The division between right and left political wings led to the famous Spanish Civil War in the second half of the 1940s. There were many influential groups, including the colony of Morocco. Republicans lost the war and, unfortunately, as in almost any war, many civilians were killed. The most famous art piece from this period, which describes the horror of the war, is Pablo Picasso’s ‘Guernica’.
In the 1930s, Spain’s political life was strongly divided into right and left parties. The left parties wanted land restructuring, autonomy of the separate regions and reduction of the clerical power. The democratic group, the biggest of which was CEDA (it was also a Catholic coalition) was against the left parties on most of the problems. The left party came into power in the second half of the 1930s. Unfortunately, there were strong right anarchist movements, for example the CNT and FAI, both which undermined the work of the government. These strikes eventually escalated into gunfights. When the movement reached the level of burning whole churches, the Civil War was launched. The Republican police shot politician Jose Calvo-Sotelo and instigated the official beginning of the war. The right wing and high-ranking figures in the army had planned the coup well in advance.
On July 17, 1936, General Francisco Franco organised the colonial army from Morocco and attacked the mainland. From Navarre, another force led by Genreal Sanjurjo was directed to the south. Because the resistance was significant in crucial places like Madrid, Barcelona, the Basque land and Valencia, the country faced a long and exhausting war. Unfortunately, both sides received foreign aid. General Franco wanted to obtain all the power simultaneously, but the interference of foreign interests changed his plans. The Nationalists were supported by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy; whereas Portugal and the USSR supplied the so-called International Brigades with volunteers.
The Siege of the Alcázar at Toledo turned out be a pivotal point, and it was achieved at an early stage. The Nationalists won after a long and exhausting siege. The Republicans managed to hold Madrid, despite a Nationalist attack in November and subsequent and meaningless attacks against the then capital at Jarama and Guadalajara in 1937. However, immediately following these events, the Nationalists started to exhaust their territory, which resulted in mass hunger in Madrid, and they soon began to move in an eastward direction.
The North (plus the Basque land) and Aragon lost in the year 1937. The bombing of Guernica was probably the most notorious event in the whole war, inspiring many artists to react – most notably was Pablo Picasso and his huge black and white painting. Guernica was used as a testing ground for the German Luftwaffe’s Condor Legion. The last desperate effort by the Republicans became known as ‘The Battle of Ebro’. Although the war was finished in 1937, the formal end was the fall of Barcelona in early 1936.
Sources differ, but the war took approximately 600,000 human lives, destroyed priceless artifacts, as well as many houses, infrastructure and institutions. General Franco became a dictator in Spain, and as many as 150,000 Republicans were assassinated or executed during his dictatorship. Those whose lives were spared remained an exile.