Spanish Civil War

Dolores Ibarruri

12/9/1895-11/12/1989 a Spanish Republican heroine of the Spanish Civil War and communist politician of Basque origin, known for her famous slogan ¡No Pasarán! during the Battle for Madrid in November 1936 (they shall not pas) published in 1918 an article in a newspaper called El Minero Vizcaino, using for the first time the pseudonym La Pasionaria. Two years later she joined the newly formed Spanish Communist Party. After a turbulent career, in which she was jailed several times for political activities, she emerged as one of the Communist deputies in the Republican parliament and, by the outbreak of the Civil War in 1936, had become a national figure. A sometimes violent radio and street orator, she made such famous exhortations as "It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees" (July 1936). With Francisco Franco's victory in 1939 she escaped by plane to the Soviet Union, where over the years she represented her party at Kremlin congresses, until Santiago Carrillo succeeded her as secretary-general in 1960. Though reputed to be an old-line Stalinist, she protested the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.

Nationalists

A member of a political group advocating or fighting for national independence, a strong national government

Condor Legion

A unit composed of volunteers from the German Air Force and from the German Army which served with the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War of July 1936 to March 1939.

King Alfonso XIII

Alfonso relished his position of authority. He continued the system of alternating conservative and liberal governments (based on continued elections), but he increasingly intervened in politics in order to rotate governments. The result was political instability; 33 governments were formed in Spain between 1902 and 1923, and the parliamentary system was steadily discredited. Alfonso's popularity also suffered, and the notorious attempt on his life and that of his bride, Victoria Eugenia of Battenberg, on their wedding day (May 31, 1906) was followed by a constant succession of plots to assassinate him. His great personal courage in the face of these attacks, however, won him considerable admiration

Primo de Rivera

Creator of the Falange. Dictator of Spain between first and second republics of Spain. (1923 to 1930) He ruled Spain during the 1920's. His "republican" government enacted a series of social, political, and economic reforms and abolished the monarchy. Overthrown to establish the second republic.

Francisco Largo Caballero

Francisco Largo Caballero was a Spanish politician and trade unionist. He was one of the historic leaders of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party and of the Workers' General Union. In 1936 and 1937 Caballero served as the Prime Minister of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War

Francisco Franco

H At dawn on July 18, 1936, Franco's manifesto acclaiming the military rebellion was broadcast from the Canary Islands, and the same morning the rising began on the mainland He led rebellion against Spanish government and took control as dictator for the rest of his life. He remained neutral in world war 2 and was relatively moderate in his policies. He discouraged political parties and used them only for government purposes. Economy and well being of the country improved during his rule and their was no rebellion after he took over. Used many democratic policies although he maintained a lot of power as head of state

General Sanjurjo

He joined the Spanish Army and served in Morocco where he reached the rank of lieutenant general. When he returned to Spain he became director of the Civil Guard. An opponent of Alfonso XIII he supported the establishment of the Second Republic in 1931. However, he was not rewarded by President Manuel Azaña who demoted him to the post of chief of the Customs Guards. In 1932 Sanjuro led an attempted military coup against the government. He was arrested, tried, and sentenced to death. This was later commuted to life in prison and in 1934 he was released and sent into exile.

Spanish Civil War

In 1936 a rebellion erupted in Spain after a coalition of Republicans, Socialists, and Communists was elected. General Francisco Franco led the rebellion. The revolt quickly became a civil war. The Soviet Union provided arms and advisers to the government forces while Germany and Italy sent tanks, airplanes, and soldiers to help Franco.

The Ebro Offensive

Last major military operation. Republican areas shrunk. Objective was to reconnect Madrid/Barcelona, and get more international involvement. Nationalists won, killed thousands of republicans. The battle of the Ebro (1938) is a singular military episode in the Spanish Civil War . It was an offensive initiated by the Republican forces an fording the river, and ended, after 116 days of intense combat, with the retreat of the Republican army from the Ebro

Manuel Azana

Radical left Prime Minister of the Second Spanish Republic, anti-religious, influenced greatly by communism and the soviet union. His government introduced measures that transferred right-wing military leaders such as Francisco Franco to posts outside Spain, he outlawed the Falange Española and granted Catalonia political and administrative autonomy.

Neutrality Acts of 1935, 1936, and 1937

Short-sighted acts passed in 1935, 1936, and 1937 in order to prevent American participation in a European War. Among other restrictions, they prevented Americans from selling munitions to foreign belligerents.

Guadalajara

The Battle of Guadalajara saw the People's Republican Army defeat Italian and Nationalist forces attempting to encircle Madrid during the Spanish Civil War. The Nationalist forces involved in the Battle of Guadalajara were primarily the Italian Corps of Volunteer Troops.

