The Spanish Civil War of 1936The Spanish revolution of 1936 initiated during the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. The Spanish Civil War was a major contest in Spain that started from a failed coup dÃÂetat by a part of the army against the legitimate government of the Second Spanish Republic.
Spain had encountered several civil wars and revolts in the previous century, caused by the reformists and the conservatives who attempted to displace each other from power. The reformistsÃÂ goal was to get rid of the absolutist monarchy in the country, which would end the old regime and create a new model of state. The conservatives tried to stop these reforms and sustain the monarchy. The followers of Infante Carlos who were known as ÃÂCarlists,ÃÂ fought in the Carlist Wars against liberalism and later republicanism in order to keep the Spanish tradition of absolutism and Catholicism. These wars and the founding of the First Spanish Republic in 1873 started to establish tendencies in the Spanish concept of the state that, along with other reasons, would later climax in the Civil War of 1936.
Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 Italian heavy bomber during...
English: Santa Cruz del Valle de los Caídos, loca...
English: Map showing Spain in February 1939: Area ...On February 16th of 1936 a progressive Popular Front government (composed of liberals, Socialists, and Communists) was elected. To upset the conservatives, immediately after the election the Popular front released all left-wing political prisoners, introduced agrarian reform that penalized the land aristocracy, transferred right-wing military leaders like Francisco Franco to posts outside of Spain, outlawed the Falange Espanol, and gave Catalonia political and administrative sovereignty. On the 10th May 1936 the conservative Niceto Alcala Zamora was ousted as president and replaced by the left-wing Manuel Azaña. Soon afterwards Spanish Army officers, including Emilio Mola, Francisco Franco and José Sanjurjo, began plotting to overthrow the Popular Front government (1936 Elections, 1).
During this time Spain...