The Spanish Civil War
On the 8th March 1936 several right wing generals, believing that Spain was being ruined by the left wing government of the Second Republic, which they saw as communist, atheist and unable to maintain law and order, formed a revolutionary junta and plotted to overthrow the Republic. At the outset of the rising the revolt had no ideology or political goals expect that it would be "for Spain" and would place General Sanjurjo at the head of a new authoritarian regime, with General Mola responsible for planning the campaign. General Franco was not initially a central figure in the military revolt, despite the popular myth that the war was a personal crusade led by him from the outset, and initially vacillated before eventually joining the plot. His initial hesitation over whether to join the plot can either be interpreted as a sign that he was a demagogue, and would only have joined if it looked likely to succeed, or that he needed time to conclude that the situation in Spain was as bad as the Generals described. Franco's role was to command the Foreign Legion (stationed in Morocco) and advance on Madrid from the south of Spain. The plot was also supported by the monarchist paramilitary political group the Carlists (led by Fal Conde) and more reluctantly by the fascist paramilitary group the Falange (led by Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera, son of the last dictator of Spain), however these two groups were often at odds with each other. On 17th July 1936 the Army of Africa declared a state of war and claimed all the key buildings in Melilla (the garrison city in Morocco) for General Franco, who was returning from the Canary Isle by plane.
The Nationalist movement has often been described as a Fascist one, however this is inaccurate and the term was often used by the Republicans to help rally international support. The Falange was a Fascist movement, though more in the mould of Mussolini's Fascists than the Nazis whom Jose Antonio was critical of. However, the Falange was only one part of the movement, and Jose Antonio was imprisoned from 15th March 1936 until the Republic shot him in November 1936. This was hugely advantageous to Franco as it allowed him to take charge of the Falange by installing a puppet leader, Hedilla and allowed him to create a cult of the personality of Jose Antonio to further his own propaganda aims by associating himself with José Antonio and thus gaining support from the Falangists. The Nationalist movement was also not a Monarchist one, as Franco ruled as Caudillo until his death in 1975 when Juan Carlos II became king. Most of Franco's success can be attributed chiefly to expediency and serendipity; there were many fortunate deaths for him that allowed him to ascend the ranks, rather than due to any military or political greatness. Franco's most used strategy was divide and rule, he weakened the power of both the Carlists and the Falange and political rivals within the Nationalist movement by a combination of luck and manipulation until they were both tools for furthering his own political ambitions.
Franco manipulated his way to the top of the nationalist hierarchy by making several key propaganda moves. He had long been associated with the restoration of the Church, and his important role as commander of the foreign legion had happened as its founder, General Millán Astray believed him "God's emissary". Franco also publicly kissed the Monarchist red and yellow flag at a rally in Seville in August 1936 at the Feast of the Assumption, thus appealing to the monarchists, it was at this speech that the movement first started to be portrayed as a 'holy crusade' rather than ...
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Franco manipulated his way to the top of the nationalist hierarchy by making several key propaganda moves. He had long been associated with the restoration of the Church, and his important role as commander of the foreign legion had happened as its founder, General Millán Astray believed him "God's emissary". Franco also publicly kissed the Monarchist red and yellow flag at a rally in Seville in August 1936 at the Feast of the Assumption, thus appealing to the monarchists, it was at this speech that the movement first started to be portrayed as a 'holy crusade' rather than solely a political struggle. Territory in the south Franco had captured saw the reintroduction of Catholicism into areas of life that the Republic had secularised. Pope Pius XI announced on 14/9 that the Republicans had a "truly satanic hatred of god". Many of the middle class had turned away from the Church under Primo de Rivera yet started to turn back under the 2nd Republic (Carr pXXX). Throughout the war and the years preceding it there had been a large increase in anticlerical violence in the Republic, with large numbers of churches burnt and priests killed, especially in Catalonia, accelerating the return of the middle classes to the Church. Franco's dedication to Catholicism was not a propaganda agenda, he was genuine in his faith but he did use the Church as an important ally in winning over the middle classes, who saw him as their saviour. Spanish priests throughout the war presented the war as a holy struggle against the atheist communists and the pope announced that all priests who had been murdered by the Republic were martyrs. Franco's commitment to the church however did not extend to those who politically opposed him and large numbers of Basque priests were shot for supporting the Basque nationalist movement, causing dissent (though enough to be significant to his support) in the Vatican. Franco pursued the war with a characteristic ruthlessness, with mass executions becoming the norm in Nationalist Spain for any former activists for the left such as trade unionists, politicians etc and eventually even anyone who had even voted for one of the left wing parties.
Franco became supreme leader of the Nationalists chiefly because he was the only person suitable for the job left after Sanjurjo was killed in a plane crash. This weakened the Carlists as Sanjurjo had been a prominent supporter of them. Following his death the only Nationalist generals of distinction were Mola, Franco and de Llano, all the other possible rivals were unavailable, Goded and Calvo Sotelo being dead and Jose Antonio imprisoned General Goded and Calvo Sotelo were dead, Gen. Mola was discredited as a republican and Generals Queipo de Llano and Cabanellas were discredited as they had rebelled against the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. He had also won a major propaganda victory by relieving the besieged fortress of the Alcázar at Toledo, which although actually strategically a setback (the Republicans were able to reinforce Madrid). Franco was made Head of State on 1st October 1936 as well as Generalissimo of the army, giving the Nationalists one leader and a figurehead, an important consideration for propaganda purposes- the Nationalists slogan became "One State, One Country, One Chief" (p424 Thomas) as well as strengthening the Nationalists by reducing internal divisions. The Republic never achieved anywhere near this level of unity, resulting in them being significantly weaker militarily.
