The spanish civil_war

The Spanish
Civil War
by
John F.
Coverdale

The Spanish Civil War, by John F. Coverdale 2

The Spanish Civil War
by
John, F. Coverdale
chapters 5, 12 and 14 of Uncommon Faith,

Scepter Publishers
P.O. Box 211
New York, NY 10018

Uncommon Faith tells how Opus Dei's founder, Blessed John F. Coverdale was bom in Chicago in 1940 and
Josemaria Escrivá, vigorously carried out its development received his PhD in history from the University of
and growth from its very beginning in 1928. Making use of Wisconsin in 1971 after working with the founder of Opus
his abundant dealings with all kinds of people, from the Dei in Rome from 1961 to 1968. He taught at Princeton and
poor and abandoned to university students, industrial Northwestern Universities, and has written several books on
workers, and the wealthy, Escrivá taught others to seek Spanish history, including Italian lntervention in the Spanish
God and led many to find him through a calling to his new Civil War (1975) and The Political Transformation of Spain After
and somewhat revolutionary organization. In doing so he Franco (1979). He graduated from the University of Chicago
forged a path that anticipated by more than 30 years Law School in 1984 and clerked for Hon. Antonin Scalia on
Vatican Council II's theology of the laity. This book the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit before
explains Opus Dei's growth and development in the context practicing law and later teaching at the Seton Hall University
of cultural and political forces at the time, and in the words School of Law in Newark, NJ.
of those who first met the founder.


Chapter 5 ideology from the eighteenth-century Enlightenment. For them,
overthrowing the monarchy and establishing a democratic
republic was a principal political goal.
1931: The Environment Turns Hostile The largest working-class party was the Socialists. Their
principal goal was economic and social change inspired by the
The Coming of the Second Republic doctrines of Marx, but they strongly favored a republic. Many
other industrial and agricultural workers, especially in the
When King Alfonso XIII forced Primo de Rivera to resign in impoverished South, were Anarchists. They were opposed to
January 1930 the king hoped to reestablish political normality the monarchy but would not participate in the elections on
under a constitutional monarchy. The transitional Berenguer political principle. Only a tiny minority of workers belonged to
government planned to feel its way, step by step, toward that goal, the Communist party.
starting with municipal elections in April 1931.
The elections held in April 1931 were only for town councils
Spanish society was highly fragmented and polarized. The but everyone viewed them as a first test of public opinion on the
monarchy's inability to find a solution to the country's problems issue of monarchy versus republic. The early results — mostly
between 1898 and 1923 and its complicity in Primo de Rivera's from the larger cities — showed a majority of republican votes.
rejection of the constitution had soured many Spaniards on King Alfonso XIII was disheartened by this rebuff and by lack
monarchical government. Even among socially and of support from the army and the most important police force, the
economically conservative voters, only a small percentage Civil Guard. He left the country on April 14, 193I, and a republic
backed parties that made the monarchical form of government was proclaimed. Significant numbers of Catholics, especially in
a principal part of their platform. Many other conservatives the larger cities, had voted for republican candidates, and many
preferred the monarchy to the republic, in part because Spain's other were willing to give the new regime a chance.
experience with republican government during the short-lived
First Republic (1873 1874) made them wary of republics. A provisional coalition government was presided over by
They were not, however, passionately committed to the defense Niceto Alealá Zamora, a former monarchist converted to
of the monarchy. republicanism, whose Catholicism reassured moderate opinion.
Two other Catholics formed part of the provisional government:
A significant number of voters supported bourgeois parties the conservative Miguel Maura, minister of the interior, and
such as the Radical Republicans, which took their political Lluis Nicolau, a Catalan regionalist, minister of the economy.


The majority of the new government was, however, more or less Spanish Anticlericalism
openly anti-Catholic and comprised three Socialists, two Radical
Socialists, two Radicals, and one member each of the Left The situation changed dramatically on May to, 1931, as a result
Republicans and a Galician regional party. of the events historians refer to as the "Burning of Convents." To
One of the provisional government's first measures was a understand those events, it is necessary to examine in some detail
declaration of religious freedom and the separation of Church and the roots of Spanish anticlericalism.
state but it assured Catholics that it would not persecute any At the beginning of the Second Republic, Spaniards were
religion Few Catholics welcomed the proclamation of religious divided, as they had been for more than a century, not only by
freedom or the proposal to disestablish the Church. The initial questions of social and economic policy but by bitter differences in
reaction of the Catholic rank and file, however, and that of the attitude toward the Church and its role in society. Spaniards'
Catholic hierarchy, was restrained. The majority continued to position with respect to the Church was most frequently what
accept the new regime, perhaps with misgivings but without identified them as left, center, or right on the political spectrum.
overt hostility. The vast majority of Spaniards were baptized Catholics. Many
In a letter to the nuncio, the Vatican secretary of state, took their religion seriously and were happy to see Catholic
Cardinal Pacelli, urged Catholics not to give importance to the influence in the country's legislation on marriage and education.
question of monarchy versus republic but to concentrate on the Some devout Catholics could be called anticlerical in the sense
defense of social order and the rights of the Church. The nuncio, in that they were critical of the shortcomings of the clergy and
his turn exhorted Catholics and particularly the bishops, to wanted to see the Church reformed in various ways. Escrivá
accept the new regime and to remain united in defense of the would frequently describe himself as anticlerical in the sense that
Church. The first sign of overt hostility of some members of the he did not want the clergy to meddle in political or economic
hierarchy came on May 1, 1931, when the archbishop of Toledo affairs but rather to dedicate themselves to their ministry.
and primate of Spain, Cardinal Segura, published a pastoral In Spanish political discourse, however, the term "anticlerical"
letter praising the king. was normally reserved for groups who wanted to see a reduction
or elimination of the Church's influence on the country's life. This
kind of anticlericalism was widespread among bourgeois political
liberals who took their ideology from the Enlightenment. It was
also common among Socialists and among the members of


Spain's large Anarchist party and labor union. This type of stipends that the government agreed to pay in partial compensation
anticlericalism had deep roots in Spanish history. What follows is for the confiscated property.
an examination of its most important aspects in the period During the period of the conservative resurgence that began in
following the upheaval caused in Spain and the rest of Europe 1876 and continued until Spain's humiliating defeat in the
by the French Revolution and Napoleon's conquests. Spanish-American War of 1898, the Church regained some of its
In 1834, rumors ran through Madrid that Jesuits and groups of social position and influence, although not its property. The
friars had caused a cholera epidemie among the poor by Church also flourished internally during this period, with a new
poisoning the public water supply in order to punish the liberal fervor and an increase in vocations to the priesthood and
capital for its impiety. Between fifty and one hundred priests and religious life. The period also witnessed, however, a hardening
monks lost their lives in the riots that ensued. The propaganda that of opposition to the Church on the part of liberals and
triggered the riots was similar in tone and psychology to the working-class parties.
crude anti-Semite stories of ritual murders of children by Jews that As the twentieth century approached, both sides increasingly
routinely circulated in many parts of Europe. The rumors of saw themselves as threatened and besieged. Fervent Catholics
well poisonings can be traced to middle-class, anticlerical saw society and religion endangered by the advance of a secular
propagandists from Masonic lodges and other secret societies wave of Freethinkers and Masons, inspired by liberalism.
that were a powerful force among Spanish liberals. The fact that Many Catholics considered liberalism a heresy and rejected
urban mobs believed the rumors and acted upon them, however, altogether the constitutional parliamentary monarchy. Others
suggests that by the early nineteenth century a significant accepted the constitutional regime as a lesser evil, but yearned for
number of workers were already sufficiently disaffected from a fully confessional state that would enforce Catholic unity. To
the Church to be open to such crude propaganda. liberals, the resurgence of the Church meant handing Spain over
In the period between 1830 and 186o, liberal governments had to the enemy of modern institutions and allowing the forces of the
confiscated large amounts of Church-owned land and other past to direct society. Between 1876 and 1898, the Church became
productive property that had been used to support the clergy and increasingly identified with the political establishment and the
the members of religious orders. There was little tradition in Spain upper classes. At the same time, a growing rift developed
of regular contributions by ordinary Catholics for the support of between the Church and the urban, lower classes and the
the clergy and religious. The confiscation of the Church's landless peasants of the south. Religious instruction among these
property, therefore, made the clergy dependent on the inadequate groups was almost non-existent, and efforts to reach out to them


