CAUSES OF THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR

The Spanish civil war was a war between rebels

(known as Nationalists) and the Spanish Republic
and its Republican government and supporters. It
took place in July 1936 and ended in a defeat of the
Republican cause, followed by the dictatorship of
Francisco Franco in 1939.
On July 17th, 1936 there was a conservative rebellion
against the recently-elected leftist Popular Front
government of Spain, led by Manuel Azaña, who was
the president of the Republic.

Manuel Azaña (born January 10, 1880, Alcalá de

Henares, Spain—died November 4, 1940,
Montauban, France), Azaña studied law in Madrid
and became a civil servant, journalist, and writer.
In 1930 he began to organize a liberal republican
party, (Acción Republicana), in opposition to the
dictatorship of General Miguel Primo de Rivera. He
signed the Pact of San Sebastián (August 1930), an
alliance of republicans, socialists, and the Catalan
left that called for the abdication of King Alfonso XIII.
When Alfonso left Spain after the municipal elections
of April 1931, this group became the provisional
government. As minister of war in the new
government, Azaña drastically reduced the army
establishment. During the drafting of Spain’s new
constitution, he adopted clauses restricting the rights
of the clergy, establishing secular education, allowing
the redistribution of land, and fully emancipation of
women. When the anticlerical clauses of the new
constitution caused the resignation of the Prime
Minister, Niceto Alcalá Zamora, in October 1931,
Azaña became prime minister until September 1933.
In 1935 Azaña formed the Popular Front, a coalition
that included liberals, socialists, and communists. In
the elections of February 1936 they won and he
again formed a government. When the Cortes
(parliament) decided to remove President Alcalá
Zamora, Azaña was elected president (May 1936).
With the victory in 1939 of the Nationalist forces
under General Francisco Franco, Azaña went into
exile in France, where he died.
Apart from the deep political division in Spain we
have to consider other reasons:
1. Agriculture
Spain was an agricultural country, the great majority
of the land belonged to a few rich people, and the
rest of the peasants were very poor.
2. The Church
The power and wealth of the Catholic Church was
cut by the government and a lot of people were not
very happy with this action.
3. The Army
The power of the army was also reduced by Azaña,
so they wanted to recover their privileges.
4. Regionalism
Spain is a country divided by rivers and mountain
ranges with distinct languages and traditions in many
areas. Both the Basques and the Catalans wanted to
control their own affairs. Republicans sympathized
with their demands while conservatives opposed
them.
The leaders of the rebellion were the generals
Francisco Franco, Emilio Mola and Jose Sanjurjo,
who was the leader, but he was killed in a plane
crash, then, Franco became the leader. He flew from
the Canary Islands to the Spanish colonies in
Morocco and took command there.