The Spanish Civil War 3 Essay Research

The Spanish Civil War 3 Essay, Research Paper

The Spanish Civil War

In the Spanish Civil War conflict there were three types of governing: Right-wing, Left-wing, and Center. Each of the groups in these classifications was a little more or a little less extreme than the next but each side had common goals. On the right side there were Landlords, Aristocracies, the Catholic Church, Falangists Monarchists, and the Spanish National Guard (the Army) who were fighting for facsim and old world order. On the left were the Socialists, Anarchists, and the Communists who were basically the people of the country fighting for new world order and communism to a degree. In the center was the Republicans and Liberals, a minority who didn’t support one viewpoint or another. Was the overthrow of the Monarchy a good idea or did it just shake the countries’ stability. Was the Communist support beneficial. How was it a microcosm of the war in which to follow. In order to answer these questions the politics and causes of the war must be analyzed.

Causes of the Revolution and Pre War Politics:

The Rightists:

The right side consisting of the earlier mentioned groups was using three methods of governing which were Monarchy, Fascism and Dictatorship. Monarchy had been around for numerous years and King Alfonso the XIII was ruling at the time of the war. General strikes, assassinations, riots, disorders, police brutality, corruption and Army massacres of peasants had brought the Monarchy to the verge of collapse. Knowing that his government was in such peril King Alfonso turned to the Army for help. General Miguel Primo de Rivera persuaded King Alfonso to invoke a dictatorship regin saying that “Today we are resolved in moderation, but on the other hand we will not shrink from bloodshed.” (Goldston 1966, 29) This new form of government did not sit well with the workers or peasants. Due to this government many people were imprisoned or murdered and this only fuelled the revolution more. The eventual downfall of Primo de Rivera’s government was due to the financial depression of the thirties and once Rivera realized that he had no support across the country he fled to Paris where he later died. Realizing the economic and political collapse of the dictatorship Alfonso tried to return to constitutional rule but alike Rivera had no support and so fled to Rome where he died ten years later. Jose Antonio who was the son of the old dictator Primo de Rivera took over rule of the right-wing activists. He created a new party called the FALANGE which was strongly fascist. Being a fascist country increased support from Italy and Germany and, if needed arms, troops and political support would be sent to them. Having this kind of aid was a definite advantage to the right-wing Falangists and it was not put to waste.

The Leftists:

On the left-hand side was the Anarchists, Socialists, and Communists. Although the Communists started out small they grew to become a major influence in the war having as many as 250,000 members. The Anarchists consisted of mainly peasants who believed that in order to accomplish their goals force would have to be used. The Anarchists believed in organizing very small self-governing bodies and for a collective agreement to be made with all the parties. They did not believe in police or army and so their decisions would not be enforced, everything would be voluntary. The only problem with the Anarchist views is that not everybody followed the same set of ideals. Some organizers would become almost preachers and go around to villages preaching the error of their ways. One of the morals that the Anarchists did stick to is the use of force. There were many terrorist acts committed in these times and many of them attributable to the left-wing extremists.

The other social class that was part of the left-wing was the Socialists. This group contained the workers and they believed that all the factories, ship yards, mills and mines should be controlled by the people who worked in them. The Socialists believed in non violent means to get what they wanted and so used education and strike as their main tools. In the end they triumphed overall. When Alfonso fled the throne, this was the chance that the Leftists had been looking for. On April 14, 1931, the Spanish Republic was declared and the Anarchists and the Socialists signed a treaty to work together to abolish the Monarchy. Bound to not be overthrown the Socialists worked on the abolition of the government where the Anarchists continued assassinations of political leaders and strikes. On May 10, 1931, the right-wing Fascists grouped together and came up with an attempt to overthrow the new Socialist-Republican government. They set up a rally to gain support of the people for the Monarchy and in doing so attracted attention from the Anarchists. Anti church and anti monarchist groups rioted and burned down churches and newspaper offices in Madrid.

The new constitution for the Spanish republic was being drafted and this meant that the eventual extinction of the Catholic Church was imminent. This could not be done all in one fowl swoop and so it began with the withdrawal of Church-controlled education. This act further enraged the Fascists and they knew action was necessary. Yet this is only foreshadowing on what massacre was about to occur. On December 31, 1931, the new Anarchist gov