The Spanish Civil War

A failed coup d'état sparked the Spanish Civil War between the Loyalist and Nationalist factions on July 17,1936. Socialists backed the Loyalists and Fascists backed the Nationalists or rebels, setting the scene for a World War II scenario that would play out on various levels all over the world with repercussions lasting most of the twentieth century.

General Francisco Franco (1892-1975) commanded the Nationalist right while Manuel Azaña (1880-1940) headed up the Loyalist or Republican left. Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy aided Franco while Azaña received aid from Russia's Stalin and an International Brigade of volunteers from nations across the globe, including Britain and the United States.

Azaña's rise to power included creating a new populist government called the Popular Front. One of his first mandates was to release all the left-wing political prisoners and transfer the right-wingers out of the country--including Franco. Reforms prompted many wealthy to invest their sums of money outside Spain causing economic turmoil within the country's infrastructure. Trade and tourism all but collapsed. Workers went on strike.

Azaña became the new president of Spain which did not set well with Franco and others who attempted a "divide and conquer" coup. Eventually Azaña lost trust within his own party and the Nationalists took power in April 1939. Azaña's personal writings, plays, and diaries became a famous journal of the war.

Major battles of the Spanish Civil War include The Battle of Alcazar, where in 1936, the Nationalist Colonel reportedly told his captured son to commend his soul to God in the name of Spain; and, the Battle of Guadalajara in 1937 to the Battle of the Ebro in 1938.

The first aerial bombing of a city, Guernica, gave Hitler a birds-eye view of how effective the devastation of civilian targets could be--one of the staggering repercussions of the war that thrust the world into the throes of World War II.

A million lives were estimated to have been lost in the Spanish Civil War--a prelude to the horrors of World War II.

Spanish Civil War Poetry and Essays

Significant Events of the Spanish Civil War

Spanish Revolution or Civil War?

Anarchism and the Spanish Civil War

The Library of Congress: Spanish Civil War Begins

British Volunteers of the International Brigade during the Spanish Civil War

Movies Depicting the Spanish Civil War

Spanish Civil War Veterans Reunion

Military Bibliography of the Spanish Civil War

Socialism and Fascism of the Spanish Civil War

Photo Essay: Spanish Civil War

The Non-Intervention Act of 1937

Main Events of the Spanish Civil War

A Selection of Spanish Civil War Maps

History World International on the Spanish Civil War

La Columna: Battles of the Spanish Civil War