Background of the Spanish Civil War

The background of the Spanish Civil War dates back to the end of the 19th century, when the owners of large estates, called latifundios, held most of the power in a land-based oligarchy. The landowners' power was unsuccessfully challenged by the industrial and merchant sectors. In 1868 popular uprisings led to the overthrow of Queen Isabella II of the House of Bourbon. In 1873 Isabella's replacement, King Amadeo I of the House of Savoy, abdicated due to increasing political pressure, and the short-lived First Spanish Republic was proclaimed. After the restoration of the Bourbons in December 1874, Carlists and anarchists emerged in opposition to the monarchy. Alejandro Lerroux helped bring republicanism to the fore in Catalonia, where poverty was particularly acute. Growing resentment of conscription and of the military culminated in the Tragic Week in Barcelona in 1909. After the First World War, the working class, the industrial class, and the military united in hopes of removing the corrupt central government, but were unsuccessful. Fears of communism grew. A military coup brought Miguel Primo de Rivera to power in 1923, and he ran Spain as a military dictatorship. Support for his regime gradually faded, and he resigned in January 1930. There was little support for the monarchy in the major cities, and King Alfonso XIII abdicated; the Second Spanish Republic was formed, whose power would remain until the culmination of the Spanish Civil War. Monarchists would continue to oppose the Republic.

The revolutionary committee headed by Niceto Alcalá-Zamora became the provisional government, with Zamora as the President and Head of State.^[1] The Republic had broad support from all segments of society; elections in June 1931 returned a large majority of Republicans and Socialists. With the onset of the Great Depression, the government attempted to assist rural Spain by instituting an eight-hour day and giving tenure to farm workers. Land reform and working conditions remained important issues throughout the lifetime of the Republic. Fascism remained a reactive threat, helped by controversial reforms to the military. In December a new reformist, liberal, and democratic constitution was declared. The constitution secularised the government, and this, coupled with their slowness to respond to a wave of anti-clerical violence prompted committed Catholics to become disillusioned with the incumbent coalition government.^[2] In October 1931 Manuel Azaña became Prime Minister of a minority government. The Right won the elections of 1933 following an unsuccessful uprising by General José Sanjurjo in August 1932, who would later lead the coup that started the civil war.

Events in the period following November 1933, called the "black biennium", seemed to make a civil war more likely. Alejandro Lerroux of the Radical Republican Party (RRP) formed a government with the support of CEDA and rolled back all major changes made under the previous administration, he also granted amnesty to General José Sanjurjo, who had attempted an unsuccessful coup in 1932. Some monarchists moved to the Fascist Falange Española to help achieve their aims. In response, the socialist party (PSOE) became more extreme, setting up a revolutionary committee and training the socialist youth in secret.^[3] Open violence occurred in the streets of Spanish cities and militancy continued to increase right up until the start of the civil war, reflecting a movement towards radical upheaval rather than peaceful democratic means as a solution to Spain's problems. In the last months of 1934, two government collapses brought members of the Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right (CEDA) into the government, making it more right-wing. Farm workers' wages were halved, and the military was purged of republican members and reformed. A Popular Front alliance was organised, which won the 1936 elections. Azaña led a weak minority government, but soon replaced Zamora as president in April. Prime Minister Casares failed to heed warnings of a military conspiracy involving several generals, who decided that the government had to be replaced if the dissolution of Spain was to be prevented. They organised a military coup in July, which started the Spanish Civil War.