Spanish Civil War Research Paper
The Spanish Civil War was the main clash that overwhelmed Spain between July 17, 1936 through April 1, 1939. It began after the attempt to over-throw the government by a group of Spanish Army generals against the Second Spanish Republic, who at the time was under the leadership of President Manuel Azaña. The nationalist rebellion was supported by the traditional Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right, monarchists known as Carlist groups, and the Fascist Falange. Following the military rebellion, working-class revolutions extended across the country to help support the Republican government, but they were all viciously put down by the army. The Spanish Civil War ended with the victory of the nationalist forces, the overthrow of the
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Republican government, and the founding of a dictatorship led by General Francisco Franco.
The Nationalists gained the support of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, as well as Portugal.
The Soviet Union interfered on the Republican side, although it encouraged factional conflict to the benefit of the Soviet foreign policy, and its actions may have been harmful to the Republican War effort. The United States government offered no official support for the Republican side. American businesses such as Texaco, General Motors, Ford Motors, and The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company greatly helped the Nationalist army with their steady supply of trucks, tires, machine tools, and fuel.
The war inflamed international tension in Europe in the lead-up to World War II, and was largely seen as another war between the Communist Soviet Union and Fascist states Italy and Germany. Tank warfare tactics and the terror bombing of cities from the air were features of the Spanish Civil War which played a significant part in the later general European war.
“The Spanish Civil War has been called "the first media war", with quite a few writers and journalists covering it wanting their work "to support the …show more content…
cause".(MacSwan).
Foreign journalists and writers covering it included Ernest Hemingway, Martha Gellhorn, George Orwell and Robert Capa. Like most international observers, they tended to support the Republicans, with some such as Orwell participating directly in the fighting.”(Newsinger)
This war was one of the first to have journalist covering it. One journalist, George Orwell, went into depth on the description of the war and how the country was. Orwell states, ”…armed workers, rifles on their shoulders, but wearing their civilian clothes. Perhaps 30 percent of the males on the Ramblas were carrying rifles, though there were no police, and no regular military in uniforms... The fact that all these armed men walked about, marched and drove in their ordinary clothes made the thing only more impressive as a display of the power of the factory workers. The anarchists, recognizable by badges and insignia in red and black, were obviously in overwhelming numbers.”
Like most civil wars, the Spanish Civil War became famous for the passion and political division it encouraged, and for violence committed on both sides of the conflict. The Spanish Civil War often put family members, neighbors, and friends against each other. Apart from the fighters, many civilians were killed for their political or religious views by both sides, and after the war ended in 1939, Republicans were mistreated by the triumphant Nationalists.
There were many events leading up to the Spanish Civil War. Such events were the Constitution of 1931, 1933 election, the rising tensions and political violence, Azana becoming president, and the murder of Calvo Sotelo. The Constitution of 1931 was the beginning of the Second Spanish Republic and was effective 1931-1939. The Constitution of 1931 contained numerous requirements of Spain’s place within the community of nations and international affairs. It also separated the church and the state; stating that the government can interfere with church matters. Anti-Catholics started to “terrorize” the Catholic community and in turn the Catholic got fed up and retaliated which led to war. The 1933 election was when the Spanish Confederation of Autonomous Right won but there was not enough for majority. President Niceto Alcala-Zamora in invited the Radical Republican Party and its leader Alejandro Lerroux to form the majority. Lerroux later lost his seat in Parliament in the 1936 election. The rising tensions and political violence involved the people of Spain going on strikes and also led to political arrest.