International Brigades

The International Brigades were paramilitary units set up by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The organisation existed for two years, from 1936 until 1938

PSUC

The PSUC was formed on 23 July 1936 through the unification of four left-wing groups; the Catalan Federation of Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), the Partit Comunista de Catalunya (Communist Party of Catalonia, the Catalan branch of the Communist Party of Spain, PCE), the Unió Socialista de Catalunya (Socialist Union of Catalonia) and the Partit Català Proletari (Proletarian Catalan Party). Burnett Bolloten estimates that at unification, the party numbered some 2,500 members.[1] Nine months later, the party ranks had swollen to 50,000 members.The PSUC became the major defender of the Catalan middle classes against land seizures advocated by the rival National Confederation of Labour and Workers' Party of Marxist Unification, organizing 18,000 tradesmen and artisans into the Catalan Federation of Small Businessmen and Manufacturers

Republicans

The Republican faction, also known as the Loyalist faction, was the side in the Spanish Civil War of 1936 to 1939 that supported the elected government of the Second Spanish Republic against the far-right Nationalist or rebel faction of the military rebellion.

Madrid

The Siege of Madrid was a two and a half year siege of the Spanish capital city of Madrid, during the Spanish Civil War of 1936 to 1939. Madrid was held by various forces loyal to the Spanish Republic and was besieged and subject to aerial bombardment by the rebel faction under General Francisco Franco

POUM

The Workers Party of Marxist Unification (POUM) was formed by Andres Nin and Joaquin Maurin in 1935. A revolutionary anti-Stalinist Communist party it was strongly influenced by the political ideas of Leon Trotsky. The group supported the collectivization of the means of production and agreed with Trotsky's concept of permanent revolution. As a result of Maurin's involvement, POUM was very strong in Catalonia. In most areas of Spain it made little impact and in 1935 POUM is estimated to have only around 8,000 members.

Trotskyites

Trotsky's theory of "permanent revolution" held that, historically, an economic system had to be seen as a world system rather than a national one. All national economic development was affected by the laws of the world market, even though such regional factors as location, population, available resources, and pressure from surrounding countries made the rate of development different in each country. Thus, in Trotsky's view, the Russian Revolution, to be permanently successful, would have to depend on revolutions in other countries, particularly in western Europe. His theory also emphasized the hegemony of the working class over the revolutionary class because of their strategic position in industry and other advanced sectors of the economy. Trotskyites were supporters of this theory

Guernica

a Spanish town that was brutally bombed and was full of innocent civilians it was supposed to encourage fear, Picasso painted a famous painting capturing Guernica

anarcho-syndicalism

a theory of anarchism which views revolutionary industrial unionism or syndicalism as a method for workers in capitalist society to gain control of an economy and, with that control, influence broader society.

Second Spanish Republic

democratic period from 1931-1939; republic was greeted by some jubilee (modernity and democracy) and by others with fears (atheism, menace to Spanish unity); after far left party wins elections in 1936, there is a polarization of fears in Spain and a right wing group starts planning the coup that will lead to the Civil War. The Republic was tasked with seeking solutions to four pressing issues: 1. Agrarian reform, 2. Regional autonomy, principally Catalan, 3. Addressing the role of the Catholic Church and 4. Military reform. Agrarian reform immediately came up against entrenched, powerful landed interests, Catalan autonomy was anathema to centralist Castile and the military, the Church had long enjoyed wide-ranging privileges which it saw threatened, and the military, especially the army, objected to reforms pushed by politicians.

Latifundia

in Latin America, large agricultural estates owned by families or corporations Another presence that caused unrest in the country side of Spain was the 'disease' of latifundia, which, in essence were farms that were much too large. The rich owned all the land and poor labourers earned their living by hiring themselves out by the day, month or season.

Popular Front

in Spain's Second Republic was an electoral coalition and pact signed in January 1936 by various left-wing political organizations, instigated by Manuel Azaña for the purpose of contesting that year's election. This party was designed in order to keep communist voting to a minimum

Rebels

individuals who reject society's approved goals and means and instead create and work toward their own (sometimes revolutionary) goals using new means, in the case of Spain the rebels led a revolt that was unsuccessful and were not very influential leading up to the war

Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera

son of famous dictator; represented Falange party until imprisoned and killed by the government, founded the falange party but was not successful

Loyalists

the Loyalist faction was the side in the Spanish Civil War of 1936 to 1939 that supported the elected government of the Second Spanish Republic against the far-right Nationalist or rebel faction of the military rebellion.[1] The name Republicans (republicanos) was mainly used by its members and supporters, while its opponents used the term Rojos (reds) to refer to this faction due to its left-leaning ideology, including communist and anarchist groups, and was supported by the Soviet Union.

Jarama

was an attempt by General Francisco Franco's Nationalists to dislodge the Republican lines along the river Jarama, just east of Madrid, during the Spanish Civil War. Elite Spanish Legionnaires and Moroccan Regulares from the Army of Africa forced back the Republican Army of the Centre, including the International Brigades, but after days of fierce fighting no breakthrough was achieved. Republican counterattacks along the captured ground likewise failed, resulting in heavy casualties to both sides

Comintern

was an international Communist organization founded in Moscow in March 1919. The International intended to fight "by all available means, including armed force, for the overthrow of the international bourgeoisie and for the creation of an international Soviet republic as a transition stage to the complete abolition of the State." Made Russia communist and enabled them to support all communist causes.