Spanish Civil War

• Background– Lost Empire 19th Century– 1898 lose Puerto Rico,

Guam, Philippines, Cuba

• Alfonso XIII (1902)– Autocrat– No reforms – Moroccan War lost 1921

Long term Causes of Spanish Civil War

• Weakness of Government– 1871 King appoints PM supposed to represent

Majority in Cortes (Parl.)– Real power is wealthy oligarchs– Conservatives v. Liberals and elections rigged

• Role of the Army– Believes it is protector with right to intervene in

crisis (1820, 1871, 1923)– Unpopular seen as brutal, and lost the empire

• Needs reform, too big but dominated by Upper and Middle Class conservative officers

Long term Causes of Spanish Civil War

• Role of the Church– Rich, powerful– Guaranteed role in education and parts of economy– Supports political and social/economic conservatism– Most clergy and money from aristocracy (supports them)– Resentment among poor, but popular in rural areas

• Economic Causes– Agricultural economy

• Not enough work, mostly seasonal• Central/South Grandees own huge latifundia• North small peasant farms can’t earn a living• Anarchists push for land reform, but Small farmers are subsidized by

the Catholic Agrarian Federation and later support Franco• Civil Guard used to put down unrest

Long term Causes of Spanish Civil War

• Economic Causes (Industry)– Need modernization and reform

– Low wages, long hours, poor work and housing conditions,

– Unions CNT and UGT have no power

– Violent revolt seems appealing

– Brief improvement in WWI then even worse in 1920’s

• Regional Friction– Basques and Catalans separate languages and cultures

• Industrialized Economies and separate churches– Catalan’s lose autonomy in 1920’s

• Political Opposition– Liberals, Socialists (PSOE), UGT, Anarchists (CNT, FAI) can’t

agree after revolt in 1931

– Socialists divided Moderates (Prieto), Radicals (Caballero)

Military Coup 1923

• Miguel Rivera– Suspends constitution– Martial law– Censorship– Anti-corruption– 90 Day term– Refuses to leave – Public works; 300%

increase from 1923; tax the rich fails

– Uses loans and inflation follows

Rivera Resigns 1930

• Alfonso exiled after free elections choose a republic

• Provisional Government calls a general election

• Socialists PSOE and left win big victory

Short Term Causes of the Civil War

Republican Government:The Left Republic Apr. 1931-Nov. 1933

• Creation of Republic itself is a cause of the War

• N. Zamora is PM (Moderate republican)

• Radicals:– Azana, Caballero– Prieto moderate PSOE – End Catholic Education– State doesn’t pay clergy– Women vote, Divorce legal– Azana (War Minister) massive

Army cutbacks, 50% take retirement at full pay (Huge expense)

– Radicalizes Army

Azana Takes Over (Oct. 1931)• Zamora elected president• Azana hates the Church

– Religious buildings burned May 1931

– “burn all convents”– Depression makes things

worse– Iron down 33%, steel 50%– Land Redistribution Plan

requires compensation but gov’t has no money (Largo Caballero is Labor Minister responsible for program)

– Only 7000 benefit

Azana Takes Over (Oct. 1931)• Create Assault Guard to

make Military more left wing• Gen’l Sanjurjo revolts 1932

(Fails)• Anarchist revolt 1933

(change too slow)• Catalonia gets own

parliament (angers right)• Historiography: Trad. View

failure of land reform brought down Gov’t

• P. Preston argues Right never gave it a chance (rights fault)

1933 CEDA(Cath. Party) Formed

• Gil-Robles– Allies CEDA with Radicals

(centrist party) and Radical leader Lerroux becomes PM

– Dismantle Azana reforms– General strike by leftists

Oct. 1934– CNT/FAI (Anarchist Union)

center of strike– Revolt in Asturias (Miners)– Crushed by Franco, Azana

arrested, but acquitted– Catalonian revolt crushed

1933 CEDA(Cath. Party) Formed

• Historiography: violent repression increases likelihood of war?

