Figure 1.--Spanish Loyalists at Toledo held out in Alcazar Palace and fought off a 71-day Republican seize. Here Nationalist give the Fascist salute in the ruins of the court yard. |
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Following a period of escalating political instability in the early 20th century, the Spanish monarchy fell. It was replaced by a Republic which began instituting social reforms. Threatened conservative elements supported a military revolt led by Francisco Franco. This plunged Spain into a bloody civil war. NAZI Germany and Fascist Italy beginning in 1936 were also active in Spain helping Franco establish a Fascist-like regime. The Spanish Civil War is often seen as the unveiling of the new German Luftwaffe after Hitler had unilaterally abrogated the Versailles Peace Treaty prohibiting Germany from building an air force. Spanish Generals Francisco Franco and Quiepo de Llano revolted against the reform-minded Republican Government elected in Madrid (July 1936). Franco appealed for help. Hitler immeduately ordered Luftwaffe transport plans to transport Franco's loyalist troops in Morroco to participate in the fighting. He saw a left-wing government in Madrid as harful to the Reich, aiding the French policy of encirclement. [Davidson, pp. 57-58.] Both Italy and Germany were soon sending arms and men to the loyalists and provided important air elements. The defenseless Basque village of Guernica was the first European city to be destroyed by the Luftwaffe. The democracies and League of Nations respnded with an arms embargo. Only the Soviets aided the Republic. The Spanish Civil War is most commonly seen as the first major battle against fascism in Europe. Less know and more controversial is the social revolution launched by the Republic.
Spain in the early 20th century was a European backwater. Spain and Portugal were the two poorest most backward countries in Western Europe. This is an interesting phenomenon given the fact that these two countries lead the European outreach and age of discovery. This was in part because of the innovation and scholarship of leaders like Prince Henry the Navigator. Yet neither country significantly participated in the Renaissance, Enlightenment and scientific inovation that made modern Europe. They were once the richest countries of Europe. So historians must assess why the Spain and Portugal were such failed socities. And here the the decession of the Spanish monarchy to create a throughly Catholic country with a Church determined to control thought and behavior has to be considered a major factor. This was best symbolized with the expulsion of the Jews and Moors (1492). And of course was overseen by the Inquisition. The Inquisition was finnaly abolished in the 19th century (1834), but its impact over several centuries had a profound impact on Spanish intelctual life. This and a conservative clergy and military supported land owners and industrialists which combined to repress workers. The result was two of the poorest countries in Europe.
Alfonso XIII was one of Spain's longest ruling monarchs. He was King of Spain from 1886-1931. Alfonso mairred Victoria-Eugenie (one of Queen Victoria's forty grandchildren, who died in 1969. She was also a Battenberg, her mother was Princess Beatrice and her father Price Henry of Battenberg. King Alfonso XIII had six children. One Prince Juan Carlos would eventually regain the Spanish crown for his son that his father lost. Alfonso XIII supported the military dictatorship (1923-30) of Miguel Primo de Rivera, but social unrest and a republican election victory led to his deposition and exile (1931).
Miguel Primo de Rivera established a military dictatorship (1923). He cooperated with France to recover lost Moroccan territory. But the natinalist actions did not appeal workers demanding the rights to organoze and strike to gain better wages. The Stock Market Crash in America (1929) had ripples around the world. One of those countries was Spain. The growing world-wide Depression affected Spanish companies and workers were laid off in large numbers. Unemployment fuel worker resentment at Primo de Rivera and his regime. King Alfonso forced him to resign (1930) and offered real elections. Even so, many workers connected the King with the dictatorship.
Spain in 1931 held its first truly democratic elections. Resentment toward the King's involvement in his dictatorship, Spain's wirkers and other urban population voted strongly for republican parties in the municipal elections (April 1931). These were Spain's first truly democratic elections. Feightened by the strength shown by the republicans, King Alfonso fled the country, but did not abdicate. A united front of socialists and liberals seized power. The new government declared Spain a Republic--Spain's Second Republic. The Republic launched a program of social reform designed to bring a still almost feudal society into the 20th century. Women were given the right to vore. Substantial autonomy was granted to the Basque Country and Catalonia. This put the Republic in conflict with the aristocracy that held large tracts of land and the conservative Catholic church. The Republic began seizing the large haciendas and destributing the land to the peasantry. The Republic also recognized labor unions agitating for better working conditions. Much of the Left including anarchists, socialists and some communists pushed for even more radical reform. Many liberal and moderate forces were concerned that social reforms were destabiling the political situation. The Church, the aristocrcy, and the military controled by the extreme right wing were increasingly alienated from the Republic. The Republic also faced other problems, including the Depression and very large debt contracted during the Primo de Rivera dictatorship.
