General Franco (center), 1936. Photo: STF / AFP / East News
78 years ago, Spanish generals revolted against the republican government of President Manuel Azaña; political confrontation escalated into a civil war
Spain entered the 20th century in a state of deep crisis, both economic and political. King Alphonse XIII in 1900 was only 14 years old, national minorities demanded autonomy, anarchists preferred deeds to words and killed prime ministers they did not like.
No sooner had the First World War ended than the anarcho-syndicalists of Catalonia provoked the strike movement. From 1917 to 1923, Spain experienced 13 government crises, and neither the monarch nor the ruling Conservative and Liberal parties were able to stabilize the situation.
Captain-General of Catalonia, Miguel Primo de Rivera, volunteered to restore order in the country, who carried out a coup d'etat in September 1923 and established a military dictatorship. However, Rivera did not manage to solve the main problems facing the country, and in 1931 he resigned. King Alfonso XIII, with whose tacit consent the general seized power, was accused of aiding the dictator and left the country, but did not abdicate the throne.
In April 1931, Republicans won municipal elections in all major Spanish cities, and a Revolutionary Committee was formed, taking over the functions of the Provisional Government. Its first chairman was Niceto Alcala Zamora. The Constituent Cortes, elected in the summer on December 9, 1931, adopted a new constitution that granted the citizens of Spain a wide range of rights and freedoms: universal equality, freedom of conscience and religious belief, inviolability of home, privacy of correspondence, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of trade, etc. of the constitution, the church was separated from the state, which had very sad consequences for Spanish Catholics.
Residents of Madrid celebrate the victory of the Popular Front in the parliamentary elections, 1936. Photo: ITAR-TASS
In the spring, a wave of pogroms swept across the country - pogromists set fire to monasteries, beat priests and raped nuns. Minister of War Manuel Azaña saw nothing wrong with what was happening and did not take any measures against the pogromists. In October, Zamora resigned, unwilling to accept such an attitude towards the church, and Asanya took over as prime minister.
The interim government was unable to bring the country out of the crisis. The republican majority was afraid to make too radical decisions so as not to completely lose the support of the nationalists. Despite the fact that the political forces in Spain could be divided into two large camps - left and right, within each of them there were many parties that disagreed with each other.
While there were strikes throughout the country, the army elite, clerical circles, landlords and monarchists united in the Spanish Confederation of Autonomous Rights (SEDA) and received the most mandates in the Constituent Cortes. However, at the end of 1935, the right-wing government was forced to resign.
In the next parliamentary elections on February 16, 1936, the coalition of the left republican, social democratic and communist forces, the Popular Front, received a numerical advantage in the Cortes. Azaña, who was in the forefront of the association, became president of Spain in a few months.
The Popular Front government began to implement the nationalization promised by the Republicans back in the early 1930s. The sluggish agrarian reform inspired the peasants to seize the landlords' lands on their own, the workers continued to live in poverty and on strike.
For a long time, the army elite did not like the anti-militarist policy of Azaña, which was expressed in reducing military spending, reducing military pensions, closing the Zaragoza military academy and canceling service benefits for the military serving in Morocco and other African territories in Spain.
Demonstration by Republicans in Madrid, 1936. Photo: STF / AFP / East News
Political clashes (sometimes fatal) between Republicans and nationalists escalated into popular confrontation between workers and Catholics. In Madrid, a rumor was spread that the priests were treating the children of the proletarians with poisoned sweets, after which the angry crowd again went to burn monasteries and kill the ministers of the church.
Generals José Sanjurjo, Emilio Mola and Francisco Franco were the organizers of the impending rebellion against the Republicans. As early as 1932, Sanrurjo tried to raise an uprising against Azaña, for which he was exiled to Portugal. This did not stop him from uniting conservative officers in the Spanish Military Union (IVS). The coordinator of the rebellion was the commander of the troops in Navarre Mola, who drew up a detailed plan of action, according to which the right forces were to simultaneously revolt in all major cities at 17:00 on July 17, 1936. The main mission was entrusted to the Moroccan troops and the Spanish Legion, assisted by the militia of the Castilian and Navarran monarchists, as well as the Spanish Phalanx party and the National Guard founded by the son of the former dictator Jose Antonio Prima de Rivera.
In the Moroccan city of Melilla, the uprising began an hour earlier, as the officers feared that their plans would be revealed. In the Canary Islands, General Franco led the anti-government protests. On the morning of July 18, 1936, he spoke on the radio, explaining the motives and goals of the conspirators. "The unconscious revolutionary ideas of the masses, deceived and exploited by Soviet agents, are superimposed with malice and carelessness of the authorities at all levels," said the future dictator, promising the Spaniards social justice and equality of all before the law.