One of the most decisive factors in the Nationalists victory was German and Italian military aid. Mussolini supported the Nationalists as he claimed that he was "not prepared to see the establishment of a communist state" in Spain (Thomas p353), however it is more likely that he realised the strategic advantage a right wing regime in Spain would give, as well as provide an arena for testing weapons and strategies. Hitler gave many different reasons for helping Franco, that the war would allow German rearmament to carry on unnoticed, to prevent the spread of communism, to obtain much needed Spanish iron ore and to provide an ally for submarine bases. Both Hitler and Mussolini gave their all their aid only to Franco, so as to avoid conflicts between the generals. Hitler thought that Franco would be easy to control and provide a useful ally in war; however this shows Franco's duplicity, that even when war came in Europe he managed to keep Spain out of the general conflict, much to Hitler's annoyance. As Franco was the sole beneficiary of foreign aid this greatly strengthened his armies and was another key factor in him eventually emerging as leader of the Nationalists; his many victories had been due to the superior arms and advice he was receiving rather than any exceptional military abilities. German transport planes provided the means for Franco to transport the Army of Africa across the Straights of Gibraltar as the navy had not joined the revolt.
The weaknesses of the Republicans also played a significant role in the Nationalists victory. The different groups were much more internally divided than the Nationalists and there was a low degree of unity among them. Nationalist society was based on the military and this gave their armies a lot more strength, as well as having most of the officers and experienced soldiers such as the Army of Africa. One of the central divisions in the Republic was over whether to carry out social revolution first or win the war first. The anarchist movement the CNT believed that the war was part of a social revolution whereas the communists thought the war should be won then the social revolution carried out. The socialist party was split into the left and right wings and the whole Republican movement was undermined by the separatist efforts of the Catalans and Basques. The frictions in the Republic reached boiling point several times, with a large scale fighting taking place in Barcelona between the anarchists and Republican government in May 1937 and a civil war within a civil war erupting in the Republic in the last few weeks of the war. The Republican armies were often poorly equipped and poorly disciplined, it was only the introduction of Soviet technicians that started to train the militias properly, however ideological differences often hampered their efforts. This was especially the case when training the anarchists who often refused to dig trenches or use maps as they believed it cowardly yet who would often flee under heavy shelling or bombardment. However it is inaccurate to describe all the Republican troops as this, some units were very brave and skilful, such as those defending Madrid, where a battle raged around the University City for almost the whole of the war as the Republicans held out. Consequently such troops were often easily destroyed by the more professional Nationalist army, especially by the Moroccan mercenaries in the Foreign Legion. The Army of Africa had plenty of experience fighting in war and was hardened and brutal, whereas the Nationalist armies of the mainland were mainly conscripts. As Franco was responsible for the African armies he was a lot more victorious than the other Nationalist generals, such as Mola who was commanding the armies in the north of Spain.
The Republics main source of aid was the USSR, which also resulted in it being tied to it ideologically, with the communist party receiving orders often direct from Moscow. Russian aid was of a much higher quality than German or Italian aid, for example in the first use of Russian arms, one T26 destroyed 11 Italian tanks, however this was due to their well trained Russian operators, Spaniards operated them with much less success. The dependence of the Republic on the USSR for aid and the propaganda of the Nationalists portraying the Republic as "Red" prevented other countries from wanting to help it, believing it to be a communist government, such as the Conservative Government in the UK, which often referred to "Red Spain". This resulted in the Non-Intervention Committee, a sham of an organisation that prevented aid to the Republic but allowed Germany and Italy to carry on covertly supplying the Nationalists. This also accounted for the defeat of the Republic and again was not due to Franco or any of the Nationalists but due to external affairs beyond their control but which played into their hands.
The International Brigades that flocked to help the Republic provided mainly moral support to the Republic rather than an actual military assistance. They were weakened by speaking many different languages and often being under equipped and not very well trained but were very enthusiastic and brave. 80% of them were working class and 60% initially communists, some exiles from countries such as Germany or Italy, others workers from places such as the US or UK. They were also controlled mainly by the communists and thus were disliked by the anarchists, widening the gaps in the Republic. However, many of them were experienced at street and urban fighting, more so than the Army of Africa, which while very efficient in the countryside often struggled in the cities. The International Brigades were most significant at the battle for Madrid, where almost alone they held off the Nationalists till the end of the war. Many of the soldiers of the IBs had been naïve about war and were not ready for it, resulting in increasing levels of desertion and dissatisfaction, weakening the Republican army further.
Franco was not a great military leader but rather a Machiavellian manipulator who was often in the right place at the right time and who was often very lucky. He never commanded any battles through the whole war, instead giving field command to generals he knew could never be a political rival. Thomas argues that Franco treated all the Nationalist political groups as "divisions", to be used to obtain a goal as one would use a division of troops to obtain a military goal (p931). It is unlikely that Franco would have become the leader of the Nationalists had Sanjurjo not been killed. Franco was also not a great military general as is often made out, but in fact was responsible for several blunders (such as at the Battle of Guadalajara and at Toledo) and won the war chiefly due to the large amount of German aid he received (the Italians were of little help) and the weaknesses of the Republic. The support of the church was also a critical element in Franco's victory; the movement had from the outset portrayed itself as a religious one fighting against the godlessness of the "red" Republic and ensured the support of the middle classes and the latifundi (large estate owners).
