Spanish Civil War

Causes, Events, and Results

Historical Context
1887–1931: Monarchy under Alfonso XIII

 1923–30: Military dictatorship under Miguel Primo de Rivera

 Liberals wished to replace monarchy with a liberal democratic

order

 Growing strength of socialism, anarchism, and separatism

Spain Before 1931

 Overwhelmingly agricultural population and economy

 Aristocratic landowners dominated in rural areas

 Regional cultural differences caused tensions

 Church dominated schooling and social influence

 Vast differences in wealth and education between cities and

countryside, between regions, and between social classes

 Rapid industrialization after 1910 led to emergence of working

class and unions

 Army not liked for brutality and high taxes

Reform Program of 1931

 King fled and Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed

 President Niceto Alcalá Zamora

Goals:

 Expand power of the Cortes

 Separation of church and state

 Universal suffrage

 Secular school system

  Government was unable to stop mob violence against Church
property and landowners

 Conservatives denounced the govt for anti-clericalism,

ineffectiveness, and undemocratic practices

1933 Election & Aftermath

 Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right (CEDA) won a
plurality

 Endorsed Alejandro Lerroux as Prime Minister

 Radicals increasingly turned to violent methods

 Increase in general strikes, street conflicts, assassination

attempts, and attacks on religious buildings

 Conservatives began to form paramilitary and vigilante groups

 Govt crushed all rebellions

 Support for the govt dwindled on both left and right

1936 Election
 Loose coalition of left-wing parties called the Popular Front won
a narrow victory over CEDA

 Socialist Party (PSOE), Liberals, Communist Party, regional

nationalist parties

 Socialist Party refused to join coalition

 Prime Minister Manuel Azaña (liberal)

 Cortes replaced President Zamora with Azaña on weak

constitutional grounds

 Rightists were outraged and many gave up on parliament

THE SPARK
 José Calvo Sotelo: leading monarchist and conservative in the
Cortes

 Protested rising anti-religious terror, property seizures, & hasty

agricultural redistribution
  July 13, 1936: Murdered by police with links to the Socialist
Party

 Center and right parties were outraged

 Nationalist generals were already planning an uprising and this

provided the justification for a coup

NATIONALIST COUP
 Organized by Generals José Sanjurjo & Emilio Mola

 Prime Minister Casares Quiroga sent Generals Llopis and

Francisco Franco to commands in outlying islands to distance
them from coup plots

 July 17: Plotters broadcast the secret code to begin the coup

 Llopis and Franco seized the Balearic and Canary Islands

 Franco was flown to Spanish Morocco to take command of the

Spanish Army of Africa

THE COUP FAILS

 Nationalist forces failed to take control throughout most of
Spain

 Republican leaders were paralyzed by disagreement and

indecision

 In areas, workers and anarchists raided government armories

and suppressed Nationalist forces themselves

 Within weeks, Nationalists gained control of most of western

and northern Spain

 Republicans retained control of eastern and central Spain

THE NATIONALISTS
 Cast the war as a struggle between Christian civilization and
communism/anarchism

 To protect tradition, security, and the rule of law

 Opposed regional separatism

 Strongly anti-communist
  Staunchly Catholic

 Favored strong central power

 To defend the Church against anti-clericalism

Supporters:

 Most businessmen, practicing Catholics, army officers,

landowners

 Carlists – favored restoration of the monarchy

 Falange – fascist party favoring a strong dictatorship and

military

 Nationalists – favored a strong govt and unified country

 Military – most military officers joined the Nationalists

 CEDA – leaders and members of the right-wing political parties

THE REPUBLICANS
 Cast the war as a struggle between tyranny and democracy

Ideologies and Goals:

 Centrists: preserve moderate capitalist democracy

 Communists: establish a Soviet-style “people’s republic”

outlawing the right-wing

 Republican groups/parties generally had a wider range of goals

and ideologies

Supporters:

