This article is about the Spanish political party: For the Lebanese Phalange, see the Kataeb Party.

Spanish Phalanx of the Assemblies of the National Syndicalist Offensive Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista
Founder	José Antonio Primo de Rivera
President	Diego Márquez Horrillo
Founded	October 29, 1933 (1933-10-29)
Newspaper	Patria Sindicalista, Arriba (historical)
Student wing	Sindicato Español Universitario
Youth wing	Frente de Juventudes
Paramilitary wing	Camisas Azules
Ideology	Falangism
Political position	Syncretic (official)[1] Far-right (in practice)
Official colors	Black, Red (flag of the Falange); Blue
Website
http://www.falange.es/
Party flag

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The Spanish Phalanx of the Assemblies of the National Syndicalist Offensive (Spanish: Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista, FE de las JONS), known simply as the Falange ( listen (help·info)), is the name assigned to several Spanish political movements and parties dating from the 1930s, and dovetailed with the Fascist movement in Italy. The word Falange in Spanish refers to a Phalanx formation or front a political metaphor commonly adopted by modern radicalized movements in the early-to-middle 20th century such as: Popular front, National Front or Vanguard . Members of the party were called Falangists (Spanish: Falangistas). Since 1975, Falangists have split into several different political movements that have continued into the 21st century. The main political movement that retained its Falangist heritage and is the continuation of the party is the FE JONS.

In Spain, the Falange was a political organization founded by José Antonio Primo de Rivera in 1933, during the Second Spanish Republic. Primo de Rivera was a Madrid lawyer, son of General Miguel Primo de Rivera, who governed Spain as Prime Minister with dictatorial power under King Alfonso XIII in the 1920s. General Primo de Rivera believed in state planning and government intervention in the economy. His son and the Falangists he led expressed regret for the demise of the elder Primo de Rivera's regime, and proposed to revive his policies and a program of national-syndicalist social organization.

Falangism was originally similar to Italian fascism in certain respects. It shared its contempt for Bolshevism and other forms of socialism and a distaste for democracy. Like the Italian Fascist Blackshirts, the Falange had its own party militia, the Blueshirts. However, the Falange's National Syndicalism was a political theory very different from the fascist idea of corporatism, inspired by Integralism and the Action Française (for a French parallel, see Cercle Proudhon). It was first formulated in Spain by Ramiro Ledesma Ramos in a manifesto published in his periodical La Conquista del Estado on 14 March 1931. National Syndicalism attempted to bridge the gap between nationalism and the anarcho-syndicalism of the dominant trade union, the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), by revising syndicalism altogether. While the Falange embraced the Catholic emphasis of Integralism it also borrowed elements from fascism.

Unlike other members of the Spanish right, the Falange was republican, avant-gardist and modernist (see Early History below), in a manner similar to the original spirit of Italian Fascism. Its uniform and aesthetic was similar to contemporary European fascist and national socialist movements. After the party was coopted by Francisco Franco and consolidated with the Carlists, it ceased to have a fascist character (which sought a revolutionary transformation of society whereas Franco was conservative), although it retained many of the external trappings of fascism.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

During the Spanish Civil War the doctrine of the Falange was used by General Franco, who virtually took possession of its ideology, while José Antonio Primo de Rivera was arrested and executed by the Spanish Republican Government. During the war, and after its founder's death, the Falange was combined by decree (Unification Decree) with the Carlist party, under the sole command of Franco, forming the core of the sole official political organization in Spain, the Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista, or "Spanish Traditionalist Phalanx of the Assemblies of National-Syndicalist Offensive" (FET y de las JONS). This organization, also known as the National Movement (Movimiento Nacional) after 1945, continued until Franco's death in 1975.

Early history[link]

The year after its founding, the Falange united with the Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista of Onésimo Redondo, Ramiro Ledesma, and others, becoming Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista.

The Falange was not an archetypal party of the right. Ronald Hilton has argued that Spanish leftists spoke of José Antonio with respect.^[7] The party attracted a considerable number of prominent intellectuals, including Pedro Mourlane Michelena, Rafael Sánchez Mazas, Ernesto Giménez Caballero, Eugenio Montes, José María Alfaro, Agustín de Foxa, Luys Santa Marina, Samuel Ros, Jacinto Miquelarena and Dionisio Ridruejo.^[8] The party was republican, modernist, championed the lower classes and opposed both oligarchy and communism.^[9] For these reasons the Falange was shunned by other right-leaning parties in the 1936 election, where it performed dismally. It only surpassed one percent of the vote in five provinces, performing best in Valladolid and Cadiz, where it received between four and five percent.^[10] Having likely never exceeded ten thousand members in the early 1930s, the Falange lost supporters in the run-up to the Civil War, leaving a core of young, dedicated activists, many in the organization's student organization, the SEU (Sindicato Español Universitario).^[11]

Following the elections the left-wing Popular Front government persecuted the Falange and imprisoned Primo de Rivera on July 6, 1936. In turn, the Falange joined the conspiracy to overthrow the Republic, supporting the military revolt ultimately led by Francisco Franco and continuing to do so throughout the ensuing Civil War.