were largely unsuccessful. During the decade that followed the units and called up troops from Barcelona. These decisions led
disasters of the Spanish-American War and the loss of Spain's to massive draft riots that soon took on revolutionary overtones.
colonial empire, Spaniards of all political persuasions sought The main focus of the violence was the burning of monasteries,
ways to "regenerate" the country. Conservatives focused on convents, and schools and the profaning of tombs and religious
reform of political institutions. Liberals and radicals also images. By the time the riots had been put down, twenty-one of
recognized the need for political reform, but they sought to Barcelona's fifty-eight churches, thirty of its seventy-five convents
transform the entire society. An important part of their agenda and monasteries, and about thirty other Church-related schools
consisted in reducing or eliminating the role of the Church in and buildings used for social services had gone up in flames.
Spanish life. Although two clergymen were killed and another perished in a
Middle-class Republicans stressed political and cultural fire set by the rioters, the violence was primarily directed
change, in which enmity toward the Church was almost as against property rather than persons.
important as opposition to the monarchy. Among the working Various explanations have been offered as to why draft riots
class, attitudes varied sharply between Socialists and Anarchists, should give rise to widespread anticlerical violence. It may be
but both were anticlerical. For the Socialists, inspired by Marx, that the rioters viewed the Church as allied with the wealthy and
economic change was paramount. They saw the Church as a powerful, who decreed the draft while they themselves avoided
mainstay of the existing economic order that needed to be rooted its effects. Alternatively, the Church may have been singled out
out, but economic revolution was much more important to them as somehow morally responsible for the injustices of a society
than attacking the Church directly. The Anarchists, by contrast, that condemned the sons of workers to die in useless colonial
aimed in the first place to create a new morality and a new culture. wars. Neither explanation, however, fully accounts for the
The elimination of religion would be a defining feature of the profaning of tombs and religious symbols. Whatever the cause,
new order they hoped to inaugurate. For them, opposition to the Barcelona riots confirmed that sizeable numbers of urban
the Church, and more generally to religion, was not merely workers had not only grown disaffected from the Church but had
something that would facilitate economic revolution, but a vital become violently hostile toward it, at least in part because of the
component of a new way of life. Anticlericalism turned violent violently anticlerical propaganda that the Radical Republican
in Barcelona in July 1909. The violence was triggered by events party had been carrying on for years in Barcelona.
that had no apparent link to the Church. After a defeat in During the next two decades, there were no major outbreaks of
Spain's North African colonies, the army mobilized reserve anticlerical violence, although propaganda against the Church


continued. In the 19205, the support offered to the Primo de The Burning of Convents
Rivera regime by prominent Catholics helped exacerbate the
anticlericalism of many Republicans and other liberals, who The provisional government of the Second Republic had little
became more convinced than ever that the Church was a major interest in restraining manifestations of anticlericalism, as became
obstacle to their desires for a more liberal society. During the apparent shortly after the proclamation of the Republic. The
dictatorship of Primo de Rivera and the interlude that followed it, playing of the monarchist hymn at a royalist club in Madrid on
however, anticlerical forces were held in check by the May 10, 1931, provoked an attack by supporters of the Republic
government, which prevented them from taking any overt action that soon degenerated into three days of violence directed
against the Church. primarily against churches, monasteries, and convents.
Rioting soon spread from Madrid to Seville, Malaga, and four
other cities. The government, at first, did nothing to quell the
growing violence.
When the mob began to attack churches and convents in
Madrid, Escrivá feared that the church of the Foundation for the
Sick might be sacked and the Eucharist profaned. Dressed in
borrowed lay clothes and accompanied by his younger
brother, he slipped out the side door of the church "like a
thief," carrying a ciborium full of consecrated Hosts wrapped in
a cassock and newspaper. As he hurried through the streets, he
prayed with tears in his eyes, "Jesus, may each sacrilegious fire
increase my fire of love and reparation!" After depositing the
Eucharist in the nearby home of a friend, Escrivá observed in
horror the smoke-filled sky of Madrid as churches and convents
went up in flames.
On May 13, he heard rumors that the Foundation for the Sick
might soon be attacked. He quickly found rooms for rent on
Viriato Street and moved his family and their few belongings


here. During the coming months, the family was crowded into a Anticlerical Legislation of the Provisional
tiny apartment whose only windows faced an air shaft. Escrivá's
room was so small that he could not even fit in a chair; he had to Government
write kneeling down, using the bed for a desk. The sense of the Republic's hostility to the Church soon
The provisional Republican government did not provoke the increased as the provisional government issued a series of decrees
burning of the convents, but many of its members were and regulations that upset many Catholics. It established full
sympathetic to the rioters. The Left-Republican minister freedom of conscience and cult; made religious instruction
Manuel Azaña, who was rapidly becoming the most powerful voluntary in state schools; dissolved the chaplain corps of the army
political figure in the country, told his colleagues, "All the and navy; substituted a promise for the traditional oath of office;
convents of Madrid are not worth the life of a single deprived the Church of representation in the National Council
Republican." He threatened to resign "if a single person is on Education; and prohibited government officials from
injured in Madrid because of this stupidity." For several days, attending public religious acts. In a tolerant, religiously
the government did nothing to control the riots. pluralistic society, many of these actions would seem
acceptable. Most Spanish Catholics, reared in a society in which
Once the government finally intervened, the violence ended
virtually everyone was at least nominally Catholic and in which
quickly, but by that time the damage had been done.
close cooperation between Church and state had been the norm
Approximately a hundred churches and convents had been burnt,
for centuries, viewed these actions as hostile to the Church. Their
including forty-one in Malaga, a medium-size city on the
perception of hostility was increased by the government's
Mediterranean coast. The government's inaction during the
failure to negotiate or even consult with Church officials about
early days of the rioting convinced Catholics throughout the
changes in religious policy, despite a long tradition of handling
country that the new regime was an implacable enemy of the
religious affairs through treaties with the Holy See.
Church. Azaña's reluctance to use force against anticlerical
rioters would eventually cost the Republic and the country In May 1931, the government expelled the bishop of Vitoria.
dearly. The next month it expelled Cardinal Segura, the highest ranking
churchman in Spain, for anti-Republican statements and
attitudes. Although both bishops had given Republican officials
sufficient grounds for considering them opponents of the new
regime, their expulsion confirmed the conviction of many