• Basques swing to left• Prieto moderate, but

Caballero calls for Soviet-style solution

• Gil-Robles demands more authoritarian approach

• Accused by left of being Spanish Nazis

• Leads to cooperation on the left

• Scandals force out Lerroux

Immediate Causes of the Civil War

1935 Left Revitalized

• POUM (Marxist Workers Party) formed by Nin and Maurin (Anti-Stalin)

• Prieto takes over the Socialists PSOE

Popular Front

• Azana forms PF from Catalans, PSOE, PCE (Communists), Esquerra Party and Republican Union

• CNT won’t join• Catalan autonomy,

amnesty, agrarian reform, no political blacklists, damages to be paid by owners(!!!) for 1934 revolt

National Front

• CEDA, Carlists (anti: secular, political/econ reform)

• Falange/Jose Rivera: oppose socialism, marxism, republic, capitalism (Model is Italy)

• Falange is Sympathetic to, but not part of NF

Civil War Begins

• Feb 1936 Election; PF 34.3%; NF33.2%

• PF gets 263 of 473 seats in Cortes

• CNT and Basques (strong Catholics) vote for PF

• Release political prisoners, agrarian reforms, Generals transferred, Falange outlawed, Catalan autonomy

Popular Front Government

• Wealthy flee Spain with capital

• PSOE won’t join gov’t because Left Wing under Caballero opposes Prieto

• Wants all liberals and non-socialists out of the government

• Comintern wants a weak Bourgeois gov’t to keep POUM out

Azana tries to govern

• Gradual reform• Catholic schools closed to

prevent “arson”• PSOE rally suppressed and

Prieto wounded• Tenants cant be evicted• CEDA is horrified and gives

its campaign money to the army

• 330 assassinated, 1500 wounded, 1 million strike and 160 Churches/convents Burned

Flashpoint

• July 1936 Jose Castillo of Soc. Spec Police assassinated

• Conservative leader Jose Sotelo killed in revenge

• Sotelo had been threatened by Communist Dolores Ibarruri

• NF won’t negotiate; radical Giral made PM and arms leftist militias

July 17 Nationalist Revolt

• Generals Seize Islands and Franco flown to Morocco by MI 6 (British intelligence)

• Nationalists: Clergy, Practicing Catholics (except Basques), most of Army, landowners, businessmen

• Republicans: workers, peasants, intellectual MC

Nationalist Organization

• Sanjurjo is figurehead• Mola and Franco run

revolt although Franco hesitates

• Moroccan Army is better so Franco gets overall command

• Mola runs Peninsular Army

• Civil Guard: 46,000 Join revolt, 26,000 of Assualt Guard

Republican Army

• Left wing organizations• Some loyal generals and parts

of Civil and Assault Guards, Most of Air Force and Navy,

• Half of Army• Sept. 1936 Caballero becomes

PM and reorganizes: Loyal Generals and Political Commissars create order

• Soviet Tanks and Planes arrive • 59,000 Int’l Brigade

Volunteers(always led by Communists, angers POUM and Anarchists

Fascist Aid

• Italian and German tanks, troops aircraft, weapons

• Italy: Corps of Volunteer Troops: 50,000

• German Condor Legion: 12,000

1936

• 50,000 on wrong side of lines killed

• Feuds resolved using war as an excuse, dig own graves

• July: NF capture Ferrol naval base and fascist states offer aid

• Franco troops airlifted by Germans to Spain

• Sept NF closes Fr. Border cuts off North

• Alcazar palace relieved and PF humiliated

• Oct. Int. Bde.’s save Madrid• 2 Years of semi-seige follows• Nov. Ger.& It. Recognize Franco

Regime

1937

• It. And Sp. Colonial troops flood in but Madrid holds out

• Feb, L of N bans foreign volunteers

• Mar. Condor Legion comes anyway

• Italians defeated at Guadalajara Madrid holds out

• Apr = Guernica, Caballero falls, Negrin a Stalin puppet

• Jul. PF offensive and also attack near Madrid

• Franco counters, conquers Basques and North and Vatican recognizes regime

1938

• PF takes Tereul in Jan. loses it in Feb.