Spanish Civil War[link]

With the eruption of the Civil War in July 1936, the Falange fought on the Nationalist side against the Spanish Second Republic. Expanding rapidly from several thousand to several hundred thousand^[12], the Falange's male membership was accompanied by a female auxiliary, the Sección Feminina. Led by José Antonio's sister Pilar, this latter subsidiary organization claimed more than a half million members by the end of the war and provided nursing and support services for the Nationalist forces.^[13]

The command of the party rested upon Manuel Hedilla, as many of the first generation leaders were dead or incarcerated by the Republicans. Among them was Primo de Rivera, who was a Government prisoner. As a result, he was referred to among the leadership as el Ausente, (the Absent One). On 20 November 1936 (a date since known as 20-N in Spain), Primo de Rivera was sentenced to death by the Spanish Government in a Republican prison, giving him martyr status among the Falangists. This conviction and sentence was possible because he had lost his Parliamentary immunity, after his party did not have enough votes during the last elections.

After Franco seized power on 19 April 1937, he united under his command the Falange with the Carlist Comunión Tradicionalista, forming Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS (FET y de las JONS), whose official ideology was the Falangists' 27 puntos. Despite this, the party was in fact a wide-ranging nationalist coalition, closely controlled by Franco. Parts of the original Falange (including Hedilla) and many Carlists did not join the unified party. Franco had sought to control the Falange after a clash between Hedilla and his main critics within the group, the legitimistas of Agustín Aznar and Sancho Dávila y Fernández de Celis, that threatened to derail the Nationalist war effort.^[14]

None of the vanquished parties in the war suffered such a toll of deaths among their leaders as did the Falange. Sixty per cent of the pre-war Falange membership lost their lives in the war.^[15]

Most of the property of all other parties and trade unions were assigned to the party. In 1938, all trade unions were unified under Falangist command.

The Franco era[link]

After the war, the party was charged with developing an ideology for Franco's regime. This job became a cursus honorum for ambitious politicians—new converts, who were called camisas nuevas ("new shirts") in opposition to the more overtly populist and ideological "old shirts" from before the war.

Membership in the Falange/FET reached a peak of 932,000 in 1942.^[16] Despite the official unification of the various Nationalist factions within the party in 1937, tensions continued between dedicated Falangists and other groups, particularly Carlists. Such tensions erupted in violence with the Begoña Incident of August 1942, when hardline Falangist activists attacked a Carlist religious gathering in Bilbao with grenades. The attack and the response of Carlist government ministers (most notably Varela and Galarza) led to a government crisis and caused Franco to dismiss several ministers. Ultimately, six Falangists were convicted of the attack and one, Juan Domínguez, was executed.^[17]

By the middle of the Second World War, Franco and leading Falangists, while distancing themselves from the faltering European fascists, stressed the unique "Spanish Catholic authoritarianism" of the regime and the Falange. Instructions were issued in September 1943 that henceforth the Falange/FET would be referred to exclusively as a "movement" and not a "party".^[18]

The Falange also developed youth organizations, with members known as Flechas and Pelayos.

With improving relations with the United States, economic development, and the rise of a group of relatively young technocrats within the government, the Falange continued to decline. In 1965 the SEU, the movement's student organization, was officially disbanded.^[19] At the same time, the membership of the Falange as a whole was both shrinking and aging. (In 1974 the average age of Falangists in Madrid was at least 55 years). The organization's relatively few new members came mostly from the conservative and devoutly Catholic areas of northern Spain.^[20]

Post-Franco era[link]

After Franco's death (20 November 1975, also known as "20-N") the Spanish Crown was restored to the House of Borbón in the person of King Juan Carlos, and a move towards democratization begun under Adolfo Suárez, a former chief of the Movimiento. The new situation splintered the Falange. In the first elections in 1977, three different groups fought in court for the right to the Falangist name. Today, decades after the fall of the Francoist regime, Spain still has a minor Falangist element, represented by a number of tiny political parties. Chief among these are the Falange Española de las JONS (which takes its name from the historical party), Falange Auténtica, Falange Española Independiente (which later merged with the FE de las JONS), and FE - La Falange. Vastly reduced in size and power today, these Falangist-inspired parties are rarely seen publicly except on ballot papers, in State-funded TV election advertisements, and during demonstrations on historic dates, like 20 November (death of Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera and General Francisco Franco). These three parties received 27,166 votes amongst them in the 2004 legislative election. The Partido Popular is seen as the Party carrying the Facist flag at present

In 2009, police arrested five members of a Falangist splinter group calling itself Falange y Tradición. They alleged that this group which was unknown to mainstream Falangist groups, had been involved in a raft of violent attacks in the Navarre region. These attacks were primarily targeted at Basque separatist terrorist group ETA and at ETA sympathisers.^[21]

Ideology[link]

• National Syndicalism (nacionalsindicalismo) was to be the official ideology of the State.
  • Corporate state in which class struggle would be superseded by the Vertical Trade Union, forcing workers and owners into one organization. (see class collaboration)
  • Roman Catholicism
  • Attention to the Castilian farmers
  • Nationalist pride in the history of the Spanish Empire
  • Anti-separatism
  • Anti-communism, anti-anarchism and anti-capitalism
  • Anti-democratic, anti-liberal, anti-parliamentarian ideology
  • Paramilitarian

Symbols[link]

• 

  Yoke and Arrows logo of the Falange.

