The Spanish Civil War Today we’ll talk about one of the many civil wars that happened throughout history. Like you saw in the title, this article is about the Spanish Civil War, which took place during 1936-1939. This war had a prologue too, and either you want to or not, we need to present it in order to understand why the Spanish people resorted to shooting each other for 3 years.

So, we’ll turn back time to the period after the Napoleonic Wars, until the start of the civil war. In Europe, after the definitive defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at the beginning of the XIXth century, the biggest powers tried to reinstate monarchy in all countries. Spain was initially against France, but after the War of Secession, they became allies. After the reinstatement of monarchy in Europe, things in Spain started to unsettle. The members of the Bourbon dynasty were leading the country, and this bothered many people, one of which was Infante Carlos. He was determined to take back the throne of Spain, which his father, Carol the IVth of Spain, lost to Philip the Vth, who was the nephew of Ludwig the XIVth of France. This is how the Carlist Wars started. The Carlists supported Catholicism and tradition, also being against the liberals and, subsequently, against the republicans. The First Spanish Republic was founded in 1873 and lasted until 1874. Then, the Spanish Restoration appeared during 1874-1931. It began at the same time as the reign of Alfonso the XIIth. From 1931 until 1936, we’re talking about the Second Spanish Republic after the king previously mentioned fled the country.

Even though many of you probably fell asleep or started swearing because I’m telling you more than I should, this information had to be mentioned in order to show the fact that Spain was “a land of revolutions and political instability”.

Finally, we managed to reach the 1931-1936 period, closer to the war. In the Second Spanish Republic, things seem to have settled down. Socialist, communist, radical and liberal parties start appearing. When I say “settled down”, I’m referring to the fact that the Spanish people weren’t killing as much as they did before. In the political world, things started to head towards a new problem. The government started to adopt central- left wing ideologies, by giving the peasantry land.

Just so you know, people in Spain were then poor and they took the 1932 agrarian reform as a much-needed blessing.

Another factor which showed Spain’s communist approach was the industrialization in the second half of the XIXth century, which drew socialists and communists in the government. The main political enemy of the republic (from inside the country) was the Spanish Falange. This party was formed by far right extremists. It was supported by the Third Reich and by fascist Italy, starting from the preceding period of the war. Assassinations and violent crimes started to reappear.

It’s 1936. On the 12th of July, lieutenant Castillo and a socialist politician are assassinated in Madrid. The following day far left extreme supporters return the deed and kill the leader of the conservative party, Calvo Sotelo. On 17th of July, at 5 o’clock in the afternoon, the Spanish fascists trigger a coup d’état in the Spanish Marrakesh. The republican party only has control over the center, the north and the east coast. The capital was still under republican control and it remained so until their capitulation. The nationalists have a big part of the army on their side and many Spanish generals, like Francisco Franco. It’s important to know that both sides installed terror upon the parts controlled by the others. These “terrors” aimed to get rid of the possible threats from “inside” the country. The White Terror, which consisted of the eliminating all supporters of the left wing, is found on the nationalist’s side. On the republican side, however, we’re talking about the Red Terror which relied on the elimination of all nationalists.

The nationalists were supported by Germany and Italy, and the republicans by The Soviet Union and Mexico. On the 1 st of April 1939, the general Franco announces the victory of the nationalists on the radio, and this is how the Spanish Civil War ends, stopping any military conflicts in Spain to these days.

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editorial: Matei Ilie

graphic design: Bianca Constantin,

Anastasia Chivu

translation: Sofia Ene

DP (desktop publishing): Andreea Seba