The Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil War began in July 1936 when a faction of the army led by General Franco mutinied against the republican government led by Manuel Azaņa. Prior to this, the country had already coalesced into Left and Right camps.

Although the allegiances were not always clear-cut, the Left, also known as Loyalist or Republican, consisted of the Spanish government, trade unions, workers, peasants, Socialists, Communists, and anarchists. The Right, also called Nationalist, was supported by rebellious factions of the army, business, landowners, the middle class, and the Catholic Church.

For various and somewhat contradictory reasons, the Loyalists were supported by the Soviet Union while the Nationalists were armed and equipped by Nazi Germany

It was a fierce and bloody struggle, but the Nationalists were better organized and received extensive aid from Germany. The Loyalists, on the other hand, received much less assistance from the Soviet Union, and they were divided by internal conflicts between Communist, Socialist and anarchist rivalry. Many non-Spaniards from Europe and North America fought for the Republic in the International Brigades. Ultimately, however, the Nationalists won.

English writer, George Orwell, author of 1984 and Animal Farm, was nearly killed when he was shot through the throat. The American author, Ernest Hemingway, whose sympathies lay with the Republic, covered the war as a correspondent for the North American Newspaper Alliance.

Click here for an interesting website on the Spanish Civil War that includes an extensive and excellent archive of war posters. The site is run by a group of students at the University of California at San Diego.

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