• Apr. Franco reaches the Sea cuts off Catalonia

• PF seeks peace Franco wants unconditional surrender

• PF all out effort at Ebro to reconnect territory fails

• Catalonia invaded and Munich Agreement demoralizes Republicans

The Battle of the Ebro

1939

• Catalonia falls, Barcelona falls and GB and Fr. Recognize Franco in Feb.

• Madrid falls with help of Falangists inside the city

• War over April 1. (Some pockets of resistance

• Reprisals: 30,000 executed (some say 50-200,000, forced labor, flee, internment in Fr.

Social Revolution

• Anarchists collectivized land, industry and created councils to administer them

• Soviets and Social democrats oppose them

Stalin’s Role

• Comintern forms Int’l Brigades

• Orlov of NKVD advises PF and organizes guerilla war

• Orlov ousts Caballero and gets Negrin in as PM

• NKVD arrests and executes leftist opponents, POUM, CNT

• 2/3 of Spanish Gold reserves sent to USSR

Atrocities Nationalists

• At least “50,000” executed during war

• Beevor: 200,000 white terror and 38,000 Red terror

• Aerial Bombing• Secular teachers,

attackers of the Church, civilians in captured towns and unwanted (unions and PF members)

Atrocities Republicans

• Nobles, landowners, industrialists, Church

• 7000 clerics killed and 283 Nuns

• Swallow rosaries, buried alive

• NKVD also kills Republicans

Review of Causes

• Fundamental tensions– Regional Separatism– Terrorism– Secular v. Church– Republicans split,

liberals, socialists, communists, anarchists

– Incompetent Repub. Leaders

• Manipulated by Stalin, PCE, (Gold Reserves)

Causes

• Long term imperial decline• Landowners v. peasants• Church v. Anti-clericalsim• Conservatives v. Liberal• Urban v. rural• Army’s political interference• Trad. of political violence• Corruption/fraud by

landowners and the left• Separatism/anarchism• Failure of reforms, fear of

communism, Soleto murder

Nature of the War

• Brutality• Foreign intervention• Ideological war• Air power• Armored warfare

experiments• Propaganda

Why do Nationalists Win?

Republicans split

– Key is Communist/socialist v. anarchist split and Caballero has to lead Coalition Government

– Anarchists want revolution of the people, other groups want to wait until victory achieved

– Catalonia, Aragon dominated by anarchists– Communists use terror to maintain control furthers the split– May Days revolts of 1937 one result of terror

• Communists and Socialists v. anarchists and POUM• 4 days of fighting and Caballero forced out (NKVD involved)• Negrin sets up authoritarian regime, kills or imprisons opponents

Military Problems

• Loyalists lack good leaders• No initial unified command as leftists want to use militias• Anarchists and Basques refuse central control• Experienced officers are viewed with suspicion• Critical early period militias and regions fight independently no

mutual support• Only at the end of 1936 is unified Popular Army created

Confusion allows Nationalists to gain a foothold in Spain and split republicans

Economic Problems

• Anarchists seize utilities, transport, set up worker’s committees to run industry and set up collective farms

• Collectives uncoordinated, inefficient and can’t supply war effort• Production in Catalonia falls by 2/3rds • Food, supply shortages and 300% inflation• Non-intervention Commission set up by Br./Fr.• No one will trade with Republic except USSR• No credit/no aid• USSR forces Repub. To pay for aid (entire gold reserve)

Foreign Aid

• Was its role exaggerated?• Republic definitely got less aid than Nationalists

– Soviet T-26 tank is better than Ger./It tanks/\, soviet aircraft better too earlt on

– Rep. gets only 1000 planes, 750 tanks and some advisors– Forced to pay for it

• Comintern organizes Int’l Brigades– 35,000 from Ger., It., Fr., GB., US– Vital at Madrid unimportant elsewhere, leave in 1938 when USSR

cuts off aid• France Pop. Front gov’t initially sends aid but stops when Br. adopts non-

intervention out of fear of Communists– Historians argue western arms embargo helps fascists and Axis Powers (Ger./It.)– Isolation helps FR. Avoid right wing backlash and prevents confrontation with the Axis

