Causes and Course of the Spanish Civil War

1. The Spanish Civil War
Mr. Rakochy

2. This is the place we are talking about.

3. What was the Spanish Civil War?
• Civil conflict resulting from uprising of military
against Republican government of Spain.
– An example of a Civil War for Paper 2 Topic 1 and
part of the HL syllabus for Paper 3 Topic 8.

4. Long Term Causes of Spanish Civil War
• A history of violence
– 1803-1936 a total of 19 military coups in Spain
– Carlist Wars (3 Civil Wars between 1833-1876)
• Carlists were conservatives looking to put a Bourbon
king of male lineage on the throne
– Isabella II (on thrown from 1833-1868) a female bourbon
monarch (she and her heir’s considered illegal by Carlists)
• Catholic traditions vs. liberalism (similar to
divisions in Italy between Church and
Enlightenment ideal of critical thinking)

5. Long Term Causes
• Economic Issues
– Agrarian economy
• Poor and backward compared to rest of W. Europe
• Southern Spain – vast estates worked by landless
peasants
• Northern Spain – indebted peasants worked to stay
afloat

6. Economic Issues #2
• Industrial economy very limited and regional.
Limited to textiles (Catalonia), coal (Asturias), iron, steel and shipbuilding
(Basque)

7. Separatism
• Industrial areas generally wanted self-rule
• Basque (non-romance language), Catalan
(from Catalonia), Galician and Asturian
languages and culture different than the rest
of Spain

8. Regional Languages of Spain

9. The Spanish Republic
• 1st Spanish Republic 1873-1874 after abdication
of monarch
– Relatively unstable period of time
• 1874-1875 military dictatorship/restoration of
king
• 1876-1923 system of turnos developed
Political System – constitutional monarchy controlled
largely by Cortes (parliament)
• Corrupt system with only two parties having any power from
1876-1923 (liberals and conservatives took turns)
• Independence movements in Basque and Catalonian regions

10. More Background
• 1898 Spanish-American War weakens Spanish
Empire further as USA takes key strategic
colonies of Cuba and Philippines (and P.R.)
• 1898-1923 instability
– Strikes, separatist movements, constitutional crisis
– 1918-1921 terrorism in Barcelona by anarchists
– General discontent

11. General Primo’s Dictatorship
• 1923-1930 military dictatorship of General
Primo Rivera (coup)
– Suppressed discontent in separatist regions,
censorship, martial law
– Public work schemes, irrigation
– Lost favor with army and King Alfonso XIII - fled in
1930

12. 1931-1933 The Left Republic
• Second Republic – held by Socialists and
Republican coalition
• Manuel Azaña President
– Better working condition for working class
– Weakening of Catholic Church
– Land Reforms (created issues with productivity)
– New constitution – Cortes, Church and State, Civil
laws (e.g. divorce made easier)

13. The Right Republic 1933-1936
• Suppression of worker’s rights, anarchist and
socialist groups
• Black Years – undoing “accomplishments” of
Left Republic
• Suppression of movements, strikes, murder of
strikers in Asturias coal region
• Lost to left led Azaña Popular Front in 1936 (a
new Left Republic)

14. Who were the insurgents and who
supported them?
• The Nationalists or Francoists were supported by
conservative elements within Spain and by Fascists
outside of Spain (Italy/Germany)
– Unión Militar Española (Formed in 1934): conservative
political organization of officers in armed forces, including
outspoken critics of Republic i.e.Francisco Franco.
– Monarchists: seeking restoration of King Alfonso XIII
– Carlists: seeking a Bourbon king to rule Spain
– Catholic Church
– Fascist groups and other right wing interests (see handout
for more detail – but don’t try to memorize all of it!)

15. Who were the Republicans?
• Popular Front
– Democratically elected government of Spain (1936
Manuel Azaña President)
– Supported by Anarachists, Leftists, Anti-Fascist,
USSR (see future slide), International Brigades

16. The Civil War
• Military uprising started July 17, 1936 in
Morocco and moved onto mainland
• Rebels took parts of Andalusia and most of
North – failed to take Madrid
• Military evenly split
• Catalans and Basques supported Republican
government (which had granted them
autonomy)

17. Republican Advantages
• Controlled major cities
• Held gold reserves
• Air Force and Navy remained loyal

18. Republican Disadvantages
• Political Disunity
– i.e. POUM and Anarchists fighting with Stalinists
– Incompatible ideologies
– 1937 Non-Intervention Committee created by League of Nations
• Military Problems
– Lack of central control of regular military
– Improvised militias with little training took massive casualties
(some left-led training starting in Autumn of 1936)
• Economic Problems
– Workers committees and collectives slowed productivity and
funneled away needed currency