Catholics that the new government was all enemy of the The Constituent Assembly and the
Church.
Constitution
In the elections for a constituent assembly, Catholics and
conservatives were in disarray. The electoral law prepared by the
provisional government awarded each seat to the party that won
the district, with the result that small differences in popular vote
could lead to a large difference in seats. Conservative or
explicitly Catholic candidates won only a small number of seats,
although they had garnered a significant number of votes.
Parties hostile to the Church had an overwhelming majority
in the constituent assembly. The largest bloc was made up of
Socialists. Although they were more concerned about economic
questions than about religion, they would gladly support
anticlerical measures. Another large bloc belonged to the Radical
Republican party, for which anticlericalism was an essential
element of its political faith.
The newly elected majority of the constituent assembly was not
interested in a bloody persecution of the Church like the religious
persecution Mexico and the Soviet Union were experiencing at
that time. However, its goals went well beyond turning Spain
into a non-confessional country by severing the ties between
Church and state and putting an end to government subsidies
to the Church. Republican leaders wanted to transform Spain
from a traditional to a modern society. In their View, this could
be done only by reducing the influence of the Church in daily
life and establishing a secular culture in which religion would play


a very limited role. that directly affected the Church. The first important measure to
Republican leaders considered the Church, and particularly be approved, Article 3, put an end to the union of Church and
the religious orders that played such a large role in Spanish State that had characterized Spain for centuries. "The State,"
education, the major obstacle to their plans for transforming Article 3 declared, "has no official religion." On October 14,
Spain into a modern secular society. In order to reduce the 1931, by a vote of 178 to 59, the assembly approved what would
Church's influence on society, they were committed to abolishing become Article 26 of the Constitution, the principal provision
the Jesuits and restricting the activities of other religious orders. dealing with Church affairs. It forbade the central, regional, and
Above all, they were determined to eliminate, or at least to local governments to favor or support the Church or any religious
reduce, Catholic influence in education by prohibiting priests association in any way. Almost a century earlier, the government
and religious from running schools. Like the changes already had confiscated the property whose income the Church had used
introduced by the provisional government, all of these goals struck until then to support the clergy. Subsequently, the government
most Spanish Catholics, many of whom drew no distinctions had paid subsidies to the diocesan clergy. Article 26 called for
between their religious faith and their social and cultural eliminating the subsidies within two years.
traditionalism, as unjustified attacks on religion. The Spanish The most important provisions of Article 26 affected the
bishops initially limited themselves to exhorting Spanish religious orders. An early draft had called for dissolution of all
Catholics to accept peacefully the legitimate decrees of the religious orders. The measure approved by the assembly did not
government and to remain united. In August, however, they go that far, but it did provide for the dissolution of the Jesuits and
prepared a collective pastoral letter criticizing not only the the confiscation of all their property. Other orders were subject to
proposed provisions of the constitution but also "the so-called the threat of dissolution if the government felt their activities
'modern' freedoms that are considered the most precious might constitute a danger to the security of the state. In addition,
conquest of the French Revolution and the untouchable patrimony religious orders were forbidden to own any property beyond
of the democracies hostile to the Church." The moderate what was strictly necessary for the maintenance of their
members of the hierarchy and the papal nuncio considered the members and the fulfillment of their specific aims.
document inopportune, but the intransigent faction, headed by The most controversial provision of Article 26 forbade the
the cardinal of Toledo, successfully insisted on its publication. orders that were permitted to continue working in Spain from
The draft constitution prepared by the constituent assembly engaging in education. This sectarian provision demonstrated the
during summer and fall 1931 contained a number of provisions determination of the anticlerical majority of the assembly to


undermine the Church at any cost. Spain was suffering from a
desperate lack of schools and the members of the assembly
listed education among their top priorities. Yet they were
attempting to force the dosing of schools that were educating
about thirty percent of the country's high-school students and
about twenty percent of its grade-school students, because they
hoped that would reduce the Church's influence in the country.

Salvador Dalí 1936: Premonition of the civil
war; (Premonición sobre la guerra civil)


join the officers who had risen against the government. In many
areas, the militarized police (the Civil Guards and Assault Guards)
Chapter 12 fought vigorously against the army units that had joined the revolt.

First Stages of the Civil War

July 1936 - March 1937

Military Uprising
The assassination of Calvo Sotelo by government agents
confirmed the view of the military conspirators and their civilian
supporters that the government was either unwilling or unable to
control the situation, and that Spain was rapidly descending into
chaos and revolution. The conspirators' final plans called for a
military uprising on July 18, 1936, which they hoped would
quickly put them in control of the government. Initially the
military rebels and their civilian supporters had no name for their
movement, but within a few weeks they began to call themselves
"Nationalists."
The civil war actually began one day ahead of schedule, on July
17, 1936, with an uprising by military units in Spanish Morocco. https://www2.bc.edu/~heineman/maps/SpCW.html
It soon spread to the rest of the country. The leaders were
primarily younger officers, because most of the senior generals
either opposed the revolt or were undecided. Significant parts of Unnerved by the military uprising against his government,
the Army and a majority of the Air Force and Navy refused to Casares Quiroga resigned as prime minister. His replacement, the


moderate Republican Martinez Barrios, tried to reach a International Aspect of the Civil War
compromise with the Nationalist leaders. His efforts failed, and,
within hours, he was replaced as prime minister by José Giral, a The civil war rapidly became an international event. Both sides
relatively obscure Left-Republican professor who had served as promptly sought arms and assistance from the countries they
minister of the Navy. Giral formed a new government made up thought would be sympathetic to their cause. During the course of
entirely of middle-class liberals, but it had the explicit support of the conflict, both sides received significant aid that helped shape
Socialists, Anarchists, and Communists. On July 19, 1936, Giral, the war.
urged by his Socialist and Anarchist backers, took the momentous
step of "arming the population" by issuing weapons to the
members of Socialist and Anarchist militia units. This decision
pushed many ambivalent army units into the arms of the
Nationalists.
By July 20, 1936, the country was more or less clearly divided
into two zones. Forces opposed to the revolt and nominally loyal
to the Republican government occupied approximately two thirds
of the territory, including most of the Atlantic coast and the entire
Mediterranean coast except for an area near Cadiz. They held all
the principal cities and industrial centers, with the exception of
Zaragoza in the north and Seville and Cordoba in the south. The
Nationalists had gained the upper hand in a large part of the
northern half of the country with the exception of the Catalan
provinces in the northeast and the strip along the Atlantic coast
that comprised the Basque Provinces, Santander, and Oviedo. In In the early days of the war, Franco and other rebel leaders
the south, they held only small enclaves around Seville and turned to Germany and Italy for arms, while the Republic sought
Cordoba and a strategically important area around Cádiz, which assistance from France. Hitler promptly provided bombers —
would permit them to move troops into the peninsula from Spain's which would prove invaluable in ferrying the Army of Africa
North African possessions, which they also controlled. across the straits from Morocco to southern Spain — and fighter


