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Spain History - Spanish Civil War - (1936 - 1939)
In 1936 the death of Calvo Sotelo brought to a head the
discontent that had been simmering in the army for some long time.
At the beginning the army revolt was headed by General Sanjurjo
who had been exiled to neighbouring Portugal. The active leaders
prior to the outbreak of the Civil War were in fact General
Goded and General Mola with Francisco Franco
still waiting to see which side to join. The army was well
prepared when the time arrived with its loyal offers holding lists
of all suspected left-wing activists. They quickly moved to make the
necessary arrests and often ended up shooting the suspect. General
Franco had made his decision prior to the revolt in Melilla and
was hand in glove with the other army generals. A famous Mallorca
business tycoon had chartered a plane in England on the 11th of July
to make its way to the Canary Islands to bring General Franco
back to Tetuan and his Spanish Legionnaires on the 19th.
In 1936, Francisco Franco Bhamonde had reached the age of 43
and had distinguished himself as a soldier having acquired promotion
at remarkable speed. Son of a naval family he had only become a
soldier to the lack of vacancies in the navy at the admission age of
15. His academic ranking at Toledo Infantry Academy was poor but his
Moroccan service won him 13 medals for leadership, discipline and
bravery. He reached the rank of general at the early age of 33 which
made him the youngest to have reached this position in Europe
after Napoleon Bonaparte. His social life was so conservative
in comparison to his fellow officers and ladies seemed to be of little
interest until he met Carmen Polo who he married in 1923. He
appeared as a devoted military man with discipline at the top of his
priorities, then patriotism, followed closely by strong concepts of
honour and integrity.
At the outbreak of the revolt it seemed to be the answer for both
sides of the political division believing that the army would
support their cause. Spanish Morocco, Canary Islands, Galicia,
Navarra and parts of Castille and Aragón immediately sided with the
new military rebels. However, due to either lack of communication or
division of thought not all the garrisons and their officers joined.
The public also took a hand in the matter and in Madrid their
intervention kept the garrison loyal to the left-wing government.
General Goded equally failed in Barcelona and was shot, whilst,
Sanjurjo died as his plane crashed on takeoff in Portugal.
This situation left in the field three very independent leaders, the
Generals Franco, Mola and Queipo who by not winning or
losing created a division in Spain of its population and forcing it
to either support the elected government or the army uprising.
The rebel army now only held five large cities and a quarter of the
mainland. The government had the backing of about 75 per cent of the
industry and commerce plus a sizable support from the rest of the
army and the important security forces. Fortunately for Franco
and his fellow conspirators the government leaders in Madrid failed
to arm or maintain a united policy to its civilian supporters. The
reaction was typical of Spain's past recent history with each party
or Union taking power into their own hands. Catalonia became ruled
by both the Generalitat and the CNT party and the Basques were as
elsewhere divided and at the same time considered once again that
they were a State that was apart from Madrid. Confusion led to wild
propaganda with the end result that the bitterness in people took to
the streets which was keenly fuelled with horrific stories and
half-truths. One true story about the appalling death of 500
inhabitants of Ronda in Andalucía was made famous by Ernest
Hemingway in his book For Whom the Bell Tolls. Within
days some hundreds of churches were burnt or ransacked and it is
estimated that over 7,000 priests, monks, nuns, and even bishops
were horrifically slaughtered. But this was only the beginning
of the indiscriminate or mass killings that were committed in
this Civil War by both sides.
The key to advancement from Franco's view was to transport
his Moroccan Legionnaires into Spain. In this aspect Germany
decided to join his side and lent him twenty transport planes
which through August and September brought the troops across into
Algeciras. Their well trained force contained soldiers had gained
many years of fighting experience in Africa. However, as a counter
weight the enthusiasm of the Republican street militia helped to
balance this armed power. At first the Nationalists, as General
Franco's army became known, quickly captured eastern Andalusia
and Estremadura. In Madrid this militia stopped their steady
advance with a heroic stand. At this time international support
was forthcoming for both sides as the idealism of youth was roused
in both their defence. The countries of Germany, Italy and Portugal,
sent men, much needed arms and planes to assist General Franco.
