The Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) was a bloody prologue to the Second World War, as left and right-wing movements were facing up to each other all over Europe. The leaders of the military uprising which began the war, generals José Sanjurjo*, Emilio Mola* and Francisco Franco, originally intended to take power quickly by seizing all major Spanish cities, but Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia, among others, did not fall, and the stage was set for a protracted war of endurance which was to bleed the country nearly dry.

Pre-War Spain

In mid-thirties Europe, parliamentary democracies like Great Britain, France and the Netherlands were outnmbered by far-right and far-left goverments, many of which were in an expansionist mood. Nazi or fascist regimes were in power in Germany, Italy, Austria and Greece, Yugoslavia was a monarchical dictatorship and Portugal controlled by the Catholic fascist Estado Novo under Salazar, while Russia and the rest of the Soviet Union were essentially a Stalinist empire. Meanwhile, the moderately progressive Second Spanish Republic declared in 1934 upon the flight of King Alfonso XIII had, since February, 1936, been governed by a more left-wing Popular Front, opposed to both the right wing and the political centre. The fragmented Spanish right wing — falangists (Spanish fascists), monarchists of all kinds (especially the ultra-conservative Carlists who had already protagonized not one but three civil wars in the previous century), Catholics (with the notable exception of the Basques), landowners, businessmen — was united in its opposition to the elected Republican government, which included communists and was supported by anarchists. Churches were burnt, land expropriated, strikes were frequent and the press regularly reported real and invented atrocities perpetrated by radicals on nuns and priests. Conservative Spain lived in a continuous state of alarm or outright fear, and the conspirators felt they had enough popular support to displace the Republic.

1936

The uprising began on July 17, 1936. The rebels or Nationalists took immediate control of the Canary and Balearic Islands as well as the territory held by the Spanish army in North Africa, encountering resistance only in Melilla, where the first battle of the war took place, and was a mirror image of much of what was to come. The troops loyal to the Republic were overwhelmed and the survivors executed, all to be buried in a common grave.

Andalusia, except Málaga, and most of Extremadura fell to the insurgents, as did Galicia and the west of both Old and New Castile. Asturias, Santander (then in the Basque Country, now Cantabria), and the rest of the Basque Country remained in Republican hands, as did the entire east of the country, Valencia, Aragón and Catalonia, where the rebels were defeated by anarchist militias who controlled Barcelona and the surrounding area thereafter, often ignoring or flaunting the authority of the Republican government. In Madrid, prevented from taking to the streets by masses of indignant citizens and militias, the rebels barricaded themselves in the La Montaña barracks and waited for relief which was never to come. The barracks were bombed and shelled by Republican aviation and artillery, and the survivors including their leader, General Fanjúl, court-martialled and shot.

In the ensuing weeks, the Nationalists consolidated their positions by eliminating (i.e., executing) suspects of being Republican sympathisers in the territories they controlled. The best known of these victims was the Granada poet Federico Garía Lorca, shot by the fascists towards the end of August, 1936. Such crimes were also committed on the Republican side. In addition, there are many recorded cases of grudge-settling accusations, neighbours reporting neighbours to whatever authority had power in their area, sometimes with no more motive than to take possession of a few square yards of farmland.

Though far from achieving their goal of a lightning victory, the Nationalists had a series of military successes in the first weeks of the war which made it clear that the Republican would not be able to suppress the rebellion quickly. The rebels took the major naval base (and birthplace of Franco) of El Ferrol on July 21st, less than a week into the war. Badajoz (and the entire region of Extremadura) fell to them on August 14th. Most symbolically within the emerging fascist mythology, a Republican counter-offensive on the city of Toledo was thwarted by their inability to take the Alcázar, where the Nationalist defenders held out until relieved by General Yagüe's forces in September.

Although a primary objective of the rebels at the outset of war, Madrid would not fall until it was practically over. In November, it was attacked by large but insufficient columns of Nationalist troops approaching from the south and west of the city. The front created ran from south to north across Madrid's Casa de Campo park, curving round to the north-east into the Ciudad Universitaria, the new university district. The Republican government felt obliged to move to Valencia, but the city of Madrid held. Both sides dug in along this front, which would not move more than a few yards in either direction during the entire course of the war.

