THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR

Let’s make one thing clear:

The Spanish Civil War is a tragic, complex and very difficult topic.

We can spend MONTHS if not YEARS discussing what happened.

This is a very, very short version.

There were no real “good guys” or “bad guys” here.

Just a lot of ideas using weapons instead of words.

BEFORE WE BEGIN..

Salvador Dali’s “Premonition of the Spanish Civil War”

Painted six months before the war started in 1936.

1885 – King Alfonso XII dies

1886 - His son Alfonso XIII succeeds to the throne.

1898 – The Spanish-American War occurs between Spain and

the United States, Spain loses Cuba, Puerto Rico an the Phillipines – its final

colonies.

ALFONSO’S BURDENS

Alfonso took control of the government in 1902 but faced many troubles –

corruption, inefficiency, too many things to list.

1923 saw General Primo de Rivera take over with Alfonso’s support.[

However, he was considered a poor leader

and lost this support in 1930, leading to

elections.

These elections found the monarchy losing all

of its support and bringing in the

Second Spanish Republic.

RIVERA’S BURDEN

The Second Spanish Republic saw some changes happen in 1931

The Spanish nobility lost any special political status.

Freedom of speech and freedom of association was granted to people.

Women could vote from 1933.

Various reformed benefited education and lower class people.

However….

SECOND SPANISH REPUBLIC

The power of the Catholic church was severely restricted and controlled

during this time.

Some in the Republican government supported this and others did not...

Disagreements were often violent, such as the Tragic Week in Catalonia

CHURCH CRUNCH

Before 18th July, 1936, Franco was stationed in Morocco – the government

was not fond of him and wanted to keep him away from Spain proper.

A very pro-Catholic man, he decided to start a military rebellion (a coup)

against the the Spanish Republic.

FRANCO TAKES OVER

The Nationalists with Franco thought the Republicans were too against the

Church and wanted to stop them by force to bring back the Catholic Church.

YEARS OF CONFLICT

The years of conflict saw many hundreds of tanks and planes flown by both sides, by the

end in April 1939, 500,000 people were dead and 450,000 more left the country.

The Nationalists were supported largely by Nazi Germany and Benito Mussolini’s Italy.

The Republicans, on the other hand, found support from the Soviet Union and Mexico.

The rest of Europe promised to stay out, but, in reality, many foreigners volunteered to fight for both sides and France supplied

the Republicans weapons.

The Spanish Civil War became called

the “rehearsal for World War II.”

After the Nationalist victory in the Civil War, Franco made the country once

again into a military dictatorship. The church was made a central part of the

government and the monarchy was effectively banned.

After the defeat of Franco’s allies Germany and Italy in World War II, Spain

found itself isolated from both other, more democratic European countries,

the West and the Soviet Union.

SPANISH DICTATORSHIP AND

MIRACLE

However, from 1959-1974, the Spanish

economy saw a brief boom, second only to

Japan and becoming the ninth largest

economy in the world until the crash.

Tourism grew but, freedom of people

was severely limited and the government

maintained strict control.

In 1969, Franco, in poor health, named Prince Juan Carlos I to be his heir

(And the first real return of Spanish royalty to the country)

In 1975, Franco died and Juan Carlos took over, where he worked to take

apart the dictatorship policies after being crowned King in 1977.

Under Juan Carlos, a more democratic and

autonomous system was formed in Spain,

balancing many of that the various regions of

Spain had had for many centuries.

Due in part to Juan Carlos’ works, we have the

formation of modern Spain.

RETURN TO DEMOCRACY