This paper will examine the background events leading up to the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s. Included in this paper will be a discussion of the Republican government and the opposition to this government, as well as the events which directly precipitated the nationwide civil war.
The principal characters in the events which led to the Civil War were numerous on all sides of the conflict. The main figures in the Republican government included Manuel Aza±a, Prime Minister and then President of Spain, and Lluis Companys, head of the Catalan government. The main figures in the Nationalist movement included General Millßn Astray, founder of the Spanish Foreign Legion; JosT Calvo Sotelo, one of the principal leaders of the Falangist movement; Francisco Franco Bahamonde, a general who became the leader of the Nationalists and eventual dictator of Spain; General Gonzalo Queipo de Llano, one of the principal military leaders of the Nationalist movement; and General JosT Sanjurjo, designated leader of the 1936 uprising who was killed in a plane crash as he was about to accept the leadership position.
The roots of the Civil War actually extend back to the early part of the 20th Century, when King Alfonso XIII ruled Spain. Initially enjoying the support of most of the Officer Corps, Alfonso initiated military actions in Morocco in order to assert Spanish control. Military support began to slip, however, as the King appointed his favorite generals to positions of command and pressured them into taking unwise actions. After the defeat of Spanish forces near Annual, Morocco in July of 1921, many generals began plotting to overthrow the King, regarding the monarchy as anachronism. (Chapters 1, 7, & 8).
King Alfonso XIII gave up power in 1931 after a series of revolts by rightist and leftist factions led to nationwide elections, in which anti-monarchy forces were victorious. This resulted in the leftist Republican government, which was in...