Spanish Civil War: Outbreak, Revolution, and Rebel Zone
The Outbreak of the Spanish Civil War
On July 17, 1936, in Melilla, Colonel Yagüe, commander of the Legion, took up arms against the Republic. The uprising spread rapidly between July 18 and 19. The majority of military garrisons in Spain joined, along with civilian sectors and Carlist Falangists (Requetés).
The uprising succeeded in virtually all of inland Spain, in Galicia, in Andalusia in the Guadalquivir, and in predominantly agricultural areas with large property owners or small, very conservative landowners. The rising failed where workers and leftist forces were stronger: in industrial zones, part of Castile, Extremadura, and Andalusia. In Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia, the uprising collapsed after days of fighting. On the contrary, the rebels succeeded in Seville and Zaragoza.
Within a week, the evidence that the coup had not won led to the division of the country into two camps.
The Rebel Camp
The camp of the rebels was made up of military conservatives, monarchists, right-wing Catholic groups, Falangists, traditionalists (Carlists), and all those who had opposed the reforms of the Republic. They were supported and inspired by fascism and identified as “National” (for their defense of the unity of Spain) and Catholics.
The Republican Camp
Those loyal to the Republic were made up of the most popular classes: workers, urban employees, the petite bourgeoisie, and landless peasantry. The middle classes were also linked to the Republican parties, along with sectors of the enlightened bourgeoisie and a large group of intellectuals and artists.
The Contained Revolution
To tackle the rising, the Republican government of José Giral had to hastily organize a military force capable of opposing the insurgents. It gave arms to militias of parties and unions and decreed the creation of battalions of volunteers to be integrated into the militias. As a result, unions and leftist parties became the only armed force capable of defending Republican legality.
In the summer and autumn of 1936, the power of the state suffered a near-total collapse and was replaced by councils, committees, and boards that dealt with the government.
In the first months of the war, a spontaneous popular response was triggered in the Republican zone against everything that could be related to the so-called “rebels.” The Church, the bourgeoisie, landowners, and the wealthy classes were subject to persecution, escaping the control of the Republican grip on power. Murders took place, called “strolls,” unlawful detentions in *checas* (secret prisons), looting and burning of churches and convents, and seizures of private property and assets.
The Rebel Zone and the Impact of the War
The political and social groups that had supported the military uprising did not have a common project. The army was in charge of organizing the new state.
The accidental death on July 20, 1936, of General Sanjurjo, and the fact that the insurrection did not triumph, raised the issue of leadership. On July 24, the National Defense Council was created in Burgos, composed of military personnel. The mission of the board was to rule the occupied territory. Its first actions were to ban the activities of all political parties, suspend the Constitution, and order the freezing of agrarian reform.
Francisco Franco was imposed, especially after Hitler and Mussolini recognized him as the only interlocutor to negotiate their support for the uprising. The military elected him chief of the uprising, and he was recognized as Head of State and Government and Generalissimo of the Armies.
The rebels had prohibited all political parties and all unions in the territory they controlled. Only the Spanish Falange and the JONS acted as political groups.