Nationalist Advantages

Political Unity

• Franco unifies initially divided Nationalists in a few weeks– Rivals die, or are beaten in battle– Key is he commands Army of Africa which is much more

efficient than the Peninsular Army– German aid is funneled through him– Merges Carlist monarchists and Falange (70,000 and 1 mi

respectively)– New party is FET– Church also calls for crusade v. Godless Communism and

atheism– Franco uses both propaganda and terror

Military Unity

• Initially divided as well between Carlist and Falangist militias and Regular Troops

• Army of Africa serves as core, and other groups assimilated and trained

• Unified command under Franco and even Italians report to him• Good communications system, well trained junior officers• Franco moderate, rejects radical suggestions and takes care of

his troops

Economic Advantages

• Business community backs NF so they can get credit and supplies

• Sept. 1936 control main agri. areas

• 1937 add industrial North

• 700 mi in US credit

Foreign Aid

• Hugh Thomas: SCW decided by external circumstances– Rebels get more and better quality aid– Germans airlift Franco Army, Condor Legion,

Italians: 75,000 troops, overall about 1000 tanks and 1500 planes

– Portuguese 20,000 troops and open borders to aid– Key benefit is modern equipment

Overall Foreign Aid

• Main Effects:– Lengthens and intensifies the war– Spanish issues were submerged by wider ideological battles

of Europe

• British: – Form NIC Sept. 1936 (but Gr., It., USSR join and then ignore

it)– Favors NF as Gibraltar is opened to NF and Br. and Am.

Companies allowed to trade with NF (Extension of Appeasement?)

Overall Foreign Aid

France: • French Pop. Front Gov’t fears domestic revolt if it aids Loyalists

• Needs Br. aid who are more anti-republic

• Restrict aid to humanitarian supplies

• Forces Republic to rely on Soviets and polarizes politics of the SCW

• Allow French to join Int’l Brigades

• Soviet aid flows through France.

USSR:• Stalin fears another Fascist State in Europe

• Doesn’t want Republican victory to drive allies into anti-communist alliance with Hitler

• Sends aid when Gr./It. Ignore NIC

Overall Foreign AidUSSR con’t:• Stalin hopes to exhaust Ger. Resources in Spain• Withdraws aid in 1938 as Republic seems to be losing and

Allies focus on appeasement

Germany:• Cautious but want to stop communism• Goering wants to test Luftwaffe• Key aid at key points in the war and presence deters other

states from getting involved

Italy:• Most assistance of any foreign power

Overall Foreign AidItaly con’t:• Most assistance of any foreign power• Anti-communist, Mussolini improves position in Mediterranean• Weaken left-wing Fr. Gov’t• France would be encircled by Fascists• Cements It/Gr. Relations

Portugal:• Troops, base for communications and supplies, Br. ally and

deters Br. aid to Republic• 20,000 Troops and key supply line to Nationalists

Spanish Civil War Tech.• Limited War for Foreigners but total war in Spain

– Dehumanize enemies through propaganda– Atrocities common, civilians targeted (Guernica and Priests)

• Tech impact somewhat limited– New tech. but often not used effectively– Shows future impact of air power but WWI had shown this

too– Tanks used but cavalry too– Sea power key to maintaining supply lines– Combined arms crushes Republican offensives 1937-38– Blitzkrieg tactics evolving but rarely used effectively

Results of SCW: Econ• 100,000 PF dead 70,000 NF• 40,000-200,000 killed in post war White Terror• Republicans imprisoned in Concentration camps• Children of PF reeducated by NF• Economic Cost

– 10 to 15% of Econ. Destroyed– Income down 28%– Inflation– No land reform and Agri. unproductive– Few skilled workers– Massive debt– Works out debt deals with Br./Fr. To remain neutral in WWII but isolated

after the war and 1946 famine results– Cold War ends isolation and Sp. Finally industrializes

Results of SCW:Political

• Franco emerges as dictator and is in power to 1975– White terror kills many and .5 mi. flee (most of intellectuals)– Anti- Communism is justification– 1939 Law of Political Responsibility

