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The Spanish Civil War

from 1936-39

My paper is about the Spanish Civil War, which raged between the years 1936 to 1939 in whole Spain. The war broke out because of a rebellion, organized from nationalistic and fascistic groups, against the republican government. To understand the circumstances of the conflict, there must be known several facts about this time in whole Europe, on which I will now concentrate. The beginning of the fascistic movement in Europe was mainly caused 1924, when Italy got a nationalistic regime, lead by the fascist Mussolini. The next step was taken on the 30th January in the year 1933, when Adolf Hitler was appointed as chancellor of Germany. This was the beginning of fascism in Germany. Germany and Italy soon became political partners. In 1936, Italy annexed Abyssinia, attracting international attention. Finally, on the 18th of July 1936, General Francisco Franco, and a great part of armed Spain with him, arose against the government.
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The revolts began in many of the Spanish garrisons all over the country. Seville in the south under General Gonzalo Queipo de Llano, Córdova, Granada and Cádiz, in the north all of Galicia, most of León and a part of Asturias supported the nationalists. Soon, they controlled northern and many parts of northern Spain after only one single strike. Only Madrid and Barcelona could outstand the coup, the rebels were defeated and their leaders imprisoned and executed. After the first days of fighting, the republicans held eastern and the greatest part of southern Spain. The Basque provinces were also split in the war: Vizcaya and Geipúzcoa were loyal to the old regime, because they feared to loose their autonomy under a nationalistic government, but Alava and also Navarre changed sides, believing in the promises of the fascists, to defend religion and traditional values.
Even with the greatest part of the army, armed police and the possession of the arsenals, the nationalists had some bad luck: They lost General Sanjurjo and General Emilio Mola in a airplane crash, and General Manuel Goded Llopis was executed after the unsuccessful rising in Barcelona. But therefore, the republicans had no trained army, nor any fighting man with some experience. A lot time had to be spent on building up militias and to turn those improvised troops in an efficient army. When this was managed, the nationalists had improved their positions.
Casares Quiroga, the Premier of republican Spain, resigned at the outbreak of war. Diego Martínez Barrio was chosen by President Azana, but vetoed by extremistic groups. The new Premier was nothing more than a puppet till his resignation in February 1939. The administration also lost its claim to legality and was no longer taken serious, because it was chosen in contravention to the constitution.
Helpful for the defenders of Spain was the intervention from foreign countries, which began in July 1936. The Soviet Union and Mexico made a first payment of 12,145,000 roubles and began to send war material and extremist volunteers (mainly Communists), who formed the international brigade. But the nationalists also received help from outside: armed forces, war material, technicians and other supplies were sent by Italy and Germany. With those interventions, the danger of an international conflict arose, and for this a non-intervention committee was installed in London, which created formal embargoes. But in fact, nobody cared about those embargoes, and the interventions carried on.
The nationalists managed to unite their southern and northern forces, when they captured Badajoz in the middle of August. After the taking of Irún and San Sebastián early in September, the nationalists came nearer and nearer to Madrid and were a serious threat to the menaced capital. Madrid would not have withstood this large army, but it was saved through the abortion of the attack, because the fascists had to relief their imprisoned garrison in Alcázar de Toledo on the 27th September. While they were fighting to free their comrades, the international brigade moved up in Madrid and fortified the city. When the fascist army came back to the capital on the 6th November, they found the city well prepared and ready for fight. Despite all attempts made by the nationalists, they were not able to capture the capital, not during a 28 months’ lasting siege. However, when the threat on Madrid grew too dangerous, the government escaped to Valencia on the 7th November. Madrid was left under the protection of General José Miaja and a defense council. President Azana had already moved out to Barcelona. There, several rights were disabled or mutated, leaving the government with more power than ever, for example the overtaking of services reserved by the Autonomy statute of the state, the collectivising of industry and commerce on the 28th of October or the ban on public worship.
In the winter of 1936 to 1937 was nearly nothing achieved by any of the opponents, apart from the taking of Málaga. The fascists tried to cut two roads to Madrid to stop the cities supplies, but actually, they failed in their attempt. The first victory that was made came in April, when the fascists took Bilbao after a two months lasting siege. The Basque capital fell on the 19th of June, and Santander on the 25th August and Gijón soon followed it on the 21st of October, which brought the whole north of Spain under the control of the fascists.
