Importance of the Spanish Civil War

Spain is perhaps one of the countries that has suffered the most fratricidal confrontations. It is not for nothing that there is an expression that refers to “the two Spains”, without specifying which one each one is, but from which it is already understood that, continuously, there are two conflicting conceptions.

However, when we speak of "Civil War" in reference to Spain, we understand that we are referring to the confrontation from 1936 to 1939.

The known simply as "Civil War" in Spain begins with an attempted coup military on July 17, 1936, unsuccessful and giving way to the armed conflict that will last until April 1 from 1939.

However, the origin must be found first, precisely in the antagonistic visions of a conservative Spain and a progressive one, along with other internal tensions in the country, such as territorial issues (mainly the Catalan and Basque), religious (basically, influence of the church catholic vs. anti-clerical movements and trends), and inequality between social classes.

These tensions were polarizing the citizenship and the public opinion Spanish continuously and increasing in intensity since the loss of the last colonies of the empire in 1898 (Cuba and the Philippines) and were made explicit both in the success of leftist tendencies (communists, anarchists and republicans) as well as in the response from the right (with the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera, for example).

To get to the Spanish Civil War, we must also take into account the success of the movements European fascists and right-wing dictatorships on the continent during the 1920s and 1920s 30.

We are talking mainly about Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, but also about Fascist Austria and the powerful Hungarian and Romanian Fascist movements.

The military establishment, the protagonist of numerous coup attempts and other actions, and whose interference in state politics was common, was the decisive factor in starting the uprising armed. The excuse: the murder of a right-wing activist.

It is usually indicated that the "excuse" used to initiate the coup (the straw that broke the camel's back) was the murder of the right-wing politician José Calvo Sotelo who, in turn, responded to the murder of a prominent leftist, although the rarefied climate already came from afar, as we have explained, as well as the conspiracies of the military to take over the can.

The revolt was not initially intended to start a war, but to seize power quickly.

Initiated on July 17 in the African colonies and the Canary Islands, and on the 18th in the peninsular territories, the coup succeeded in the entire northern zone of Africa, the Canary Islands, part of the Balearic Islands, Galicia, almost all of Castilla y León, Navarra, part of Aragón, La Rioja, and some enclaves widely distributed throughout the geography. The rest of the peninsula and Menorca remain in the hands of the government of the Republic.

The most important military operations that will take place during the development of the conflict will be:

• Transit of the African colonial army to the peninsula. It could never have been carried out without the help of Germany and Italy, who supplied the planes to build the bridgehead.


• battle of madrid. A key piece in a confrontation that psychologically still had many similarities with the wars before the Crimea, than with the most modern ones; the conquest of the capital would have ended the war much sooner, while its resistance encouraged a favorable end for the republicans.


• Attempt to liberate Aragon. By republican militias, both from the same territory and from neighboring Catalonia. failed offensive


• Attempt to liberate the Balearic Islands. coming from Catalonia, although it did not receive the proper support from the republican government, leaving most of the troops landed to their fate before the forces revolted military, who with Italian help (Mussolini had the ambition to keep the archipelago in exchange for his help to the Spanish fascists) were able to neutralize the offensive.


• Andalusia campaign. Direct consequence of the arrival of the African troops to the peninsula, the insurgents slowly took control of the control of the entire southern peninsula, Andalusia and Extremadura, connecting all the foci where the war had triumphed. uprising.


• northern campaign. Isolated from the rest of the republican zone, the Basque Country, Cantabria and Asturias were slowly subdued, despite putting up a battle.


• Battle of the Ebro. Posed as a way not only to eliminate the pressure on Catalonia, but also to initiate a counterattack on Aragon that would force the rebels to draw troops from other fronts to cover the subsequent republican advance, did not go beyond contact with the shore of the mighty river dominated by the side national. It marked the beginning of the end for the resistance of Catalonia, which fell shortly thereafter, leaving the Republicans with virtually only the territory of Valencia, Castilla-La Mancha, and Murcia.

