Key Figures & Groups of the Spanish Civil War
Military Units and Organizations
The International Brigades
Military units composed of foreign volunteers who fought for the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). The first groups were formed by July 1936 with participants from the Barcelona Olympiad, including the Thaelmann Battalion (German), the Gastone Sozzi Giustizia e Libertà (Italian), the Commune of Paris (Franco-Belgian), and the Thomas Mann Battalion (British). The Comintern organized these volunteers of various anti-fascist ideologies under communist leadership on July 26, 1936.
Condor Legion
The official name (since November 1936) of the German air force that fought for Franco in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Before its official incorporation, the German air force played a crucial role in assisting the Burgos government, carrying out the first large-scale airlift in history, transporting troops from Spanish Africa to Andalusia (over 13,000 soldiers between August and October 1936).
Corpo di Truppe Volontarie (CTV)
The official designation of the Italian troops who fought for General Franco during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). The first contingent, commanded by General Roatta, arrived in September 1936 and was deployed to Malaga (February 1937). Defeated at Guadalajara (March 1937), they later fought in the Basque Country and Catalonia under Generals Bastico, Berti, and Gambara. Reaching a total of approximately 60,000 men (excluding air force personnel), the CTV suffered around 14,000 casualties. Towards the end of the war, they often operated in mixed Italian-Spanish units (Flechas Negras, Flechas Azules, Littorio divisions).
Non-Intervention Committee
An international organization created to prevent foreign interference in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Influenced by the British government, which aimed to contain the conflict, and facing divided public opinion, French President Léon Blum proposed non-intervention on July 25, 1936. He invited Britain, the United States, Italy, Germany, the USSR, Belgium, Holland, Czechoslovakia, and Poland to join the committee. Despite endorsements, the committee failed to prevent Italian, Portuguese, and German aid to Franco, as well as Soviet support for the Republic. Naval and land patrols, established in February 1937, proved inadequate, but between August and September 1938, they managed to evacuate the International Brigades and a significant portion of German and Italian forces. The committee dissolved on April 20, 1939.
Workers’ Party of Marxist Unification (POUM)
An independent communist party, not part of the Communist International, formed in Barcelona on September 29, 1935, through the merger of the Bloc Obrer i Camperol and the Izquierda Comunista. Its core principles included the struggle for a socialist-democratic revolution through working-class control and a temporary dictatorship of the proletariat, a united workers’ front through the Alianza Obrera, and the engagement or neutralization of the petty bourgeoisie and peasantry. The POUM opposed the Popular Front policy, though it signed electoral pacts with the Popular Front and the Catalan Left Front, winning a seat for its general secretary, Joaquin Maurín.
Key Individuals
Andreu Nin Pérez (1892-1937)
Writer and politician. He studied teaching in Tarragona and Barcelona, where he founded and directed the Associació d’Estudiants Normalistes. He taught at various workers’ athenaeums. His political activity began in the youth section of the Unión Federal Nacionalista Republicana, and he contributed to “El Baix Penedès” and “El Poble Català”. He shifted towards socialism and joined the Catalan Socialist Federation of the PSOE (1913-1919), where he advocated for Catalan nationalism in “Justícia Social”.
Indalecio Prieto Tuero (1883-1962)
Politician and journalist. A lifelong member of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), he led its moderate wing. He was a writer, director, and eventually owner of the newspaper “El Liberal” in Bilbao, where he served as a city councilor. He made notable interventions in parliament (such as denouncing the use of gunmen by employers’ unions in Barcelona), opposed the dictatorship, and personally signed the Pact of San Sebastián. He served as Minister of Finance and Public Works under Azaña (1931-1933) after the proclamation of the Second Republic, stabilizing the peseta and promoting modernization in hydraulics and transport.
Francisco Franco Bahamonde (1892-1975)
Soldier and statesman. The son of a naval officer, he joined the Infantry Academy in Toledo in 1907 after being rejected by the naval academy. He served with distinction in Morocco from 1912 to 1917. He was stationed in Oviedo (1917-1920) and returned to Morocco, where he fought under Millán Astray and Valenzuela. In 1923, sponsored by King Alfonso XIII, he married Carmen Polo. He returned to Morocco as lieutenant colonel, commanding the Spanish Foreign Legion (1923) and actively participating in the Rif War, including the Alhucemas landing. He became a brigadier general at 34—the youngest in Europe—and headed the Zaragoza Military Academy (1928-1931) until the advent of the Republic, which relegated him to secondary roles.
Buenaventura Durruti Domingo (1896-1936)
Spanish anarchist leader. He began his union activity in the Metalworkers’ Union (1912). Following the 1917 general strike, he deserted the army and went into exile in France. Upon returning, he joined the CNT. Arrested, he escaped from a military hospital in Burgos to Paris. Back in Spain, he met Manuel Buenacasa and participated in the creation of the anarchist group ‘Los Justicieros’. He fled to Barcelona after a planned attack against the king was discovered, and in Zaragoza, he connected with Francisco Ascaso. Back in Barcelona, he formed the anarchist group ‘Crisol’ (1922) with Suberviela, Escartin, and Torres Ascaso, which later became ‘Los Solidarios’.
Emilio Mola Vidal (1887-1937)
Spanish military officer. He fought in Morocco (1909-1930), where he was promoted to general (1924). As Director General of Security under Berenguer (1930), he distanced himself from the army during the fall of the monarchy but returned in 1934. Known as ‘El Director’, he planned the uprising against the Republic. As Military Commander of Pamplona, he organized the Requetés and launched the coup on July 18, 1936, sending columns from Navarre against San Sebastián and Madrid. He established the Burgos Junta, and after Franco was named head of state in October, he took command of the northern army. He died in a plane crash in June 1937 while attacking Bilbao.