The Spanish Civil war began in 1936 and was the cause of numerous years and factors

which led to an eventual and inevitable conflict between the Nationalists and the
Republicans in Spain, each with their own respective support from various smaller groups.
The war resulted in a Nationalist victory which ushered in a dictatorship spearheaded by
Francisco Franco. The causes of the civil war can be divided into long-term causes as well
as short-term causes and immediate causes which catalyzed the war.

The long-term causes of the Spanish civil war consist of the political, economical, industrial
as well as due to the corruption of the government. Within Spain, the disparity in wealth in
certain regions proved drastic and aggravating to the laborers which remained poor,
especially in the south where agriculture was the main source of income for the majority of
people. Those who the laborers worked for were wealthy landlords which owned large plots
of land called Latifundia. The Latifundia were worked by the poor and uneducated which
were hired on a daily basis, allowing for the landlords to locate a laborer accepting of a lower
wage which allowed the landlords to terminate laborers who worked on the fields the day
prior, leading to mass poverty and virtually nonexistent job security. The landlords were able
to remain wealthy during the seasons in which no crop was being grown whereas the
laborers suffered no possibility for work and poverty ran rampant, as well as a lack of food.
The frustrated laborers were able to form leftist unions which manifested in protests and
strikes to garner attention. The most prevalent of the unions was the socialist union Union
General de Trabajadores (UGT) and the anarcho-syndicalist Confederación Nacional del
Trabajo (CNT). More than 700,000 laborers were members of the CNT by 1918 but despite
their numbers, little effect was noticed. Spain was a majority agricultural nation and as such,
agriculture contributed to 44.5% of the Spanish work force in 1930. Divisions formed
between the left and right wings of politicians as neither groups could agree upon a solution
to resolve the growing problem. The growing levels of poverty in urban sectors and lack of
regulation on the workforce, such as working hours, housing and sanitation led to more
strikes and more leftist unions being formed for the protection of workers and worker’s rights.
This further polarized the nation and caused a greater divide.

Politically, Spain (up until 1923) followed a constitutional monarchy despite the fact that
national matters were mostly handled by parliamentary systems. However, the majority of
national affairs were meddled with by large business owners and oligarchs within Spain
which swayed matters for personal benefit. This, understandably, started to build resentment
within the general population as the middle class was often neglected and ignored, with
reforms more in favor for the aforementioned oligarchs. Protests orchestrated by the leftists
in Spain ensued to bring attention to the needs of the population which now had a growing
leftist population which proposed a libertarian government. This greatly aggravated and
alarmed the right-wing in Spain which caused the right-wing to turn to military official Miguel
Primo De Rivera who promised a unified Spain, without division and discontent. De Rivera
took power in September of 1923 due to a military coup led by De Rivera’s military and
assumed power as dictator. Rivera vowed to abolish all corruption and to lessen the divide in
Spain. To achieve this goal, Rivera imposed martial law and implemented strict censorship
of the press. Initially, Rivera stated he would only assume power for 90 days but this would
not be adhered to. Rivera’s reforms were intended to represent workers as well as create job
opportunities for the unemployed and to reduce unemployment. These manifested in
arbitration committees which intended to give the workers an opportunity to gain
representation and to settle disputes between the workers and the employers, as well as
creating a rail link between France and Spain to create job opportunities. However, these
reforms were costly and only further divided the reformers and the conservatives which were
displeased with the increased costs. Eventually, the dissatisfaction with Rivera’s rule
resulted in King Alfonso XIII asking Rivera to resign and step down as leader in April 1931
and the call for elections to take place. These elections resulted in an apparent demand from
the Spanish for a democratic republic.

Some of the causes of the war were closer to the actual war and acted as triggers of sorts
for war to break out. One of these causes consist of dissatisfaction with the new left-wing
coalition government implemented in June of 1931 which ended in November 1933, followed
by another election which resulted in a right-wing coalition, lasting from November 1933 up
until February of 1936, followed by another left-wing coalition government (The Popular
Front) which lasted from February 1936 until July 1936. Since all of these governments were
coalitions, certain radicalist groups were represented and fought for more extreme measures
to be taken in Spain. Moreover, a fascist following grew in Spain which was contrary to
democracy, this group was called the Falange, spearheaded by the son of Primo De Rivera,
José Antonio De Rivera. In addition to constant dissatisfaction in Spanish society, the Great
Depression had just begun and gripped Spain with a vice as the GDP decreased by 20% in
the 1930’s. The left-wing government’s reforms were effective but did not address many
problems. For example, the Law of Obligatory Cultivation which aimed to increase
employment was widely ignored by landlords as the punishments were manageable as they
consisted of minor fines, resulting in 72% of all unemployed in Spain in the early 1930’s
consisted of laborers from agricultural regions. Achieving little to help with the previous
problems the unions attempted to bring attention to. The dissatisfaction with this government
as well as the deconstruction of collaboration between the coalitions resulted in them being
voted out of power in November of 1933. Once the right-wing party was elected in November
1933 and almost immediately aimed to repeal all reforms implemented by the left-wing
parties. The most notable of which was the blatant dissolution of the agrarian and industrial
reforms and a neglect of enforcing such reforms, causing more resentment to form in the
workers and unionists. The right-wing parties, fearing a leftist uprising mirroring the
Bolsheviks in Russia, allowing the police to search trade union premises and the
authorization of deadly or non-deadly force to dissolve strikes and protests. The right-wing
party also permitted the church to influence teachings in school which angered the non-
secularists in Spain.