Both sides did not hold back with friendliness against their foes, even if they were innocent. The republicans murdered thousands of priests, including ten bishops, and many religious members, burning and desecrating their churches. Public religious observances were forbidden. The fascists themselves, organized mass executions, for example in Badajoz, or destroyed nearly whole cities in air bombardments, like the Basque town of Guernica, which was destroyed with an German aircraft squadron from the "Condor legion".
When Franco assumed the leadership on the 1st October 1936, he outlined the features of his rule: He promised the abolition of popular suffrage and of regional autonomy; equitable and graduated taxation; complete religious tolerance and a new concordat with Rome. Also with foreign affairs, he had clear visions: suppression of all "Sovietic contacts" and preferential treatment for "nations of related race, language or ideology". On the 19th April 1937, the two most important and biggest nationalist groups were fused into a single party, the F.E.T., and all other parties were dissolved. On the 9th March 1938, this newborn council made, even in wartimes, first rules: the Labour charter would provide "Work for All", "Remuneration and Security", "Protection and Production". They wanted to provide each labourer a living wage, a small holding and improved sanitary and housing conditions. Another aspect of this Labour charter was the creation of syndicates, which united all parts of a branch or production in one single enormous organism under state direction. Therefore, the new regime earned the name "national-syndicalist".
Otherwise in the republican parts of Spain: the system was doomed to failure through many internal differences that had grown bigger and bigger since the outbreak of the war. From the 3rd to the 10th May 1937 raged a little rebellion in Barcelona, organized by Anarcho-Syndicalists, who were unsatisfied with their situation. They gave the authority in Barcelona a week of heavy fighting, until they were beaten, imprisoned and later on executed. Another serious crisis in the Valencian government lead to the formation of a new cabinet, introducing Juan Negrín as leader, from which the rebellious Anarcho-Syndicalists were eliminated. They were nevermore represented in a republican government in Spain until April 1938. The so-called generalitat also underwent some smaller crises, but they drew them only more closely together.
At the end of the first year of war, the nationalists owned 35 of the 50 Spanish regional capitals, and held about 119,690 square miles of territory.
But the struggle of the republicans had passed by now, they had finally managed to fuse their untrained militias and foreign soldiers into an efficient army, and so, on the 4th of December 1937, they started an unexpected assault in Aragon and took the city of Teruel on the 9th January 1938. But with this victory, their luck had passed by. They lost their newly received city again on the 22nd February. With this, the nationalists themselves attacked the enemy, capturing Huesca and Lérida and driving the republican army up the Segre valley to Tremp. Down in the south, nearly simultaneous, they fought their way down to the Mediterranean, arriving there on the 15th of April. Soon they had carved a 40 miles wide corridor, menacing Castellón to the southern side and Tortosa to the northern. Being cut in two, republican Spain was under great pressure. The regime left Valencia and went to Barcelona on the 31st October 1937, leaving General Miaja, who was already defending the menaced Madrid, as civil and military governor of Barcelona's central and southern territory.
On the 21st February 1937, the commission in London made the entry of foreign soldiers into Spain illegal. Despite a coastal control system, the warriors still continued to enter the land. Great Britain and France mainly engaged this control system; all the other forces were nearly immediately withdrawn. Great Britain observed the Spanish ports and promised to grant belligerent rights to the side, which would remove its foreign troops. The nationalists withdrew about 10,000 of their soldiers from Germany and Italy, which was up to none in relation to those that stayed. The republicans, in great need of every man withdrew nearly none, and so nobody was granted belligerent rights. When in the summer of 1937 pronationalist submarine warfare intensified, a conference was held in Nyon, Switzerland. On the 14th September, a new patrol system was started, giving the patrols the right to attack every vessel that would attack non-Spanish merchant ships. International protests increased, when the fighting moved more to eastern Spain, and many Mediterranean ports were victims of air bombardments with great losses among civilians and neutral ships. Granollers for example suffered 700 casualties in one single air raid, and Falset, near Gandesa, was almost completely destroyed. Apart from the wish of peace discussions among the foreign powers, General Franco insisted on unconditional surrender. In April 1938, Negrín formulated a script of 13 points as his irreducible minimum. The Munich conversations short after this, in September; these points received great attention, and there was talking about a more moderate republican government that might canvass for a peace agreement. These ideas were ancient history, when the republicans checked the nationalists at the Ebro on the 26th July to the 18th November 1938, and new hope grew under the supporters of the republicans. But the quest proved too difficult: The republican army was exhausted and half-starved, and they had to feed over 3,000,000 refugees from the west. After all, the nationalists were able to recross the stream and they could not even be stopped by the approaching winter.
