On the 17th July 1936 a coup was launched by the army generals in attempt to overthrow the Popular Front government that had only been elected into power in February 1936. The coup was ordered by General Mola on this date because of the assassination of a leading monarchist, Jose Calvo Sotelo by the Assault Guard. However the outbreak of civil war also had underlying long-term causes such as social divisions in Spain and more short-term ones such as a lack of political consensus during the time of the Second Republic. This essay will consider the extent to which the different factors were responsible for the outbreak of civil war in 1936.
The assassination of Calvo Sotelo, a leading monarchist who opposed the Popular Front, by the Assault Guard was responsible for General Mola ordering his instructions for the coup to go ahead that ultimately led to civil war. On 13th July 1936, in reprisal for the murder of a Jose Castillo, a left-wing member of the Assault Guard, his colleagues drew up a list of prominent right-wing targets, arrested Sotelo and later murdered him. The assassination made up Mola’s and the other army general’s minds over whether to launch the coup and on the 17th July 1936, just five days later the coup was launched in Morocco. The assassination of Sotelo was partially responsible for the outbreak of civil war because it gave Mola the justification he needed to launch the coup and thus plunge Spain into civil war. Mola could now argue that the army had a responsibility to step in and restore peace and order to an increasingly violent situation. Also the fact that the assassinations were carried out by the Assault Guard, who were the Second Republic’s own police force meant that although the government had not authorised the assassination, they could not escape the blame from conservatives such as the army. However the assassinations in isolation were not largely responsible for the outbreak of civil war. Although the assassinations set the timing of the coup, the coup itself had been planned because of the political divisions between the conservative forces of “Old Spain” such as the military, Church and landowners and the reforming ideology of left-wing political parties. So it can be argued that while the assassinations did provide the trigger cause for the outbreak of civil war and persuaded many conservatives to support the uprising, political division was far more important in that it created the environment for a coup to be supported.
General Mola and his companions had planned a coup in which the army would overthrow the government and gain control of Spain and it was the failure of this coup that was the spark of civil war in Spain. The army generals had been plotting since the election of the Popular Front to power, because of their view that democracy had failed to protect traditional conservative sections of society from the reforms of left-wing political parties and due to the increasing disorder on the streets of Spain. Mola and the military wanted to bring order back to Spain by enforcing an authoritarian style of government and also uphold the ‘unity’ of Spain by preventing Catalonia or the Basque Country gaining any autonomy. On the 17th July 1936 the coup was launched in Morocco under the lead of General Franco and a day later the coup spread to the mainland. In this way the army generals can be held responsible for plotting and initialising the coup but the reason for its failure which ultimately was the reason for the outbreak of civil war was the political divisions in Spain. The reason the coup succeeded in parts of Spain was due to the impression of political support it received from the support of the right-wing monarchist Carlists who helped the coup to succeed in Pamplona, the right-wing CEDA, and the fascist Falange who had militias which could be used to support the coup if street fighting broke out. If the coup had succeeded, civil war would not have broken out because the army would have quickly gained control but because of the mistrust and antagonism towards the army and its generals by the left-wing population of Spain caused by political divisions, the coup failed in many areas such as Madrid and Barcelona. Due to this the extent of the army generals’ responsibility for the outbreak of civil war cannot be higher than that of the political divisions in Spain.
The failure of the Second Republic to build a political consensus is a major factor in the outbreak of civil war in 1936. Opposition to the governments of the Second Republic led to some political parties thinking that an armed uprising was the only way of shrugging off in their view, the failure of democracy. The reforms of the Second Republic led to opposition by traditional right-wing sections of Spanish society. The landowners felt threatened by the agrarian reforms such as The Agrarian Reform Law of 1932, the Church perceived that anti-clericalism such as Articles 26 and 27 of the constitution damaged their role in society by removing Church control over education and the separation of Church and state. The military also thought that the ‘unity’ of Spain was threatened by the Catalan Statute of 1932 that gave Catalonia autonomy. The grievances of these right-wing sections of society meant that they were more and more likely to come to a conclusion that democracy was not the answer in Spain and support an armed uprising that could potentially lead to civil war. The left-wing who greeted the Republic with such enthusiasm was too disappointed with the results of the Second Republic in 1936. The failure of agrarian reforms and the slow pace of reform meant that the socialists (PSOE) led by Largo Caballero became more radical in their outlook and refused to join a left-wing coalition in the elections of November 1933. The increased radicalism of the left-wing was demonstrated by the socialist support for the Asturias rising of 1934. This was important for the outbreak of civil war because the polarisation of politics meant that consensus became impossible and civil war looked inevitable with the election of the Popular Front to power in 1936. This was due to the reduction in support of moderate political parties in favour of radical parties that supported a violent uprising against the Second Republic such as the anarchists, communists and socialists on the left and the Falange and Carlists on the right. The political divisions that increased during the Second Republic were therefore the main reason for the outbreak of civil war because the divisions created two sides of Spain who were both willing to act violently to achieve their goals thus leading to the outbreak of civil war.
Long-term social divisions had existed in Spain that made the outbreak of civil war more likely. Before the Second Republic, power had been mainly in the hand of those who did not support democracy such as the monarchy, the Church, the landowners and the Army. The Catholic Church’s support for the wealthy elite of Spanish society led to a backlash of anti-clericalism from the working class who felt the Church solely supported the interests of the rich. This long-term anti-clericalism fed support to left-wing parties who attempted to curtail the power of the Church such as the anarchist CNT and in response the rich, and devout Catholics supported the CEDA who promised to protect Catholic interests in society. In this way long-term religious divides were partially responsible for the divisions in Spanish society that helped lead to the outbreak of civil war. Separatists in Catalonia and the Basque Country were in favour of autonomy because of the separate culture and languages that existed in those regions. This desire for autonomy created conflict with the army who wished to uphold the ‘unity’ of Spain and this long-term divide contributed to the outbreak of civil war because it increased the divide between the supporters of the Republic and those who wished to dismantle it because any policy the Republic took regarding the issue of autonomy would be deeply unpopular to either the army or separatists. The lack of a democratic culture in Spain meant that there would not be a large enough majority of people willing to defeat the army coup outright. However the significance of long-term social division should not be overstated when examining why civil war broke out in 1936 because in 1931 the Second Republic had been greeted with widespread enthusiasm despite these long standing social divisions. For civil war to break out, political divisions needed to increase to such an extent that people were willing to take up arms to fight for their view of what Spain should be in the future.
Overall the increasing political divisions that occurred during the Second Republic were the main factor responsible for the outbreak for civil war in 1936 because they created two opposing sides in Spain, the Republicans and Nationalists which were both prepared to use violence to achieve their aims. The extent to which the army generals were responsible for the outbreak of civil war is limited because for civil war to break out the coup needed to fail meaning there needed to be political and popular opposition as well as support towards the coup and the increasing political divisions during the Second Republic provided this.