• 

  Falange party flag

• 

  Swan of Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, based on the Cardinal's personal coat of arms. Shirt Shield from the Frente de Juventudes, 1950s. This shield was also worn on the uniform of the "Milicias Universitarias"

• El yugo y las flechas (the yoke and arrows'), the symbol of the Reyes Católicos.
• The blue shirt, a symbol of industrial workers.
• Cara al Sol, "Facing the sun", its anthem.
• The red beret of Carlism (after the unification).
• A flag with red, black and red vertical stripes.
• The Swan as a symbol of Cardenal Cisneros (Frente de Juventudes branch).

See also[link]

• Authentic Falange
• Blue Division
• Falangism in Latin America
• Integralism
• Kataeb Party, also known as the Lebanese Phalange
• National Radical Camp Falanga
• Rafael Sánchez Mazas, one of the head ideologues of the original Falange

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Falange

• Spartacus article on the Falange including a Falange manifesto
• (Spanish) Falange Española de las JONS
• (Spanish) Falange Auténtica
• (Spanish) La Falange
• (Spanish) Website of the Unión Nacional de Trabajadores, the trade union arm of the Falangist movement
• Christian Falangist Party of America Christian Falange
• (Spanish) José Antonio's written legacy

Spanish Civil War
Republican International Brigadiers at the Battle of Belchite
Date 17 July 1936  – 1 April 1939 Location Continental Spain, Spanish Morocco, Spanish Sahara, Canary Islands, Balearic Islands, Spanish Guinea, Mediterranean, North Sea Result Nationalist victory Dissolution of the Second Spanish Republic Beginning of Franco's dictatorship
Belligerents
Republican Popular Front CNT/FAI UGT ERC / EC EG (1936–1937) PG Supported by Foreign volunteers 22x20px Soviet Union (1936–1938)  Mexico France (1936)	Nationalist Falange Carlists (1936–1937) CEDA (1936–1937) Alfonsists (1936–1937) Army of Africa Supported by Italy Germany Portugal Foreign volunteers
Commanders and leaders
Republican leaders Manuel Azaña Julián Besteiro Francisco Largo Caballero Juan Negrín Indalecio Prieto Vicente Rojo Lluch José Miaja Juan Modesto Juan Hernández Saravia Carlos Romero Giménez Buenaventura Durruti † Lluís Companys José Antonio Aguirre Alfonso Castelao	Nationalist leaders José Sanjurjo † Emilio Mola † Francisco Franco Miguel Cabanellas † Manuel Goded Llopis † Manuel Hedilla Manuel Fal Condé José María Gil-Robles Gonzalo Queipo de Llano
Strength
450,000 infantry 350 aircraft 200 batteries (1938)[1]	600,000 infantry 600 aircraft 290 batteries (1938)[2]
Casualties and losses
~500,000 killed[3][nb 1] 450,000 fled[4]

The Spanish Civil War^{[nb 2]} was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939. The war began after a pronunciamiento (declaration of opposition) by a group of generals under the leadership of José Sanjurjo against the elected government of the Second Spanish Republic, at the time under the leadership of President Manuel Azaña. The rebel coup was supported by a number of conservative groups including the Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right,^{[nb 3]} monarchists such as the religious conservative Carlists, and the Fascist Falange.^{[nb 4][5]} The uprising was authoritarian and anti-separatist in inspiration; anti-Basque and anti-Catalan feeling marked the Nationalist zone.^[6]

Following the only partially successful coup,^{[nb 5]} Spain was left militarily and politically divided. From that moment onwards, general Francisco Franco began a protracted war of attrition against the established government for the control of the country. The rebel forces received the support of Nazi Germany and the Kingdom of Italy, as well as neighbouring Portugal, while the Soviet Union and Mexico intervened in support of the Republican government or loyalist side.

Bloody purges occurred in pieces of territory conquered from the republic in order to consolidate Franco's future regime,^[7] while fundamentally different killings took place in areas controlled by the Republicans, where killings were largely a result of a breakdown in law and order.^[8] The Civil War became notable for the passion and political division it inspired. Tens of thousands of civilians on both sides were killed for their political or religious views, and after the War's conclusion in 1939, those associated with the losing Republicans were persecuted by the victorious Nationalists.

