Spanish_Civil_War

The Spanish Civil War was an internal conflict in Spain between the Republican government and the Nationalist Party that started on July 17th, 1936. The fighting continued for three years and ended on April 1st, 1939, with the Nationalist Party declaring victory over the Republican Party. The nationalist/fascist leader Francisco Franco then started leading the new Spanish dictatorship. While revolutions of the working class did take place during the time leading up to the war, and contributed to the chaos of the civil war, they were not the cause of the conflict. They were minor occurrences and had no decisive impact on the initial starting of the conflict. Instead, there were other crucial issues that were much more vital in causing the war. The real causes of the war were not as clearly visible as a revolt would be in society, but hid within politics, greed, and idealisms. Political unrest plagued Spain in the years leading up to the civil war, resulting in being one of the main causes of the civil war. Spain has been led by monarchies quite often during its history, dating back to the early 16th century and even being used in present day. The first instance where the Spanish monarchy was discarded was during the First Spanish Republic of 1873. This was a huge indicator that something politically and nationally significant would take place in the near future for Spain since a republic had never been voted into power. Although, this republic only lasted for about a year due to constant conflict between political parties and ending with the new Borbon monarchy being installed in 1874. Under the leadership of Alfonso XII and Alfonso XIII, the monarchy lasted until 1931 when the republican candidates won the election and took power over Spain. Even though monarchies were commonly used in Spain, people and radicals were not opposed to the idea of trying something else, such as a republic. The Spanish Republic was implemented twice during the years leading up to the civil war, with both achieving no success. When the first republic was implemented in 1873, there was mass confusion in what was to be done with the power given, and how to run the country properly. There were multiple civil wars that occurred simultaneously during this first republic, proving that Spain’s first attempt at a republic was a huge failure. This occurrence was significant because it brought about a feeling of unrest within the public and government, thus allowing new and radical ideas to gain some popularity throughout the country. As a result of this republic failure, the Spanish monarchy was allowed to rule again until 1931 when the second attempt at a republic was made. With the instalment of the Second Spanish Republic in 1931, Spain made it clear that it was interested in pursuing change because of the continuous deterioration of its economic conditions. This was yet another political change that Spain had to endure, putting even more tension between the different political parties that wanted power, mainly the republican left and the nationalist right. War was becoming imminent. As described by Paul Preston in his writings, “the arrival of the second republic was seen by the left as an opportunity to reform social structure” . Unfortunately for Spain, the republican government was not qualified for the task at hand and was proven to be yet another failure. This political unrest and continuous inadequate leadership proved to be a huge determining factor in starting the civil war. If even one of the monarchs or republics would have been successful or decent in leadership, there would not have been any discontent and anger towards them resulting in the want for constant political changes. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, new political ideals were surfacing and slowly starting to become popular throughout Europe. These ideals clashed all over Europe and were in constant competition to prove each owns’ advantage. Spain was the perfect setting for these ideals to finally clash. As George Esenwein states, “because the civil war was now being viewed as the stage on which the major ideological struggles of the day - particularly between fascism and communism - were being played out, many foreigners believed that they too had a stake in the outcome of the struggle.” , it is clear that the struggle between ideals was a major cause of and factor in the civil war. One of the main ideals in question; fascism, was the dictatorship type of rule that was supported by the nationalist right in Spain. They viewed the republic left as a communists and were completely opposed to having those leaders running the country. Since these ideals were spreading across Europe rapidly, the nationalists utilized the anti-communist view to gain popularity and support from the Spanish public and other anti-communist allies, just as the republicans did with the anti-fascist view. This propaganda about anti-communism was quite important and worked quite well for the nationalist party as it gave them the realization of the potential to have some success in a civil war, where without it, they might not have had a chance. One example of the level of anti-communism is explained in Herbert R. Southworth’s words, where he states; “the Spanish Communist Party, in collusion with Spanish Socialists and even anarchists, as well as foreign Communists and Socialists and Comintern leaders, was plotting, on the eve of the military revolt in July 1936, to seize control – through an armed uprising – of the Spanish government, then already in the hands of the Popular Front” . The nationalists used this to draw support away from the republicans. Then there was the international support. Other European powers including Germany and Italy also promoted fascist ideals. They took notice of the situation in Spain and realized that there was an opportunity to gain even more support for fascism and to prove its superiority over communism by supporting the nationalists. They took this opportunity and agreed to support the nationalist right in their endeavours. Now on the other side of the debate was the communist and anti-fascist view. The republican left in Spain was not actually a communist party, but rather supported a more liberal democracy. Some other factions that were on the same side as the republican left did in fact have some communist views and it was because of this that they too were considered communist supporters and enemies of the