File:SPANISH CIVIL WAR – Part Two (36492324634).jpg

Two years before the war started, in 1934, during the Conservative era, a miner’s revolution was held in Northern Spain. Partially inspired by the French Revolution, but mostly by the Russian one, thousands of workers assaulted their landlords’ possessions and declared them for public service. In a week, General Franco (at the time serving the Republic) crushed the rebellion in one week. What happened there was the prologue of the War. Since the creation of the Republic, a group of high-rank officers, generals Mola, Sanjurjo, and Franco, had been planning a fascist-inspired far-right coup d’état against the Government. General Sanjurjo tried one, but failed and was sent into exile. But the time had changed. In 1936, it was well-known that although the generals didn’t have the full support of the common people, the Army would back a direct attack against the Republic. And so, with a Spain already frightened by the street attacks between far-right Falangists and socialist militia, the so-called Nationalists generals declared the state of war against the Republic and hold an uprising against the legitimate and elected government in 17-18 July 1936. And against all odds, the coup failed. The only zones were the coup was able to gain power were certain parts of the country were the conservative Galicia, Castile, and the cities of Sevilla and Granada, and the strategic islands of Mallorca and Ibiza. Madrid, Barcelona, Asturias, Andalucía, Valencia, and Menorca remained faithful to the Republic, and the mobilization started. Without knowing it, the war had already taken place. Franco, with the support of the Moroccan Army (which had been told that the Republic wanted to abolish Allah), was the only way the Nationalists would have a chance. But the Strait of Gibraltar prevented the fascist troops from crossing. And then, Nazi Germany and Mussolini’s Italy joined the war.

Caption: General Francisco Franco welcomes who seems to be General Mola, from a Nazi German supplied Junker-52.