The war ended with the victory of the Nationalists, the overthrow of the democratically elected government, and the exile of thousands of left-leaning Spaniards, many of whom fled to refugee camps in Southern France. With the establishment of a dictatorship led by General Francisco Franco in the aftermath of the Civil War, all right-wing parties were fused into the structure of the Franco regime.^[5]

Background[link]

At the end of the 19th century, the owners of large estates, called latifundia, held most of the power in a land-based oligarchy. The landowners' power was unsuccessfully challenged by the industrial and merchant sectors.^[9] In 1868 popular uprisings led to the overthrow of Queen Isabella II of the House of Bourbon. In 1873 Isabella's replacement, King Amadeo I of the House of Savoy, abdicated due to increasing political pressure, and the short-lived First Spanish Republic was proclaimed.^[10][11] After the restoration of the Bourbons in December 1874,^[12] Carlists and anarchists emerged in opposition to the monarchy.^[13][14] Alejandro Lerroux helped bring republicanism to the fore in Catalonia, where poverty was particularly acute.^[15] Growing resentment of conscription and of the military culminated in the Tragic Week in Barcelona in 1909.^[16] After the First World War, the working class, the industrial class, and the military united in hopes of removing the corrupt central government, but were unsuccessful.^[17] Fears of communism grew.^[18] A military coup brought Miguel Primo de Rivera to power in 1923, and he ran Spain as a military dictatorship.^[19] Support for his regime gradually faded, and he resigned in January 1930.^[20] There was little support for the monarchy in the major cities, and King Alfonso XIII abdicated;^[21] the Second Spanish Republic was formed, whose power would remain until the culmination of the Spanish Civil War.^[22]

Niceto Alcalá-Zamora became the first prime minister.^[23] The Republic had broad support from all segments of society;^[24] elections in June 1931 returned a large majority of Republicans and Socialists.^[25] With the onset of the Great Depression, the government attempted to assist rural Spain by instituting an eight-hour day and giving tenure to farm workers.^[26][27] Fascism remained a reactive threat, helped by controversial reforms to the military.^[28] In December a new reformist, liberal, and democratic constitution was declared. It started a theme of laic, reforming actions by the government, and committed Catholics opposed its leftist governments.^[29] In October 1931 Manuel Azaña became Prime Minister of a minority government whose actions were described as barbaric, unjust, and corrupt by opponents.^[30][31] The Right won the elections of 1933 following an unsuccessful uprising by General José Sanjurjo in August 1932, who would later lead the coup that started the civil war.^[32][33]

Events in the period following November 1933, called the "black two years", seemed to make a civil war more likely.^[34] Alejandro Lerroux of the Radical Republican Party (RRP) formed a government and rolled back changes made under the previous administration.^[35] Some monarchists moved to the Fascist Falange Española to help achieve their aims.^[36] Open violence occurred in the streets of Spanish cities and militancy continued to increase right up until the start of the civil war,^[37] reflecting a movement towards radical upheaval rather than peaceful democratic means as a solution to Spain's problems.^[38] In the last months of 1934, two government collapses brought members of the Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right (CEDA) into the government, making it more right-wing.^[39][40] Farm workers' wages were halved, and the military was purged of republican members and reformed.^[40] A Popular Front alliance was organised,^[40] which narrowly won the 1936 elections.^[41] Azaña led a weak minority government, but soon replaced Zamora as president in April.^[42] Prime Minister Casares failed to heed warnings of a military conspiracy involving several generals, who decided that the government had to be replaced if the dissolution of Spain was to be prevented.^[43]

Military coup[link]

Preparations[link]

The republican government had been attempting to remove suspect generals from their posts, and so Franco was sacked as chief of staff and transferred to command of the Canary Islands.^[44] Goded was sacked as Inspector General and made general of the Balearic islands; Emilio Mola was moved from head of the Army of Africa to be military commander of Pamplona in Navarre.^[44] However, this allowed Mola to direct the mainland uprising. General José Sanjurjo became the figurehead of the operation, and helped to come to an agreement with the Carlists.^[44] Mola was chief planner and second in command.^[45] José Antonio Primo de Rivera was put in prison in mid-March in order to restrict the Falange.^[44] However, government actions were not as thorough as they might have been: warnings by the Director of Security and other figures were not acted upon.^[46]

On 12 June, Prime Minister Casares Quiroga met General Juan Yagüe, but Yagüe managed to convince Casares of his loyalty to the Republic.^[47] Mola began serious planning in the spring.^[45] Franco was a key player because of his prestige as a former director of the military academy and as the man who suppressed the Socialist uprising of 1934.^[45] He was well respected in the Army of Africa, the Spanish Republican Army's toughest military force.^[48] He wrote a cryptic letter to Casares on 23 June, suggesting that the military was disloyal, but could be restrained if he were put in charge; Casares did nothing, failing to arrest or buy off Franco.^[48] On July 5, an aircraft was chartered to take Franco from the Canary Islands to Morocco.^[49] It arrived on July 14.^[49]