Right-wing forces in the Spanish army for some time had been planning a coup d'etat against the reform-minded democratically elected Republican Government in Madrid. . Many Spanish officers had been awaiting Franco's decession. The death of Calvo Sotelo accelerated their plans and the first garrisons revolted. Fighting became widespread throughout Spain (July 18, 1936). This forced Franco's hand and he took command of the army in Morocco (July 19). The military staged well planned military uprisings in garrison towns throught Spain. This was the beginning ofthe Spanish Civil War.Franco appealed for help. Hitler immeduately ordered Luftwaffe transport plans to transport Franco's loyalist troops in Morroco to participate in the fighting in Spain. The military seized control of large sareas of Spain: Seville (General Queipo de Llano), the Balearic Islands (General Goded), the Canary Islands and Morocco (Franco), Navarra (Mola), Burgos and Saragossa. General Yague rapidly moved through Extremadura and Mola took Irun. Franco's Loyalist (Nationalist) forces by the end of 1936 had seized most of southern and central Spain (Andalucia, Extremadura, Toledo, Avila, Segovia, Valladolid, Burgos, Leon, Galicia, a part of Asturias, Vitoria, San Sebastian, Navarra and Aragon) in addition to the Canary and Balearic Islands with the exception of Menorca. The Republic held Madrid and much of northerm and northwestern Spain (Castilla la Nueva, Catalunya, Valencia, Murcia, Almeria, Gijon and Bilbao).
Hitler saw a left-wing government in Madrid as harmful to the Reich, aiding the French policy of encirclement. [Davidson, pp. 57-58.] German officials showed little interest in reciving Franco's emisaries requesting assistance. Hess felt differently and personally brought them to Hitler (July 25). There without any consultation with the appropriate ministeries, Hitler decided to support Franco. (This personal decission making was characteristic of Hitler.) The immediate result was Goring was ordered to dispatch Junkers transports that brought Franco's troops from Morocco to Spain. [Fest, p. 500.] Both Italy and Germany were soon sending arms and men to the loyalists and provided important air elements. It was during the Civil War that Admiral Canaris established a close relaionship with General Franco. In Spain, Mussolini provided much more support for Franco than did Hitler. A major outcome of the Spanish Civil War was that it provided an opportunity for coordinate efforts that were to lay the ground for the Rome-Berlin Axis. Before the Spanish Civil War, Mussolini had been suspicious of Hitler--despite their ideological similarities. Mussolini's attituded changed, first with the British opposition to his invassion of Ethiopia (1935) and then with their cooperative effort to support Franco and the Loyalists. [Fest, p. 501.]
The Republican Government to fight the War formed a coalition Cabinet under Giralt who was soon replaced by Largo Caballero. The coaltion goverment brought the Confederacion Nacional de Trabajo (CNT) into the coalition. The CNT was the anarcho-syndicalist union and guaranteed the support of Spanish workers. As Madrid was underassult by Franco's Loyalist army, the Cabinet and moved to Valencia. The Junta de Defensa Nacional established by right-wing army commanders appointed Franco head of the government and commander of the armed forces (September 29).
The democracies and League of Nations respnded with an arms embargo. England and France refused to supply the Republic even though they were fully aware that Germany and Italy were not only supplying Franco, but directly supporting him, especially with air operations. Oresident Roosevelt implemented the newly activated Neutrality Act. The Spanish Civil War was, however, not the kind of conflict for which the act was designed. Ithe Act had been designed to keep the United out of another major European, that is a war between countries. The Spanish Civil War was a civil war which was an uprising against a ligitimatly constituted government. Other options were possible. (THe President did not, for example, invoke the Neutrality Act when Japan invaded China (1937). And as with Britian and France, the resulting American arms embargo denied arms to the Spanish Government while Germany and Italy supplied arms to Franco's Nationalists. Worse still, the Embatgo was flonted by by the Texas Oil Company (Texaco) whose president Torklid Rieber was ardently anti-Communist. When his deliveries of oil to the Nationalist was reported, he simply shipped the oil indicrectly through Italy. [Wyden, p. 198.]