 Most workers, landless peasants, and educated middle class

 Republican Left – favored a liberal democracy

 Socialists (PSOE) – favored land distribution and worker-

controlled factories

 Communists (POUM) – favored a Soviet-style communist

govt/economy

 Trade unions – wide range of trade unions desired varying

degrees of worker control

 Catalans & Basques – desired regional autonomy or

independence
FOREIGN INVOLVEMENT
League of Nations

 Imposed an arms embargo to try to limit the fighting and

carnage

Britain & France

 Sympathetic to the Republicans but chose not to sell weapons

 Feared that assisting the Republicans might lead to open

conflict with the Fascist powers

 Arms embargo proved ineffective as weapons freely entered

Spain to assist both sides

German Involvement
 Franco asked Hitler and Mussolini to assist the Nationalists

 Germany provided:

o 19,000 troops

o 600 planes (Condor Legion)

o 200 tanks

o 1,000 artillery pieces

Hitler’s Motives:

 To win another ally against Britain and France

 To gain access to Spanish raw materials and ports during war

time

 To test and improve the Luftwaffe

 Germany preps for WWII

Italian Involvement
 Italy provided more troops but less equipment than Germany

 Italy provided:

o 50,000 troops

o 660 aircraft
 o 150 tanks

o 1,000 artillery pieces

 Italian Navy helped stop arms shipments to Republicans

Mussolini’s Motives:

 Fascist solidarity

 To gain concessions from Spain in the Mediterranean

 Not to be outdone by Hitler

Soviet Involvement
 Soviet Union defied the arms embargo and secretly provided
the Republic with much equipment but no troops

 Attempted to conceal activities by sending old equipment and

disguising shipments

 Arms shipments were usually small and arrived unpredictably

 Forced the Republic to buy the arms using gold reserves

Equipment:

 3,000 advisers and troops

 806 aircraft

 362 tanks

 1,555 artillery pieces

 Soviet Union advised all members of Comintern to send

volunteers and munitions to the Republic

 Soviet agents tried to strengthen the Spanish Communist Party

and weaken the other Republican factions

Stalin’s Motives:

 To spread communism

 To preoccupy the German military

 To embarrass Britain and France

 Soviet involvement enabled Nationalists to paint the

Republicans as Bolsheviks
Volunteers
On the Nationalist Side:

 8,000 from Portugal

 700 from Ireland

 Unknown number from Romania

On the Republican Side:

 Called the International Brigades

 Saw Spain as the frontline in the fight against fascism

 30,000 foreigners from 53 countries

o Mostly communists and intellectuals

o Over 1,000 each from: France, Italy, Germany, Poland, US,

Britain, Belgium, Ireland, Austria, Czechoslovakia,
Yugoslavia, Hungary, Canada, Romania, Switzerland,
China

