Account For The Outbreak Of Spanish Civil

War In July 1936 Essay, Research Paper

To account for the outbreak of the Spanish civil war in July 1936, we must look carefully at all the possible reasons behind the outbreak of war. We must examine carefully the long-term problems and divisions within Spain and Spanish society, and then we must have a look at the intermediate problems of the Second Republic 1931-36. Finally we must look a the immediate problems just before the war started and look carefully at the military revolt against the republic July 1936, before we are able to draw a conclusion on the causes of the war.

Throughout all of Spain’s history there have been numerous social groups that have caused unrest and turmoil. Due to a lack of solutions being found to solve these evident problems, in July 1936 Spain erupted into a fierce civil war.

In the years 1930 and 1931 3 different wars had been started in Spain, with the majority of this fighting being created by the various social groups in Spain. These groups can be split into 5 main separate groups, the Anarchists who were a group of anti-clerical peasants who led numerous strikes against businesses and plotted assassinations against government officials. The second group is the Spanish army who refused to support any change in Spanish government. The third group was known as the separatists, the Basques and Catalonians who wanted independence from Spain. The fourth group is the church officials who held a more powerful position on the government that they were more influential than the King was. The final group is the big landowners who refused to accept any change in government, as they feared losing their land to land reform. For many years these groups fought among themselves, and lots of tension grew between the divisions. To add to these problems the current king of Spain King Alfonso XIII was a very weak King whose power in Spain was being undermined by the Catholic Church. However 1923-30 the King was only a figurehead, as during this time Spain was being ruled by a dictator called General Primo de Rivera. Resulting from the dictatorship, the poor people and the socialist groups in Spain felt that a republic or a type of democracy was needed. Thus in April 1931 the Second Republic was formed, Primo de Rivero was removed from power and the King was exiled. Spain was backward and all areas of the country and hierarchy were divided.

The poor republic that had been created known as the Second Republic of Spain was inefficient and turned out to be the catalyst for the civil was in 1936-39. All of the working class; liberals and the progressives supported the new republic, while the church; major landowners and anyone who saw change as anti-religious was against the republic. The Spanish civil was occurred as a result of the supporters of the republic who wanted change and the people against the republic who didn’t want any change.

The Second Republic’s attempts to deal with all the problems surrounding the republic alienate the right who thus became politically organised, but these measures weren’t enough to appease the Left who in turn became divided. From the start of the Second Republic they were up against as it was still the industrial; clerical; large land-owners and military oligarchy who controlled Spain in 1931. The republic needed

full support from revolutionists or people who desired political economic and social change.

The new constitution that was produced in December 1931 delivered a very controversial document, that contained many articles to provoke attack from many influential Spaniards. It included some anti-clerical clauses and declared that Spain is a “Republic of workers of all classes”, these clauses were seen as very socialist which many important people disliked greatly for they had a lot to lose. However the substantial part of the document reflected the views of middle-class Left Republicanism.

The army played quite a substantial part in the failure of the second republic. For when 8,000 officers retired on full pay there was great strain put upon the Spanish economy. The republic abolished special legal powers that the army had previously had, thus causing uproar in the army ranks. Some officers began to plot against the republic, for they saw the republic as anti-military and not firm enough on issues over regionalism and public order. This came to a head in August 1932 when there was military revolt led by General Sanjuro, the revolt was largely unsuccessful however it served as a significant “straw in the wind” (M. Blinkhorn).

The republic was grossly out of the Catholic Church’s favour after it launched a great attack upon the influential position held by the church. The republic’s constitution declared that Spain no longer had an official religion, and guaranteed freedom of worship to everyone. The constitution also ended state support for the salaries of the clergy; it dissolved Jesuits and also banned many other orders from industry; commerce and education. Some of the most hurtful clauses handed out to attack the church were that divorce was made legal and also that civil marriage was made legal. Within the following 18 months the government failed to crush the outbursts of church burning and anti-clerical violence in the streets of Madrid and other cities which outraged the church. The republic also moved quickly in order to expel the old church s