What Were the Causes and Concequences of the Spanish Civil War?

The Spanish Civil War had been majorly caused by a series of long-term events and short-term events which had contributed to its outbreak in July 17th, 1936. The consequences of the Spanish Civil War may be divided in terms of its effect on Spain and its effect upon the rest of the world. Paul Preston argues that the war had been influenced by a series of events, which had built up until the final eruption of the war in 1936. Preston argues that the social tension in Spain during the 19th and early 20th century had contributed to the outbreak of the war.

The differences between the Socialists, Nationalists, Anarchists and the Republicans had created a very tense atmosphere in Spain. Moreover, the failure of the political system to address these tensions meant that they festered in to the 20th century making civil war more likely in a country with a very violent past. Paul Preston claims that Spain’s 19th and early 20th century played a significant role in the causes of the Spanish Civil War. Preston argues that there was a build-up to social tension due to Spain’s late industrialization and due to Spain’s failure to follow Britain’s and France’s economic and political development.

Spain’s refusal to enter the First World War had benefited her. Spain was able to sell to the Entente and allied powers, causing the boom of her coal, steel and ship building industries. However, Basque and Catalan industrialists wanted more political influence. Workers were angered because the export industry had led to shortages. The army was also angry about the loss of Cuba in 1898 and begun to offer themselves as a reforming institution. This increased political and social tension. The landed class was under the threat of a possible takeover from an unlikely alliance of the army, the capitalists and the workers.

Preston argues that such an alliance could have brought the changes that Spain required. However, the failure of the political system to address these tensions meant that they would continue to fester. Spain had suffered a variety of political changes during the 19th century which continued to worsen the political tension is Spain. From 1873 to 1874 Spain had formed its first republican government, however, soon after the Spanish monarchy had been restored by the hands of General Pavia.

The Restoration was the name given to the period that began on the 29th of December, 1874 after the First Spanish Republic ended with the restoration of the monarchy under Alfonso XII. The system of “turnismo” had represented the deliberate rotation of the two political parties that had emerged during the 1970’s: Conservatives, which represented the oil and olive growers, and Liberals, who represented wheat growers. The workers and the industrialists were not represented. The system of Caciquismo ensured that the interests of the landowners dominated – this was ensured through fixed elections and labor exchanges which favored local landlords.

The Latifundo System had also left a deep resentment from the Spanish peasantry. Traditionally, the Latifundos had been owned by the aristocracy and the church. These institutions adopted the peasantry who lived on their land. However, due to Royal Financial problems, the land had been sold during the 1840s, reading new landlords who desired the profitability of their land to increase. This had caused the exploitations of the poor land laborers. There was a failure to address these problems, which created resentment towards the landlords and the system.

Political destabilization had been caused by a series of attacks in Barcelona. The years from 1919 to 1921 were marked by several terrorist attacks in Barcelona, accompanied by socialist strikes in industrial Spain and land riots in the rural parts. These years were known as the Bolchevique Trienio. In 1923 Primo de Rivera established a military dictatorship hoping to bring stability to Spain. However, his regime failed. Preston argues Primo de Rivera alienated the industrialists, landowners and the army, while failing to address the social and economic problems of Spain.

Primo de Rivera’s fate resumed in the landowners deserting him while he attempted to introduce arbitration committees for worker’s wages and conditions. On one hand, it can be argued that the unfairness and failure to address the diverse concerns of its people had caused the Spanish Political system to lose the elections of April 1931. On the other hand, the gains that liberals and socialists made in the 1931 elections had aided their popularity in Spain. The king was advised to abdicate by the military and Spain became a republic once again, over the short period of half a century.

Preston argues that Spain’s social tensions had grown in the period between the two republics, yet nobody was anticipating a civil war in the April of 1931. Preston also argues that the Spanish Civil War and its outbreak is best explained by analyzing the events from 1931-1936. The different aims of the moderate republicans, socialists and anarchists clashed, causing tension. Things had worsened when the united right (The CEDA party) won the elections in 1933. However, several reforms of the left were deeply hated the Right. The army and the church also resented these reforms.

There was a general belief that a united coalition against the left could defeat the threat of socialism in the 1933 elections. However, the right failed to do so as the coalition had fallen apart. Tension began to rise as the CEDA coalition failed. Preston argues that the reforms from 1931 to 1933 raised the expectations of the Spanish people and hence, the attempts by the CEDA to introduce counter reform measures which turned back the clock and which were met with fierce resistance. This resistance created a revolutionary climate that polarized Spanish politics and are war more likely.

The Anarchists organized a national uprising of workers in December 1933. The army quickly smashed it. In 1934 Asturias miners organized a strike, which once again, was smashed by the army. The Spanish society was in crisis. The government was not strengthened by the divisions within the popular front. The unions demanded radical reform, yet the government remained reluctant to pursue radical reforms as it feared that this might trigger a military coup. This caused the political system to reach a deadlock and remain helpless towards a soon-coming social crisis. Spain soon descended into violence.

From March until July Spain descended into a series of violent events. In March 9th, Falangist revolutionaries attacked families in Granada. A Day after, left wing protestors set the offices of the right wing newspaper on fire. May 1936 had been marked by several invasions by peasants in which estates in Jaen and Cordoba were invaded and crops were stolen. Spain had reached a critical situation when on the 12th of July, Falangists shot Jose Del Castillo, and member of the republican army – a day after, Socialists killed Calo Soleto in an act of revenge for Castillo’s killing.

