Key Figures and Organizations of the Second Spanish Republic
Key Figures of the Second Spanish Republic
Politicians and Presidents
Niceto Alcalá-Zamora
Born in Priego de Córdoba (Spain) in July 1877, and died in Buenos Aires (Argentina) in 1949. He was a Spanish socialist politician and the first president of the Second Spanish Republic (1931-1936).
Manuel Azaña
Born in Alcalá de Henares (Madrid) in January 1880, and died in Montauban (France) in November 1940. He was the first and later the ninth President of the Government of the Second Republic, and the second and last President of the Second Spanish Republic (1936-1939).
Francesc Macià
Born in Vilanova i la Geltrú on 21 October 1859, and died in Barcelona on 25 December 1933. He was a military man, politician, and President of the Generalitat of Catalonia, known as The Grandfather.
Alejandro Lerroux
Born in La Rambla (Córdoba) in 1864, and died in Madrid in 1949. A Spanish politician, he served as president during the Second Spanish Republic.
Francisco Largo Caballero
Born in Madrid in October 1869 and died in Paris in March 1946. He was Prime Minister of the Second Republic from 4 September 1936 to 17 May 1937. On 4 September 1936, he was commissioned to form a government with republicans, socialists, and for the first time, communists.
Francesc Cambó
Born in Verges on 2 September 1876, and died in Argentina on 30 April 1947. A conservative Catalan politician, he was the founder and leader of the Regionalist League and a minister in various Spanish governments.
Juan Negrín López
Born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria on 3 February 1892, and died in Paris on 12 November 1956. A Spanish doctor and politician, he was President of the government of the Second Republic from 1937 to 1945.
Indalecio Prieto Tuero
Born in Oviedo on 30 April 1883, and died in Mexico on 11 February 1962. He was a Spanish socialist politician.
Josep Tarradellas i Joan
Born in Cervelló in 1899 and died in Barcelona in 1988. Marquis of Tarradellas, he was a Catalan politician and President of the Generalitat of Catalonia in exile from 1954 until the restoration of the Government in 1980.
Gil Robles
Born in Salamanca on 27 November 1898 and died in Madrid on 13 September 1980. He was an important Spanish lawyer and politician. After the victory of the Popular Front in the elections of February 1936, he became head of the parliamentary opposition.
Religious Figures
Cardinal Vidal i Barraquer
Born in Cambrils, Baix Camp, on 3 October 1868 and died in Freiburg, Switzerland, on 13 September 1943. He was an important Catalan bishop and cardinal.
Military Figures
General José Sanjurjo
Born in Pamplona in March 1872 and died in Estoril (Portugal) in July 1936. He was an important Spanish military figure and one of the main conspirators of the military uprising of July 1936 that triggered the Spanish Civil War.
General Emilio Mola
Born in Placetas, Villa Clara, Cuba, on 9 July 1887, and died in Castil de Peones, Alcocero, Burgos, on 3 June 1937. He was one of the Spanish military leaders of the attempted coup and the military rebellion that began in 1936 with the Spanish Civil War.
General Francisco Franco Bahamonde
Born in Ferrol (known from 1938 to 1982 as Ferrol del Caudillo) on 4 December 1892, and died in Madrid on 20 November 1975. A military dictator and Spanish fascist, he was head of state from the end of the Spanish Civil War until his death.
General Juan Yagüe Blanco
Born in San Leonardo, Soria, on 19 November 1891, and died in Burgos on 21 October 1952. He was a Spanish military figure who rose to the rank of Brigadier General due to his merits in war. He was an icon and a very important person in the Franco dictatorship.
General Vicente Rojo Lluch
Born in Fuente de la Higuera, Valencia, in 1894 and died in Madrid in 1966. He was a military figure famous for his participation at the head of the Republican forces during the Spanish Civil War.
Segismundo Casado
Born in Nava de la Asunción, Segovia, on 6 October 1893, and died in Madrid on 18 December 1968. He was a Spanish military figure.
Other Important Figures
José Antonio Primo de Rivera
Born in Madrid in 1903 and died in Alicante in 1936. Son of the dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera, he was a Spanish politician and the founder and ideologist of the Falange.
Buenaventura Durruti
Born in León on 14 July 1896, and died in Madrid on 20 November 1936. He was a Spanish anarchist and revolutionary syndicalist.
Pompeu Fabra
Born in Gràcia on 20 February 1868, and died in Prada de Conflent in December 1948. He established the modern standard of the Catalan language. There is currently a university in Barcelona named after him.
