Final offensive of the Spanish Civil War

Final offensive
Part of the Spanish Civil War
Map of Spain in February 1939.   Republican territory   Nationalist territory
Date Casado's coup: 5–13 March 1939 Final offensive: 26 March – 1 April 1939 Location Southeastern Spain (provinces of Madrid, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Albacete, Valencia, Alicante, Murcia, Jaen, Almeria, and parts of Toledo, Guadalajara, Granada and Castellon) Result Nationalist victory, end of the war Dissolution of the Second Spanish Republic and beginning of the Francoist regime
Belligerents
Spanish Republic	Nationalist Spain Condor Legion[1] CTV
Commanders and leaders
Negrín's Government: Luis Barceló  Francisco Galán  Antonio Ortega  Council of National Defense: Segismundo Casado Manuel Matallana  José Miaja Cipriano Mera	Francisco Franco Juan Yagüe José Solchaga Rafael García Valiño Gastone Gambara
Strength
250,000[2]−500,000 men[3] 40 aircraft	1,000,000 men[4] 600 aircraft
Casualties and losses
Casado's coup: 230[5]–2,000 killed[6] Final offensive: 150,000 captured[7]	1,476 killed (sinking of the Castillo de Olite)[8]

The final offensive of the Spanish Civil War took place between 26 March and 1 April 1939, towards the end of the Spanish Civil War. On 5 March 1939, the Republican Army, led by Colonel Segismundo Casado and the politician Julián Besteiro, rose against the socialist prime minister Juan Negrín, and formed a military junta, the National Defence Council (Consejo Nacional de Defensa or CND) to negotiate a peace deal. Negrín fled to France but the communist troops around Madrid rose against the junta, starting a civil war within the civil war. Casado defeated them and started peace negotiations with the Nationalists. Francisco Franco, however, was willing to accept only an unconditional surrender. On 26 March, the Nationalists started a general offensive and by 31 March, they controlled all of Spanish territory. Hundreds of thousands of Republicans were arrested and interned in concentration camps.