These two consecutive murders marked the rivalry between socialists and Falangists and triggered reluctant generals, like Franco, to support General Mola on a military coup. On the 17th and 18th of July the plotting generals seized garrisons in Morocco and Las Palmas. The civil war had now begun. The Spanish Civil War had led to terrible consequences for the Spanish people. Historians are in agreement that foreign contemporaries often misunderstood the civil war as a battle between democracy ad fascism, when in reality; it had been a complex chapter in Spain’s history. The social consequences for Spain had been atrocious.

The civil war had led to 325,000 deaths overall. At the end of the war almost half a million Spaniards were forced into exile. Spain also lost come of its greatest political leaders as Azana and Largo and some of its most symbolic and beautiful voices – Lorca. Furthermore, the war had brought terror to the Spanish people. For example, in Malaga, the terror had been inflicted on the Spanish people by their own people. Although arguable, the Condor Legion of Germany had committed the greatest acts of terror in 1939. The Condor Legion bombed the Basque town of Guernica on the 26th of April 1937.

The bombing raid took place for three and a half hours, without any pauses, and left the town completely destroyed. For Spain the effects of the terror was to strengthen the position of the nationalists. Franco had leant from his days in Africa that loyalty can be installed without fear. Politically, Spanish society was polarized by the war. The war resulted in a nationalist victory for Franco and his supporters. Traditional institutions as the police, army, judiciary and the Catholic Church found their power restored in Franco´s new regime. Franco also embarked on a policy of Limpieza from 1939 onwards.

Those who had opposed France during the war were not criminals in the country (Law of Political Responsibility, 1939). Historians estimate that Francoists executed at least 150,000 during and after the war. Victory for the Francoist side brought economic and political isolation for Spain until the 950s and the denial of basic rights until the late 1970s. Spain also suffered certain cultural changes: the Catalan and Basque Languages were banned. Regionalisms were strengthened as a result of the war. The Catholic Church resumed its role at the center of Spanish society. The Civil War also prevented Spain from intervening in the Second

World War. The war had also stained Spain with hard economic conditions. The republican government had to pay for Stalin’s assistance with gold reserves. The nationalists gained the support of Italy and Germany though credit agreements. However the length of the war and the financial agreements that both sides make with the foreign powers left Spain in a very weak financial position, causing Spain choosing not to enter WW2. Franco had developed very strong connections with Hitler and Mussolini, however due to the cost of the war; he couldn’t join the Anti-Committer Pact in 1939.

Franquist-Spain had faced an isolated figure in international affairs several years later. Inflation had served as another economic causality in the war, which had caused Spain to remain in economic isolation for another decade. In 1951 wages were still 60% of the ones in 1936. However, Preston argues that Franco’s anticommunist stance attracted foreign investment in the Cold War era. This investment led to Spain’s recovery that would ultimately unleash the democratic forces that Franco had attempted to suppress during his rule.

The Spanish civil war had also stained the situation outside of Spain; some historians argue that the consequences of the Spanish Civil War displayed a greater significance for the world than for Spain. Foreign powers, particularly Germany, Italy and the USSR, exploited the war for their own gains. The war had cost Germany in terms of military and financial support, yet Germany won access to Spain’s mineral reserves in return for the assistance given to Franco. This helped Hitler’s war effort from 1940 onward; however, these were completely stopped in 1944. The civil war also affected Germany’s foreign politics.

Similarly to Germany, Italy had received fewer gains than expected. Italy had also been overpowered by Germany. The Italian-German ratio of soldiers fighting in the Spanish Civil war was 4:1. Mussolini had invested heavily in this war, but the result was a hollow victory which prevented him, due to financial costs, from entering the Second World War alongside his Pact of Steel ally in 1939. However, Mussolini’s and Hitler’s friendship continued to grow. The league’s mishandling of the Abyssinian crisis had driven Mussolini towards Hitler but the Spanish Civil war and its apparent Right versus Left ideology seemed to ement their relationship. The result of their involvement in terms of the outbreak of WW2 had also been significant.

Although Spain decided to remain neutral in the Second World War, the nationalist victory altered the European Geopolitical map in 1939. France seemed to be surrounded by a united Fascist front consisting of Franco, Hitler and Mussolini. Meanwhile, Britain’s dominance of the Mediterranean had been threatened by the possibility of an Italian-Spanish alliance. Foreign intervention in the war had also led to the development of new methods of fighting.

Hitler’s bombing in Guernica, 1937, had been a successful attempt to terrorize the enemy. Perhaps the devastation of the Basque town influenced Chamberlain to appease the final Munich agreement in 1938. The Spanish Civil War did not only damage Spain thoroughly, but also spread out of Spain. Italy and Germany had suffered negative effects from the Civil War. IT is also arguable that the Spanish Civil War had served as one of the long-term causes for the outbreak of the Second World War. Paul Preston argues that the Spanish Civil War was unpredictable.

Although one may argue that Spain’s conditions between the 19th and early 20th century may have marked the possibility of a civil war: The feeling of impotence, tension between several political groups and an a lengthy array of violent events had left a bitter atmosphere even before the Civil War erupted. Certainly, the war had been one of the bloodiest ones Spain had witnessed in a long time. It left a weak Spain, full of damages and losses – only in recent years have relative of the executed (by Franco’s Limpieza policy) started to learn where their loved ones are buried.