 Only the Mexican government supported the Republic and

sent a significant amount of money and equipment

Timeline of Events
1936

 Nationalists consolidated control of northern and southern Spain

 Franco consolidated his control over Nationalist forces and

forced factions to unify

 Nationalists launched an offensive against Madrid but were

repulsed due to arrival of International Brigades

 Republic moved the capital to Valencia

1937

 Italian and German troops and equipment arrived in force

 April: Condor Legion bombed town of Guernica

 Republic launched counter-offensive in Madrid area and killed

Mola

 Nationalists consolidated control of northern Spain

  Republic moved the capital to Barcelona

1938

 Nationalists conquered most of northern Spain and isolated

Catalonia from the south

 Major Republican counter-offensive called the Battle of the

Ebro ultimately failed

 Munich Agreement destroyed Republican hope in Western

support

 Republic moved the capital back to Valencia

1939

 Franco conquered Catalonia by February

 Madrid and Valencia were conquered in March

 50,000+ Republicans were executed

 More were submitted to forced labor

 Over 500,000 Republicans fled to France but most were

deported back to Spain

 Some were sent to German concentration camps during WW2

 Some guerrilla warfare continued into the 1950s

Atrocities
By the Nationalists

 Executed at least 130,000

 Targeted teachers, union leaders, officials, and citizens of

captured cities

 Targeted Protestants and their churches

 Attempted to eradicate the Basque culture

 German and Italian air forces conducted aerial bombing of cities

 50,000+ Republicans were executed after the war

 Total fatalities: over 500,000 for the war

By the Republicans

 Executed at least 55,000

 Targeted clergy and desecrated Church property

 Killed 20% of all Spanish clergy

 Nationalist sympathizers were often killed in retaliation for

Nationalist atrocities or victories

 Communists frequently targeted other members of the

Republican coalition

Social Effects
 Massive Loss of Life and Trauma

o Estimated 500,000+ deaths from combat, executions,

bombings, and famine

o Deep scars in national psyche; entire communities

devastated

o Widespread physical and psychological trauma among

survivors

 Mass Repression and Fear Culture

o Francoist purges targeted Republican supporters,

leftists, teachers, and intellectuals

o Thousands imprisoned, executed, or sent to labor camps

o Culture of silence and fear prevailed across society,

especially in defeated Republican regions

 Exile and Diaspora

o Over 500,000 Republicans fled to France and other

countries

o Many lived in exile for decades; some deported or

interned in WWII concentration camps

o Loss of skilled professionals, intellectuals, and artists to

emigration

 Destruction of Education and Culture

o Republican-era secular and progressive educational

reforms were reversed
 o Teachers and professors purged

o Literature, media, and art tightly censored to align with

nationalist-Catholic ideology

 Suppression of Regional Identities

o Catalan and Basque languages and cultures banned

in public life

o Regional autonomy granted under the Republic was

revoked

o Nationalism and centralism were forcibly imposed

 Elevated Role of the Catholic Church

o Church regained dominance in education, social services,

and moral authority

o Anti-clericalism harshly punished

o Clergy and Church institutions were restored to a

privileged social position

Political Effects
 Establishment of a Fascist Dictatorship

o Francisco Franco became Head of State (Caudillo)

with absolute power

o Political parties, trade unions, and democratic institutions

abolished

o Spain became a one-party state under the Falange

Española Tradicionalista

 Suppression of Political Pluralism

o All opposition parties outlawed

o Strict censorship and propaganda used to maintain state

ideology

o Surveillance and repression of suspected dissenters

continued for decades

 Military Dominance in Government

o Military officers dominated key positions in the Franco

regime
 o Politics subordinated to order, hierarchy, and national
security

o Army emerged as pillar of the state

 End of the Second Republic

o Constitution annulled

o Former Republican leaders imprisoned, executed, or

exiled

o Democracy would not return until Franco’s death in 1975

 Spain's Isolation in International Politics

o Franco regime was shunned by many countries during and

after WWII

o Excluded from the United Nations until the 1950s

o Spain was not involved in WWII but was sympathetic to

Axis powers

 Long-Term Authoritarian Rule

o Franco ruled until his death in 1975

o No elections, no political opposition, and no press freedom

for almost 40 years

Economic Effects
 Widespread Destruction and Economic Collapse

o Infrastructure, industry, and agriculture devastated by

war

o Railways, bridges, factories, and farms destroyed

o Economic output dropped by as much as 30% by 1939

 Massive National Debt

o Franco incurred heavy debts to Germany and Italy for

wartime assistance

o Postwar economy burdened by repayments and

reconstruction costs

 Disruption of Labor Force

 o Many skilled workers, professionals, and intellectuals
killed or exiled

o Labor unions abolished; strikes and protests banned

o Economic policy subordinated to political repression and

self-sufficiency

 Autarky and Economic Isolation

o Franco pursued autarky (economic self-sufficiency)

until the 1950s

o Imports restricted, foreign investment minimal

o Black markets and rationing persisted for over a decade

 Favoritism Toward Traditional Elites

o Land reform rolled back; land returned to aristocrats

o Economic control concentrated in hands of loyalists, the

Church, and military supporters

o Business favored those aligned with the regime

 Slow Recovery and Stagnation

o Spain remained economically backward compared to the

rest of Western Europe

o Real recovery did not begin until the late 1950s with
the "Spanish Miracle" and partial liberalization

o Spain remained rural, impoverished, and underdeveloped

through the 1940s