Most of the Spanish army went over to Franco and the other right-wing officers. It should not be thought, however, that the Bationalists were just composed of a right-wing reactionary military supported by landowners and a reactionary Catholic Church. Thisd is the image of the Civil War promoted by obsevers with Republican sympathies who tried to depict the Civil War as the the first real attempt to stop Fascism. In fact there is considerable doubt if Franco can be called a Fascist, although Spanish Fascists supported him and there were certainly trappings of Fascism adopted by the regime. Franso was certrainly conservative, even reactionary, but Fascist is a much more difficult case to make. (Notably Franco never joined the Axis in World War II or allowed the Germans to enter Spain to attack Gibraltar. Nor did Franco turn over Jews to the NAZIs. Hitler after a notable 1940 meeting with Franco comment that he would have preferred to have a tooth pulled.) The Spanish Civil War was much more complicated than the simplistic view of a struggle with Fascism. Many Spaniards joined the Nationalists because they felt the Catholic Church was theatened and believe the Republic was being taken over by Communists. Here there is considerable reason to think that their fears werte not groundless. Certainly as the War progressed, the Communisdys became increasngly important within the Republican forces. The attrocities committed by the Nationalists and their German and Italian allies are better publicized, but there many attrocities committed by Republican forces as well, including killing priests and nuns and destroying churches. The Republic after much of the Army went over to Franco had to build a popular army as best it could with civilian volunteers and militarized militia forces. Workers from the major cities became a mainstay of Republican forces.
With the start of the Civil War, the Republic asked for military assistance from the Wesern Democracies. When the Democracies instead imposed arms embargoes, the Republic called for workers throughout Europe to defend the gains achieved by workers and peasants. The Unions raised the cry "NO PASARAN!" (they shall not pass). International Brigades were created from workers, artists and intellectuals who came to Spain to fight for the Republic. Americans formed the Lincoln Brigade.
The Republic held Catalonia, Barcelona and the northern Basque provinces which proved to be the center of Republican support. Anarchist-syndicalists took over the factories. Peasants organized communes on the land seized from the aristoicratic families. Factories in northern Spain were taken over by the workers and run by a form of direct democracy. Both workers and peasants armed to fight Franco's advancing army. The police in the cities were replaced. The backbone of the Republic's forces were civilian self defense forces of armed workers and peasants. Franco marched on Madrid but was stopped at the oukskirts of the city by self-defense forces.
The war raged throughout 1937. Some of the major battles were fought in the north. The year 1937 was characterized by fighting in the north of the country with the Loyalists achieving major victories. The Loyalists seized Bilbao, the most important Atlantic port (June). The Loyalists also took Santander (August), and Gijon (October). The Republic launched an offensives in Guadalajara (March), Brunete (July), and Belchite (August). An important Republican success was achieved at Teruel (December).
The air war played an important part in the Spanish Civil War even though Spain did not have an important air force at the time of the War. Luftwaffe transport planes helped transport General Franco's Moroccan troops to Spain, launching the rebellion. The Fascist powers (Germany and Italy) provided substantial air forces, essentially transffering whole units to Spain. The Germans introduced their new modern Heinkel bombers and Messerschmidts Fightrs. The Hartmann BF-109 and the subsequent Messerschmidt ME109 were the most advanced fighters in the world at the time. The Italian introduces their Chabolotos and Bredas. The Republic also received foreign aid, but not in the same quanity. Nor did other countries transfer whole units to Spain. The Republics obtained some American, French, and Soviet planes, although arms embargos made it difficult for the Republic to obtain aircraft. Foreign pilots desiring to fight Fascism formed an international brigade of pilots. The Republic's air force was smaller than that provided Franco by his Fascist backers. The Republic pfimrily used its limited air forces to protect Republican cities from air raids. The result was air battles over Republican cities similar to what would occur over British cities. Historians commonly describe The Spanish civil war as the proving ground for the Luftwaffe. What is meant by this is commonly what made headlines--the bombing of civilians in Republican cities. Of course the Luftwaffe bombing of the Basque city of Guernica is the best known because of Picasso's painting. The Germans and Italians bombed many other Republican cities, especially Madrid and Baercelona. This was not, however, the military tactic that the Germans perfected. The victories to come did not reslt from bombing cities. They came from Blizkrieg, highly mobile offensives sopearheaded by tanks and with the airforces used in a ground support role. Here the Germans experimented with their tactics, but it was the bombing of Republican cities that made the headlines and coutinues to dominate historical accounts of the Civil War.