19. Nationalist Strengths
• Political unity
– Merger in 1937 of Falange and Carlists to FET (Falange
Espanola Tradicionalista)under Franco’s control
• Military unity
– Held Spain’s best troops from N. Africa
• Economic advantages
– Controlled major agricultural areas and by 1937 industrial
areas
– Italian and German “donations” (members of Non-
Intervention Committee but ignored it)
• Franco
– Held respect of military

20. Foreign Involvement
• British and French took position of “non-
intervention”
– Resulted in Republican government lacking
necessities
– Fear of Bolshevism blinded Western governments
seeking “lesser of two evils”
David Low cartoon 13 January 1937 – text reads:
“Just to discourage cheating I’ll wear a strait-
jacket and let you both play my hand” (British PM
Stanley Baldwin)

21. Nationalist Support
• Germany and Italy
– Germany:
• Condor Air legion of 5,000 men,
• tank and artillery units (10,000+)
• transport of troops (most importantly helped with cross from Morocco)
– Italy: 75,000 troops, 750 aircraft, 950 tanks
– Over 560 million USD in loans
• Portugal
– 20,000 troops
– Borders open to deliver supplies
• British (unofficial) support:
– Allowed Franco to set up communication towers in Gibraltar
– Allowed fly over of Gibraltar during the airlift of the Army of Africa
– Supplied intel to Nationalists on Republican shipping and Soviet
deliveries

22. Republican Support
• USSR/Stalin main supporter of Republic
– Soviet aid helpful but was paid for and came in
limited quantity (Stalin may have wanted to keep
Hitler busy with W. Europe for as long as possible)
– International Brigades: 35,000 – 60,000 estimated
volunteers from Europe and USA - mostly
communists
– Mexico sent limited support

24. Initial success of Franco (gray)
Assault from the South coordinated with some uprisings in the North.

25. Continued Success
Franco's rapid advance against the ill-trained Republican army, but despite the professionalism
of its military staff, the rebels were unable to capture Madrid and after six months of heavy
fighting had failed to defeat the Basques.

26. Bombing of Guernica April 27, 1937
Picasso’s Guernica was commissioned by the Republican
government. You can visit this at Madrid's Reina Sofia. It is
approximately 3 ½ X 8 meters in size.
Brought to Spain in 1981 - 5 years after
Franco’s death. Picasso vowed it would not
enter Spanish soil under a Francoist regime.

27. More Success
Utilizing air support provided by Adolf Hitler, and ground troops offered by Mussolini, the Nationalists had
finally captured the Basque country, but remained stuck outside the major population centers of Barcelona
and the capital city of Madrid.

28. Difficult Road Ahead
Despite aide from abroad, the Nationalist Rebels were unable to advance much at all in the
third year of the war. Twenty-four months of tremendous fighting had produced 200,000
deaths but little gain. After laying siege to Valencia, in May 1938 the Nationalist forces fought
their way through to the coast thus cutting the Republican forces in half.

29. Last Stronghold
On 28 March 1939 Franco entered Madrid and the rest of the country surrendered in
the following days. The Civil War was over! Franco had won.
Map series from:
https://www2.bc.edu/~heine
man/maps/SpCW.html

31. Impact
• The better organised and better equipped
Nationalist forces won the war after Madrid
was captured in March 1939.
• War atrocities committed by both sides left
lasting scars (read Source A page 139 in Wells)
• 500,000 - 1 Million dead
• Malnutrition, starvation and disease killed
even more
• Franco dictatorship from 1939-1975

32. Impact
• Hitler's position in Europe strengthened -
another ally in right-wing dictator, General
Franco.
• strengthened bond between Italy and
Germany. Rome-Berlin Axis was formed. Italy
and Germany were now firm allies.
• ignoring Non-Intervention Committee and
France and Britain, Hitler showed strength in
European affairs.

33. Sources
• Alan Farmer: Modern European History 1890-1990
• BBC – Bite Sized History:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/learning/bitesize/higher/history/roadwar/spancivil_rev_print.shtml
• Hendricks and Nelsen: Chronology of the Spanish Civil
War--Emphasizing the Lincoln Battalion Involvement
• A Selection of Maps tracing the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939
https://www2.bc.edu/~heineman/maps/SpCW.html