Spanish Civil War

Question 1

What role did Foreign Influence play in the outcome of the SCW?

Answer 1

 1253 aircrafts in comparison to USSR only gave 648

 Both lengthened the civil war  showed how this had a greater ideological conflict

 Portugal bordered North western Spain (where the Nationals were based)  Proved effective for the Nationalists as Salazar, the Portuguese Dictator, had sympathy for the Nationalists

 FI useful in the invasion of Extermadura on the way to Madrid. Foreign influence helped them to cover 320 km  killed 7k troops

 10,000 Italian troops supported Nationalists in Malaga

 30,000 foreign volunteers from 52 countries on republican side

 Nationalist side – regular forces from Germany, Italy

 Aircrafts helped Nationalists  Vicaya 1937  Bombing on Ochandiano  allowed the Spanish forces to easily take the town within the next couple of days

 Guernica 7k  27k bombs (Nationalists took it easily 3 days after)

 German and Spanish planes  Consquest of North Gijon complete in 1937

Question 2

How did tactics play an outcome in the SCW?

Answer 2

 October 1936  Republicans advanced to Valencia, despite Nationalists being halted at Casa de Campo
 1937 Franco tactically changed (they realised that they failed in the Guadalajara campaign)

 so Franco started looking elsewhere, looked at Basque and Asturia

 Failure due to manpower the republicans had
.
 Easier to take industries + resources

 1939 (Fall of Madrid and Barcelona)

 food shortages meant that 2 million people were effectively cut of.

 Therefore, did not need any reinforcements

 1938 (Negrin had a strategy to prolong the war)  Push along the nationalists lines at the Ebro River. They made a 40km advance. However, they got crushed due to the tech

Question 3

Lack of unity to the outcome of the Civil War

1938 (Negrin had a strategy to prolong the war)  Push along the nationalists lines at the Ebro River. They made a 40km advance. However, they got crushed due to the tech

Answer 3

 Lack of unity between the Republican forces

 Divide: Communists vs Anarchists

 Socialists: “revolution” should now be postponed until the war was won, whereas the anarchist argued war could only be won through revolutionary policies

 Lack of unity evidenced in the four days of street fighting in Barcelona March 1937  Communists and Socialists vs Anarchists

 This fighting became known as the ‘May days’  Caballero replaced by Juan Negrin who attacked the POUM leaders

 War did increase popularity  40,000 – 400,000 (1936-1937)

 Anarchists dominant in Catalonia, Aragon and Andalusia, encouraged ‘revolution from below’ in areas they controlled, and some historians suggest that this added a crucial hurdle for the Republic, as they had to regain their centralized control