“When the electoral victory (1936) of the Popular Front (composed of liberals, Socialists, and Communists) augured a renewal of leftist reforms, revolutionary sentiment on the right consolidated. In July, 1936, Gen. Francisco Franco led an army revolt in Morocco. Rightist groups rebelled in Spain, and the army officers led most of their forces into the revolutionary (Nationalist or Insurgent) camp. In N Spain the revolutionists, under Gen. Emilio Mola, quickly overran most of Old Castile, Navarre, and W Aragon. They also captured some key cities in the south.”(Columbia Encyclopedia)
This leads to the outbreak of the war. The Popular Front argued the new reforms. The revolutionist then went on to capture some of the main cities, which kind of game them an upper hand. The governments’ reaction to the outbreak of the war is described here by Noam Chomsky,
“When the coup came, the Republican government was paralyzed. Workers armed themselves in Madrid and Barcelona, robbing government armories and even ships in the harbor, and put down the insurrection while the government vacillated, torn between the twin dangers of submitting to Franco and arming the working classes. In large areas of Spain effective authority passed into the hands of the anarchist and socialist workers who played a substantial, generally dominant role in putting down the insurrection.” (Chomsky and Pateman)
“The Nationalist controlled most of northern Spain where the most important battles took place, as Franco set out to overrun the isolated Basque Provinces loyal to the Republic.
On April 26 Hitler's Condor Legions firebombed the ancient Basque town of Guernica, a place of no military importance, and reduced it to rubble. It was the single most telling indication of fascist ruthlessness toward civilians to date, a lesson residents of cities in Europe and England would themselves learn in time. It led Picasso to produce his massive painting "Guernica," perhaps the most famous work of graphic art to come out of the war. Meanwhile, the Spanish government attempted to take pressure off the north with a major offensive west of Madrid in the summer of 1937. It was called the battle of Brunete. Though Franco's northern campaign was delayed, it did not stop. After eighty days of fighting, Bilbao was taken on June 19th, Santander on August 26th.”
(Nelson)
The International Brigades only a small part of the distant contribution in the war. From the first and during the war, Italy and Germany assisted Franco with plenty of planes, tanks, and other materiel. Germany sent several aviators and technicians; Italy sent large numbers of people also. Great Britain and France planned a nonintervention deal, which was signed in August, 1936, by 27 nations. The signatures included Italy, Germany, and the USSR, all of whom were unsuccessful to keep their agreement. The Spanish republic became reliant for materials on the Soviet Union, which used its military aid to get its own political goals.
The war was between Republicans and Nationalist. The Republicans were comprised of urban workers, peasants, and the educated middle class. The Nationalists were comprised of Catholic clergy, practicing Catholics, parts of the army, large landowners, and businessmen. “The Nationalists received help from Nazi Germany in the form of the Condor Legion from the Luftwaffe - Germany's air force. 50,000 "volunteers" from Mussolini's Italy also helped the Nationalists.
The Republicans received help from Russia. Stalin sent advisers and technicians. An International Brigade comprising of volunteers from all over the world also helped the Republicans.
However, the Nationalists held the advantage in the sense that those who fought for them were professionals – the "volunteers" from Italy went to fight with Mussolini’s approval and many of these volunteers had a military background. The Republicans relied on real volunteers; many held idealistic beliefs but had minimal military training.”
This was due to the fact that the government had a hand in what the Catholics did. The Catholics were not too fond of that and started to become rebellious. The workers and the peasants gathered land and industry to setup councils alongside the Republican government. It was then opposed by the Soviet Communist. “The attempted military coup of 17-18 July 1936 in Spain provoked the very thing it had ostensibly been intended to forestall: revolution. While the Republican government stood by paralyzed and helpless, in many towns and cities the working class rose up against the army and after fierce fighting put the insurgency down. What had been envisaged as a straightforward seizure of power, almost as a technical exercise, ended with the army defeated in two thirds of Spain's national territory and the country plunged into revolution and civil war. A popular uprising had dealt the generals an unprecedented blow that makes the failure of the July coup one of the most heartening events in modern working class history. Only the assistance forthcoming from fascist Italy and Nazi Germany prevented Franco's cause from speedily collapsing in total disarray. Meanwhile in many Republican areas a social revolution had been unleashed.
The Republican state was effectively crippled, with its armed forces in revolt and power in many towns and cities in the hands of the armed working class. The only obstacle to a socialist revolution in the Republican areas of the country was the caution of the main socialist organizations, in particular the left wing of the Socialist Party, led by Largo Caballero. Caballero determined to sustain the Republic rather than complete its overthrow and replace it with a workers' state. Nevertheless, in many areas effective control remained in the hands of the working class and Caballero tacitly endorsed this exercise in dual power, promising to complete the transition to socialism once the war with the generals was won.
