Historical Context
When a politically fragmented Spain held its 1931 municipal elections, it was the Republican parties who, to the surprise of many, scored a major victory.
As a result, King Alphonso XIII decided to leave the country and the new government declared Spain a Republic. This act brought to an abrupt end 300 years of rule by a wealthy aristocracy, the Catholic church, and elements of the military and business elite. Supporting the new government were urban workers, most agricultural laborers, and the educated middle class.
Nevertheless, the country remained highly polarized. The new Spanish government proceeded with land reform, and unionization. In 1934 there was widespread labor unrest, and an uprising of miners was suppressed by the military. Elections in February 1936 bought to power a Popular Front government that was supported by most groups on the left.
The socialist policies of the new government proved too much for the conservative elements in Spain and in July 1936 a carefully planned coup attempt was launched by the military. When the coup failed to take the entire country at one stroke, a bloody civil war ensued. The rebels called themselves the "Nationalists" and received support from the Fascist governments of Germany and Italy. Government loyalists called themselves the "Republicans" and were aided by the Soviet Union and leftists from the broader international community. The political and emotional reverberations of the Spanish Civil War far exceeded those of a purely national conflict; many saw the war as part of an international struggle between tyranny and democracy, fascism and freedom, or, conversely, anti-clerical communism and civilization. Idealistic volunteers from abroad formed the International Brigades that supported the Republican cause.
When early efforts to decide the conflict decisively failed, a war of attrition resulted. Such were the violent passions unleashed by the war, and so devastating were the new weapons, that civilians represented a frightening number of the losses. The Nationalists in particular conducted a conscious strategy of assassination, execution, and terror. The Spanish Civil War, often called a "dress rehearsal" for World War II, also made extensive used of propaganda as a weapon in the struggle for the minds of the people at home and abroad. By 1938, the better equipped Nationalists had pushed back the weaker Republicans. In their weariness and frustration, Republicans were also beset by internal divisions, and violence erupted within their own cities between communist, anti-communist, and anarchist factions. By March of 1939 the remaining Republican armies had begun to surrender and disband. On March 28th Nationalist forces entered Madrid under General Francisco Franco who was to lead Spain despotically until his death in 1975.
Viviana Westbrook and Ed Vermue, 2002