the causes and consequences of the spanish civil war

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What Were The Causes and Consequences of the Spanish Civil War 1936 - 1939?

When a military coup failed to unseat the Popular Front government of Spain, a bloody civil war raged in the country. Stretching from the northern part of Africa to the Pyrenees Mountains, the fighting led to the death of hundreds of thousands of Spaniards. The Spanish Civil War began in July 1936 and was directly caused by this attempted takeover by Nationalist elements, supported by the military and the clergy. The rebels, who held parts of north-western and south-western Spain, then named General Francisco Franco as head of state. However it is clear that the indirect causes of this civil war go back years prior to 1936. The Spanish people blamed the monarchy for the decline of Spain’s status in the world. A backward economy and society, a poorly organized industry, the Latifundia policy, the Church's power and control, the incompetence of the government and the fact that there was too much political interference from many sides. There was a demand for a republic. Since Spain lost its monarchy back in 1931, the subsequent republican government was nevertheless unstable and weak and after only 5 years of major problem after another, the Civil War took place. There are many results of the Spanish Civil War to note. The main results would probably be the fact that Spain became a fascist country ruled by General Franco as military dictator until his death in 1975.

The Spanish government’s corruption and inefficiency was a primary cause to the Spanish Civil War. In 1890 the Spanish-American war had created hard times for Spain's economy. The constitutional monarchy of the early 1900s incompetently dealt with the economic instability. They failed to handle the industrialisation process which continued to fall behind. [1] Naturally, this resulted in the loss of the people's faith in the Spanish Monarchy. In order for a country to trust its government, it needs to see that the economy is proficiently managed or else distrust will be the result and that was the case for Spain at the time. The government's incompetence was further emphasized later in 1921. There was rebellion in Spanish Morocco and the government sent troops to defeat the rebels. What was supposed to be a simple operation led to the massacre and defeat of the troops. Not only did the people feel that their government cannot protect itself, but they also realized that a rebellion will not necessarily fail.

The Spanish feudalist system "Latifundia" was an important cause for civil disturbances.  Agriculture accounted for about two fifths of Spain's national income in the 1930s and almost half of the population lived on the land. The problem of agriculture was due partly to climatic conditions and lack of modern machinery. The situation was worsened by the  system, which maintained an uneconomic, inefficient and feudal type of land ownership by massive landowners in the countryside. Latifundia were huge farms owned by rich families and absentee landlords who paid their laborers very little for their work. Landless peasants lived in abject poverty and compensating the landowners was a complicated and expensive process. The government's poor management also resulted to its division on the issue of collectivization and so it was never implemented on a large scale. Simple issues could not be unanimously decided on. This further weakened the government and worsened the living conditions for the Spanish peasants and although the wealthy had the better end of the stick, even they felt that the policy was futile. The historian Martin Blinkhorn describes Spain to be "a staggeringly unjust society", especially in the South (Andalusia, Estremadura, La Mancha). It can easily be said that in fact this policy caused a lot of civil unrest and the people were fed up. These conditions bred support for , the creation of a world where those who worked the land owned it. 

General Miguel Primo de Rivera caused a lot of problems in Spain and contributed to increased political tension. He was given vast powers by King Alfonso to restore order after the Moroccan fiasco. In his short period of control he suspended the constitution and banned political parties, thereby increasing political tension in the country. In 1923, after Spain experienced a bloodless coup, the popular calls for a republic grew. However it was not until the 1930s that Rivera lost all forms of support and was forced to resign. The depression did not only worsen Spain's already declining economy but in fact, shattered it. Any support Rivera had from the army was lost. He clearly mishandled the government's finances which is a vital backbone to any government, let alone Spain's at that time of economic instability.

           The next election revealed the deep divisions within the country. The socialists and liberals called for a republican form of government to put an end to corruption and the power sharing system of Caciquismo. Alfonso's poor leadership meant that he was no longer able to control his country, and so he ordered new parliamentary elections. In April of 1931, after the republicans won the elections in all the major cities of Spain, the King was forced into exile. Spain was declared a republic, and the monarchy was abolished. Two parties emerged in Spain: the conservative right-wing party and Socialist Republican Party. This was meant to bring about hope and stability to please the Spanish people and to strengthen the Spanish government.

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However, the new republic immediately faced a number of major problems. The first was the issue of the highly influential Roman Catholic Church that opposed the republic, though the republic needed its support, as the clergy was still a major source of power in Spain. The new constitution declared that Spain had no official religion and had freedom of worship. This meant that the support of clergy was ceased. One would think that the government had provoked the Church enough. Matters did not stop there. Not only did the government nationalize church property, but it abolished the Concordat with ...

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