Spanish Civil War: Origins and International Impact
**The Beginning of the Conflict: From Military Revolt to Civil War**
Since the proclamation of the Republic, and since the victory of the Popular Front coalition of the left in February 1936, Spain had also been initiated in a process of democratic revolution that jeopardized the interests and privileges of the traditionally dominant forces: the agricultural and financial oligarchy, the Church, and the Army.
On July 18, 1936, a military coup that failed to mobilize popular support became a civil war that divided Spain into two zones that faced each other tragically until 1939.
The Military Revolt
The conspiracy against the Republic was instigated by various conservative sectors: the Monarchists, the Falange, the Carlists (requetés), some sectors of CEDA, also including their leader, Gil-Robles, and the military. The church hierarchy regarded the Republic as an enemy of Catholicism.
Grouped in the Spanish Military Union and operated by General Emilio Mola, they were the organizers of the uprising against the Republican power.
The date chosen was July 19, although the assassination of Calvo Sotelo on the 13th gave a perfect excuse to the conspirators. The military coup, with the support of Carlist and Falangist militias, was rushed to the afternoon of July 17. Franco flew from the Canary Islands to Morocco and took command of the Army of Africa.
Sanjurjo was killed in a plane crash while returning to Spain from Portugal, so General Mola, from his command post in Pamplona, planned and coordinated actions to perform, with the support of financial groups, Catholics, and Monarchists.
The Prime Minister, Santiago Casares Quiroga, who had ignored warnings about the preparation of the revolt, resigned the same night of the 18th. Azaña ordered Diego Martínez Barrio to form a government representing all political forces to end the revolt. Azaña named José Giral on the 19th. He surrendered weapons to political organizations and unions loyal to the Republic, a demand that had been met since the military uprising, but many came when the rebellion had already been consolidated.
The revolt was successful with relative ease in the Canary Islands, part of Andalusia, Navarre, Castile and León, Galicia, Aragon, La Rioja, and the Balearic Islands, except for Menorca. Instead, it failed in Catalonia, Valencia, Madrid, Castile-La Mancha, Extremadura, the Basque Country, Asturias, Cantabria, and the rest of Andalusia.
The Failure of the Revolt in Catalonia
In Barcelona, on the morning of July 19, troops were added to the barracks and took to the streets once occupied by the most important points of the city. The labor organizations were immediately mobilized to oppose the military coup. Government authorities had great support, deciding the failure time in Barcelona.
The evening of the same day, General Goded ordered the surrender. In the rest of Catalonia, the coup also failed.
The defeat of the revolted forces led to a quite complex situation.
To coordinate the effort against the rebellion, the Central Committee of Antifascist Militias was founded, involving members of working-class sectors, such as CNT-FAI, UGT, POUM, and the PSCU, sectors such as the Rabassaires Union, and bourgeois sectors, such as Catalan ERC and Action. Besides the economic collectivization, columns of militia were built and marched toward the front of Aragon. On the street, there were a series of disturbances, and the government wanted to control the situation but did not achieve it until 1937.
The International Dimension of the Conflict
The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War helped to exacerbate existing tensions and instability in the European context, dominated by the ideological and political confrontation between the Rome-Berlin axis, which encompassed Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, the parliamentary democracy, represented by the United Kingdom and France, and Soviet communism, which sought an alliance with the democracies to contain fascist progress.
The Non-Intervention Committee
Although there was a Popular Front government headed by socialist Léon Blum, collaborating with the legitimate government of the Republic, the pressure from the right of the French and British conservatives led to the adoption of a policy of neutrality. They advocated non-intervention in the war in Spain so as not to break the weak balance between democratic and fascist regimes, and thus avoid the danger of a war in Europe against the growing militarism of Hitler’s expansionism. France allowed the passage of arms through its borders.
In August 1936, the Non-Intervention Committee was created in London, to which 27 countries joined, who pledged not to sell or allow the passage of arms and war supplies to Spain. But the reality was that Italy, Germany, and Portugal continued helping the rebels, while the Republic was subject to border closures and arms embargoes. The Non-Intervention Committee prevented the League of Nations from mediating the conflict.
The United States, which signed the pact, approved a law that prevented the embargo of the export of war material to the peninsular Republic, but allowed the supply of U.S. companies in peninsular bends, such as oil that Texaco Oil Company provided to vehicles or Ford and General Motors.