On the 23rd December 1938, they launched the last great offensive with an advance in Catalonia, which developed into an attack on Barcelona, having trapped the city with forces from northwest and southwest. After only 34 days, the city fell. On the 1st February 1939, the government, which had moved again to Figueras, held a meeting in the castle vault and Negrín's 13 points were reduced to 3 remaining. The republicans were driven northwards to France, having with them hundreds of thousands of refugees, that poured into France. Those refugees that were male and in fighting age, were immediately sent back, without caring about their fate.
On the 4th February, the government had to move to a little village, near to the French border, because the fall of Gerona. On the 28th February, President Azana resigned, and Negrín and his cabinet went back to Madrid, which was going to be attacked soon by the nationalists. But it proved unnecessary for the fascists, to attack the capital, because inside of the cities walls were thousands of people, with only two ounces of food per day, and hundreds dying of starvation every day. On the 5th May, all parties but the Communists ousted Negrín's government, and a new council of defense was formed. Negrín supporters and Communists revolted against the new council, but after a week of fighting, they were suppressed and there were preparations done for the capitulation. On the 28th March 1939, 200,000 fascist soldiers marched into Madrid without any resistance. By the following day, all what was left of republican Spain had surrendered and the war was over. It had lasted two years and 254 days and was estimated to have cost 1,000,000 lives.
To understand, what caused the international behaviour, you must know the interests, the several countries had in the war and it's ending.
Germany saw the unique chance to train its troops in real battle and to experiment with newly invented weaponry. For this cause, the warriors were constantly exchanged, to give as many as possible the chance of gaining experience. An illustration for the new techniques that were used, is the destruction of the Basque town of Guernica, which I had named some time ago, that was destroyed by the "Condor legion", which was a formation of aircrafts, tanks, technicians, transport- and communication units. The legion had about 5500 men, and helped also in the ambush on Barcelona 1938. Later on, in the Second World War, the legion attacked Warschau, Rotterdam, London, Coventry and Belgrade. In the attack on Guernica died about 1645 citizens. And of course, would a totalitarian Spain fit perfectly in the plans of Hitler and his companions.
Italy's interests were also about another fascistic partner in Europe, but at most, Mussolini wanted the military airports, Franco had promised him, on some islands in the sea, as on the land as well. With this stations, Italy would be able to secure their position in Europe and they could reach any other land west of them much more easy. Gibraltar, for example, which stood under British command, would loose its strategically value and would be easily to reach for Italian planes. The French connection to Africa and their colonies there would also be menaced, or even cut.
Great Britain, in the effort to secure the Balance of Power, wanted to keep the conflict an inner political dilemma, with no consequences on other countries, but there were already too many nations involved. The non-intervention committee, that was engaged, had no real effect, and was easily broken. But the British politics were twisted by themselves: On the one hand, they wanted to stop foreign interventions, but on the other they had secret diplomacy with the Spanish nationalists, a diplomacy that disabled the German influence to some grade.
A republican government, too, ruled France when the war broke out. Because of this, the French wanted to help their brothers in mind, and started transferring war material. When the President of France came back from London after the committee, he found this trading revealed by some traitorous Spanish man who told everything to a reporter. The extremist groups in the parliament presently refused help, and President Blum needed them to carry on with the supporting of Spain. The help was stopped officially on the 8th August 1936, but secretly, France carried on sending money and material, with the help of Mexico as distributor. Blum feared similar happenings in France like in Spain, because nationalism and fascism had risen all over Europe, and the situation in Spain was not too far away from the one in France, and the flame of terror and war could spread over the lands in seconds.
The Soviet Union was the greatest supporter of the Spanish republicans, with not always to clear goal, objectives that are not fully revealed till today. The Soviets wanted to strengthen all the Communists in Europe, and the rising of fascism was against their plans. They also wanted to win France and Great Britain for an alliance against Germany, which was growing stronger and stronger, and becoming a real threat again for the Union. And so, the Soviets had to work against every upcoming nationalistic movement in Europe. With the defeating of the fascists in Spain, they would have achieved a solemn hit against Germany and enfeebled the fascists, as in the same time, strengthened the Communists.
 
 

by Michael Kolb
written in January 2000