• Permits seizure of property of all republican supporters• Restores power to Wealthy and privileged• Wages cut unions destroyed• All Church reforms repealed

– Church/State linked, preach order – Church takes up cause of the workers ( P. Knight says this is “infiltration”)– No national languages – Nationalism of minorities ended– No political opponents tolerated, Monarchy restored but Franco rules

Results of SCW:Political• USSR

– Communists lose credibility due to defeat

– Stalin’s actions disillusion many on the left

– Soviets move away from Allies and consider deal with Nazi’s to protect USSR (appeasement is last straw)

– Br. recognition of Franco and Munich Agreement is final evidence that West can’t or won’t contain Hitler

• Germany

– Military lessons learned about air-power

– Self-sealing fuel tanks and radio’s in tanks are lessons learned

– Blitzkrieg lessons are minimal

– Italy and Germany become closer politically and Stressa Front collapses

– Germany portrays itself as defender against Communism

Results of SCW:Political• Britain and France

– The Bomber will always get through is main lesson

– Next war may destroy western civilization

– Strengthens appeasement

– Fear spread of communism (let Communists and fascists destroy each other and Democracies sit it out)

– Hitler sees Allies as Weak

• US– US neutral and gives little aid except private loans– Hardens US isolation? – Neutrality Acts and “Quarantine all Aggressors” speech of 1937– No Marshall Plan Aid Post-War– 1950 Cold War and anti-Communist attitude of Spain leads to US aid and

bases in Spain

Was the SCW a Cause of WWII?• Pro:

– Hitler more aggressive due to “weakness” of the Allies– Hitler more popular at home and abroad as a strong leader

and anti-communist– Learn Military lessons that use later– Br./Fr. Distracted and US more isolationist – USSR moves towards “deal” with Hitler

Was the SCW a Cause of WWII?• Con:

– Taylor Thesis of WWII• Germany a dynamic force since 1870• WWI damages German Military power, but leaves economic power

largely intact• Hitler is not unique, any German leader would try to end Versailles,

recover territory and rearm• WWII is not an ideological war, it is a a traditional balance of power

conflict between nationalist states• Hitler and Mussolini have no “blueprint” for conquest• Hitler “pushes on the door and the house falls in”• Hitler takes advantage of allied blunders, US isolationism and Stalin’s

quest for security• French and British appeasement is logical, rational foreign policy that

protects national interests• WWII is inevitable outcome to WWI• Hitler is reacting to other state’s actions in 1939, no plan

Social Impact

• Loss of life• End of democracy• Traditional

agriculture remains• Centralized state,

corruption• Cultural repression• State is isolated

Franco’s Spain

• Chief of state• Appoints all ministers• Largely non-ideological

– Runs state like the Army– Monarchists, falangists,

Conservative Catholics, Army, Business, technocrats civil service support him

• Church regains power, subsidized, controls education

• Totalitarian? Fascist?

Fundamental Laws

• Labor Charter• Cortes• Charter of Rights• Referendum• Law of Succession• National Movement• Organic law of the

state

Historiography

• Losers write the history!• Traditional

– Idealistic Republican Struggle

– Defeat opens path to larger war, larger fascist agression

– Innocent democratic leftists crushed by wealthy reactionaries

– WWII and Sp. Civ. War part of same conflict: Liberal Democracy v. International Fascism

Historiography

• Morality Tale– Good v. Evil– Fascism v. Democracy– Enlightenment v. Catholic obscurantism– Communism v. Fascism

• Revisionism– Desperate response to radical destruction of democracy– Alzana, Zamora, Prieto, Caballero incompetent and self

destructive– Narrow PF victory leads to irresponsible politics

Post-Franco Revisionism

• Cold War School– Blame PF failure on communists– Subversive, Stalin’s stooges– Orwell: Communists take over Republican Army

• New Left– PF fails due to inaction of western democracies– Communists commit some excesses but are progressive– Just trying to prevent another Democracy from falling to

Fascists

• Post Franco USSR– Archives reveal PCE dominant last 18 months, coercive use

of NKVD, Soviets economically exploit PF– AIM: Soviet Satellite state?