Spanish Civil War: Causes, Military Phases, and Aftermath
The Spanish Civil War
1) Causes of the War
The Civil War was a tragedy for twentieth-century Spanish society, as significant as or more so than the three Carlist wars had been. At the outbreak of war, we can distinguish two types of causes: remote and immediate.
a) The Remote Causes
Among the remote causes of the Civil War were how the liberal revolution was carried out in Spain and the military mentality. The radical opposition of two blocks, characteristic of nineteenth-century liberal revolutions in Spain, took the form of a secular military confrontation (the three Carlist wars). Often, the military intervened in the appointment of governments through pronouncements. During the Restoration period, the system worked with a serious shortfall that left important sectors of the population out of the political game. These elements are the origins of the ongoing social and political radicalization and of military intervention as the cause of the Civil War.
2) Military Phases
a) The First Months of War (July-December 1936)
The insurgents’ first objective was Madrid. General Mola sent columns there from Pamplona, while Africa’s army succeeded in crossing the Strait of Gibraltar with the help of Mussolini’s aviation. On the peninsula, after Franco took Córdoba, Granada, and Seville, he went to Madrid via Extremadura. However, the successful defense of Madrid forced him to stop, despite the Republic’s government moving to Valencia for security reasons. In September, Mola’s troops seized Irun and Donostia, and troops seized Galicia and Oviedo. The Catalan militia went to the front of Aragon and occupied some populations but were halted near Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. The disorganization and lack of preparation of these columns explain their weakness. A Catalan expedition to Mallorca, formed by 8,000 volunteers, also failed.
b) The Second Phase: From the Battle of Jarama to the Battle of the Ebro (January 1937-November 1938)
The rebel troops tried to conquer Madrid again through fencing maneuvers, first via the Corunna road, then the Jarama valley, and finally via Guadalajara to the north, but they failed. Franco then decided to focus his attack on the rest of Andalusia and end the resistance of Asturias and the Basque Country. Andalusian cities fell quickly. Following the bombing of Guernica in April 1937, Bilbao fell to Franco in June. Battalions of Basque gudaris (volunteers) surrendered in Santoña, refusing to extend the resistance. This continued until the fall of Gijón in Asturias. During December, the Republican forces launched an offensive against Teruel, which they occupied in January, but Franco’s troops retook it in February. In March 1938, Franco repealed the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia. On the 15th, Franco reached the right bank of the Ebro, dividing the Republican area. Therefore, the Republicans launched an offensive against the rebel troops in July. The Battle of the Ebro lasted for five months and produced many casualties on both sides. Franco finally broke the Republican front and had free access to Catalonia.
c) The Last Phase: The Occupation of Catalonia and the Surrender of Madrid (December 1938-April 1939)
In December 1938, Franco gave the order to start the final offensive against Catalonia. His army occupied the whole of Catalonia: Tarragona on January 15, Barcelona on the 26th, and Girona on February 4. The Republican, Basque, and Catalan administrations crossed the border along with thousands of exiles. On February 28, 1939, Azaña resigned and had no replacement. Juan Negrín attempted to negotiate with the insurgents, but the French only admitted unconditional surrender. On March 28, Franco’s troops occupied Madrid and other Republican cities surrendered (Valencia, Albacete, Jaén, etc.). On April 1, 1939, the war was over.
3) Consequences
- Political: Return of the Catholic confessional state without freedom or rights. Elimination of the 1931 Constitution. Concentration of power in one person.
- Economic: Large expenditures led to increased social and economic crises. Many people were jailed, many deaths occurred, and there was high tension between ideologies.
- Cultural: Establishment of National Catholicism. The works of the Generation of 1914 and the Generation of 1927 were censored.