aircraft to protect them. He also sent some anti-aircraft guns, agreement, Italy and Germany continued to provide growing
machine guns, and rifles. A few days later, Mussolini provided quantities of aid to the rebels. In October 1936, the Soviet Union
aircraft as well. began providing arms to the Republic. In addition, the Comintern
The French Socialist prime minister, Leon Blum, who headed a promoted the International Brigades, which fought effectively for
popular front government, was sympathetic to the Spanish the Republic.
Popular Front but worried about provoking French Catholics During the course of the war, both sides received significant
and other segments of the French Right. He was also determined foreign assistance, although historians disagree over the amounts.
not to alienate the British government, which preferred not to get Estimates of the airplanes received by the Republic range from
involved in the Spanish conflict. Although he decided not to 1,200 to 1,800, while the number of airplanes received by the
provide any official aid to the Republic, Blum did allow some Nationalists has been placed between 1,250 and 1,500. Estimates
aircraft and arms to reach Spain through unofficial private routes. of the numbers of foreigners who served the Republic in the
In 1936, the Soviet Union's chief foreign concern was Nazi International Brigades range from a low of 30,000 to a high of
Germany. Stalin adopted a conciliatory attitude toward Great 100,000. More than 75,000 Italians and approximately 15,000
Britain and France, in the hope of winning their support in any Germans fought for the Nationalists. Certain types of Soviet
conflict with Germany. He also directed the Comintern and aid, especially tanks, were very effective. In general,
Communist parties throughout Europe to work with Socialist and however, aid from Germany and Italy to Franco was somewhat
other left-wing parties in Western Europe to form a united bloc, larger and much more effective than the aid received by the
known as the Popular Front, against Nazism. The Soviet Union Republic from the Soviet Union and elsewhere.
provided some financial aid and used its worldwide propaganda
network to drum up support for the Republic. However, it did not
initially send arms to Spain.
On July 30, 1936, an Italian bomber crashed in French Morocco
while en route to Spanish Morocco. This alerted the world to the
fact that Italy was providing war materiel to the rebels. Paris
and London responded by calling for international
nonintervention in Spain, and soon all the principal European
powers had joined a nonintervention agreement. Despite the


Revolution and Anticlerical Violence in province to province had far greater influence and power than the
central government. Republican Spain became de facto a
Republican Spain confederation of regions governed, to the extent that they were
The Nationalist uprising and the government's response to it governed at all, by Socialist and Anarchist trade unions and their
brought about the revolution that the military leaders had feared militias, working through juntas of various sorts.
and that their movement was intended to head off. Concretely, The collapse of governmental control in the Republican zone
Giral's decision to give out arms to Socialist and Anarchist was accompanied by an outbreak of terror. It was primarily the
militia units helped prevent a quick Nationalist victory, but it led work of small groups from the revolutionary parties who
to an almost complete breakdown of government. organized themselves for this purpose. In Madrid, however, some
Only in Madrid did the government retain any control over of the killing was carried out by police units at least nominally
events, and even there its orders were ignored more often than controlled by the Republican government. Neither in Madrid nor
not. Militia units and popular tribunals quickly took control of elsewhere did the government initially make any serious effort to
cities, towns, and country villages in the areas where the stop the violence.
Nationalist movement initially failed. Republican legality Much of the terror took the form of attacks on the Catholic
collapsed in the face of a full-scale social revolution. As the most Church and its ministers. Between July 18 and July 31, 1936, fifty
prominent Spanish Communist orator of the time, La Pasionaria, priests were assassinated in Madrid and a third of the capital's one
put it, "The whole state apparatus was destroyed, and state power hundred fifty churches were sacked or burned. Anti-Catholic
lay in the streets." Although the Giral government laid claim to violence continued unabated through August in much of the
being the legal government of Spain and presented its followers Republican zone. During that month, more than two thousand
as "loyalists," it bore little resemblance to the liberal parliamentary priests and religious were killed. The violence against priests,
government fore- seen in the Republican constitution. religious, and others known as Catholics gradually tapered off
Nonetheless, the forces opposed to the Nationalists are usually after August 1936, although specific assassinations of priests and
called "Republicans." religious continued until the end of the war. By the end of the war,
It was to take the central government months to regain control twelve bishops, more than 4,000 diocesan priests, and more than
of the streets in Madrid and the other parts of the country where 2,900 religious had been killed. One of every seven diocesan
the Nationalist movement had failed. In the early months of the priests and one of every five male members of religious orders
war, revolutionary committees, whose composition varied from died. In Escrivá's home diocese of Barbastro, 123 of 140 priests


were murdered. It is impossible to say exactly how many lay men The terror of summer 1936 was accompanied by economic
and women were killed just because they were known as revolution. Workers' militias and union groups seized control of
Catholics, but the number is large. Many of the victims were whatever they found useful. In some areas, unions took de facto
executed after summary trials before "people's courts" set up by control of factories and other economic resources. In Madrid and
Anarchists, Socialists, Communists, and members of other left- its environs, where the government had somewhat more authority
wing parties. Others were simply lynched. than elsewhere, about a third of all industry was brought under
governmental control and directed to production of war materiel.
In the countryside, Socialist and Anarchist unions seized large
tracts of land. Often peasants continued to work the land on
much the same terms as before, except that ultimate control now
lay with a union rather than with a private landowner. In eastern
Spain, hundreds of agrarian collectives were formed, each
following a different pattern.


The Giral Government and the Revolution army then over civilians. Although a large part of the regular army
had not joined the revolt, the units available to the Republic were
The Giral government faced a dilemma. It needed to restore quickly submerged by the Socialist, Anarchist and Communist
governmental authority, both for its own sake and to avoid militias that dominated the Republic's military efforts. Many
alienating its Western European backers. But it also needed to professional officers supported the Republic and were willing to
retain the support of the leftists on whom it depended. Privately, serve it, but political mistrust kept the Republican government
many members of the government were disturbed by the from using them effectively. Consequently, militia units lacked
violence in the areas nominally under their control, but they the skills, organization, and leadership they needed. In the
lacked the means to stop it and were afraid even to speak out open field, they were unable to resist the smaller, but better
against it for fear of losing the support of the Socialists, organized and better led, Nationalist units that were drawing ever
Anarchists, and Communists. closer to Madrid. Communist militias were better organized and
The Giral government did not merely fail to condemn the disciplined than Socialist or Anarchist ones, but they too lacked
violence taking place in the areas it nominally controlled. Some of the fighting skills of regular army units led by trained officers.
its official measures could actually be seen as validating attacks Even more serious than the deficiencies of individual militia units
on the Church. On July 27, 1936, for instance, the government were their lack of coordination and consequent inability to carry
ordered the immediate occupation of all buildings that had been out large-scale plans. The Giral government did not dare,
used for educational purposes by religious orders and however, to reorganize the armed forces along more traditional
congregations. A decree issued on August 11, 1936, ordered the lines, because military discipline was anathema to the Anarchists
closing of all religious establishments whose owners had directly and to many Socialists.
or indirectly favored the military uprising in any way. These Economic revolution in the countryside presented a similar
decrees did not explicitly sanction assassinations of priests and dilemma. Many of the peasant supporters of the Republk in
religious or other violence against persons. They could, however, central and northern Spain were fiercely attached to their small
easily be interpreted as legalizing the attacks on Church property plots of land, even though they were economically inefficient On
that were taking place throughout the Republican zone, and some the other hand, landless farm laborers, who also constituted a
saw them as indirect indications that the government approved large part of the Republic's rural support in the south, were
violence against Catholics. clamoring for radical agrarian reform. Giral's legalization of the
The Republican government had little more control over the seizure of properties "abandoned" by their owners and his


