Spanish Civil War: A Comprehensive Quick Summary

Historical context

There were several reasons for the war, many of them long-term tensions that had escalated over the years.

The 19th century was turbulent for Spain.

The country had undergone several civil wars and revolts, carried out by both reformists and the conservatives, who tried to displace each other from power. A liberal tradition that first ascended to power with the Spanish Constitution of 1812 sought to abolish the absolutist monarchy
of the old regime and to establish a liberal state.

The most traditionalist sectors of the political sphere systematically tried to avert these reforms and to sustain the monarchy. The Carlists - supporters of Infante Carlos and his descendants - rallied to the cry of "God, Country and King" and fought for the cause of Spanish tradition (Absolutism and Catholicism) against the liberalism and later the republicanism of the Spanish governments of the day. The Carlists, at times (including the Carlist Wars), allied with nationalists (not to be confused with the nationalists of the Civil War) attempting to restore the historic liberties (and broad regional autonomy) granted by the fueros (regional charters) of the Basque Country and Catalonia. Further, from the mid-19th century onwards, liberalism was outflanked on its left by socialism of various types and especially by anarchism, which was far stronger in Spain than anywhere else in Europe aside from (possibly) Russia.

Spain experienced a number of different systems of rule in the period between the Napoleonic wars of the early 19th century and the outbreak of the Civil War.

During most of the 19th century, Spain was a constitutional monarchy, but under attack from various directions. The First Spanish Republic, founded in 1873, was short-lived. A monarchy under Alfonso XIII lasted from 1887 to 1931, but from 1923 was held in place by the military dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera. Following Primo de Rivera's overthrow in 1930, the monarchy was unable to maintain power and the Second Spanish Republic was declared in 1931. This Republic soon came to be led by a coalition of the left and center. A number of controversial reforms were passed, such as the Agrarian Law of 1932, distributing land among poor peasants. Millions of Spaniards had been living in more or less absolute poverty under the firm control of the aristocratic landowners in a quasi-feudal system. These reforms, along with anticlericalist acts, as well as military cutbacks and reforms, created strong opposition.

The Second Republic began on 14 April 1931 when King Alfonso XIII left the country following local and municipal elections in which Republican candidates won the majority of votes in urban areas. The departure led to a provisional government under Niceto Alcalá Zamora, and a constituent Cortes to draw up a new constitution, which was adopted on 9 December 1931, after being passed by a referendum three days earlier. The Spanish Constitution of 1931 meant the legal beginning of the Second Spanish Republic, in which the election of both the positions of Head of State and Head of government was meant to be democratic.

The 1931 Constitution was formally effective from 1931 until 1939; however, by the spring of 1936, just prior to the effective onset of the Spanish Civil War, it had been largely abandoned, the extreme left having taken power, disenfranchising the centre and conservatives.

The constitution provided for universal suffrage and generally accorded thorough civil liberties and representation, a major exception being Catholic rights. The Constitution proclaimed religious freedom and a complete separation of Church and State, but went much further and in actuality provided for governmental interference in church matters. Namely, it excluded the Church from education (prohibited teaching by religious orders, even in private schools), restricted Church property rights and investments, provided for confiscation of and prohibitions on ownership of Church property, and banned the Society of Jesus. The revolution of 1931 that established the Second Republic brought to power an anticlerical government.

The government was unable or unwilling to control the anti-Catholic sentiment or to curb deadly mob attacks on churches and monasteries. That caused Catholics to muster their forces in opposition, exacerbating the conditions that led to the war.

On 3 June 1933, in the encyclical Dilectissima Nobis (On Oppression Of The Church Of Spain), Pope Pius XI condemned the Spanish Government's deprivation of the civil liberties on which the Republic was supposedly based, noting in particular the expropriation of Church property and schools and the persecution of religious communities and orders.