In this initial Battle of Madrid, the defenders were reinforced, especially morally, by the arrival of the first volunteers of the International Brigades, most of whom were political activists lacking military experience. Recruited largely by Communist parties, they came from all parts of Europe and the Americas, and training facilities had been established for them in Albacete. But they comprised no more than 3,000 of the 40,000 Republican defenders of Madrid. Elsewhere, much of the Spanish armed forces had remained loyal to the Republic (this is often overlooked), but most of the defenders of Madrid belonged to militias raised by political parties or trades union, supplemented by police and civil guards. The first Nationalist offensive on Madrid lasted until the end of November.

Foreign Participation

The Nationalists formed political administrations in the territories they controlled, which they referred to as the Estado Español, Spanish State, as opposed to the Spanish Republic or Spanish Monarchy, their supporters including both Republican falangists and different breeds of monarchists.

In November, 1936, Germany and Italy recognized the Estado Español and its Nationalist government (it was also to receive early support from the Republic of Ireland) and Italian troops were sent to assist in December. Supposedly volunteers, these were actually largely veterans of Italian wars in Africa. The German Condor Legion, a branch of its Luftwaffe, was formed specifically to support the Nationalist uprising, beginning with the initial airlift of Spanish troops from North Africa to the mainland. By the beginning of November, the Condor Legion consisted of 100 aircraft and 5,000 men. Alarmed by this escalation, the international community, notably France and Great Britain, sought to limit it and began moves to prevent further involvement by other countries, including a ban on arms exports to Spain which was to work entirely to the advantage of the Nationalists, supported by the Axis countries-to-be, who simply ignored it. The only material support the Republicans received from abroad thereafter was from Stalin's Russia and Mexico.

1937

The Nationalists launched another offensive on Madrid at the end of January, different battle fronts being formed as the rebel columns searched for weak spots in the Republican lines of defense and attempted to encircle the capital and cut it off from the rest of the country. The Battle of the Jarama to the east of Madrid, February 6th-24th, was part of this, as the Nationalists tried to cut the main road between Madrid and Valencia. Losses were heavy on both sides, 6,000-7,000 Nationalists and 9,000-10,000 Republicans (including 2,500 in the International Brigades), but it may be considered one of the few Republican military successes of the war. Indeed, it was very nearly a full-scale disaster for the Nationalists, who gained ground but failed to gain any significant strategic advantage.

Nationalist troops, particularly German, Italian and Moroccan forces, took Málaga on February 8th, and began one of the most savage repressions of the entire war. Civilians fled the city in huge numbers, particularly in the direction of Almeria, along the coast road (now the Mediterranean Highway). The column of refugees came to a near halt on the nearly blocked road and for two weeks was mercilessly bombed, shelled and strafed by the rebel air force and navy, including German warships. Observing British naval vessels did not intervene.

On February 21st, the League of Nations Non-Intervention Committee's ban on the participation of foreign volunteers came into effect.

The Republicans repelled another offensive on Madrid in March, the attack this time being centred on the small city of Guadalajara and the nearby town of Brihuega in the rural Alcarria region. Poor weather worked to the advantage of the Republicans and the largely Italian attacking forces were routed. The rout ended ten days later.

The Basque capital, Guernica, was nearly razed to the ground by bombers of the Condor Legion on April 26th. This incident is captured in Pablo Picasso's black-and-white painting Guernica. The city was taken by the Nationalists on April 28th. Bilbao, the largest city in the Basque Country, fell on June 19th.

The Republicans began a series of energetic but ultimately counterproductive counter-offensives which at least obliged the Nationalists to slow down their advances. They tried to retake Segovia, and launched a massive attack on the Nationalist supply line from Extremadura at the village of Brunete, west of Madrid. The intention was to prevent the rebels completing their conquest of the north of Spain. The Battle of Brunete lasted two weeks, losses were extremely heavy on both sides but far worse for the Republicans, whose strategic gains did not prevent the subsequent fall of Santander and Asturias. Brunete itself was reduced to rubble.