measures providing for the acquisition of legal title by long-term The Military Struggle for Madrid
tenants were insufficient to satisfy his more radical supporters, but
he was afraid to go any further for fear of alienating small-scale Nationalist leaders had hoped that resistance to their uprising
proprietors, as well as France and England. might collapse in two or three days, but they had realized from the
beginning that they might easily fail in Madrid. In that case, they
would need to isolate and reduce the capital with attacks from the
north and south. This, they thought, might take several weeks.
Plans for attacks from the north were quickly put into effect. By
July 22, 1936, a column coming down from Burgos had reached
the Somosierra Pass, twenty-five miles north of Madrid, where
the road crosses the Guadarrama mountains. Another column
coming down from Valladolid had reached the Alto de León pass,
twenty miles northeast of Madrid. Both columns, however,
were brought to a halt in heavy fighting.
The plans for attacking the capital from the south focused on the
elite Army of Africa, comprised of about 30,000 Spaniards and
10,000 Moroccans, mostly volunteers. They were the best-trained
and best-equipped units of the Spanish any. At first, however,
Republican control of the Mediterranean kept them bottled up in
North Africa. Only gradually, with the help of Italian and German
aircraft, was General Francisco Franco, who had taken command
The Shooting of a Loyalist Militiaman: Federico Borrell of the Army of Africa, able to transport his units to southern
García, was shot to death the instant this photograph was taken. Spain.
Date: September 5, 1936 Place: Cordoba Front, Spain During August and September, the troops of the Army of
Photographer: Robert Capa Africa, joined by soldiers from some garrisons in the south of
Spain and by Falangist and other rightist volunteers, fought their
way north along the Portuguese border and then turned


northeast toward Madrid. By mid-August, they met up with met determined resistance from popular militias, Communist-
Nationalist forces coming down from the north along the organized International Brigades, and units of the newly formed
Portuguese border. This campaign to conquer and occupy People's Army, strengthened by Sovjet tanks and aircraft. By
southwestern and west-central Spain took up the first six weeks of November 21, 1936, the combined Republican forces brought to a
the war. halt the Nationalist attack on the capital from the south.
After the failure of their assault on Madrid from the south, the
Nationalists tried three times between late November 1936 and
early January 1937 to take the capital from the north. Despite
support from German planes and artillery and Italian light tanks,
those attacks also failed. The Nationalists next attempted to cut off
the city with an attack in the Jarama Valley, southeast of Madrid.
The goal of the Jarama offensive, which began on February 6
1937, was not to occupy the city directly but to block the road
between Madrid and Valencia, isolating the capital. The battle of
the Jarama was the first large-scale battle of the war. In two weeks
of heavy fighting, the Republicans suffered 25,000 casualties and
the Nationalists 20,000. The Nationalists advanced almost ten
miles along a fifteen-mile-wide front but failed to cut the Madrid
— Valencia highway.
In March 1937, in yet another attempt to isolate the capital, four
Italian Fascist divisions, sent by Mussolini to help the
Nationalists, attacked from the north in the direction of
As Franco drew nearer to Madrid, Republican resistance Guadalajara. After initial advances, the Fascists were pushed back
stiffened, aided by control of the air. A Nationalist diversion to by Republican forces, including the Garibaldi Brigade, made up
relieve the garrison of Toledo, which had been holding out under of anti-Fascist Italians, supported by Russian tanks and aircraft.
siege for two months, further delayed Franco's advance. When the The failure of the Guadalajara offensive marked the end of the
direct assault on Madrid finally began, on November 8, 1936, it Nationalists' attempts to capture or cut off Madrid.


The Military Revolt Becomes the "National restoration of traditional values and attitudes served as the
emotional and ideological support of the Nationalist cause during
Movement" the long civil war.
Within a week of the Nationalist uprising, General Mola set up Religious revivalism played a prominent part in the cultural
a seven-member junta of national defense. General Sanjurjo, the counterrevolution, although it too was foreign to the early plans of
most senior general among the Nationalists and leader of the the leaders of the military uprising. Their initial proclamations
failed coup attempt in 1932, was slated to be the president of the said nothing about defending the Church or religion. In one of his
junta and the overall leader of the uprising, but he died in a plane earliest statements, General Mola declared that "the Church ought
crash on his way to Spain. The largely honorary presidency of the to be separated from the State for the good of both institutions."
junta then fell to the next senior officer among the rebel leaders, Even as late as October 1, 1936, General Franco said that the State
General Cabanellas, an elderly Mason and well-known liberal would not be confessional. Supporters of the Falange desired
who had served in the Cortes as a deputy. amicable Church-State relations but wanted a clear separation of
At first, the military revolt lacked any well-defined political the two. The nominal leader of the junta of national defense,
program beyond reestablishing law and order under a military General Cabanellas, was a well-known member of the anticlerical
government. Except in Navarra, where the Carlist monarchists Radical party.
were strong, the Nationalists had no particular desire to bring back Despite the initial absence of religious elements in the plans of
the monarchy. The semi-fascist Falange had little power or Nationalist military leaders, persecution of the Church in the
influence anywhere in the country. Many early Nationalist Republican zone rallied a vast majority of practicing Catholics to
proclamations ended with Viva la República, although the the Nationalist cause. At first, Church leaders were cautious in
republic the rebels had in mind was more authoritarian than the their statements. Pope Pius XI was well disposed toward those
liberal parliamentary regime established by the constitution who defended the Church against one of the most bitter
adopted in 1931. persecutions it had ever suffered, but he was reluctant to take sides
Nationalist leaders initially were even further from having well officially. In a private audience in September 1936, he spoke of
defined cultural goals than they were from having a clear political the victims of religious persecution as martyrs and gave his
plan. Reaction to the on-going revolution in the Republican zone, blessing to those who were striving to defend religion. He
however, stimulated a cultural counterrevolution. The rejection of focused, however, on the religious aspects of the conflict, "over
the liberal values and institutions of the Enlightenment and the and above all political and worldly considerations," and warned


