July 18 marks the 80th anniversary of the start of Spain’s deadly civil war.
Still within living memory for a great many, the wound it inflicted on the country has yet to close.
On July 18, 1936 a number of army generals mounted a coup against the unsteady and insecure young republic government which itself was the progeny of civil unrest.
Military units in some regions of the country supported the coup while others, particularly in leading cities, failed to wrest control from the government. This fissure left Spain deeply divided.
At the time General Francisco Franco (pictured) commanded the army in the Spanish protectorate of Morocco. He led his African troops onto the mainland, with the military uprising in Seville and occupation of the city one of earliest incidents of the brutal war.
The stage was set for battle between the supporters of the left-leaning Republic government and those behind the Nationalists, which started as it meant to go on. Within days thousands of Republicans in Seville were imprisoned and within weeks as many as 3,000 reported to have been executed, many outside the walls of the Macarena district.
Other towns in the province were quickly occupied and by August the rebel troops began fanning out through Extremadura, determined to take Madrid.
There followed three years of bloody combat as well as deadly reprisals in the thousands committed by both sides against civilians, including unionists, socialists and their families as well as priests, nuns and members of the ruling class.
"We must create an atmosphere of terror... by eliminating all those who don't think like us without any misgivings or hesitation," rebel general Gonzalo Queipo de Llano – leader of the Seville garrison - called in a radio address in July 1936.
The USSR and Mexico were the only countries which openly supported the Republic while the dictatorships of Germany (Hitler) and Italy (Mussolini) backed the rebel troops. Hitler quickly sent aircraft to transport troops and later to bomb cities, the most notorious of which was Guernica in the Basque Country.
Portuguese dictator Antonio Salazar was reported to have supplied Franco with ammunition and logistical help, but fell short it seems of giving official approval for fear of provoking social unrest. Portuguese volunteers, called “Viriatos”, provided between 8,000 and 12,000 men to fight alongside Nationalist forces.
The UK and France demurred from providing assistance as they were apprehensive of kicking off another world war.
In 1939 Generalissimo Franco declared victory on 1 April and retained power until he died in 1975.
Spanish civil war expert Paul Preston estimated that 200,000 people were killed in combat during the war and another 200,000 were murdered or executed during the conflict and its immediate aftermath. The Nationalists were responsible for some 150,000 of these deaths.
A further 400,000 Spaniards fled into exile when the Republic finally bled to death in March 1939.
Five months later, Hitler marched into Poland on 1 September. Within two days, France and Britain declared war on Germany. The German invasion triggered Soviet intervention and the Red Army entered Poland on 17 September, meeting up with the victorious German troops. Poland was carved into two by the Germans and the Soviets.
Comments
It was in Portugal´s interest that the neighboring government should not be Communist or Socialist, but should be one more nearly aligned with Salazar´s own anti-iberal and rightist views.
It is arguable that without this immediate support by Portugal, the rebel cause would have failed.