A significant episode (there were several, such as the Battle of the Ebro, or the Siege of the Alcazar of Toledo, but this one has special significance) was the Guernica bombing by the German Condor Legion, a unit made up of troops from the German Reich to help the rebels.

The operational advantage in all these movements was for the rebel side, since among their ranks They counted most of the officers and the most seasoned troops, stationed in colonial Africa Spanish.

On the Republican side, an army had to be built, based on the troops that remained in the area under its control, and on the popular militias that were formed.

These posed an organizational and logistical problem, since far from being organized by the government, they were organized by the different political parties and union organizations.

The excesses that in some cases caused, came to constitute what has been defined as "a civil war within the civil war" with regard to the Republican side.

In the so-called "national side" (a name used to refer to the insurgent side, also called fascist) there were also tensions policies, but its nature of "social order" prevented it from reaching a greater level in the form of armed confrontations, which did happen on the republican.

Politically motivated crimes occurred on both sides, with the assassination of opponents or alleged opponents.

For a very simple matter, these arbitrary killings were more numerous on the Francoist side (as the rebels, by the leadership of General Francisco Franco), since their conquest of territory during the war was constant, with what which the possibilities of these assassinations on the Republican side were more limited, while they were expanded for the revolted.

The nature of the crimes also differs by side; if on the "national" side, the violence exercised was a matter of state and, therefore, encouraged and organized by the government itself, on the republican side it was mostly on an individual basis and by the militias orchestrated by the political parties and the different organizations, with the acquiescence of officials and members of the government, but always in a personal capacity, and not as state policy.

After the victory of the rebel side, the repression lasted for months and years, with concentration camps and massive and arbitrary executions, while the defenders of the side Republican had to go into exile and, in many cases, join the French resistance fighting against the Nazis or in different armies to fight against the powers of the axis.

This last case is that of the republican soldiers who constituted, under French orders and as units of the Free French army, the spearhead of the liberation of Paris. Thus, the Parisians were stunned when the first Allied armored vehicles that entered the French capital carried flags of the Spanish Republic and had been baptized with names referring to the Civil War, such as Belchite or brunette.

The repression also took a cultural turn against the languages ​​and cultures of certain territories, such as Catalonia or the Basque Country.

The Spanish conflict also had international implications, with the alignment of various powers and the neutrality of others.

Thus, countries such as France and the United Kingdom declared themselves neutral, while Germany, Italy (both provided military aid and in the form of material and troops), and Portugal (which sent a body of volunteers known as the “viriatos”, after the Lusitanian leader who fought against the Romans).

The USSR (which sent war material and instructors, although also played with their political interests, contributing to the destabilization of the Republican side) and Mexico.

This last country was perhaps the most committed to the legitimate government, since it never recognized the Franco dictatorship, only the government republican, and did not return to have diplomatic relations with Spain until the restoration of democracy, in addition to having welcomed numerous exiled.

The Spanish Civil War is seen by many historians either as the prelude to the Second World War in Europe, or as its first episode.

In it, the different powers that would later find themselves in contention on the battlefields of the old continent, tested both their policies and the weapons they would wield.

The epilogue of the episode is a devastated, impoverished Spain, and that despite not officially entering the war in the world war that would follow his Civil War (he sent a division of volunteers to fight alongside the Nazis on the Russian front and helped logistics to the Axis), was isolated from the world for the next few years, under a savage fascist and nationalist dictatorship that lasted almost 40 years.

The only thing that saved it from absolute misery compared to its neighbors was the fact that Spain was of interest to the United States as a strategic place in the context of the Cold War, for which the North American country contributed to the survival of the Franco regime as a way of keeping appeased and on its side to the country.

Today, even after the transition to a democratic state, the tensions that led to the Civil War, and as a result of this confrontation and its result, continue to resonate in the Spanish political panorama, like a wound that, although officially closed, continues festering

Fotolia: KarSol – Steel – Lines on Paper