A the Natioanlists moved in on Bilbao, large numbers of dispaced children were evacuated. Many of the children had lost their parents in the fighting. Some Americans organozed the Board of Guardians for Basque Refugee Children. Gardner (Pat) Robinson chaired the Board. Members included New York Congresswomen Caroline O'Day, Mount Hollyoak College president Mary E. Woolley, and Colombia University history professor James T. Shotwell. The Board was sent up to provide sanctuary for 500 Basque refugee children. There were reportedly tens of thousands of dispalced children in the Basque countries and no one able to care for them. The Board found American families willing to care for them. Mrs. Roosevelt endorsed the Board (May 1937). The State Department at first cooperated. The American Catholic Heirarchy was pro-Loyalist and objected to the Board which was composed of mostly individuals sympathetic to the Republic. Catholic spokesmen charged tht the Board intended to placethe children in non-Cathloic or even godless homes. The Board was in fact composed of individuals that has Republican sympathies. It is not true that they were anyi-Catholic. Massachusetts Congressman John W. McCormick attacked the Board and the project. Thus the Board was unable to assist the refugee children. Many of the children died of disease, starvation, and exposure. [Davis, pp. 123-124.] The American Catholic Hieracrchy later derailed efforts to provide food relief to Spain, primarily because the greatest need was in Republican-controlled areas.
The Basque village of Guernica was the first European city to be destroyed by the new German Luftwaffe. Luftwaffe bombers 4:30 pm launched a massive attack on the defenless Basque town of Guernica. Republican troops controlled the city which was the capital city of the Basqueregion. A force of Loyalist soldiers were laying siege to the city. A force of about 30 Luftwaffe bombers was based in Burgos. The attack was led by Lt. Rudolf von Moreau. Orders for the attack came directly from Hitler. There were no military targets located within the city, with the exception of a weapons factory near the town. The target was a smallbridge that Republican forces would have to cross to move through the town. A series of bombing runs destroyed the entire center of the city. There were no aerial defenses and the civilian populatiin had no shelters. The Luftwaffe was assisted by Italian and Loyalist forces. The bombing was the first terror bombing of a civilian population in Europe. The bombing was criticized around the world. Public opinion in the Democracies was horrified, but resulted in no conrete action. The bombing of Guernica, hoewever, became a symbol of Fascist brutality. It also left Britain and France terrified of Hitler's impressive new air force. Republican officials asked Pablo Picasso to create a painting to honor the victims which ould be displayed at the Spanish Pavilion in the Paris World Fair. The Piccaso painting depicted the German bombing, evoking the horror that would become common place in Europe during World War II.
The Republic becaceme a cause celevre throughout Europe and North America. Left-wing spokesmen attempted to collect funds and create support for the Republic.
The Loyalists laubched an offensive in Aragon ad retook Teruel. The Loyalists split the Republic's forces bybtaking Castellon (July). The Republic launched the Battle of the Ebro (July-November). The massive lossesses suffered by the Republic meant that they could no longer effectively resist the Loyalist army.
