Another reason why Spain was dissolved into civil war was the power of the ultra-conservative church, that was very wealthy and tried to oppose any liberal attempt for desperately needed reforms. This led to hatred from many poorer Spains. The conservatism of the church is also demonstrated by an extract from a Catechism of 1927 “It is a sin for a Catholic to read a liberal newspaper. He may read the Stock exchange news.” The church only supported the wealthy and hence was a important reason for growing social discontent, that led to Civil war.
Spain was also divided in a rather prosperous north and a poor South, where landowners ran their own estates. All this led to increasing discontent and disappointment with the government and eventually a general disillusionment with the system. This on the other hand led to the rise of many liberal movements, such as Socialism and Anarchism. What these two had in common were the desire for profound reforms and the diminishment of the power of the church and the army. The anarchistic movement CNT also aimed to destroy the state by revolutionary means, and hence fulfilled the desire of many exploited peasants. So in the early twentieth century Barcelona, with its mix of anarchism, strikes and Catalan nationalism, was described as ‘the most turbulent city in Europe’. This demonstrates that there was a strong base for a violent revolution, and hence political opposition was a important factor of creating social unrest and hence the Civil War in 1936. Although these uprisings could be suppressed, the central government was unable to restore full confidence to its rule and resorted increasingly to corruption, as also H.Thomas has pointed out that ‘By 1923 the Spanish parliamentary system was bruised almost to death.’ The working classes were disillusioned with their government.
In 1923 Spain experienced a bloodless coup when Alfonso agreed that General Primo de Rivera should take control of Spain. He carried out profound reforms which were partially successful, as he for example increased by three times from 1923 to 1930. He also suppressed the rebellion in Marocco in 1925. Nevertheless, he was not able to handle the Great depression in 1930. Hence a reason why Civil War broke out, was the inability of this government to satisfy the demands of both, the army and church, whose support it utterly needed, and on the other hand satisfy the demand for a liberal country and profound changes form the part of the people and the workers.
Another reason why Spain dissolved into Civil war was that Starvation rose as food prices rose exorbitantly, and Rivera had to resign, as the army drew away its support. The new republican government, that won the elections in in April 1931, faced many problems. The first was the issue of the Roman Catholic church, that hated the republic; however, the republic needed its support, as the clergy was still a major source of power in Spain. The army had to be reformed as well, and the economical reforms had to be tackled. Iron production had fell by 33% and steel by 50% and hence unemployment rose and the workers were disillusioned. Spain was at the shade to public uprisings. The government tried to carry out some reforms which were partially successful, but there was trouble within the government. The wishes of the left alarmed those on the right and the other way round. Political infighting was in danger of pushing Spain into social revolution. In general the government tried to attack those which had, from its point of view, too many privileges in society. These were mainly the ones which had support it. The military, industrialists, land owners and the Roman Catholic Church. Nevertheless the landlords did everything in their power to resist the redistribution of land, which was not effectively carried out anyway. The peasantry were frustrated. Hence the government had no base of support, and was not able to carry out reforms effectively and hence contributed to growing discontent.
The republican government also had a lack of international support. This was because many nations in Europe were scared of Communism and Stalin’s Russia. On the other hand Fascist Italy und Germany under Hitler would be obvious allies for the four conservative powers in Spain military, landowners, industrialists and the Roman Catholic Church. This demonstrates how the government was internationally isolated, and hence was taken away its ability to re-establish Spain’s economic trading network.
The government had now lost the support from the right as well as from the left. The powerful left parties thought that the government was too middle, and regarded as having betrayed the working class. The extreme left organised strikes and riots in order to destabilise the government of Azana.
Now there were some trigger of factors, that eventually lead to the Civil War. n January 1933, 25 people were killed by government troops. This lost the government much support from the working class. Azana resigned as prime minister and new elections were held in November 1933; in these elections the right won a majority.
This new rightist immediately over-turned all of the changes made by the leftist government. Especially the Catalans were angered, as most of their privileges were withdrawn. This was a serious error of judgement, as the Catalans had supported the government in the elections. Social discontent rose, and as a result of the the Popular Front was formed, by the most influential leftist parties in Spain, and started to organise strikes and riots in order to oppose the right government. In 1934 there was a general strike. The coal mine workers uprising in Asturia was violently put down by Franco, who led the army. In the last moment before a large scale-revolution was stopped and new elections were called in, in which the Popular Front gained a majority.
However, this government was a important factor of triggering of the civil war, as it was only a farce of what the Popular Front actually had demanded. More and more riots occurred and the government had clearly lost control.
On the other hand, the military under Franco, later supported by Fascist Germany, had prepared a takeover of Spain. It overthrew the Civilian government in Marocco; its next target was to invade the Spanish mainland and establish a military government there. The left would have to fight for survival. The Civil War started in July 1936.
In conclusion, Spain’s main dilemma becomes evident that then led to the Civil War: no government was able to effectively carry out reforms without alienating either the clergy, the army, landowner or the peasantry. The governments through which the Civil War was triggered of, were also internationally isolated. The peasantry was disillusioned, and publicised its frustration through strikes and riots. Political opposition grew, and only could be put down by violence. Nevertheless the people already had lost their thrust in the governments, and Civil War was the logic consequence.