Commentators have posited that the "hostile" approach to the issues of church and state was a substantial cause of the breakdown of democracy and the onset of civil war. Since the far left considered moderation of the anticlericalist aspects of the constitution as totally unacceptable, commentators have argued that "the Republic as a democratic constitutional regime was doomed from the outset".

In the 1933 elections to the Cortes Generales, the Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right (Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas or CEDA) won a plurality of seats; however, these were not enough to form a majority. Despite the results, then President Niceto Alcalá-Zamora declined to invite the leader of the CEDA to form a government and instead invited the Radical Republican Party and its leader Alejandro Lerroux to do so. CEDA supported the Lerroux government; it later demanded and, on 1 October 1934, received three ministerial positions.

Lerroux's alliance with the right, his suppression of the revolt in 1934, and the Stra-Perlo scandal combined to leave him and his party with little support going into the 1936 election; Lerroux lost his seat in parliament.

Rising tensions and political violence

Hostility between the left and the right increased after the 1933 formation of the Government. Spain experienced general strikes and street conflicts. Noted among the strikes was the miners' revolt in northern Spain and riots in Madrid. Nearly all rebellions were crushed by the Government and political arrests followed.

Tensions rose in the period before the start of the war. Radicals became more aggressive, and conservatives turned to paramilitary and vigilante actions. According to official sources, 330 people were assassinated and 1,511 were wounded in political violence; records show 213 failed assassination attempts, 113 general strikes, and the destruction (typically by arson) of 160 religious buildings.

1936 Popular Front victory and aftermath

In the 1936 Elections a new coalition of Socialists (Socialist Workers Party of Spain, PSOE), liberals (Republican Left and the Republican Union Party), Communists, and various regional nationalist groups won the extremely tight election. The results gave 34 percent of the popular vote to the Popular Front and 33 percent to the incumbent government of the CEDA. This result, when coupled with the Socialists' refusal to participate in the new government, led to a general fear of revolution.

Azaña becomes president

Without the Socialists, Prime Minister Manuel Azaña, a liberal who favored gradual reform while respecting the democratic process, led a minority government. In April, parliament replaced President Niceto Alcalá-Zamora with Azaña. The removal of Zamora was made on specious grounds and in violation of the constitution. Although the right also voted for Zamora's removal, this was a watershed event which inspired many conservatives to give up on parliamentary politics. Leon Trotsky wrote that Zamora had been Spain's "stable pole", and his removal made the climate revolutionary.

Azaña was the object of intense hatred by Spanish rightists because he had pushed a reform agenda through a recalcitrant parliament in 1931–1933. Joaquín Arrarás, a friend of Francisco Franco, called him "a repulsive caterpillar of red Spain." The Spanish generals particularly disliked Azaña because he had cut the army's budget and closed the military academy while war minister (1931). CEDA turned its campaign chest over to army plotter Emilio Mola. Monarchist José Calvo Sotelo replaced CEDA's Gil Robles as the right's leading spokesman in parliament.

Murder of Calvo Sotelo

José Calvo Sotelo was the leading Spanish monarchist and a prominent parliamentary conservative. He protested against what he viewed as escalating anti-religious terror, expropriations, and hasty agricultural reforms, which he considered Bolshevist and anarchist. He instead advocated the creation of a corporative state.

On 12 July 1936, in Madrid, a far right group murdered Lieutenant José Castillo of the Assault Guards (a special police corps created to deal with urban violence) and a Socialist. The next day, Assault Guards with forged papers "arrested" Sotelo and abducted him in an Assault Guard van. Leftist gunman Luis Cuenca, who was operating in a commando unit of the Assault Guard led by Captain Fernando Condés Romero, is said to have murdered Sotelo. Condés was close to the Socialist leader Indalecio Prieto.

The murder of such a prominent member of parliament, with involvement of the police, aroused suspicions and strong reactions among the Center and the Right. Although the Nationalist generals were already in advanced stages of planning an uprising, the event provided a catalyst and convenient public justification for their coup.