On 12 July 1936, in Madrid, members of the Falange murdered Lieutenant José Castillo of the Assault Guards police force.^[49] Castillo was a member of the Socialist party. The next day, members of the Assault Guards arrested José Calvo Sotelo, a leading Spanish monarchist and a prominent parliamentary conservative.^[50] Calvo Sotelo was shot by the Guards without trial.^[50] The killing of Calvo Sotelo, a prominent member of Parliament, with involvement of the police, aroused suspicions and strong reactions among the government's opponents on the right.^{[51][nb 6]} Massive reprisals followed.^[50] Although the conservative Nationalist generals were already in advanced stages of a planned uprising, the event provided a catalyst and convenient public justification for their coup.^[50] The Socialists and Communists (led by Prieto) demanded that arms be distributed to the people, before the military took over. The Prime Minister was hesitant.^[50] Franco's plane landed in Gran Canaria on July 14.

Beginning of the coup[link]

General map of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939).

Initial Nationalist zone – July 1936   Nationalist advance until September 1936   Nationalist advance until October 1937   Nationalist advance until November 1938   Nationalist advance until February 1939   Last area under Republican control Main Nationalist centres Main Republican centres

Land battles Naval battles Bombed cities Concentration camps Massacres Refugee camps

The uprising's timing was fixed at 17 July, at 5:00 p.m.; this was agreed to by the leader of the Carlists, Manuel Fal Conde.^[52] However, the timing was changed: the men in Spanish Morocco were to rise up at 5:00 a.m. and those in Spain itself starting exactly a day later, so control of Spanish Morocco could be achieved and forces sent to Iberia from Morocco to coincide with the risings there.^[53] The rising was intended to be a swift coup d'état, but the government retained control of most of the country.^[54]

Control in Spanish Morocco was all but certain.^[55] The plan was discovered in Morocco during 17 July, which prompted it to be enacted immediately. Little resistance was encountered; in total, 189 people were shot by the rebels.^[56] Goded and Franco immediately took control of the islands to which they were assigned.^[45] On 18 July, Casares Quiroga refused an offer of help from the CNT and UGT, leading the groups to proclaim a general strike, in effect mobilising. They opened weapons caches, some buried since the 1934 risings.^[55] The paramilitary forces often waited to see the outcome of militia action before either joining or suppressing the rebellion. Quick action by either the rebels or anarchist militias was often enough to decide the fate of a town.^[57] General Queipo de Llano managed to secure Seville for the rebels, arresting a number of other officers.^[58]

Outcome[link]

The rebels failed to take any major cities with the critical exception of Seville which provided a landing point for Franco’s African troops. The primarily conservative and Catholic areas of Old Castile and León fell quickly.^[54] The government retained control of Málaga, Jaén and Almería. Cadiz was taken for the rebels with the help of the first troops from the Army of Africa.^[59]

In Madrid they were hemmed into the Montaña barracks, which fell with much bloodshed. Republican leader Santiago Casares Quiroga was replaced by José Giral who ordered the distribution of weapons among the civilian population.^[60] This facilitated the defeat of the army insurrection in the main industrial centres, including Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia, but it allowed the anarchists to take control of Barcelona and large swathes of Aragon and Catalonia.^[61] General Goded surrendered in Barcelona and was later condemned to death.^[62]

The Republican Government ended up controlling almost all of the east coast and central area around Madrid, as well as Asturias, Cantabria and part of the Basque Country in the north. Mola was keen to create a sense of fear within Nationalist-controlled areas.^[63] The rebels termed themselves "Nacionales", normally translated as "Nationalists", although the former implies "true Spaniards" rather than a pure nationalistic cause.^[64]

The result of the coup was a nationalist area of control containing 11 million of Spain's population of 25 million.^[65] The Nationalists had secured the support of around half of Spain's territorial army, some 60,000 men, joined by the Army of Africa, made up of 35,000 men,^[66] and a little under half of Spain's militaristic police forces, the Assault Guards, the Civil Guards, and the Carabineers.^[67] Republicans controlled under half of rifles, and about a third of both machine guns and artillery pieces.^[66][68]

The Spanish Army had just 18 tanks of a sufficiently modern design, and the Republicans retained 10.^[69] Naval capacity was fairly even, with the Republicans retaining a numerical advantage but with the Navy's top ships in Nationalist hands. The Republican navy suffered from the same problems as the army: many officers had defected or had been killed after trying to do so.^[69] Two-thirds of air capability was retained by the government – however, the whole of the air service was very outdated.^[70]

Combatants[link]

The war was cast by Republican sympathizers as a struggle between "tyranny and democracy", and by Nationalist supporters as between communist and anarchist "red hordes" and "Christian civilization".^[71] Nationalists also claimed to be protecting the establishment and bringing security and direction to an ungoverned and lawless society.^[71]

Spanish politics, especially on the left, were quite fragmented, as socialists and communists supported the Republic. During the Republic, anarchists had had mixed opinions, but major groups opposed the Nationalists during the Civil War. The Conservatives, by contrast, were united by their fervent opposition to the Republican government, and presented a more unified front.^[72]

Republicans[link]

Flags of the Popular Front (left) and CNT/FAI (right)

Republican volunteers at Teruel, 1936.

