Spanish Civil War
- María Molina
- Jul 18
- 3 min read
In 1931 the Spanish Republic was proclaimed (called “The Second Republic”).
The Second Republic tried to implement profound reforms (such as agrarian, educational, or the separation Church-State), but many of these measures generated resistance from traditional sectors, while progressive sectors considered them insufficient.
But rural poverty, unemployment and the unequal distribution of land were breeding grounds for popular unrest. In the cities, the workers' movement was growing, and with it, the pressure for rapid social change.
This led to political assassinations, violent strikes, insurrections violently repressed by the state, which eroded confidence in parliamentary democracy and favored more extreme positions on both the right and the left.
The elections of February 16, 1936 were won by a left-wing coalition called “Popular Front”. In this situation a sector of the army considered that the Republic was leading Spain to chaos. Some military began to conspire to seize power and restore what they understood should be order.
On July 18, 1936 there was an uprising of an important group of army generals against the government of the Spanish Republic, which was not supported by the whole of the armed forces. This produced the division of the army into two sides (“bandos”), as well as the territory and, therefore, the beginning of a war.
The "bando" loyal to the government is usually called republican ("republicano") and was composed of military personnel from the Spanish army, conscripted troops, armed civilians, called militiamen ("milicianos", tactical aid and aviation personnel from the Soviet Union army and international non-military volunteers integrated in what was called International Brigades ("Brigadas Internacionales")
The rebel "bando" is usually called national (“nacional”) and was made up of military personnel from the Spanish army, conscripted troops, paramilitary, tactical aid and aviation organizations of the German army, and Italian military combatants and support from their navy.
Although some powers, as we have seen, gave aid to both sides in the Spanish Civil War, there was a “non-intervention” agreement. A month after the outbreak of the war, and for fear of a European “expansion” of the conflict, nations such as France, Great Britain, Italy, Germany or the Soviet Union signed this pact; although, some of them, as we have seen, skipped the pact without regard.
.The Spanish Civil War ended with the victory of the national side and the beginning of the Franquist Regime, dictatorship of one of the generals who rebelled, General Franco (who called him “Generalissimo Franco”) and which lasted until his death in 1975.
It is estimated that 500. 000 people died in the war of which 300,000, between military and civilians, lost their lives in combat and bombing and about 200,000 due to the repression in the rearguard (125,000 people killed by the national side and 50,000 by the republican side).
The horror continued after the war:
25,000 people killed until 1945.
10,000 exiles taken to Nazi concentration camps of whom 7,000 died.
Spanish survivors of Mauthausen receiving liberation forces Some 220,000 people, many of whom were ex-combatants, politicians or civil servants, but also their families and exiled intellectuals, who never returned to Spain.
About 300,000 people imprisoned, many of them sentenced to hard labor
After the war, Spain was a destroyed country where misery and hunger reigned.
Fortunately, the Spain you know is very different.
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