Unable to get arms from the Democracies, the Republic turned to Stalin and the Soviet Union. Only the Soviets aided the Republic. Soviet support increased the influence od the Spanish Communist Party, the leftist party under Soviet control. They were not the most important left-wing party in Spain before the Civil War. The two most important leftist parties in the Republic were the Independent Marxist Party
(POUM) and the Anarchists. Historians debate the the chasracter of the Republic before the War. Some argue that the Republic was dominated by moderate left-wing reformers. Other say that the Communists and their allies were on the way to create a Coomunist dictatorship. While historians stll argue about this, it is much more apparent that the Communists and ecen more radical leftists became dominant as the War progressed. The growing influence of the Communist Party on the Republican Government in Madrid in the end doomed the Republic. Republican officials reaching the conclusin that Franco's military forces could not be defeated, decided that if they supress the POUM and Anarchist forces most committed to radival social reform that Franco would accept the Republic. The Communists and the Republican Government forces proceeded attack the anarchist revolution in Catalonia and Barcelona. Communist party commissars and Soviet military advisors seized control of the army. There were pitched battles in the final days of the Civil War between the Anarchists laid siege to by the Communist-controlled Republican army.
The Spanish Civil War finally ended (early 1939). The Republican fighters began straming into France realizing that Franco and the Nationazlists had won the War, Catalonia was occupied by the Nationalists (February 10). The last city in Republican hands was Madrid. Peace proposals from the Junta de Defensa (unnder Casado and Besteiro) were futile as it was clear the Nationalists had won. Franco's victorious army entered Madrid (March 28). Franco declared the Civil War officially over (April 1). President Roosevelt moved to lift the arms embargo (April 1). He then recognized the Franco Government (April 3, 1939). Roosevelt also removed the anti-Franco Claude Bowers, an old friend, as Ambassador. [Black, pp. 514-15.]
Almost 1 million people had died in the Spanish Civil War. Franco's reprisals were vicious for the defeated Republicans. Many were summarily shot. Others received long prison terms. As a result of Franco's victory, Spain was essentially taken out of the European orbit for over three decdes. Initially this was beneficial because Spain despite Hitler's urging did not join the war. After the war, however, Spain remained undemocratic and highly conservative. Some observers mention economic progress. There was some, but less than in the rest of Western Europe. Franco took Spain out of Western Europe for over 3 decades. What surprised both Hitler and the Allies was how steadfastly Franco would defend Spanish soveriginty. Hitler was to say that his meeting with Franco (October 1940) to convince him to join the war was like having a tooth pulled. I'm not sure how Franco described the meeting. Few European leaders defied Hitler in 1940. Also Franco provide a refuge for the European Jews that managed to reach Spain. Some had criticized the Allies (Britain and France) for not coming to Franco's aid. The result of Franco's intangisence was that Spain acted as a shield for the vital British base at Gibraltar. Had the Allies and America become more involved, Franco may have been more willing to join with the NAZIs. Had Hitler and Mussolini better calculated the War, Greece and Italy as neutrals could have shielded Germany's southern border.
Large numbers of Spanish children were displaced by the Civil War. Many were killed during the fighting either as combatants and non-combatants. There were also many executions conducted by both sides. After the Nationalist victory there were more executions as well as many Republicans imprisoned with lengthy terms. In addittion mant Republicans had to flee Spain. France set up camps for them. Usually the refugees could not take the children. Often family took the children in but this was not always possible. The result was that there were large numbers of homeless children in Spain trying to survive as best they could. Most of these children came from Republican families, but their many children from Nationalist families as well.
The organization that took the responsibility for the care of the stree children left in the wake of the Civil war was the the Auxilio Social. This was the women's auxiliary of the Falange Party. The Auxilio opened an orphanage at Valladolid very early in the Civil War (1936). More such faciities were opened as the War progressed and the Nationalists expnded their control of the country. The Auxilio called these facilities centros familiares or family centers. These were government operated boarding schools with different programs for boys and girls. The girls program heavily stressed domestic duties. The boys had a more athletically oriented program. The program promoted membership in the Falange Youth movement. Many of the officials administering the program had been to Germany and observed the methods and operations of the Hitler Youth. The program was not an exact replica of NAZI methods. There was a stronge dose of Catholcism in the Falange program. The HJ program in contrast stove to cut children off fron the Church.
