Spanish Civil War

map from ILN 1943/04/24 - bg
poster
Franco
Little Civil War
Stalin in peasant jacket 1936/04/23, from FDRL
Lincoln Brigade
Robert Merriman

Italian soldiers in Spain, ILN 1939/03/04
"Moment of Death" by Capa
Robert Capa 1944 article
"Guernica" by Picasso from Reina Sofia
tapestry copy of "Guernica" donated by Nelson Rockefeller estate has hung in UN hallway outside Security Council since 1985 (AP 2/03)

1931 - Spanish Republic proclaimed April 14 - end of the monarchy

1st dimension = a civil conflict

1933 elections - won by conservatives

1934 General Strike

1936 elections - social revolutionaries won narrow victory Feb. 16

July 17, 1936 - revolt of the Morocco garrison

by Nov, Republicans in defensive positions - triangle of 3 cities (as well as Basque)

2nd dimension = international conflict

Italy & Germany = pro-Nationalist

France = pro-Republican (under new Leon Blum & Popular Front)

Russia = pro-Republican; aid began after Oct. 1936

3rd dimension = ideological conflict

Abraham Lincoln Brigade from U.S.

Robert Capa's photos
- "Moment of Death" published in Life magazine 1937/07/12)
Ernest Hemingway's novels
- in 1940 publishedFor Whom the Bell Tolls
George Orwell - came home disillusioned
- in 1938 published Homage to Catalonia about Republican dissension, communist deceit
- in 1949 pub'd 1984 - about totalitarianism

1937 reached crisis - defense of Madrid ag. 4 converging fascist columns

Germany tests new weapons

Guernica bombed Apr. 26, 1937

May 31, 1937 - German warships killed 19 in a bombardment of the Republican coastal town of Almeria, in retaliation for the bombing of the German battleship Deutschland, and in June, after the German cruiser Leipzig claimed it was attacked by Republican submarines, Germany and Italy withdrew from the joint naval patrol that had been established by the Non-Intervention Committee in April.

mid-1938 - Stalin decided to stop aid to Republicans

Jan. 1939 - Barcelona fell
Feb. 10, 1939 - Catalonia fell
March - Valencia and Madrid fell
100,000's refugees fled Spain for France, North Africa, Mexico

Franco's rule was harsh; imprisoned 1 million after end of war
According to Ambass. Willard Beaulac's memoirs, Franco became a "silent ally" of U.S. during WWII
U.S. recognized Franco April 3, 1939

U.S. Response: Jan. 6, 1937 - Mandatory Spanish Arms Embargo passed

FDR's inauguration Jan. 20, from FDRL

May 1 - FDR signed 1937 Neutrality Act

  1. mandatory arms embargo with belligerents
  2. mandatory travel ban on belligerent ships
  3. mandatory loan ban to belligerents
  4. mandatory ban on arming of American merchant ships trading with belligerents
  5. discretionary cash-and-carry for 2 years (Bernard Baruch's plan to allow trade with belligerents in non-contraband goods if paid in cash and carried in foreign ships)

Links:

Films:


<-- --> | WWII Timeline start | Links | Topics | Pictures | Maps | Documents | Bibliography | revised 3/1/06 by Schoenherr