The Nationalists invaded Aragón in August and took Santander on August 26th. Basque and Asturian troops defended Asturias fiercely, but Nationalists advanced systematically and took the last Republican redoubt, Gijón, on October 21st. The subsequent repression included executions, rape and out-and-out murder, and thousands were killed.

With the north of Spain under control, Franco was able to turn his attention east. The Republic government left Valencia for Barcelona on October 30th. The Battle of Teruel, the capital of the southernmost province of Aragón, on the Nationalists' probable route to the Mediterranean, began on December 15th.

1938

Teruel is a mountainous province, its capital sits at an altitude of 915 metres and the harsh, winter conditions meant that the Nationalist troops of General Varela and General Aranda did not arrive in time to prevent Republican forces from taking the city, in a to-and-fro which was to last for much of the winter. Teruel was bitterly fought over and heavily bombed by both sides, but the arrival of General Yagüe and his Moroccan army force the Republicans to retreat towards Valencia, giving the Nationalists victory in the Battle of Teruel. On April 15th, the unhurried Republican forces reached Vinaròs in the province of Castellón, effectively splitting the Republican territory.

In the night of May 5th-6th, the Republicans had a significant victory at the Battle of Cape Palos, the largest naval battle of the war, with the sinking of the heavy cruiser Baleares. However, the war at sea had little effect on the war on land.

With the Nationalists advancing towards the city of Valencia and mounting constant pressure on the fronts of Aragón and Catalonia, the Republicans began a counteroffensive on July 25, 1938. Their motives are debatable, but the resulting Battle of the Ebro was undoubtedly the last nail in the Republicans' military coffin.

The Republicans' attack was initially successful. However, they overstretched their supply lines and were drawn into a trench-warfare battle in which the Nationalists' held all the cards: overwhelmingly superior air power, better-trained and better-fed troops, working supply lines, greater numbers and a clear objective. The usually bogged-down Republican armies were pulverized for months. On September 23rd, in an attempt to oblige the Non-Intervention Committee to act to prevent the participation of German and Italian troops, the Republicans ordered the International Brigades back from the front and effectively disbanded them, severely weakening the Republican lines to little purpose: although the Nationalists also withdrew the German and Italian forces, their aircraft and artillery were left behind, manned by Spanish troops. In November, the Republicans were forced to retreat back over the River Ebro, and on November 16th they blew up the bridge. The rebel casualties included 6,500 dead to the Republicans' 10,000 (the latter is probably an underestimate), but the total balance of casualties - Nationalists around 45,000, Republicans about 70,000 - gave the victory to the Nationalists. And the Republicans had lost 200 planes. In other words, the Battle of the Ebro, the largest in the war, saw the Republicans' military strength reduced to a vestige.

On December 23rd, the Nationalists began their attack on Barcelona. The Spanish government retreated to Gerona.

1939

The Nationalists took Barcelona on January 26th, and Gerona on February 5th. France and Great Britain recognised the Franco regime on February 27th, and an anti-communist coup in Madrid forced prime minister Juan Negrín to flee to France, where the Republican government became a government-in-exile. Confused fighting in Madrid between moderate socialists and anarchists on the one hand and communists on the other resulted in a futile victory for the former, who tried in vain to negotiate surrender with Franco. On March 28th, the city of Valencia fell, and the Nationalists took Madrid without opposition. Hostilities ended on March 29th, although Alicante, the last city loyal to the Republic, did not fall until the following day. Franco announced the end of the war on April 1st, 1939, so beginning his dictatorship, a regime which was to last until his death in November, 1975.

Though the war was over, a certain amount of guerrilla opposition to the Franco regime persisted throughout the 1940's and 1950's, in the form of the maquìs. Some of these guerrillas were little more than brigands, but others had fought with the French Resistance during the Second World War (hence the name) and made a name for themselves in mainly mountainous regions of Spain thereafter, though they never amounted to a serious military force. Their greatest exploit was a doomed invasion from France of the Val d'Aran in the Pyrenees in 1944.

*Both Sanjurjo and Mola died in aircraft accidents during the war, leaving Franco as the sole leader, the Generalísimo. Inevitably, there are conspiracy theories in this regard which I do not want to discuss here.