Enrique Líster Forján
Born in Tejero, a village in Teo, A Coruña, on 21 April 1907, and died in Madrid on 8 December 1995. He was a Galician communist militant and a prominent military figure loyal to the Republic during the Spanish Civil War.
Key Organizations of the Second Spanish Republic
Political Parties and Coalitions
Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS
Founded on 19 April 1937 by merging the Falange Española de las JONS (founded by José Antonio Primo de Rivera in 1933) and the Carlist Traditionalist Communion. It was the single party of the Franco dictatorship.
Frente Popular (Popular Front)
A left-wing electoral coalition that won a huge victory in the legislative elections on 16 February 1936. Its equivalent in Catalonia was the Front d’Esquerres.
Lliga Regionalista (Regionalist League)
A Catalan political group founded on 5 November 1887 in Barcelona by members of the conservative ideology of the Centre Català. It formed the Front Català d’Ordre with other right-wing parties for the 1936 elections.
Front Català d’Ordre (Catalan Order Front)
An electoral coalition formed by the Catalan political right, led by the Lliga Regionalista, for the legislative elections of 16 February 1936, where it was defeated by the Front d’Esquerres de Catalunya.
Partit Obrer d’Unificació Marxista (POUM)
The Workers’ Party of Marxist Unification was a Spanish Marxist party founded in 1935. It defined itself as Marxist revolutionary in opposition to orthodox Marxism-Leninism and was somewhat close to Trotskyism but with influences from left communism.
Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas (CEDA)
The Spanish Confederation of Autonomous Rights was a coalition of right-wing political parties that formed during the Second Spanish Republic. It was defeated in the general elections of February 1936, which gave victory to the leftist parties grouped in the Popular Front.
Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC)
A left-wing Catalan social democratic party that supported the independence of the Catalan Countries.
Other Organizations
Instituto de Reforma Agraria (IRA)
The Agrarian Reform Institute was the body in charge of transforming rural Spain, created in 1932 during the Second Spanish Republic, based on the Land Reform Act.
Guardia de Asalto (Assault Guard)
A specialized security and assault corps created in 1932. Its first chief was Lieutenant Colonel Agustín Muñoz Grandes.
Institut Agrícola Català de Sant Isidre
An umbrella organization of Catalan farm owners that defended their interests and sought to promote the study of agricultural techniques. It was founded in Barcelona on 22 May 1851.
Comité de No Intervención (Non-Intervention Committee)
Also known as the London Committee, it was created on 25 July 1936 at the proposal of the President of France, Léon Blum, under British pressure. Its objective was to prevent the internationalization of the Spanish Civil War following the principle of non-intervention.
Brigadas Internacionales (International Brigades)
Military units formed by volunteers from all over the world to fight in the Spanish Civil War in favor of the Republic against General Franco’s military rebels. They participated in the bloodiest battles of the war as shock units until they withdrew from the conflict on 23 September 1938 due to pressure from the international community through the Non-Intervention Committee.
Legión Cóndor (Condor Legion)
An air intervention force sent by Nazi Germany to support General Franco’s forces in the Spanish Civil War. Hitler intended to test German aircraft weapons in a conventional war and offered Franco secret air support for his army.
Reconversió de la indústria de guerra (Conversion of War Industries)
The process of converting industries to provide weapons and materials for the army during the war.
Milícies Antifeixistes (Antifascist Militias)
The Central Committee of Antifascist Militias of Catalonia was an organization created on 21 July 1936 in Barcelona by Lluís Companys to organize military forces that fought against the military uprising in Catalonia during the Spanish Civil War. It coordinated the bodies of armed militiamen fighting on the Aragon front. In practice, it was the effective governing body of Catalonia between July and September 1936, during the revolutionary period.
Exèrcit Popular de Catalunya (People’s Army of Catalonia)
Created by the Catalan Government on 6 December 1936. On 24 October 1936, the Catalan government dissolved the Central Committee of Antifascist Militias in order to reorganize the military forces in Catalonia and the militarized paramilitary militia units.
Decret de col·lectivitzacions (Decree of Collectivizations)
The decree of collectivizations and workers’ control was an objective of the government of Catalonia following the start of the Spanish Civil War. It laid the foundations for a socialized economy in which workers were directly involved in the management of their companies and, more indirectly, in the regulation of economic activity through the election of delegates to the Council of Economy of Catalonia.