederation of Labour): The anarchist trade union.
- FAI (Federación Anarquista Ibérica - Iberian Anarchist Federation): An anarchist pressure group, very active in the Republican militias.
- Mujeres Libres (Free Women): The anarchist feminist organisation.
- FIJL (Federación Ibérica de Juventudes Libertarias - Iberian Federation of Libertarian Youth)
Basque separatists.
- PNV (Partido Nacionalista Vasco - Basque Nationalist Party): A Catholic conservative party under José Antonio Aguirre, which campaigned for greater autonomy or independence for the Basque region. Held seats in the Cortes and supported the Popular Front government before and during the Civil War.
- ANV (Acción Nacionalista Vasco - Basque Nationalist Action): A socialist party which campaigned for independence for the Basque region.
- STV (Solidaridad de Trabajadores Vascos - Basque Workers' Solidarity): A trade union in the Basque region, with a strong Catholic tradition.

Nationalists

Unión Militar Española (Spanish Military Union) - a conservative political organisation of officers in the armed forces, including outspoken critics of the Republic like Francisco Franco. Formed in 1934, from its inception the UME secretly courted fascist Italy. After the electoral victory of the Popular Front, it began plotting a coup with monarchist and fascist groups in Spain. In the run-up to the Civil War it was led by Emilio Mola and José Sanjurjo, and latterly Franco.
Alfonsine Monarchist - supported the restoration of Alfonso XIII. Many army officers, aristocrats and landowners were Alfonsine, but there was little popular support.
- Renovación Española (Spanish Restoration) - the main Alfonsine political party.
- Acción Española (Spanish Action) - a fascist party led by Jose Calvo Sotelo, formed in 1933 around a journal of the same name edited by Ramiro de Maeztu.
  - Bloque Nacional (National Block) - the militia movement founded by Calvo Sotelo.
Carlist Monarchist - supported Alfonso Carlos I de Borbón y Austria-Este's claim to the Spanish throne and saw the Alfonsine line as having been weakened by Liberalism. After Alfonso Carlos died without issue, the Carlists split - some supporting Carlos' appointed regent, Francisco-Xavier de Borbón-Parma, others supporting Alfonso XIII or the Falange. The Carlists were clerical hard-liners led by the aristocracy, with a populist base amongst the farmers and rural workers of Navarre providing the militia.
- Communión Tradicionalista (Traditionalist Communion) - the Carlist political party
  - Requetés (Volunteers) - militia movement.
  - Pelayos - militant youth movement, named after Pelayo of Asturias.
  - Margaritas - women's movement, named after Marguerite of Navarre.
Falange (Phalanx):
- FE (Falange Española de las JONS) - created by a merger in 1934 of two fascist organisations, Primo de Rivera's Falange (Phalanx), founded in 1933, and Ramiro Ledesma's JONS (Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista - Assemblies of National-Syndicalist Offensive), founded in 1931. It became a mass movement after the defeat of the PRR and the collapse of the CEDA in the 1936 General Election, when it was joined by Gil Robles' Acción Popular, and Acción Católica, led by Serrano Suner.
  - Flechas (Arrows) - militant youth movement.
  - Auxilio Social (Social Aid) - women's movement.
- FET (Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS) - created by a merger in 1937 of the FE and the Carlist party, bringing the remaining political and militia components of the Nationalist side under Franco's ultimate authority.

Others

External links

Professor Marek Jan Chodakiewicz on The Spanish Civil War
A collection of essays by Albert and Vera Weisbord with about a dozen essays written during and about the Spanish Civil War.
Anarchism in the Spanish Revolution
The Anarcho-Statists of Spain, a different view of the anarchists in the Spanish Civil War
A reply to the above by an anarchist
A description, according to the Vatican, of the religious persecution suffered by Catholics during the Spanish Civil War (in Spanish).
A selection photos of the life behind the front from the CNT photo archive at the International Institute of Social History
A History of the Spanish Civil War, excerpted from a U.S. government country study.
Spanish Civil War Info From Spartacus Educational

Notes

¹ The statistics on assassinations, destruction of religious buildings, etc. immediately before the start of the war come from The Last Crusade: Spain: 1936 by Warren Carroll (Christendom Press, 1998). He collected the numbers from what is probably the most famous book on the religious persecution in Spain, Historia de la Persecución Religiosa en España (1936-1939) by Antonio Montero Moreno (Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos, 3rd edition, 1999).

Related films

For Whom the Bell Tolls (Sam Wood, 1943, from the Ernest Hemingway novel)
Land and Freedom (Ken Loach, 1995)
Libertarias (Vicente Aranda, 1996)
Butterfly (La Lengua de las mariposas, José Luis Cuerda, 1999)