against the dangers of unjustifiable excesses, while calling for of his dioceses, even though he generally supported the
compassion and mercy. Press censors in the Nationalist zone Nationalist cause. In October 1936, the Nationalists executed
suppressed parts of the text before allowing it to be published. twelve Basque priests for political crimes. During the entire
The Spanish hierarchy issued no sweeping collective statements course of the war, the Nationalists executed fourteen Basque
in favor of the Nationalists in the early stages of the war. By fall priests, and the Republicans fifty-eight.
1936, however, prominent bishops, especially the primate and By August 1936, the insurgents had begun to call their
archbishop of Toledo, Cardinal Gomá, had openly embraced the movement "Nationalist," but most of the prominent leaders of the
Nationalist cause. In a pastoral letter issued at the end of movement had little enthusiasm for the doctrines of the Falange,
November 1936, Gomá described the conflict as "a war waged by the National Socialist party in Germany, or other radical
the Christian and Spanish spirit against another spirit...." "Nationalist" movements in Europe. They intended to maintain an
Although most of the Nationalist leaders were far more all-military government until the end of the civil war, but they had
interested in law and order than in religion or culture, they were no clear plans for the more distant future beyond a vague
quick to take advantage of these sources of popular support. By conservative authoritarianism.
mid-August 1936, General Mola pledged to raise over the new The Nationalists faced significant civilian opposition, even in
state "the cross that was and remains the symbol of our religion the northern provinces where their uprising met with initial
and our faith." success and where they probably enjoyed the support of the
The only significant exception to the general rule of Catholic majority of the population. In the impoverished areas of the south
support for the Nationalists was in the Basque country. Many and southwest, which the Nationalists conquered during the first
devout Catholic Basques, including Basque priests, supported the few months of the war, a large portion of the population bitterly
Republic. Most of them were traditionalists, who might have been opposed them.
expected to support the Nationalists for political as well as Opponents faced brutal repression. Historians have debated at
religious reasons, but their desire for Basque autonomy length about the extent of the repression by the two sides. One
outweighed other considerations. In return for an autonomy carefully conducted study recently concluded that during the war
statute for the Basque country, the Basque Nationalist Party there were 70,000 executions in the Republican zone and 40,000
(PNV) joined the Caballero government in September 1936. In in the Nationalist zone, with another 30,000 carried out by the
response, the Nationalists expelled the bishop of Victoria. They Franco government between the end of the war and 1950. It
complained that he had not disciplined the pro-Republican clergy seems unlikely that there will be consensus on the numbers, but


clearly large numbers of civilians were killed, and horrors and Franco Takes Power in .Nationalist
atrocities abounded on both sides.
Spain
The harshness of the repression practiced by both sides was
partially based on the need to pacify areas in which popular During the first two months of the war, the junta of national
resistance could be expected. Additionally, the intense ideological defense made little effort to develop a governmental structure or
conflicts of the preceding years had served to demonize even to impose any uniform plan on the various parts of Spain
opponents and thus to justify in the minds of many even the most nominally under its control. Commanders on the different fronts
extreme measures. This, combined with the horror caused by the enjoyed a high degree of autonomy and often clashed with each
violence against churches and churchmen in the Republican zone, other.
helps explain the public silence of many Church leaders in the As the Nationalist forces drew closer to Madrid in September
face of Nationalist excesses. Bishops and priests frequently 1936, the need for a unified command became more urgent.
intervened on behalf of individual victims of Nationalist Franco was not a member of the junta, but his command of the
repression. By and large, however, they did not speak out Army of Africa and his successful bids for aid from
publicly, although Bishop Marcelino Olachea of Pamplona did Mussolini and Hitler gave him authority among the Nationalists.
issue an impassioned plea for compassion and pardon in On September 29, 1936, the members of the junta named him
November 1936: "Not a drop of blood in vengeance!" generalisimo and chief of state, investing him with "all powers of
the new state." He adopted the title Caudillo, a classic Spanish
term for leader that rapidly took on some of the overtones of the
Italian Duce adopted by Mussolini and the German Fuehrer used
by Hitler.
Franco immediately replaced the junta of national defense with
a technical junta that included only one of the members of the
now dissolved junta of national defense. The new organization
was not designed as a long-term solution but rather as an
expedient to oversee the war effort. It would, however, serve as
the government of the Nationalist zone for almost a year and a
half, until Franco finally formed a regular government.


Largo Caballero Replaces Giral Anarchists, who saw an army as the antithesis of everything
for which they were fighting. Caballero's reputation as a
At the beginning of September 1936, the Socialists withdrew
revolutionary firebrand, however, made it possible for him to
their support from Giral, whose government collapsed. His
use more professional officers, at least in staff positions, and to
successor as prime minister, Largo Caballero, was the leader of
reorganize the militias into brigades of a People's Army. These
the most revolutionary wing of Spanish socialism, the Unión
measures would have been politically impossible for Giral.
General de Trabajadores. He formed a government
comprised of five Socialists (two revolutionaries and three Caballero also succeeded in gradually winning power back
moderates), four Left-Republicans, two Communists, one Basque from the revolutionary committees that had sprung up in the early
Nationalist, and one nominal Socialist, who by this time was months of the war. Little by little, he rebuilt a central Republican
actually aligned with the Communists. He invited the Anarchists government, often by appointing the leaders of the committees to
to join the government, but they preferred to lend their support governmental positions. He incorporated them into
without entering the cabinet. organizations that differed little in appearance from the
revolutionary committees but that were actually less open to
Unlike many other revolutionary movements, which grow
influence from below and more easily controlled by the central
gradually more radical with the passage of time, the revolution
authorities.
that broke out in Spain was at its most extreme during the
first six weeks of the war, a period during which the government In early November 1936, when the Nationalists had already
was made up entirely of members of middle-class parties of the entered the suburbs of Madrid, the Anarchists sacrificed their
Left. The Socialists, Communists, and Anarchists who principles in a last desperate attempt to prevent a Nationalist
formed part of Caballero's government were theoretically far to victory. Four of them entered the Caballero government, which
the left of the politicians who comprised the Giral government. was expanded from thirteen to eighteen ministers. A few days
Under their leadership, however, the government gradually later, on November 6, 1936, in the face of what seemed the
brought under control the terror and the social and economic imminent Nationalist capture of Madrid, the government moved
revolution that had characterized the early weeks of the civil war. to Valencia. The leading civil servants and politicians of all
parties, except the Communists, abandoned Madrid, opening the
Caballero was determined to create an effective army. His
door to Communist dominance after the unexpected success of
efforts to transform the militias into a People's Army met with
Republican forces in resisting the Nationalist offensive against
resistance from many of his political allies, especially the
the capital.


Chapter 14

Later Stages of the Civil War

MARCH 1937-APRIL 1939

Picasso, Guernica
The War in the North March to November
1937
Forced to recognize that he could not take Madrid, Franco
turned his attention to the Basque country and to the provinces
of Santander and Asturias, which lay to its west along Spain's
Atlantic coast. The Nationalist northern offensive began on
March 31, 1937, but advances in the mountainous Basque
country were slow. It was the middle of June before Nationalist
troops entered the principal city of Bilbao, an important
industrial center. With its fall, resistance in the Basque
provinces ended, but Santander and Asturias remained in
Republican hands.
Before Franco could turn to Santander, the Republic launched
an offensive to the cast of Madrid toward the small town of
Brunete. It assembled 150 aircraft, 125 tanks, and 140 artillery


pieces for the attack. The battle of Brunete raged from July 5, With the Madrid front restabilized, Franco resumed the
1937, until July 26, 1937. When it was over, the Republicans offensive in the north, advancing on Santander on August 14,
had gained only a three-mile advance along a ten-mile wide 1937. In this campaign the Nationalists enjoyed overwhelming
front at a cost of 25,000 casualties and 100 aircraft destroyed. superiority in artillery and aircraft, and Republican resistance
Losses were particularly heavy in the International Brigades, was light. By the end of August 1937, the Nationalists had taken
which the Republic used as shock troops. Nationalist losses Santander.
were less than half those of the Republic.