nationalist right. Since its introduction in 1848 through Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’ Communist Manifesto, communism had started to gain a lot of popularity throughout Europe. The communist view also meant that there was complete opposition to fascist ideals, in-turn being the cause of the republican left and its allies’ opposition to the nationalist right. Like the nationalist right, the republican left asked for support from international powers. Support was given from the communist Soviet Union, Romania, Mexico and other small international groups. This support was generally given in support of the communist goals, turning the republican fight civil war into a war against fascism. Unfortunately for the republicans, their aid was inferior to the fascist support. In his captivating article, Eric Smith details this lack of support for the republicans in Spain, stating; “In this aid effort the Communist party was unable to wield its influence in any meaningful way” . This battle of international support was causing more strain on the competition for fascism and communism in Spain. It was now clear that the tension and conflict of those two popular and rival were creating a huge impact on the situation in Spain and becoming one of the main causes for the war. The final cause of the war was not any type of idealism, but a certain Francisco Franco and the coup d’état of 1936 where the nationalists rose against the republicans and started the civil war. Francisco Franco was born in Spain, grew up studying in Toledo and started his life in the military by fighting in the Moroccan War. Franco worked his way up through the ranks quickly, becoming a major at twenty-four, and a brigadier general at age thirty-three. He had proven successful commanding troops in the Moroccan War and was given much respect even though some of his tactics included war atrocities. His conflict with the Spanish government started with the republican representative Azana returning to power in the election of 1936. After this event, Franco started to get involved with the conspiracies being organized by other high-ranking officers and eventually decided to completely support the uprising against the republic. In Filipe Mensese’s Franco and the Spanish Civil War, Franco is described as “Well set, broad-shouldered, yet agile and elegant, he had a piercing and direct gaze and a demeanour which suggested a perfect moral—physical balance; a devout Christian, a good family man and, above all, a true military intellectual who pondered his choices at length before acting decisively” . This description shows that Franco was intelligent enough to devise a way to gain political power and to start conflict if necessary. Franco was also anti-communist which led to his decision to join the nationalist right and join in the coup d’état of July 1936. Franco was not necessarily focussed on just ending the republican government. What he saw was an opportunity to utilize his popularity and military skills to become the leader of his country Spain. Unlike the other officers in the coup, he was not really aggressive in nature or wanting to start war, showing that he was not completely opposed to the government that was in place as stated; “despite being considered a potential enemy by the Republican government, he was not involved in planning at this stage of the operation. He thought, correctly, that a revolt would turn into an extremely bloody affair with an unforeseeable outcome. He preferred to wait and see” . The issue was that when he had offered, on more than one occasion, advice and recommendations for the government to use and implement in order to regain control of the Spanish society, he was not taken seriously and was denied any say in decisions being made. This insolence by the republic had obviously offended him since he then decided to join in the coup. With all hopes for the republic restoring order without bloodshed now gone, being a major general by that time, and one of Spain’s most popular military figures meant that he was now able to pursue his own agenda. This agenda included gaining power for himself to start a dictatorship and restoring proper function to the Spanish economy. Francisco Franco and his participation in the July coup d’état proved to be a major cause for the start of the civil war, based on Franco’s personal agenda, ignorance by the republic and his participation in the first conflict resulting in war. In conclusion, the causes of the Spanish civil war were a mix of political, ideal and individual factors that when combined, drove the country to war. The failing political structure that included monarchies and republics, the clash between communist and fascist views and the actions of Francisco Franco each took a main role in causing the conflict. While many may argue that the attempted and continuous revolutions of the working class were the actual cause for the war, in reality they were not very impactful in provoking it. The factors explained in this essay prove to have a much bigger value in causing the war and affecting the Spanish country as a whole. The war resulted in many things, it set the stage for the second world war, started a new government that would last for some time in Spain and took many lives from the Spanish public. Whether or not the war was needed is unknown, the most intriguing question that is left from all of this is that what would have transpired if Francisco Franco’s advice had been taken and his support given to the republic before the war' How would it have played out then' References 1. Preston, Paul. Coming of the Spanish Civil War, The: Reform, Reaction and Revolution in the Second Republic. Taylor & Francis, 30 June 1994. 24 February 2010, i-iii 2. Esenwein, George. Spanish Civil War, The: A Modern Tragedy. Taylor & Francis, 21 October 2005. 24 February 2010 pg. 1-4 3. Southworth, Herbert R.. Conspiracy and the Spanish Civil War: The brainwashing of Francisco Franco. Taylor & Francis, 20 December 2001. 24 February 2010 , 1-2 4. Smith, Eric. "The Communist Party, Cooptation, and Spanish Republican Aid." American Communist History 8.2 (2009): 137-165. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 17 Mar. 2010. 5. Mensese, Filipe Ribeiro de. Franco and the Spanish Civil War. Taylor & Francis, 18 January 2001. 24 February 2010, 32-36 6. Mensese, Filipe Ribeiro de. Franco and the Spanish Civil War. Taylor & Francis, 18 January 2001. 24 February 2010, 32-36