The development of the social revolution varied widely from area to area: at one extreme the Basque country, a Republican stronghold, was nevertheless virtually untouched by the revolution, whereas, at the other extreme in Catalonia and in particular in Barcelona, the working class were in virtually complete control.” (Newsinger)
As it went on, the Soviets were able to restore some type of government control.
Republican government, and the founding of a dictatorship led by General Francisco Franco.
The Nationalists gained the support of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, as well as Portugal.
The Soviet Union interfered on the Republican side, although it encouraged factional conflict to the benefit of the Soviet foreign policy, and its actions may have been harmful to the Republican War effort. The United States government offered no official support for the Republican side. American businesses such as Texaco, General Motors, Ford Motors, and The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company greatly helped the Nationalist army with their steady supply of trucks, tires, machine tools, and fuel.
The war inflamed international tension in Europe in the lead-up to World War II, and was largely seen as another war between the Communist Soviet Union and Fascist states Italy and Germany. Tank warfare tactics and the terror bombing of cities from the air were features of the Spanish Civil War which played a significant part in the later general European war.
“The Spanish Civil War has been called "the first media war", with quite a few writers and journalists covering it wanting their work "to support the …show more content…
cause".(MacSwan).
Foreign journalists and writers covering it included Ernest Hemingway, Martha Gellhorn, George Orwell and Robert Capa. Like most international observers, they tended to support the Republicans, with some such as Orwell participating directly in the fighting.”(Newsinger)
This war was one of the first to have journalist covering it. One journalist, George Orwell, went into depth on the description of the war and how the country was. Orwell states, ”…armed workers, rifles on their shoulders, but wearing their civilian clothes. Perhaps 30 percent of the males on the Ramblas were carrying rifles, though there were no police, and no regular military in uniforms... The fact that all these armed men walked about, marched and drove in their ordinary clothes made the thing only more impressive as a display of the power of the factory workers. The anarchists, recognizable by badges and insignia in red and black, were obviously in overwhelming numbers.”
Like most civil wars, the Spanish Civil War became famous for the passion and political division it encouraged, and for violence committed on both sides of the conflict. The Spanish Civil War often put family members, neighbors, and friends against each other. Apart from the fighters, many civilians were killed for their political or religious views by both sides, and after the war ended in 1939, Republicans were mistreated by the triumphant Nationalists.
There were many events leading up to the Spanish Civil War. Such events were the Constitution of 1931, 1933 election, the rising tensions and political violence, Azana becoming president, and the murder of Calvo Sotelo. The Constitution of 1931 was the beginning of the Second Spanish Republic and was effective 1931-1939. The Constitution of 1931 contained numerous requirements of Spain’s place within the community of nations and international affairs. It also separated the church and the state; stating that the government can interfere with church matters. Anti-Catholics started to “terrorize” the Catholic community and in turn the Catholic got fed up and retaliated which led to war. The 1933 election was when the Spanish Confederation of Autonomous Right won but there was not enough for majority. President Niceto Alcala-Zamora in invited the Radical Republican Party and its leader Alejandro Lerroux to form the majority. Lerroux later lost his seat in Parliament in the 1936 election. The rising tensions and political violence involved the people of Spain going on strikes and also led to political arrest.
“When the electoral victory (1936) of the Popular Front (composed of liberals, Socialists, and Communists) augured a renewal of leftist reforms, revolutionary sentiment on the right consolidated. In July, 1936, Gen. Francisco Franco led an army revolt in Morocco. Rightist groups rebelled in Spain, and the army officers led most of their forces into the revolutionary (Nationalist or Insurgent) camp. In N Spain the revolutionists, under Gen. Emilio Mola, quickly overran most of Old Castile, Navarre, and W Aragon. They also captured some key cities in the south.”(Columbia Encyclopedia)
This leads to the outbreak of the war. The Popular Front argued the new reforms. The revolutionist then went on to capture some of the main cities, which kind of game them an upper hand. The governments’ reaction to the outbreak of the war is described here by Noam Chomsky,
“When the coup came, the Republican government was paralyzed. Workers armed themselves in Madrid and Barcelona, robbing government armories and even ships in the harbor, and put down the insurrection while the government vacillated, torn between the twin dangers of submitting to Franco and arming the working classes. In large areas of Spain effective authority passed into the hands of the anarchist and socialist workers who played a substantial, generally dominant role in putting down the insurrection.” (Chomsky and Pateman)
“The Nationalist controlled most of northern Spain where the most important battles took place, as Franco set out to overrun the isolated Basque Provinces loyal to the Republic.