Before Franco could take Asturias, the last Republican
The 15th (International) Brigade at the Battle of Brunete province remaining in northern Spain, the Republican army
(1937). began a diversionary offensive along the Ebro river in Aragon,


both north and south of Zaragoza. The battle, which began on Fusion of the Falange and the Carlists
August 24, 1937, continued sporadically until the end of
September. Much of the fighting took place around the little In the Nationalist zone, all leftist and liberal political parties
town of Belchite, from which the battle took its name. Despite had been outlawed from the beginning of the war. The two
enjoying overwhelming numerical superiority, the Republican principal political groups were the conservative monarchist
diversionary attack failed. The Nationalists were forced to divert Carlists (who were strong in Navarre) and the fascist-inspired
only one major unit from the northern front and lost very little Falange. In the environment created by the civil war, the
ground. nationalism, authoritarianism, and military tone of the Falange
appealed to many middle-class Spaniards. Its national
Franco's forces resumed their northern offensive on syndicalist social and economic program garnered some
September 1, 1937. Mountainous terrain favored the defense, working-class support in areas controlled by the Nationalists.
but by October 21, 1937, the Nationalists had occupied all of The party grew rapidly during the early months of the war,
Asturias and the northern front had ceased to exist. despite its lack of competent leaders.
Civilian politics, however, were overshadowed in the
Nationalist zone by military dominance. Franco concentrated on
military matters and on foreign relations, paying little attention
to domestic politics in the months immediately following his
appointment as generalisimo and head of state.
As the war dragged on, however, Franco became increasingly
aware of the need for political organization to legitimize his rule
and to justify the carnage of the war. For this task, he turned to
his brother-in-law, Ramón Serrano Súñer, a lawyer and former
deputy to the Cortes, who was sympathetic to the syndicalist
goals of the Falange. In April 1937, Franco announced the
fusion of the Carlists and the Falange into a new unified
political group calledthe Falange Espadiola Tradicionalista y de
las JONS (FET). The FET, headed by Franco, would be the


official state party and the only political organization permitted Growing Communist Influence in the
in Nationalist Spain. A number of Falangist leaders attempted to
resist the fusion, but they were quickly quashed. Within a few Republican Zone
days, the Nationalist regime adopted a number of Falangist The military crisis facing the Republic during the fall of 1936
slogans and symbols, including the raised-arm fascist salute. had brought together Socialists, Anarchists, Communists, and
The decree of unification declared that the new party would Liberals in the Caballero government. Once the immediate
provide an organized political basis for the new state "as in other threat passed, the strains in the Republican coalition promptly
countries of totalitarian regime." When Franco referred to resurfaced.
Nationalist Spain as a totalitarian regime, he seems to have had Before the outbreak of the civil war, the Communist party had
in mind a traditional unitary authoritarian state rather than the been a small splinter group with little influence on the Spanish
rigorous total institutional control found in the Soviet Union or Left. As the war progressed, however, it grew in size and
Nazi Germany. The statutes of the FET, which were not influence because the Soviet Union was the chief source of arms
published until August 1937, reflected much of the syndicalist for the Republic, and the Communist units were the best
policy of the Falange but stressed the role of Franco who, as disciplined and most effective parts of the Republican army.
"supreme Caudillo of the Movement, personifies all its values." Moscow dictated the policies of the Communist party in
Because of its status as official state party, the FET grew Spain. Stalin was mortally afraid of Nazi Germany's threat to
rapidly. Anyone who hoped to advance in Franco's Spain, or to Russia and desperately wanted to win the support of France and
conceal a leftist or liberal past, soon joined. But most of the new Great Britain. Communist propagandists both in Spain and in
affiliates paid little attention to the party's official philosophy. the rest of Europe, therefore, were instructed to present the
When Franco finally named the first national council of the FET Spanish Civil War as the defense of a liberal democratic regime
in October 1937, no more than twenty of its fifty members against the onslaught of fascism. The Spanish Communists
could be considered serious Falangists. Thirteen were Carlists, argued that the time had not come for proletarian revolution in
four were non-Carlist monarchists, and seven were military Spain. Rather, the working class should temporarily abandon all
commanders. The national council met infrequently and had no dreams of revolution and join forces with liberals and democrats
real authority, but its composition reflected Franco's policy of in defense of Republican legality. Similarly, popular militia
including informal groups that supported his regime, without units would have to give way to disciplined army units,
allowing any one group to develop a dominant position. although this did not mean the array would become apolitical,


since political commissars would continue to play an important The Negrín Government
role in it.
The Communist party was becoming increasingly hostile to
The growing influence of the Communist party and its stress Largo Caballero's leadership. It took advantage of the May
on waging war rather than revolution aroused great hostility and events in Barcelona and its control of Soviet military aid from
opposition from other leftist groups, especially the Anarchists the Soviet Union to press for further centralization, police terror,
and the Trotskyite Unified Spanish Workers Party (POUM). reduction of Anarchist influence in the cabinet, and increased
This hostility came to a head in Barcelona, where both the Russian influence in military decisions. When Caballero refused
Anarchists and the POUM were strong. On May 2, 1937, to go along with their demands, the Communist party
fighting broke out in Barcelona as government and Communist engineered his fall and replaced him with a new prime minister,
forces battled Anarchists and the POUM for control of the city. Juan Negrín. Negrín, who took office in May 1937, was a
For several days, a civil war within the civil war raged in Socialist who had served as a deputy to the Cortes since 1931
Barcelona. The government sent two cruisers and a battleship, and had been named finance minister by Caballero in
both with contingents of troops, to Barcelona. Four thousand September of I936. He had proven to be a successful
assault guards arrived overland from Valencia. Aided by these administrator, with no particular political following or power
large infusions of armed forces from outside the city, the base, which made him acceptable to the disparate political
Republic regained control of Barcelona by May 8, 1937, but not groups that comprised the Republic.
before approximately four hundred people had died and one
thousand had been wounded. As prime minister, Negrín was an opportunistic realist, willing
to make any political sacrifice to win the war. His cabinet
The fighting in Barcelona weakened the extreme Left and included Prieto as minister of war and one other Socialist from
undermined Catalan autonomy, strengthening the hand of the Prieto's, wing of the party, but no supporters of Largo Caballero.
central government and of the Communist party. Central control The Communists continued to hold two seats in the cabinet,
of Barcelona and Catalonia was further enhanced at the end of which also included two Republicans, a Basque Nationalist and
October 1937, with the transfer of the Republican government a Catalan. Negrín asked the Anarchists to join his government,
from Valencia to Barcelona. but they refused.
The fact that Prieto, who was becoming increasingly
anticommunist, held the vital position of minister of war


suggests that, in the short run, the Communists gained little The War Grinds On
from the change of government. Over time, however, the
political moderation of the Communist party, its realism in the After a lull of several months during which both sides rebuilt
face of the war, and the Republic's dependence on the USSR for and repositioned their forces, on December 15, 1937, the
arms all combined to make Negrín turn increasingly to the Republic launched a new offensive at Teruel, a provincial
Communists for support. His economic program restricted the capital with about twenty thousand inhabitants, located 8o miles
growth and activities of agrarian collectives, reduced worker northwest of Valencia and 140 miles east of Madrid. By the end
control in industry and extended central government control of the first day's fighting, the Republicans had surrounded
over the more important aspects of the economy. Teruel and by Christmas day they had captured part of the town.
On December 29, the Nationalists began a counteroffensive,
In March 1938, the Communist party began an all-out attack which soon petered out in below-zero temperatures and a
on Prieto, whom it criticized for defeatism. As the Nationalist blizzard that deposited four feet of snow on the roads. On
armies pushed their way into Aragon and toward the Catalan January 8, 1938, the last of the Nationalist defenders within the
capital, Prieto grew more and more discouraged, and on April 5, city surrendered.
1938, the day on which Nationalist troops came within sight of
the Mediterranean, he fell from the government. Negrín took The capture of Teruel would have little long-term military
over the post of minister of defense. This would be the last effect, but it was a significant propaganda victory for the
major change in the composition of the Republican government Republic. Teruel was the first and only important town captured
until the end of the war. by the Republic during the war—a welcome victory following a
long series of defeats. Franco was unwilling to leave the
Republicans in control of Teruel, and the Republican troops
within the city walls soon became the besieged. Fighting in the
area of Teruel continued until late February, when the
Republicans were finally forced to withdraw.
Teruel thus eventually became another defeat for the
Republic —10,000 Republican soldiers were killed, and 14,000
were taken prisoner. It showed once again that although the
Republican army could catch the Nationalists off guard and


