'' Which factors led to the civil war in Spain? Why did the war breakout in July 1936? ''
Francisco Abadal Ramon
Section A: Plan of investigation
This paper investigates ''to what extent did the left wing political opposition lead to the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939?'' In order to reach to a valid conclusion this investigation will be focusing on the comparison of different factors that took place before an during the Spanish Civil War, such as the role of the Spanish Army and the Church, the nature of the economy and the new left wing ideologies. The method of investigation will be a detailed research of primary source evidence such as speeches, and as well reliable secondary source
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Values linked to origins and purpose
Limitations linked to O and P
Section D: Analysis
This paper is answering to the question: ''to what extent did the left wing political opposition lead to the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939?'' There are many factors that influenced and that caused the Spanish Civil War breakout, however this essay is focusing in 4 long run causes, more specifically: the role of the Spanish Army, the role of the Church, the nature of the economy and the new left wing ideologies.
The Spanish army had a very powerful influence in politics, due to its role in Spain's imperial past. It was likely to be compared as the protector of the nation. The Spanish army had already intervened before in politics several times, the last one in 1936, breaking out the war. It did not have an appeal on the working class, since they were very brutal, and more important, very expensive to maintain with very high taxes. They were more likely to be related to the middle-high class, and therefore even more unlikely to cause an appeal on the Spanish labour force. For this labour force the Spanish Army was just a symbol of fascist authority. After the progressive Popular Front was selected, the middle-high class already planned a military offensive against the leftists’ ideologies.
The second factor discussed is the role of the Church. The Church, as always has been,
The evidence that supports the idea that the Nationalists won the Spanish Civil War because of their strength is abundant. The unity of the Nationalists was obvious and meant that there was both great organisation and co-ordination, meaning there was no ambiguity in the goals set by those fighting for the Nationalists. Franco’s plans for a long term war meant that he was able to ensure the defeat of the Republic by slowly squeezing the life out of the Republic war effort, which already was heavily reliant on Soviet aid, by securing Republican strong holds throughout Spain. The contrasting lack of unity on the Republic as well
The popular front was a party of left-wing elements with an alliance of communist, radical, and socialist elements. The officers had never intended to start a war. Danger! To Arms, a radio broadcast in Madrid, tells others “Workers, anti-fascists, and labouring people! Rise as one man! Prepare to defend the Republic, national freedom and the democratic liberties won by the people!” The speech is a sign showing how dangerous this whole situation is getting. The troops that have remained loyal to the Republic were carrying on the struggle in Morocco and Canary Islands. Meanwhile, by July 21st, the Nationalists had achieved control in Spanish Morocco, the Canary Islands, and parts of the Balearic Islands. Although the Republicans’ and the Nationalists organized their respected territories and tried to avoid violence, the Republicans’ were very violent in the beginning stages of the war. However, Nationalists carried out violence until the end. It was believed that Nationalists caused the most violence. Allies played a big role in violence and obtaining territories. The Republicans’ recieved aid from the Soviet Union and International Brigades, with volunteers from Europe and the United States. The Nationalists had aid from Italy and
In the Shadow of the Mexican Revolution by Hector Aquilar Camin and Lorenzo Meyer tells a chronological story of contemporary Mexico from the fall of Porfirio Diaz in 1910 to the July elections in 1989. The time period that Camin and Meyer portray in Mexico is one of corruption, civil war, and failure. While Mexico would undergo an era described as the “Mexican Miracle” where the Mexican country would begin to see a positive output in the country, it would be short-lived and Mexico would continue to fall behind as other countries progressed. While In the Shadow of the Mexican Revolution is comprised of facts throughout history, one cannot help but feel a sense of sympathy for Mexico. While their corruption, political, and economical,
The Magonistas - an archarist group, who in 1908 (two years before the revolution) were the only group who outwardly opposed Diaz. The wrote anti-Diaz propaganda in their newspaper, Regeneracion.
The Spanish civil war is often seen as a fundamental divide between right and left- the first major struggle between Fascism and Communism. The Spanish civil war started distinctly as a Spanish civil war born out of Spanish disputes, but it was soon to take on an international character. The military situations were practically equal to both sides before the foreign intervention. However, after Germany, Italy, and USSR intervened the situation changed dramatically.