On April 26 Hitler's Condor Legions firebombed the ancient Basque town of Guernica, a place of no military importance, and reduced it to rubble. It was the single most telling indication of fascist ruthlessness toward civilians to date, a lesson residents of cities in Europe and England would themselves learn in time. It led Picasso to produce his massive painting "Guernica," perhaps the most famous work of graphic art to come out of the war. Meanwhile, the Spanish government attempted to take pressure off the north with a major offensive west of Madrid in the summer of 1937. It was called the battle of Brunete. Though Franco's northern campaign was delayed, it did not stop. After eighty days of fighting, Bilbao was taken on June 19th, Santander on August 26th.”
(Nelson)
The International Brigades only a small part of the distant contribution in the war. From the first and during the war, Italy and Germany assisted Franco with plenty of planes, tanks, and other materiel. Germany sent several aviators and technicians; Italy sent large numbers of people also. Great Britain and France planned a nonintervention deal, which was signed in August, 1936, by 27 nations. The signatures included Italy, Germany, and the USSR, all of whom were unsuccessful to keep their agreement. The Spanish republic became reliant for materials on the Soviet Union, which used its military aid to get its own political goals.
The war was between Republicans and Nationalist. The Republicans were comprised of urban workers, peasants, and the educated middle class. The Nationalists were comprised of Catholic clergy, practicing Catholics, parts of the army, large landowners, and businessmen. “The Nationalists received help from Nazi Germany in the form of the Condor Legion from the Luftwaffe - Germany's air force. 50,000 "volunteers" from Mussolini's Italy also helped the Nationalists.
The Republicans received help from Russia. Stalin sent advisers and technicians. An International Brigade comprising of volunteers from all over the world also helped the Republicans.
However, the Nationalists held the advantage in the sense that those who fought for them were professionals – the "volunteers" from Italy went to fight with Mussolini’s approval and many of these volunteers had a military background. The Republicans relied on real volunteers; many held idealistic beliefs but had minimal military training.”
This was due to the fact that the government had a hand in what the Catholics did. The Catholics were not too fond of that and started to become rebellious. The workers and the peasants gathered land and industry to setup councils alongside the Republican government. It was then opposed by the Soviet Communist. “The attempted military coup of 17-18 July 1936 in Spain provoked the very thing it had ostensibly been intended to forestall: revolution. While the Republican government stood by paralyzed and helpless, in many towns and cities the working class rose up against the army and after fierce fighting put the insurgency down. What had been envisaged as a straightforward seizure of power, almost as a technical exercise, ended with the army defeated in two thirds of Spain's national territory and the country plunged into revolution and civil war. A popular uprising had dealt the generals an unprecedented blow that makes the failure of the July coup one of the most heartening events in modern working class history. Only the assistance forthcoming from fascist Italy and Nazi Germany prevented Franco's cause from speedily collapsing in total disarray. Meanwhile in many Republican areas a social revolution had been unleashed.
The Republican state was effectively crippled, with its armed forces in revolt and power in many towns and cities in the hands of the armed working class. The only obstacle to a socialist revolution in the Republican areas of the country was the caution of the main socialist organizations, in particular the left wing of the Socialist Party, led by Largo Caballero. Caballero determined to sustain the Republic rather than complete its overthrow and replace it with a workers' state. Nevertheless, in many areas effective control remained in the hands of the working class and Caballero tacitly endorsed this exercise in dual power, promising to complete the transition to socialism once the war with the generals was won.
The development of the social revolution varied widely from area to area: at one extreme the Basque country, a Republican stronghold, was nevertheless virtually untouched by the revolution, whereas, at the other extreme in Catalonia and in particular in Barcelona, the working class were in virtually complete control.” (Newsinger)
As it went on, the Soviets were able to restore some type of government control.