Spain

Civil War, Franco dictatorship, democracy

20th Century · 1914 – 2000

Spain in the twentieth century passed through a republic, a civil war, a long dictatorship and a return to democracy. In 1931 the monarchy gave way to the Second Republic. In July 1936 a military uprising against the Republic turned into the Spanish Civil War, which ended in April 1939 with the victory of General Francisco Franco and his Nationalist side.

Franco ruled as dictator until his death in November 1975. His regime banned political parties and trade unions, censored the press and suppressed regional languages and cultures. After his death King Juan Carlos guided a transition to democracy. Free elections took place in 1977, a constitution was approved in 1978, and Spain joined the European Community in 1986. The period still shapes Spanish politics and public memory today.

Things happened, and the rest is history

The fall of the monarchy and the Second Republic
Event
What happened
After municipal elections in April 1931 return strong majorities for republican candidates in the big cities, King Alfonso XIII leaves Spain. The Second Republic is proclaimed on 14 April 1931, and a new constitution is approved in December 1931. It separates church and state and grants women the vote.
The rest is history
The Republic tried land reform, army reform, church reform and regional autonomy for Catalonia. Each measure angered powerful groups, and the country grew sharply polarised between left and right. Governments changed often, and strikes and political violence increased. This tension is widely seen as the background to the military rising of 1936, though historians differ on how much blame each side bears.
Sources
1. BookPreston, Paul. The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution and Revenge. London: HarperCollins, 2006.
2. BookPayne, Stanley G. The Spanish Revolution. New York: Norton, 1970.
The Asturias rising of October 1934
Event
What happened
In October 1934 the right-wing CEDA party enters the Republican government. Socialist and other left-wing groups call a revolt, and miners in Asturias seize towns and hold them for about two weeks. The government sends in the army, including troops from Morocco, under General Franco's overall direction, and the rising is crushed.
The rest is history
The repression was harsh, with many killed and thousands imprisoned. The episode deepened mistrust between left and right and made Franco known as a general willing to use the army against internal enemies. The left formed the Popular Front, which narrowly won the elections of February 1936.
Sources
1. BookPreston, Paul. The Coming of the Spanish Civil War. London: Routledge, 1994.
2. BookBeevor, Antony. The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2006.
The military rising of July 1936
Event
What happened
On 17 and 18 July 1936 army officers rebel in Spanish Morocco and then across mainland Spain against the Popular Front government. The coup wins control of some regions but fails in others, including Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia. Spain is split into two zones and civil war begins.
The rest is history
General Sanjurjo, the intended leader, died in a plane crash days later, and Franco emerged as the leader of the Nationalists, named head of state in October 1936. Germany and Italy sent aid to the rebels, and the Soviet Union supplied the Republic, while Britain and France followed non-intervention. The war lasted nearly three years.
Sources
1. BookThomas, Hugh. The Spanish Civil War. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1961.
2. BookPreston, Paul. The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution and Revenge. London: HarperCollins, 2006.
Foreign intervention and the International Brigades
Event
What happened
From July 1936 Germany and Italy send aircraft, troops and supplies to Franco, and the Soviet Union sends arms and advisers to the Republic. From late 1936 the Communist International organises volunteers from many countries into the International Brigades. Tens of thousands of volunteers serve before the Brigades are withdrawn in 1938.
The rest is history
Foreign help prolonged the war and made it a testing ground for the larger conflict to come. German aircraft bombed Guernica on 26 April 1937, an attack later made famous by Picasso's painting. The Non-Intervention Committee, set up by Britain and France, failed to stop the flow of arms.
Sources
1. BookBeevor, Antony. The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2006.
2. BookHowson, Gerald. Arms for Spain: The Untold Story of the Spanish Civil War. London: John Murray, 1998.
The defeat of the Republic, 1939
Event
What happened
The Nationalists win the Battle of the Ebro in late 1938 and take Catalonia in early 1939. In March 1939 a coup within Republican ranks, led by Colonel Casado, tries to negotiate peace, and Madrid falls at the end of the month. Franco announces the end of the war on 1 April 1939.
The rest is history
Hundreds of thousands of Republican supporters fled across the French border, and many ended up in camps. The war killed hundreds of thousands of people, and historians still debate the exact totals. Franco's victory opened nearly four decades of dictatorship.
Sources
1. BookPreston, Paul. The Spanish Holocaust: Inquisition and Extermination in Twentieth-Century Spain. London: HarperPress, 2012.
2. BookGraham, Helen. The Spanish Civil War: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Franco's regime and repression
Event
What happened
After 1939 Franco rules as head of state and leader of the single party, the Falange. Political parties and independent unions are banned, the press is censored, and the Catholic Church regains a leading role in education and public life. Special tribunals try and punish Republican supporters, with executions and large numbers of prisoners.
The rest is history
Spain stayed neutral in the Second World War, though it had sympathised with the Axis. It was isolated after 1945, and then drew closer to the United States through the agreements of 1953. The regime lasted until Franco's death on 20 November 1975.
Sources
1. BookPreston, Paul. Franco: A Biography. London: HarperCollins, 1993.
2. BookPayne, Stanley G. The Franco Regime, 1936-1975. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1987.
The economic opening of the 1950s and 1960s
Event
What happened
By the late 1950s Spain's economy is stagnant after years of state control and isolation. In 1959 a Stabilisation Plan, drawn up with technocrats linked to Opus Dei, opens the economy to foreign trade and investment. Growth surges in the 1960s, helped by tourism and money sent home by emigrants.