As a result of NAZI oppression, large numbers of refugees were seeking asylum in Europe, Most but not all were Jewish. Thus France, the Netherlands, and Belgium has serious refugee problems. The Spanish Civil War
resulted in another wave of refugees. As the Republican defenses collapsed at the end of the Civil war, combatants and civilians which had supported the Republic along with their families began to stream across the French frontier to seek safety from Franco's revenge. Many took their families with them. An estimate 0.5 million Spaniards sought refuge in France. Many trked through the high mountain passes of the Pyrenees (February 1939). Many assumed that the French would treat them as valiant, but defeated fighters for liberty. France was a democratic republic. And the Spanish erefugees asumed the French would see them as fighters with shared beliefs. The French were, however, concerned with the turn of the Republic to the Communists. The French hearded about 0.1 million of the refugees down onto the beach at Argeles. This is a summer resort, but during te winter was freezing cold.
Therecwas little shelter and limited supplies. Soon with dead bodies and destroyed vehicles and guns, it looked like Dunkirk. The French set up barbed wire encloures. Needed food and even water was not provided in adequate quantities. The French were not puposefuly cruel. They did not, however, want the refugees to enter the country , but also were not going to force them bak to Spain. Authorities were overwealmed by the numbers of refugees. An estimated 10,000 refugees died before the French had the camps set up and properly supplied (summer 1939). By this time Europe was moving toward war. The men were given the opportunity of joining the French Army. Thousands of Spanish recruits were deployed along both the Beklgian and Italian frntiers.
After the fall of France, the Germans treated the Spanish prisoners differently than French POWs. The Germans saw the Spanish as Bolsjevicks and sent thousands to the Mauthausen concentration camp. One Spanish orisoner recalls, "When we were all inside the gate, the camp commandant got up and gave a speech. You have come in through the front gate, the only way you are going to leave is through that gate' - and he pointed to the crematorium chimney at the far end of the camp." Some Spanish refugees in the camps along the Spanish border escaped from the camps and became some of France's first Resistance fighters. Later in the war, Spanish refugees helped lead Allied airmen avoid Vichy and German patrols and through Pyrenees pases into neutral Spain.
After the War as Franco remained in power, it was not safe to return to Spain. Thus many of the refugees remained in France. Many adapting to French life and became French citizens. Aspecial group of Spanish refugees were Basque children. The Basques in northwestern Spain had resisted Franco and Basque towns were subjected to aerial bombardment. A naval embarfo precented food and other supplied from reaching Bilbao and other cities. Over 25,000 children were evacuated from the Bilbao region. Most went taken in by the French, but smaller numbers went to Belgium, Britain, Mexico, the Soviet Union, and Switzerland. The British took in 4,000 Basque children.
Hitler after his spectacular victory in France met with General Franco on the French border at Hendaye (October 23. 1940). Hitler had assumed that Franco would be a willing ally given the assistance provided his Nationalist forces during the Civil War. Franco refused to enter the War or even allow German troops to transit Spain to attack the British at Gibraltar. Franco flatly refused. This was in part because of Admiral Canaris, the head of German Military Intelligence. Canaris had been apauled by the NAZI brutality he had witnessed in Poland. He had worked with Franco during the Civil War and had a close personal relationship with Franco. He told him privately that Hitler was now obsessed with Russia and would not risk any kind of diversion in Spain. Thus Franco refused to be cowed. Hitler went on to meet Mussolini, who had also assissted Franco. He told Musolini that, "I would rathger have three or four teeth extracted than go through that again".
The NAZIs could demand the authorities in occupied countries turn over their Jews and also did so in countries allied to them. This was, however, not always
possible. Franco refused to hand over Spanish or foreign Jews to the NAZIs. Franco in fact probably saved more saved more Jews than any other Ruropean country. He did close the Spanish border in an act of solidarity with the NAZIs, but allowed Jews and others with Portuguese visas to transit Spain. I'm not sure about what happened to Jews who entered Spain illegally.
Black, Conrad. Franklin Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom (Public Affairs: New York, 2003), 1280p.
Davidson, Eugene. The Unmaking of Adolf Hitler (Univesity of Missouri: Columbia, 1996), 519p.
Davis, Kenneth S. FDR, Into the Storm 1937-1940: A Hisyory (Random House: New York, 1993), 691.
Fest, Joachim C. Hitler (Vintage: New York, 1975), 844p.
Wyden, Peter. The Passionate War (New York, 1983).
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