After 7 years of Rivera’s dictatorship, both Rivera and King Alfonso XIII were tired of the arrangement.  In 1931 the Spanish people went to the polls to determine their political future.  A majority of their votes went to the various Republican (anti-monarchist) parties.   The King, accepted the verdict and chose to go into exile.  A Republic was created, secular-socialist in character – and the new government under President Alcalá Zamora proceeded to take education away from the Church, dismiss or put under tight control various Catholic monastic orders (notably the Jesuits), and loosened up the laws of marriage and divorce.  It also seized large estates and distributed to landless agricultural workers ... though never as quickly as these workers expected, stirring the radicalism caused by expectations which rose faster than reality permitted.  Reforms were met by strikes and riotous protests (led principally by a growing Communist segment of society) demanding greater action. Naturally all these changes took place to the great displeasure of those of Spanish society who remained fervently monarchist and Catholic.  The most radical of this group were the Falangists, headed by Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera, the son of the former dictator.  Like the Fascists of Italy, the Falangists were a uniformed paramilitary organization, with a reputation as "toughs." Elections in late 1933 demonstrated the strength of this conservative sector of Spanish society when they won a large majority in the Cortes. On the basis of this electoral success a conservative government was formed with the goal of undoing the previous reforms ... only agitating the Communist- Socialist Left all the more. Then in elections of 1936 a reversal in the Left-Right balance of power brought in a "Popular Front" government made up of parties of the Left – including the Communists (who, under the direction of Stalin, were cooperating with the other leftist and centrist secular parties across Europe.)   Immediately political conditions in Spain deteriorated – with on-going street battles running between the Falangists and the equally tough Republican police, the Asaltos.  Terror and assassinations became increasingly the order of the day for Spanish politics.

Franco intervenes (1936) When, in July of 1936, the Asaltos murdered a prominent Fascist politician, all hell broke loose.  Soldiers in Morocco loyal to the monarchy, "Nationalists" as they called themselves, revolted against the Republican government in Madrid.  This was the signal in Spain itself for the Catholic monarchists in the military to rise up in revolt against the Republican government – in accordance with a plan carefully worked out beforehand by a young general, Francisco Franco Bahamonde. When Seville fell to the Nationalist troops, 200,000 workers (heavily Communist) were stirred to counter-action in Madrid by the passionate Dolores Irarruri ("la Pasionaria").  This was a call to arms of those loyal to the Leftist Republic. Europe gets involved Seeing a fellow Popular Front Government in Spain under threat by Rightist forces, Leon Blum's Leftist Popular Front government in France quickly sent 30 French planes and pilots to help the Republican government crush the rebels.  But in turn, Franco called upon the Nazis of Germany and the Fascists of Italy to come to the aid of the Nationalists' cause.   By the end of July German and Italian planes were arriving in Morocco to assist Franco in his revolt against the Republican government of Spain.  Thus the Spanish civil became from the very outset an international issue. The Spanish Civil War became an international issue not just because foreign countries wanted to help out one side or the other in the struggle – but because the war in Spain gave a number of countries (Germany, Italy and Russia) the opportunity to develop and test larger political, military and diplomatic strategies of their own.  The Spanish Civil War was becoming a dry run for a larger war which seemed to be once again headed Europe’s way.  Thus the Spanish suffered even greater anguish because of the military games played by these outside powers. In November 1936 Franco's Nationalists attempted to seize Madrid – but were held off by a Republican defense of the city at the Casa de Campo park and the University.  Then Franco attempted to cow the city into submission by bombing it (except the wealthy – and supposedly pro-Nationalist – parts of the city).  But this only stiffened the resolve of the Republican forces to hold Madrid at all costs. Battle of Guadalajara (8 March – 23 March 1937) Mussolini's Italians and Franco's Nationalists combined forces to attack Madrid from Guadalajara.  Vastly outnumbering the Republican forces, the Italians and Nationalists were at first successful in taking one small town after another.  But bad weather – and the arrival of the International Brigade (with Russian volunteers involved) stiffened the Republican defense (though they were still outnumbered 2 to 1).  The Republican air force was also operating from concrete runways – whereas their opponents were grounded with an airstrip of mud.  Gradually the Republicans began to push the Italians and Nationalists into full retreat.  The Italians lost some 6,000 men in the action – and Mussolini lost a huge amount of prestige, for he had personally organized the Italian effort in order to gain the prestige of what he originally thought was going to be a grand victory. The bombing of Guernica, April 26, 1937 The bombing of Guernica was an aerial attack by the German Luftwaffe squadron known as the Condor Legion against the Basque city of Guernica (Basque: Gernika).  Guernica itself was of no particular strategic importance in the civil war itself, lying well outside the center of the struggle.  But it did give the Germans and the Italians the opportunity to try out their new military weapons and assault techniques.  Hundreds of civilians died in the bombardment ... much to the shock of the Europeans who still believed that wars should be fought only by armed troops.  That view would now be greatly revised. The battle of Teruel The battle of Teruel was fought in and around the city of Teruel in December 1937-February 1938. It was one of the bloodiest actions of the war. The city changed hands several times, first falling to the Republicans and eventually being re-taken by the Nationalists. In the course of the fighting, Teruel was subjected to heavy artillery and aerial bombardment. The two sides suffered up to 100,000 casualties between them in the three-month battle.