The rest is history
Spain became a more urban, industrial and educated society, and a middle class grew up that was less tied to the regime's ideas. This social change helped make a peaceful move to democracy possible after 1975, though economists debate how much the plan itself was responsible for the boom.
Sources
1. BookCarr, Raymond. Spain 1808-1975. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982.
2. BookPreston, Paul. The Triumph of Democracy in Spain. London: Methuen, 1986.
The transition to democracy
Event
What happened
Franco dies on 20 November 1975, and Juan Carlos is proclaimed king. In 1976 he names Adolfo Suárez prime minister, and the Cortes votes to dissolve itself in the Law for Political Reform. Free elections are held in June 1977, and a constitution is approved by referendum in December 1978.
The rest is history
An attempted coup by Civil Guard officers on 23 February 1981 failed after the king publicly backed the constitution. The Socialists under Felipe González won the 1982 elections, and Spain joined NATO in 1982 and the European Community in 1986. The 1977 amnesty law and what it meant for justice for victims of the dictatorship are still debated in Spain.
Sources
1. BookPreston, Paul. The Triumph of Democracy in Spain. London: Methuen, 1986.
2. PrimaryConstitución Española. Spanish constitution, approved by referendum 6 December 1978 and promulgated 27 December 1978.
Franco as the saviour of Spain from communism
Popular belief
The legend
A story long told under the regime holds that Franco rose to save Spain from a communist revolution, and that without the rising the country would have become a Soviet satellite. In this telling the Civil War is a crusade to defend religion and order.
The rest is history
Franco's side did present the war as a crusade, and the Republican zone did see church burnings and killings of clergy in 1936. Communists were a minority at first, though their influence within the Republic grew during the war because of Soviet aid. Most historians do not accept that a communist takeover was imminent in July 1936. The Nationalists also carried out mass killings, and historians such as Paul Preston stress that the repression in their zone was planned and systematic. The regime promoted this version of events for decades.
Sources
1. BookPreston, Paul. The Spanish Holocaust: Inquisition and Extermination in Twentieth-Century Spain. London: HarperPress, 2012.
2. BookPayne, Stanley G. The Collapse of the Spanish Republic, 1933-1936. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.
Guernica and Picasso's painting
Popular belief
The legend
It is often said that Guernica was a small undefended town bombed purely as an experiment in terror, and that Picasso's painting records the scene exactly as it happened. Another claim is that a Nazi officer once asked Picasso if he had done the painting and he replied, 'No, you did.'
The rest is history
German Condor Legion and Italian aircraft did bomb Guernica on 26 April 1937, killing many civilians, though the death toll is debated and was likely in the hundreds. Franco's side first claimed the Basques burned the town themselves, a story later disproved. Picasso painted the work in Paris in May and June 1937 for the Spanish Republic's pavilion at the World's Fair. It is a symbolic work, not a record of the scene. The officer anecdote is told widely, but no solid source confirms it. The painting went to Spain in 1981 and is in the Reina Sofía museum in Madrid.
Sources
1. BookSouthworth, Herbert Rutledge. Guernica! Guernica! A Study of Journalism, Diplomacy, Propaganda, and History. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977.
2. BookPreston, Paul. The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution and Revenge. London: HarperCollins, 2006.
The Alcázar of Toledo and the colonel's son
Heroic tale
The legend
In the summer of 1936 Nationalist Colonel Moscardó holds the Alcázar fortress in Toledo against Republican besiegers. In the story, the besiegers phone him and threaten to shoot his son unless he surrenders. He tells his son to commend his soul to God and die like a patriot, and the son is shot.
The rest is history
The siege was real and lasted from July to 27 September 1936, when Nationalist forces relieved it. A telephone call between Moscardó and the Republican side did take place, and the son, Luis, was held prisoner. The story became a central part of Nationalist propaganda and later of Francoist education. Historians doubt the dramatic version, since Luis appears to have been shot weeks later, in August, and not at the time of the call. The relief of the Alcázar delayed the advance on Madrid, a choice often criticised.
Sources
1. BookThomas, Hugh. The Spanish Civil War. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1961.
2. BookBeevor, Antony. The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2006.
Franco's Spain as a neutral bystander in the Second World War
Popular belief
The legend
Many people believe Franco kept Spain entirely out of the Second World War and had no part in it. Some add that he cleverly refused Hitler at their meeting at Hendaye in October 1940.
The rest is history
Spain was officially neutral, then declared non-belligerence in 1940 and returned to neutrality in 1943. It did send the Blue Division of volunteers to fight with Germany on the Eastern Front from 1941, and it supplied wolfram to the Axis. At Hendaye on 23 October 1940, Franco and Hitler met, but no agreement for Spain to enter the war was signed. Historians generally say Franco wanted to join on generous terms, including territory in North Africa, and Spain's weak economy and Hitler's refusal of his demands kept it out. The Blue Division was withdrawn in 1943 and 1944.
Sources
1. BookPreston, Paul. Franco: A Biography. London: HarperCollins, 1993.
2. BookPayne, Stanley G. The Franco Regime, 1936-1975. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1987.

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Things happened, and the rest is history

The fall of the monarchy and the Second Republic

The Asturias rising of October 1934

The military rising of July 1936

Foreign intervention and the International Brigades

The defeat of the Republic, 1939

Franco's regime and repression

The economic opening of the 1950s and 1960s

The transition to democracy

Franco as the saviour of Spain from communism

Guernica and Picasso's painting

The Alcázar of Toledo and the colonel's son

Franco's Spain as a neutral bystander in the Second World War