Meanwhile, control over Seville was established by the inspector general of the Carabinieri, Gonzalo Capeo de Llano, who suddenly joined the nationalists. By July 19, 14 thousand officers and about 150 thousand privates had already stood on the side of the rebels. The putschists successfully captured Cadiz, Cordoba, Navarra, Galicia, Morocco, the Canary Islands and some other southern territories.
Anti-aircraft battery during the defense of Madrid, 1936. Photo: ITAR-TASS
Prime Minister Casares Quiroga had to resign, but the leader of the Republican Party, Diego Martinez Barrio, who took his place, only lasted eight hours, and before the end of the day the head of government was replaced again. Left-wing liberal Jose Giral immediately authorized the issuance of free weapons to all supporters of the Republic. The previously helpless militias were finally able to fight back the rebellious military, and the government was allowed to maintain control over many important cities: Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Bilbao and Malaga. The Republicans were supported by 8,500 officers and more than 160,000 soldiers.
General Sanjurjo was supposed to return to Spain on July 20 and lead the uprising, but his plane crashed over the Portuguese Estoril. The main reason for the disaster is considered to be the excessively heavy baggage with which the general loaded the plane - Sanjurjo was going to become a Spanish leader and wanted to dress well.
The uprising needed a new leader, and the nationalists established a National Defense Junta, chaired by General Miguel Cabanellas. The junta decided to vest all military and political power with General Franco. By the end of July, the newly minted Generalissimo enlisted the support of Portugal, fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. The Republicans turned to France for help, but she announced her non-intervention. In August, most European countries came to the same decision. When German aircraft broke through the naval blockade of Morocco, an African army of many thousands rushed to the aid of the nationalists.
After a series of defeats, Hiral resigned on September 4. He was replaced by the head of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSWP) Largo Caballero. He formed a new "Victory Government", announced the creation of a regular People's Army, and established contacts with communists abroad. The result of these negotiations was the creation in October 1936 of international brigades, which were formed from foreign volunteers. 80% of them were communists and socialists from France, Poland, Italy, Germany and the USA. The actual commander of the international brigades was the Frenchman Andre Marty. The Soviet Union provided active military and technical support to the legitimate government of Spain.
Journalists watch as Franco's troops capture the city of Puigcerda in Catalonia, 1939. Photo: AFP / East News
In February 1937, Franco, with the support of the Italians, captured Malaga and began to prepare for the siege of Madrid. The battle for the capital began in November, but the republican army and Soviet aviation fought back hard. Even after the victory in the battle of Guadalajara in March 1937 and numerous attempts to siege the city, there was no hope of a quick capture of Madrid. Then the nationalists decided for the time being to deal with the industrial north, and General Mola led his army to storm Asturias, Bilbao and Santander. On April 26, 1937, Spanish nationalists in German planes bombed the ancient capital of the Basque Country - Guernica. The news that the Francoists had destroyed the peaceful city could deprive Franco of his last support, and in the future his actions were more cautious.
In early June, Mola's plane crashed into the mountain and the general was killed. Franco remained the sole leader of the uprising. Considering the similar circumstances of Sanjurho's death, some historians believe that both disasters were not accidents, but no evidence of this has been found.
After heavy bombing and shelling of Navarre on June 19, 1937, the Basque Republic fell. After the capture of the capital of the province of Cantabria, the port of Santander, the Francoist army began to attack the province of Asturias. By the end of October, the entire northern coast was in the hands of the Francoists.
In April 1938, the nationalists reached the Mediterranean, dividing the republican troops in two. The Republicans did not give up their positions for more than three months, but on August 1 they were still forced to retreat. By mid-November, they were completely pushed back across the Ebro River. During the battles, the Francoists lost 33 thousand people killed and wounded, and the supporters of the republic - 70 thousand killed, wounded and captured. The fighting capacity of the government, now headed by the moderate socialist Juan Negrin, was undermined.
At the end of January 1939, the nationalists captured Barcelona, and with it the whole of Catalonia. A month later, France and England recognized the Franco government. On March 26, an anti-communist uprising began in Madrid, and this time the republican forces were no longer able to resist. The Spanish Civil War ended with the entry of Franco troops into Madrid and the official recognition of the new government by the United States. After coming to power, Francisco Franco banned all parties except the Spanish Phalanx and established a dictatorship in the country for decades.