even hold its own for a time in heavy fighting, in sustained Nationalist units reached the Mediterranean, slicing the
combat it would eventually succumb. Republican zone in two and separating Barcelona and the rest of
Catalonia from Valencia. Within a few days, the wedge the
Nationalists had driven between the Republican armies had
grown to fifty miles wide. For a moment, it seemed that the
Republic was on the verge of collapse and that the war would
soon be over.
Rather than turning north to capture Barcelona and seal off the
French border, Franco decided to turn south toward Valencia.
His advance along the narrow coastal road and through the
rugged hills to the west proved slow. At the end of July 1938,
before he could reach Valencia, the Republicans launched an
offensive across the bend of the Ebro river north of Tortosa, in
southern Catalonia. With major infusions of arms from France
and the Soviet Union, the Republic had been remarkably
successful in reorganizing its forces. The Republican army of
the Ebro soon occupied a bulge fifteen miles long and ten miles
deep. Once again, however, it proved unable to exploit its initial
advantage, and the Nationalists soon stabilized the front.
At this juncture, many Republicans began to turn their
On March 9, 1938, the Nationalists opened a new offensive in thoughts to a negotiated peace, but Franco would accept nothing
Aragon along a broad front that stretched for about sixty miles. short of an unconditional surrender. Faced with this prospect,
Despite increased assistance from France and the Soviet Union, Negrín and his Communist supporters believed they had to
the Republican army was unable to resist the advance of the continue fighting in the hope that a European crisis might lead
Nationalists, who enjoyed superiority in artillery and air power to a cessation of German and Italian aid to the Nationalists and
as a result of aid from Germany and Italy. On April 15, 1938, perhaps to active support of the Republic by France and Great
Britain.


From a strategic point of view, Franco should probably have
launched a counteroffensive in northern Catalonia after
stabilizing the Ebro front. But, as usual, he was reluctant for
political reasons to leave the Republic in control of any ground
he had once occupied. He concentrated his forces, therefore, for
a counteroffensive along the Ebro river, which began on
September 3, 1938. Nationalist progress was slow. It was not
until November 16, 1938, that the Nationalists recaptured all the
ground west of the Ebro that they had lost during the summer.
The battle of the Ebro cost the Republic some 70,000 casualties,
including approximately 30,000 dead, 20,000 wounded, and
20,000 taken prisoner. Nationalist casualties exceeded 30,000.
After a month's respite, Franco resumed the offensive in
Catalonia. Republican defenses, severely depleted by the Ebro
campaign, crumpled in the face of the new attack. On January
26, 1939, Nationalist troops captured Barcelona, and the
remaining units of the Republican army in Catalonia collapsed.
Between February 5 and February 10, 1939, approximately
250,000 Republican soldiers fled across the border into France,
as did Negrín and most of the members of his government. By
February 1939, the Nationalists occupied all of Catalonia.


Franco Forms a Regular Government infighting between Falangists and more conservative supporters
of the Franco regime, the Fuero del Trabajo was published on
Franco would probably have preferred to wait until the end of March 9, 1938.
the war to form a regular government and appoint a council of
ministers, but as the war dragged on with no end in sight, the The document was merely a declaration of principles to be
pressure to regularize the government increased. On January 30, implemented later by legislation. It proclaimed a middle ground
1938, he announced a new law setting up a regular between liberal capitalism and Marxist socialism in which
governmental structure. The new law officially sanctioned private property would be respected but workers rights were
Franco's dictatorial powers: "The chief of state possesses the protected. The Fuero del Trabajo recognized, on paper, an
supreme power to dictate legal norms of general character." impressive range of workers' rights, including a minimum wage,
health and unemployment insurance, and limited hours, but
On January 31, 1938, Franco appointed his first ministers. The workers were not to be permitted to form independent labor
cabinet, which replaced the Junta técnica, represented a balance unions. Instead, capital and labor within each sector of the
of the principal political forces within Nationalist Spain. The economy would be organized into vertical syndicates under the
vice-president of the cabinet and foreign minister was General direction of the state. Strikes and lockouts were described as
Gómez Jordana, a moderate monarchist and Anglophile, whose crimes against the nation, and special labor courts were
appointment angered many Falangists. Two other positions contemplated for resolving labor disputes. During the final year
were awarded to senior generals who had collaborated with of the war, some attempts were made to create a syndicalist
Primo de Rivera. Two seats in the cabinet went to monarchists; organization at both the national and provincial level, but little
one to a Carlist; two to technicians with no particular political materialized.
connections; and three to Falangists, only one of whom had
belonged to the party prior to the war. The only areas in which
the FET had real power were propaganda and censorship.
From the beginning of the war, military leaders had promised
populist and nationalist reforms designed to regulate large
industries and to improve the lot of the lower classes, especially
in agriculture. The cabinet named in 1938 announced that it
would soon publish a labor charter. After considerable


The End of the War
After the collapse of Catalonia, Negrín and other members of
his cabinet returned by air to Spain to negotiate peace terms, but
Franco reiterated that he would accept only an unconditional
surrender. The capitulation of France and Great Britain to
Germany at Munich in the Fall of 1938 had seriously
undermined the Republic's hopes for a favorable change in the
international climate. Nonetheless, responding to the influence
of his Communist supporters, Negrín preferred continued
resistance to unconditional surrender.
A group of officers in Madrid, led by Colonel Casado,
revolted against Negrín's government, precipitating armed
conflict in the city between Communist-dominated units of the Madrid during the civil war
army and those that supported Casado. By mid-March, Casado
was firmly in control in Madrid. On March 19, 1939, he opened
formal negotiations with Franco, which soon broke down
because of Franco's refusal to accept any meaningful conditions.
The remaining units of the Republican army began to dissolve
and Nationalist troops entered Madrid unopposed. On April 1,
I939, Franco officially announced the end of the war.


Appendix Trailer of There will be Dragons,
the movie of Ronald Joffé about the Spanish
John F. Coverdale speaking about the civil war Civil War:

http://www.youtube.com/user/josemariaescriva#p/a/u/1/oK1NANzzZ0M http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z17OEqbrOOQ


About Saint Josemaria about this presentations

The presentation can be found at:

CSR:
Culture Science and Religion
http://www.slideshare.net/CSRsource

Group:
http://www.josemariaescriva.info/
CSR: Dragon
http://www.slideshare.net/group/csr-dragons
Editor: Alfred Driessen
Driessen.Alfred@gmail.com

The spanish civil_war

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The spanish civil_war