The Republicans received weapons and volunteers from the Soviet Union, Mexico, the international Marxists movement and International Brigades. Their supporters ranged from centrists who supported a moderately capitalist liberal democracy to revolutionary anarchists; their base was primarily secular and urban, but also included landless peasants, and was particularly strong in industrial regions like Asturias and Catalonia.^[73]

This faction was called variously loyales ("loyalists") by supporters; "Republicans", "the Popular Front" or "the Government" by all parties, while their opponents frequently called them los rojos ("the reds").^[74] Republicans were supported by most urban workers, a large share of peasants, and much of the educated middle class.

The conservative, strongly Catholic Basque country, along with Galicia and the more left-leaning Catalonia, sought autonomy or even independence from the central government of Madrid. The Republican government allowed for the possibility of self-government for the two regions,^[75] whose forces were gathered under the People's Republican Army (Ejército Popular Republicano, or EPR).

Nationalists[link]

Flags of the Falange (left) and Carlist Traditionalist Requetés (right)

The Nationalists (nacionales), (also called "insurgents", "rebels" or by opponents "Francoists" or "Fascists") fearing national fragmentation, opposed the separatist movements, and were chiefly defined by their anti-communism, which galvanized diverse or opposed movements like falangists and monarchists. Their leaders had a generally wealthier, more conservative, monarchist, landowning background.^[76]

The Nationalist side included the Carlists and Alfonsist monarchists, Spanish nationalists, the fascist Falange, and most conservatives and monarchist liberals. Virtually all Nationalist groups had strong Catholic convictions and supported the native Spanish clergy.^[76] The Nationals included the majority of the Catholic clergy and practitioners (outside of the Basque region), important elements of the army, most large landowners, and many businessmen.^[71]

Republican troops at Guadalajara, 1937.

One of the rightists' principal stated motives was to confront the anti-clericalism of the Republican regime and to defend the Church,^[76] which had been the targeted by opponents, including Republicans who blamed the institution for the country's ills. Prior to the war, in the Asturias uprising of 1934, religious buildings were burnt and at least one hundred clergy, religious civilians, and police were killed by revolutionaries against whom the president and the radicals prevented the implementation of serious sanctions or punishment.^[77][78]

Articles 24 and 26 of the Constitution of Spain's Republic had banned the Jesuits, which deeply offended many within the conservative fold. The revolution in the Republican zone at the outset of the war, killing 7,000 clergy and thousands of lay people, drove many Catholics to the Nationalist faction.^[79][80]

Other factions[link]

Catalan and Basque nationalists were not univocal. Left-wing Catalan nationalists sided with the Republicans, while Conservative Catalan nationalists were far less vocal supporting the government due to anti-clericalism and confiscations occurring in areas within its control. Basque nationalists, heralded by the conservative Basque Nationalist Party, were mildly supportive of the Republican government, even though some in Navarre sided with the uprising for the same reasons influencing conservative Catalans. Notwithstanding religious matters, Basque nationalists, who were for the most part Catholic, generally sided with the Republicans.^[81]

Foreign involvement[link]

The Spanish Civil War involved large numbers of non-Spanish citizens who participated in combat and advisory positions. Germany and Italy contributed large amounts of financial assistance and military aid to forces led by Franco. Forces fighting on behalf of the Republican faction also received support, but the Republic's allies were seriously hampered by the non-intervention proclaimed by France and the United Kingdom. The attempted suppression of imported materials was largely ineffective, however, and France especially was accused of allowing large shipments to Republican troops.^[82] The clandestine actions of the various European powers were at the time considered to be risking another 'Great War'.^[83]

The League of Nations' reaction to the war was mostly neutral and insufficient to contain the massive importation by fighting factions of arms and other war resources. Although a Non-Intervention Committee was formed, its policies accomplished little, and its directives were dismantled due to the policies of appeasement practised by European states; the official Spanish government of Juan Negrín was gradually abandoned within the organization during this period.^[84]

Support for the Nationalists[link]

Germany[link]

Members of the Condor Legion.

