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On This Day: Spanish Civil War begins after the generals’ failed coup

JULY 18, 1936: The Spanish Civil War – one of Europe’s bitterest conflicts in which brothers were pitted against one another and 500,000 died – began on this day in 1936.

The left-leaning government of the Republic armed its citizens 24 hours after Spain’s right-wing military leaders launched a coup in a bid to seize power in a single day.

The rebels, who called themselves Nationalists, failed to take any major cities, except Seville on the south coast.

But this allowed General Francisco Franco, who won the war and went on to rule Spain as a dictator for 36 years, to cross the Straits of Gibraltar from Morocco.

Thousands joined him in a bid to wipe out the ‘Red’ Republic, which had existed since voters abolished the monarchy in 1931, and restore ‘Christian civilisation’.

Meanwhile, supporters of the Republic believed they were fighting for the survival of democracy against fascist tyranny.

Thousands of left-wing citizens, including trade unionists and teachers, took arms and the International Brigade of foreign volunteers, including 4,000 Britons, helped them.

Thousands of left-wing citizens took arms and 4,000 Britons, helped them (Getty)
Thousands of left-wing citizens took arms and 4,000 Britons, helped them (Getty)


Yet, compared to Franco’s forces they were ill disciplined, badly equipped - and they struggled to hold the Nazi Germany-backed Nationalists back.

By November, the Generalissimo’s troops were able to attack Madrid and so launched one of the longest sieges in history.

Forces loyal to the Republic, which grew from liberal democracy into a revolutionary, anti-Catholic state backed by the Soviet Union, lost 100,000 lives in this initial battle.

 

[On This Day: Franco conquers Bilbao and turns the tide in Spanish Civil War]

 

But they held on to the capital, which saw streets everywhere decorated with banners bearing the slogan ‘No pasaran’ (they shall not pass).

A British Pathé newsreel shows citizens of Barcelona, which became controlled by Anarchists who collectivised all industry, keenly manning barricades.

Nevertheless, one by one, cities fell to Franco’s forces and by July 1938, the Republic’s territory had been cut in two.

After the January 1939 fall of Barcelona, the war became unwinnable for the Republic.

Spanish nationalist troops manning a machine gun emplacement during the Spanish Civil War (Getty)
Spanish nationalist troops manning a machine gun emplacement during the Spanish Civil War (Getty)


It prompted Prime Minister Juan Negrin and the Popular Front coalition government to flee Spain before the French border was closed weeks later.

Britain and France, which had supported neither the democratic government nor the insurgents when the war began in 1936, recognised Franco’s regime in February 1939.

But many Republican loyalists in Madrid held out as long as they could while 500,000 others from across Spain fled the country.

In April, when Franco’s forces finally entered the city, which by then was half starved and devastated by bombing, vicious reprisals began.

 

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At least 50,000 people were executed by Franco’s forces, which had been supported by the fascist Falange party, and many more went ‘missing’ during the White Terror.

In 1940, when German SS leader Heinrich Himmler visited Spain, which remained neutral but supplied the Nazis during World War II, he noted that around 250 shootings took place every day in Madrid.

Franco was keen to wipe out traces of the Republic and he encouraged citizens to denounce their neighbours.

The widows of fighters and other women who had supported the left-wing cause were often raped, had their heads shaved or forced to march naked through the streets.

A Nationalist observation post at Somosierra Pass, near Madrid, during the Spanish Civil War (Getty)
A Nationalist observation post at Somosierra Pass, near Madrid, during the Spanish Civil War (Getty)


Others were forced to drink castor oil so that they would soil themselves in public.

Around 350,000 Republicans were sent to labour camps and those deemed ‘unrecoverable’ – or, in other words, refused to conform – were shot.

At the same time, around a quarter of all teachers lost their jobs.

Franco wanted to return Spain to a more traditional society centred around private ownership, the family and Catholic Church.

 

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Anyone who did not attend mass regularly was suspected of being a ‘red’ and risked losing their job.

Regionalism – a central tenet of the Republic - was also heavily discouraged and the use of languages other than Spanish, such as Catalan and Basque, were banned.

Francoism only ended with his death in 1975, which saw the return of democracy and the monarchy, with King Juan Carlos I, whose grandfather was forced to abdicate in 1931, taking the throne.

Those who participated in the White Terror were protected by an amnesty, despite the United Nations and other calling for an investigation into crimes against humanity.