In response to the right-wing reforms, the leftists began to protest and demonstrate their
disregard and dissatisfaction. This manifested in the protest and uprising in the Asturias in
October of 1934. The Asturias consisted predominantly of mines which owed their livelihood
to the materials found within the mines. These mines had been closed in the 1920’s and
caused mass unemployment and the effects of the great Depression only accentuated these
problems. The revolutionaries of the Asturias managed to establish an independent workers’
republic and seized a section of the region and population. The revolutionaries, however,
were violent and burned churches and took hostages, killing 31 of said hostages, which
enraged the right-wing. In a swift and vicious response, the right-wing responded by ending
the revolution and killing 1335 revolutionaries. Thousands of arrests ensued and Catalan
autonomy was lifted. The 2 parties which composed the right-wing coalition, CEDA which
was a Catholic right-wing party and the Radical conservative party began to lose support for
one another when the Radical party began to stop supporting CEDA’s extreme right-wing
views. As a result of collaboration becoming strained, President Alcalá-Zamora called for
another election in February of 1936. In February of 1936, the Popular Front was elected
and represented communists, socialists and republicans. With all of these parties in the
coalition, the coalition gained 268 seats in parliament and 132 for the right. However, the
number of seats the left-wing had did not represent Spain’s will as the left achieved
4,654,116 where the right achieved 4,503,524. This misproportion did not allow the right-
wing of Spain’s population to be represented in the new government. The Popular Front
continued the previous reforms of the previous left-wing government and restored Catalan
autonomy, discussed granting autonomy to the Basque countries and the reimplementation
of agrarian reforms, meeting immediate opposition from the conservatives and the right-
wing. This manifested in right-wing violent protests and the idea of a militant state and the
forceful seizure of power. The dissatisfaction with the left-wing government and an interest in
forceful seizure of power led to an increase of members in the Falange party from 1936. The
assassination of the right-wing monarchist José Calvo Sotelo by military groups only
bolstered the hatred toward the left by the right-wing and conveyed the message that the
left’s violence would be met with more violence if required.

In July of 1936, animosity toward the left-wing government had begun to grow and as a
result, the right looked for illegal ways in which to seize power from the Popular Front
through a revolution. This movement pertained mainly to the military and General Emilio
Mola, who along with 3500 other officers, planned the revolution. The aforementioned
officers supported Mola and contributed their various garrisons to the cause which now
became known as the Spanish Military Union. General Zola, knowing of the civilians which
would support the cause, made contact with CEDA and the monarchists for support. Initially,
the revolt was contained in Spanish controlled Morocco on the 17th of July 1936 but spread
to military units across Spain as General Francisco Franco called for all army officers to join
the defectors and to overthrow the left-wing government in a broadcast from the Canary
islands. In the span of 3 days, the defectors captured Morocco territories within Spain,
resulting in opposition unions forming rapidly from the left on the Spanish mainland, curbing
an uprising in Madrid and other territories. Francisco Franco flies to Morocco in preparation
for the Spanish troops in Africa to come to mainland Spain, causing the brutal 3 year civil
war to begin.

The contribution of both long and short term effects rendered the civil war inevitable, the
instability and corruption in the government caused dissatisfaction amongst the majority of
Spanish citizens as the poor continued to fall further into poverty and the oligarchs continued
to reap wealth. The increasing levels of unemployment caused the formation of unions and
strikes which struck fear in the growing number of nationalists and fascists, inspired by other
countries in Europe at the time. The political instability and neglect of certain citizens further
played a role in the civil war alongside the growing levels of violence from the left unto the
right, evidenced through the burning of churches by the Asturias and assassinations of right
wing political leaders by the left-wing government. The fear of a Bolshevik-esque uprising
caused the right to also act aggressively, viewing the only viable way to save Spain as a
coup d’etat and unlawful seizure of power. A lack of representation for groups in government
as well as the constant cyclical nature of the government further implemented the belief that
the government as it was would be unable to care for Spain and act efficiently. The
ineffectiveness of reforms further angered the populus and caused the formation of unions.
The disparity of the right and left in Spain with very little middle ground caused paranoia of a
Bolshevik uprising or a Fascist uprising, increasing the tension between the citizens as well
as the military, resulting in war.