Despite the German signing of a non-intervention agreement in September 1936, various forms of aid and military help from Germany found their way to both sides of the Spanish conflict, largely in support of the Nationalist faction. Nazi actions included the formation of the multitasking Condor Legion, while German efforts to move the Army of Africa to mainland Spain proved successful in the war's early stages.^[85] German operations slowly expanded to include strike targets, most notably – and controversially – the bombing of Guernica, which on 26 April 1937 killed 200 to 300 civilians.^[86]

German involvement was further manifested through undertakings such as Operation Ursula, a U-boat undertaking, and contributions from the Kriegsmarine. The Legion spearheaded many Nationalist victories, particularly in aerial combat,^[87] while Spain further provided a proving ground for German tank tactics. The training German units provided to Nationalist force would prove valuable; by the War's end, perhaps fifty-six thousand Nationalist soldiers encompassing infantry, artillery, aerial and naval forces had been trained by German detachments.^[85]

Probably a total of 16,000 German citizens fought in the War, including approximately 300 killed,^[88] though no more than ten thousand participated at any one time. German aid to the Nationalists amounted to approximately £43,000,000 ($215,000,000) in 1939 prices,^{[88][nb 7]} 15.5% of which was used for salaries and expenses and 21.9% for direct delivery of supplies to Spain, while 62.6% was expended on the Condor Legion.^[88] In total Germany provided the Nationalists with 600 planes and 200 tanks.^[89]

Italy[link]

After Francisco Franco’s request and encouragement by Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini joined the war. While the conquest of Abyssinia had made Italy delirious with power, a Spanish ally would help secure Italian control of the Mediterranean.^[90] The Royal Italian Navy (Regia Marina Italiana) played a substantial role in the Mediterranean blockade and ultimately Italy supplied machine guns, artillery, aircraft, tankettes, the Legionary Air Force (Italian: Aviazione Legionaria), and the Corps of Volunteer Troops (Italian: Corpo Truppe Volontarie, or CTV) to the Nationalist cause.^[91] The Italian CTV would at its peak supply the Nationalists with 50,000 men.^[91] Italian warships took part in breaking the Republican navy's blockade of Nationalist-held Spanish Morocco and took part in naval bombardment of Republican-held Malaga, Valencia, and Barcelona.^[92] In total Italy provided the Nationalists with 660 planes, 150 tanks, 800 artillery pieces, 10,000 machine-guns and 240,000 rifles.^[93]

Portugal[link]

António de Oliveira Salazar's Estado Novo played an important role in supplying Franco’s forces with ammunition and logistical help.^[94] Despite its discreet direct military involvement – restrained to a somewhat "semi-official" endorsement, by its authoritarian regime, of a volunteer force of up to 20,000,^[95][96] so-called "Viriatos" – for the whole duration of the conflict, Portugal was instrumental in providing the Nationalists with organizational skills and reassurance from the Iberian neighbour to Franco and his allies that no interference would hinder the supply traffic directed to the Nationalist cause.^[97]

Others[link]

Despite the Irish government's prohibition against participating in the war, around six hundred Irishmen, followers of Eoin O'Duffy known as the "Irish Brigade", went to Spain to fight alongside Franco.^[95] Romanian volunteers were led by Ion I Moţa, deputy-leader of the Legion of the Archangel Michael (or Iron Guard), whose group of seven Legionaries visited Spain in December 1936 to ally their movement with the Nationalists.^[98]

Support for the Republicans[link]

International Brigades[link]

The Etkar André battalion of the International Brigades.

British Battalion banner

Many non-Spaniards, often affiliated with radical communist or socialist entities, joined the International Brigades, believing that the Spanish Republic was a front line in the war against fascism. The units represented the largest foreign contingent of those fighting for the Republicans. Roughly forty thousand foreign nationals fought with the Brigades, though no more than 18,000 were entered into the conflict at any given time; they claimed to represent 53 states.^[99]

Significant numbers of volunteers originated in France (10,000), Germany and Austria (5,000) and Italy (3,350). More than 1,000 came each from the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, Poland, Yugoslavia, Hungary, and Canada.^[99] The Thälmann Battalion, a group of Germans, and the Garibaldi Battalion, a group of Italians, distinguished their unit during the Siege of Madrid. Americans fought in units such as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, while Canadians joined the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion.^[100]

Over five hundred Romanians fought on the Republican side, including Romanian Communist Party members Petre Borilă and Valter Roman.^[101] About 80 volunteers from Ireland formed the Connolly Column, the latter of which was immortalized by Irish folk singer Christy Moore in the song 'Viva La Quinta Brigada.' Some Chinese joined the Brigades; the majority of them eventually returned to China, while some went to prison or French refugee camps, and a handful remained in Spain.^[102]

Soviet Union[link]

The Soviet Union primarily provided material assistance to the Republican forces. In total the USSR provided the Republicans with between 648^[103] and 806 planes, 362 tanks, and 1,555 artillery pieces.^[104] The Soviet Union ignored the League of Nations embargo and sold arms to the Republic when few other nations would do so; it was therefore the Republic's only source of major weapons. Joseph Stalin had signed the Non-Intervention Agreement but decided to break the pact, though he tried doing so secretly, unlike Hitler and Mussolini.^[105]

The Soviet premier created a section X of the Soviet Union military to head the weapons shipment operation, coined Operation X. Despite Stalin's interest in aiding the Republicans, however, most of the weapons and artillery sent to Spain were relics, some captured from past conflicts.^[106] Occasionally, modern weapons such as BT-5 tanks were sent.^[107]