Beginning with and subsequent to the riots in Havana on 12 January 1898, in which Spanish nationals and military officers attacked the offices of newspapers that supported the Spanish Government’s
UNIT I – The Great Spanish Tragedy: History and Cultural Significance of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39)
The Spanish Civil war took place from 1936-1939 between the republicans and the nationalists. The war came about due to the second republic wanting to revolutionise numerous concepts of Spain that they were against at the same time. Those concepts are land reform, the catholic church, education, labour relations and rights. Its promises had generated great expectations which, eventually, led to disappointments, but also created some powerful enemies in terms of social and economic individual and institutions. Since the Spanish Civil war, many films and books have been documented to show the impact and teach new generations about the country’s history. The film ‘El espinazo del diablo’ and the short story ‘La lengua de las mariposas’ both portray
The Spanish civil war of 1936-1939 was an important conflict in Spain’s history. This war was initiated by a military revolt led by General Francisco Franco on the 17 July 1936 and ended with Franco’s victory on the 1 April, 1939. This victory resulted in the replacement of the Second Spanish Republic with the conservative dictatorship of Franco. This conflict triggered the clash of the various cultures and ideologies within Spain. One important example of an ideological clash was that of Communism versus Fascism. This clash was so important that, based on an analysis of the level of involvement of Fascist and Communist factions in said clash, one must concede that the conflict between Communism and Fascism was represented to a great
The Spanish Civil War is the name given to the struggle between loyalist and nationalist Spain for dominance in which the nationalists won and suppressed the country for the following thirty nine years. However, because of the larger political climate that the Spanish Civil War occurred in, it is impossible to view the war as a phenomenon contained within one nation. Despite its obvious domestic orientation as a civil war it was a major international conflict. The reason for this, I would maintain, is the political dogma which surrounded the war. This essay takes the form of a political survey of the
Generalissimo Francisco Franco came into power after his victory in the Civil war in 1939 and ruled over Spain till his death in 1975. In this 40-year period Spain was massive changed that causes much debate as to the political nature of Franco’s regime whether it is fascist or something different, Francoism. To understand if Franco’s regime was fascist, fascism must first be defined. There are many working definitions of a fascist regime, Stanley Payne’s states that the dictator must alien his regime to the idea of anti-isms, them being aintiliberalism, antidemocratic, anticonservatism, anticommunism and antidemocratic. Payne states these are fundamental in the description of a fascist regime. Another useful definition is Robert Griffin, stating that a fascist regime will use symbolism, violence to pursue its political aims, with the importance aimed at expansionism. Finally Griffin also states the need of the dictator to implement an authoritarian and totalitarian government. All these help to create a fascist regime and more importantly a truly fascist dictator. There is little doubt Franco holds to some of these definitions yet in later year the idea of Francosim becomes more viable however to understand if Franco was a truly fascist dictator we must look to the similarities and differences and determine by examining Franco’s rise politically his general style of government and finally his foreign policies it will determined whether Franco was a truly fascist dictator.
The Outbreak of the Spanish Civil War To this day the Spanish Civil War is still remembered as the single most pivotal moment in the history of Spanish politics. The only way of understanding how 600,000 Spaniards were killed between 1936 and 1939 is to ask ourselves why the civil war broke out in Spain in 1936. There were a number of reasons which led to the civil war in Spain. The main and most significant being the increased political polarization between the left and right wing parties.
The war was an outcome of a polarization of Spanish life and politics that had developed over previous decades. On one side (the Nationalist) were most Roman Catholics, important elements of the military, most
4) when the Spanish civil war took place in 1936, Mussolini sent extensive help to Franco, the right wing Nationalist leader, hoping to establish a third fascist state in Europe and to get naval bases in Spain from which he could threaten France. His justification was that he wanted to prevent the spread of Communism.
Primo de Rivera’s fate resumed in the landowners deserting him while he attempted to introduce arbitration committees for worker’s wages and conditions. On one hand, it can be argued that the unfairness and failure to address the diverse concerns of its people had caused the Spanish Political system to lose the elections of April 1931. On the other hand, the gains that liberals and socialists made in the 1931 elections had aided their popularity in Spain. The king was advised to abdicate by the military and Spain became a republic once again, over the short period of half a century. Preston argues that Spain’s social tensions had grown in the period between the two republics, yet nobody was anticipating a civil war in the April of 1931.