Spanish Civil War 19361939

1
Spanish Civil War1936-1939
2
The Spanish Civil War

• Testing ground for new German weapons
• .and for new ideologies

3
Social and Political Instability

• Spanish Republic formed in 1931
• Anticlerical measures
• New taxes
• Land reform
• Wealthy landowners rejected it - Why?

4
Social and Political Instability

• Black Years (33 to 35)
• Right became more conservative, left became more
  violent

5
Social and Political Instability

• Radicals, Socialists, Communists formed the
  Popular Front - 1935
• Fell apart quickly
• Why??
• Fascist movement among Spanish lower middle class
  similar to Italian and German Fascists

6
Social and Political Instability

• General Francisco Franco
• Short, portly, bald
• Considered himself a warrior king

7
Loyalists vs. Nationalists

• Civil war was as savage-like as 1600s War of
  Religion
• 1/6 killed in battle
• Nationalists air raids killed mostly civilians
• Disease and malnutrition in political prisons

8
Loyalists vs. Nationalists

• Nationalists created fiestas of death
• Bull rings
• Machine-gunning intellectuals, priests, workers

9
European involvement

• Political right battled against socialism,
  communism, and anarchism
• Foreign volunteers joined Loyalists
• 20,000 foreign troops
• international brigades began defending Madrid
  in November 1936

10
European involvement

• Writers who fought with Loyalists wrote about war
• For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940)
• Homage to Catalonia (1938)

11
Francos Forces

• Franco advantage over Loyalists
• Loyalists lacked necessities
• Out of date equipment
• Peasants illiterate
• Anarchist workers
• Foreign volunteers
• Not enough help from western countries

12
European involvement

• British government refused to get involved
• France feared a widened conflict
• Soviet Union only country to aid the Spanish
  Republic with tanks, airplanes, supplies
• Why is this so important to know????

13
Italy and Germanys role

• German and Italian assistance was key
• Italy sent 100,000 troops (but were easily
  defeated)
• Italian pilots destroyed Loyalists supply lines

14
Italy and Germanys role

• Hitler sent
• planes
• guns
• munitions
• supplies
• trained nationalist pilots
• trained personnel

15
Italy and Germanys role

• April 26, 1937 bombed Guernica

16
(No Transcript)
17
(No Transcript)
18
(No Transcript)
19
Franco

• 1939
• Britain and France recognized Francos Regime

20
Francos Dictatorship

• Caudillo
• authoritarian dictatorship
• support of army, Church, wealthy landowners (all
  had opposed the republic)
• How was Franco NOT a typical Fascist?

21
Francos Dictatorship

• Not an expansionist
• Allowed Catholic Church some control

22
European impact of Spanish Civil War

• Germany and Italy closer together
• October 1936, Mussolini signed pact with Hitler

23
European impact of Spanish Civil War

• Mussolini visits Berlin in fall of 1937
• German interests were in the Eastern Europe
• Italy could have the Mediterranean