Many of the Soviet deliveries were lost, due to short notice on orders, or arrived only partially matching what Stalin had authorised.^[108] When the ships left with supplies for the Republican cause, their journeys were extremely slow. Stalin ordered the builders to include false decks in the original designs of boats. Furthermore, once the sea vessels left shore, the Soviets were required to change flags and boat colors to minimize capture by the Nationalists.^[109] Such manoeuvres become unnecessary in 1938, however, when Stalin withdrew his troops and tanks as government ranks floundered. The Republican-Soviet alliance was an uneasy affair, and had the Spanish leftists had the opportunity to buy transport and weapons from alternative sources, they may have cut ties with Moscow.^[110]

The Republic was obliged to pay for Soviet arms with official Bank of Spain gold reserves, in an affair that would become a frequent subject of Francoist propaganda, under the term "Moscow Gold". The cost to the Republic of Soviet arms was more than US $500 million (in 1936 prices); the entire of Spain's gold reserve, the fourth-largest in the world.^[111] 176 tonnes was transferred through France.^[111]

The USSR further sent a number of military advisers to Spain (2,000^[112]–3,000^[113]),^[114] and while Soviet troops amounted to no more than 500 men at a time, Soviet volunteers often operated Soviet-made Republican tanks and aircraft, particularly at the beginning of the war.^[99] In addition, the Soviet Union directed Communist parties around the world to organize and recruit the International Brigades. Another significant Soviet involvement were the pervasive activities of the NKVD spanning the Republican rearguard. Communist figures like Vittorio Vidali ("Comandante Contreras"), Iosif Grigulevich and, most prominently, Alexander Orlov led "secret" operations that included murders like those of Andreu Nin^[115] and José Robles.^[116]

Mexico[link]

Unlike the United States and major Latin American governments such as the ABC Powers and Peru, the Mexican government supported the Republicans.^[117][118] Mexico refused to follow the French-British non-intervention proposals,^[117] furnishing $2,000,000 in aid and material assistance, which included 20,000 rifles and 20 million cartridges.^[117]

Mexico's most important contributions to the Spanish Republic were its diplomatic help, as well as the sanctuary the nation arranged for Republican refugees, including Spanish intellectuals and orphaned children from Republican families. Some 50,000 took refuge, primarily in Mexico City, accompanied by $300 million in various treasures still owned by the Left.^[119]

France[link]

Though the government of France did not send direct support to the Republican faction, the left-wing government of French Prime Minister Léon Blum was sympathetic to the Republic,^[120] fearing that the success of Nationalist forces in Spain would result in the creation of an ally state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (largely surrounding France).^[120] Right-wing politicians opposed the French government's actions and began a vicious campaign against the Blum government.^[121] On 27 July 1936, British officials held discussions with Prime Minister Blum, and it is believed that they convinced Blum not to send arms to the Republicans.^[122] On 27 July, the French government declared that it would not send military aid, technology, forces to assist the Republican forces.^[123] However, Blum made clear that France reserved the right to provide aid should it wish to the Republic:

We could have delivered arms to the Spanish Government [Republicans], a legitimate government...We have not done so, in order not to give an excuse to those who would be tempted to send arms to the rebels [Nationalists]. Blum, 1936.^[124]

On 1 August 1936, a pro-Republican rally of 20,000 people confronted Blum demanding that he send aircraft to the Republicans at the same time as right-wing politicians attacked Blum for supporting the Republic and being responsible for provoking Italian intervention on the side of Franco.^[124] Germany informed the French ambassador in Berlin that Germany would hold France responsible if it supported "the maneouveres of Moscow" by supporting the Republicans.^[125] On 21 August 1936, France signed the Non-Intervention Agreement.^[125]

However the Blum government provided aircraft to the Republicans through covert means with Potez 54 bomber aircraft, Dewoitine aircraft, and Loire 46 fighter aircraft being sent from 7 August 1936 to December of that year to Republican forces.^[126] Also, until 8 September 1936, aircraft could freely pass from France into Spain if they were bought in other countries.^[127]

Even after covert support by France to the Republicans ended in December 1936, the possibility of French intervention against the Nationals remained a serious possibility throughout the war. German intelligence reported to Franco and the Nationals that the French military was engaging in open discussions about intervention in the war through French military intervention in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands.^[128] In 1938 Franco feared an immediate French intervention against a potential Nationalist victory in Spain through French occupation of Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, and Spanish Morocco.^[129]

Course of the war[link]

1936[link]

Map showing Spain in September 1936:

  Area under Nationalist control

  Area under Republican control

A large air and sea-lift of Nationalist troops in Spanish Morocco was organized to the south-west of Spain.^[130] Coup leader Sanjurjo was killed in a plane crash on 20 July,^[131][132] leaving an effective command split between Mola in the North and Franco in the South.^[45] This period also saw the worst actions of the so-called "Red" and "White" "Terrors" in Spain.^[133][134] On 21 July, the fifth day of the rebellion, the Nationalists captured the central Spanish naval base, located in Ferrol in north-western Spain.^[135]