The Italian leader Mussolini claimed his 70,000 troops were
just volunteers, and the Germans one hundred planes based in
Salamanca had a decided effect on the outcome. Russia was the
principal supporter to the Republicans and she sent arms and some
much needed other equipment and military advisers. The fighting men
were forthcoming for the Republicans in the form of the famous
International Brigades which were drawn from ardent
left-wing idealistic supporters from the entire world.
Franco's African Army moved successfully north from Andalucía
close to the border of Portugal taking Badajoz and once again they
slaughtered the local population in a gross manner that when reported
in detail and it outraged many to the north in Europe. The old city
of Toledo was to prove too strong in its defence when some 2,000
inhabitants retreated into the old Alcázar fortress against the
besieging Republican army. Franco appreciating the propaganda value
of the situation in Toledo marched across and broke the siege and took
blood in revenge. Among many other events worth recording is one that
occurred earlier at the town of Gijon. The Nationalists realizing they
could not hold there garrison any longer against the attacking
Republicans called upon a Nationalist warship to shell their barracks
as they would rather die than surrender. Their request was respected
and they all died as they wished.
The episode at Toledo gave Madrid sufficient time to build its defences
and the subsequent 10 day battle for the capital gained much support
internationally as women and children took up arms in support of their
men. The fighting was in the area of the Casa del Campo to the west of
the city and the Nationalists attack failed so an unsuccessful siege
was laid which lasted for more than two years.
The imbalance of the outside support from Europe helped the outcome to
sway towards the Nationalist. This was further helped by the strong
conflicts that lay between the different left wing fractions in the
Republican ranks. Barcelona became an example of division in extremes
with prostitutes forced to learn to cook and sew, bars closed and
coffee and alcohol banned, meanwhile half-naked male and female
supporters of an eccentric Colonel Mangada were driven around
town in army lorries. Barcelona extremists longed for a counter
revolution and the anarchists wanted their Cátalunia to be declared an
independent country.
In April 1937 there occurred the famous destruction of Guernica, a
town which had previously played its part in Spain's earlier history.
After a completely unexpected bombing attack lasting three hours from
German planes, this historic town lay in ruins with some thousand
bodies under the destroyed buildings. Through the masterpiece painted
by Pablo Picasso this event has become permanently remembered
by the world.
By the end of 1937 much of the action had moved to the northern coast
where the iron and ship building industry fell into the hands of the
Nationalists. The death of General Mola in a plane accident
that year left the centre stage clear with one leader - General
Francisco Franco. Almost by coincidence in May of the same year a
crisis occurred in Barcelona amongst the Republicans and the
Communists. The end result was that leadership fell firmly in the
hands of the Communists. As the conflict moved into its final stages
the Republicans appointed a puppet leader by the name of Dr Juan
Negrin who had earlier in the war committed the absolute blunder
of all blunders. Fearing that Spain's huge hoard of gold bullion
would fall into the hands of the Nationalists he decided to move it
to Russia. Stalin is reported to have received the gold as a
present! Negrin as the new Prime Minister allowed the setting
up of a new security police force whose principle job was to rid the
Communist party of any dissenters and Trotsky sympathizers.
In Spring of 1938 the Nationalists drove through the defence line in
Aragón and ended up on the east coast of Spain. Ignoring the problem
of Barcelona, the army marched south to unsuccessfully attach
Valencia. Seizing the moment the Republicans attacked Franco's
rear with an offensive in the River Ebro valley which cost in total
over 50,000 casualties and 20,000 dead. In December Franco
marched on a virtually undefended Barcelona and the Republicans fled
north to France. The final theatre was in 1939 in Madrid with the
Nationalist forces posed on the outskirts a Colonel Casado
staged a coup within the Republic defenders in the hope of better
surrender terms. On March 28th Franco's army marched into
Madrid and on the 1st of April the war was officially over. The war
ended with the control of Spain firmly in General Franco's
hands. The Spanish Civil War had done untold damage to the their
prosperity and structure of Spain and had sent brother to kill
brother. It is estimated that well over 500.000 Spaniards had
died and in some cases many of these were slaughtered in mass
killings rather than on the actual battlefield. It had been a very
sad and costly war for Spain.
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