Military coup. Main article: Spanish coup of July 1936

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1 The Spanish Civil War (The Crusade among Nationalists, Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans) was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April The war began after a pronunciamiento by a group of conservative generals under the leadership of Emilio Mola against the Government of the Second Spanish Republic, at the time under the leadership of President Manuel Azaña. The rebel coup was supported by the conservative groups including the Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right,[nb 2] monarchists such as the Carlists, and the Fascist Falange.[nb 3][5] Following the only partially successful coup,[nb 4] Spain was left militarily and politically divided. From that moment onwards Mola's successor, General Franco, began a protracted war of attrition[citation needed] with the established government, as loyalist supporters of the centre-left Republican Government fought the rebel forces for control of the country. The conservative generals (nacionales) received the support of Nazi Germany and the Kingdom of Italy, as well as neighbouring Portugal,[6] while the Soviet Union intervened in support of the socialist Republicans. Bloody purges occurred in pieces of territory conquered from the republic in order to consolidate Franco's future regime,[7] while similar killings took place in areas taken by the Republicans.[8] The Civil War became notable for the passion and political division it inspired. Many 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 rebels, who called themselves 'Nationalists', the overthrow of the Republican Government, and the exile of thousands of Spanish Republicans, many of whom fled to refugee camps in Southern France. With the establishment of a conservative 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. Military coup Main article: Spanish coup of July 1936 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 1 / 5

2 islands,[60] while Manuel Goded was sacked as Inspector General and made general of the Balearic Archipelago. Emilio Mola was moved from head of the Army of Africa to become military commander of Pamplona in Navarre,[60] but his reappointment only allowed the nationalist to more easily direct the mainland uprising. Mola's relationship with Carlist leaders was problematic, but the traditionalists were appeased by General José Sanjurjo,[60] who became the figurehead of the operation, while Mola remained chief organizer and second in command.[61] Mola began serious planning in the spring, but General Franco hesitated in fully participating with the revolutionaries until early July.[61] Franco was an important and distinguished partner for Mola due to his tenure as the military academy director and the general's successful suppression of the 1934 Socialist uprising.[61] He wrote a cryptic letter to Prime Minister Casares on 23 June, suggesting that the military was disloyal, but could be restrained if he were put in charge.[62] Casares made no attempt to turn or apprehend the general, who later committed to the coup. Murder of Calvo Sotelo On 12 July 1936, in Madrid, members of the Falange murdered Socialist Lieutenant José Castillo of the Assault Guards police force.[63] The next day, members of the Castillo's Guards arrested José Calvo Sotelo,[64] a leading Spanish monarchist and a prominent parliamentary conservative, [65] who had protested against what he saw as Bolshevist-anarchist agricultural reforms, expropriations, and restrictions on the authority of the Catholic Church.[66] The Assault Guards killed Sotelo without trial, [65] which aroused suspicions and strong reactions among the government's opponents on the right.[67][68][nb 9] Though conservative Nationalist generals were already in advanced stages of a planned uprising, the event provided a catalyst and convenient public justification for their coup, and in particular justified their assertion that the saving of Spain from anarchism required military rather than democratic means.[65] Beginning of the coup The uprising's start was fixed for 17 July, at 5 pm. [69] Warned that a coup was imminent, leftists on Franco's African island barricaded the roads, but Franco avoided capture by taking a tugboat to the airport where he was flown to Morocco by British MI6 intelligence officers Major Hugh Pollard and Cecil Bebb, finding the Nationalists there unopposed.[61] The rising was intended to be a swift coup d'état, but the government retained control of most of the country. 2 / 5

3 Outcome 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, as did Pamplona.[70] In Madrid rightists were hemmed into the Montaña barracks, which fell the next day after much bloodshed.[citation needed] Republican leader Santiago Casares Quiroga was replaced by José Giral, who ordered the distribution of weapons among the civilian population. The dispensation of arms facilitated the defeat of the army insurrection in the main industrial centers, including Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and others, but allowed anarchists to control broad swathes of Barcelona, Aragon and Catalonia, so that the Republican Government's jurisdiction over those areas became tenuous at best.[citation needed] Meanwhile the Army of Africa quickly crossed the Gibraltar Strait, permitting its troops to meet with General Mola's Northern Army and secure most of northern and northwestern Spain, as well as central and western Andalusia. The Republican Government commanded almost all of the Eastern Spanish coast and central area around Madrid, as well as Asturias, Cantabria and part of Basque Country in the north. The result of the coup was a Nationalist area of control comprising forty percent of Spain's population.[71] The Nationalists had secured the loyalties of around half of Spain's territorial army, numbering some 60,000 men, as well as thirty thousand members of Spain's militaristic police forces.[72] Fifty thousand members of the latter stayed loyal to the government,[72] which also controlled two-thirds of its pre-war air capability (although outdated), the vast majority of the Spanish Navy and two-thirds of its merchant fleet. Combatants 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".[73] Nationalists also claimed to be protecting the establishment and bringing security and direction to an ungoverned and lawless society.[73] 3 / 5

4 The active participants in the war covered the entire spectrum of the time's political positions and groups. The Nationalist (nacionales) side included the Carlists and Legitimist 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. On the Republican side were Marxists, socialists, liberals, and anarchists. Spanish politics, especially on the left, were quite fragmented, as socialists and radicals supported democracy, while communists and anarchists opposed the institution of the republic as much as monarchists. There were internal divisions even among the socialists: a group that adhered to classical Marxism, and a more progressive Marxist group. The Conservatives, by contrast, were united by their fervent opposition to the Republican government, and presented a more unified front. 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.[73] Republicans were supported by most urban workers, a large share of peasants, and much of the educated middle class. Germany Main article: German involvement in the Spanish Civil War 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.[86] 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.[87] 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,[88] 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. Probably a total of 16,000 German citizens fought in the War, including approximately 300 killed,[89] 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,[89][nb 10] 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. 4 / 5

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