Understanding the Spanish Civil War: A Comprehensive Analysis
Item 16: Spanish Civil War
1. The Military Revolt: The Genesis
a) The Rebels
The armed forces were divided before the uprising. A group of generals, mainly from the middle strata of the officer corps, led the revolt, seizing control in many garrisons. Civilians from various right-wing political parties collaborated in planning and executing the coup. Their social base was diverse: the traditional oligarchy, seeking to protect their interests threatened by the Popular Front government, and rising middle-class elements, along with some lower-class factions in certain regions.
b) The Underlying Causes
- To halt the economic and social reforms of the Popular Front.
- To restore public order.
- To defend traditional Catholic values.
- To uphold a unitary state structure, opposing regional autonomies perceived as disintegrating the country.
- To prevent a perceived imminent proletarian revolution.
- To reinstate the army’s decisive role in political life.
- To establish an authoritarian state akin to European fascist regimes.
- Certain political groups aimed to dominate the state apparatus to implement their political programs.
c) Political Objectives
Initially, the primary goal was to overthrow the Popular Front government. The uprising, initially planned as a swift coup, failed to achieve immediate success, leading to a protracted civil war that ultimately destroyed the Republic and established a new regime.
d) The Two Spains
The revolt had mixed success: it triumphed in Galicia, the northern plateau, and parts of Aragon, but failed elsewhere.
e) Foreign Intervention
European powers signed a non-intervention pact, which was largely ignored in practice. Both sides received external aid: Germany and Italy supported the Nationalists, while the USSR and the International Brigades aided the Republicans.
2. Development of the War
In the summer of 1936, the Army of Africa crossed the Strait of Gibraltar, aiming to unite the Nationalist forces and advance towards Madrid.
The Battle of Madrid
The Nationalists failed to capture the capital.
The Northern Campaign
The Nationalist forces occupied the Republican-held northern territory in 1937.
Aragon’s Campaign
Following a Republican offensive in Teruel, the Nationalists reached the Mediterranean.
The Battle of the Ebro marked the collapse of the Republican army and became the war’s decisive event. The occupation of Catalonia followed, and the war ended in March 1939 with Nationalist troops entering Madrid.
3. Republican Spain
First Period (1936-1937)
a) Bankruptcy of the state apparatus: Committees, boards, or militias wielded real power, leading to disorder, strikes, and hampered military operations.
b) An economic and social revolution: The war’s outbreak triggered a social revolution, primarily driven by anarchist and socialist factions. The government legalized many actions to maintain production, although the conflict severely hampered these efforts.
c) Lack of internal unity: Clashes between political and union forces caused tension and crises.
First year of the war: Two Governments
- Government of José Giral: Lasted less than two months.
- Government of Francisco Largo Caballero: Composed of representatives from all political forces and trade unions.
Anarchists and communists initially prioritized revolution over warfare and accelerated economic and social transformations. The Communist Party advocated for prioritizing the war effort, proposing a strong centralized government, a People’s Army, and a moderate social program. Conflicts between these factions led to street confrontations in Barcelona, the Communist Party’s triumph, and the fall of Largo Caballero’s government.
Second Stage (1937-1939)
Juan Negrín led the Republican governments until the war’s end. Republican Spain was characterized by:
a) Acceptance of the Communist Party’s slogan: “War, revolution, organization, and discipline of the army.”
b) Attempts at state reconstruction: Increasing government authority, intervention in the economy, and restoration of public order.
c) Maintaining resistance.
4. Nationalist Spain
a) The Army: It became the backbone of the new order, justifying its exercise of civil power and influencing public opinion.
b) The Church: It supported Nationalist Spain from the outset, with the Holy See recognizing the Nationalist authorities as the legitimate government of Spain.
c) The Falange: It experienced significant growth during the war, and its doctrine became the ideological basis of the new regime, effectively imposing the political line of the conservative right. The insurgents’ primary objective was to win the war.
A National Defense Board was established in Burgos, with a former general appointed as chief, consolidating military and political power. He promulgated the Unification Decree, merging the Falange and the JONS into a single party. Other measures included the suppression of the divorce law, enactment of the Labor Law, abolition of the Statute of Catalonia, implementation of press censorship, restoration of the Society of Jesus, and reinstatement of the death penalty.
5. Consequences
Demographic Effects: Decreased birth rates, increased mortality due to malnutrition and disease, with the death toll reaching half a million.
Economic Effects: A sharp decline in the working population, depletion of state reserves to finance the war, heavy military spending, and destruction of infrastructure.
Political Effects: The loss of the democratic Second Republic and the establishment of an authoritarian regime.