MacGregor Is History

SPANISH CIVIL WAR - GENERAL INFORMATION

On July 17, 1936, the nationalist-traditionalist rebellion long feared by some in the Popular Front government began. Its start was signalled by the phrase "Over all of Spain, the sky is clear" that was broadcast on the radio. Casares Quiroga, who had succeeded Azaña as prime minister, had in the previous weeks exiled the military officers suspected of conspiracy against the Republic, including General Manuel Goded y Llopis and General Francisco Franco, sent to the Balearic Islands and to the Canary Islands, respectively. Both generals immediately took control of these islands. Franco then flew to Spanish Morocco -see Juan March Ordinas, where the Nationalist Army of Africa were almost unopposed in assuming control. The rising was intended to be a swift coup d'etat, but was botched; conversely, the government was able to retain control of only part of the country. In this first stage, the rebels failed to take all major cities - in Madrid they were hemmed into the Montaña barracks. The barracks fell the next day with much bloodshed. In Barcelona, anarchists armed themselves and defeated the rebels. General Goded, who arrived from the Balaeric islands, was captured and later executed. The anarchists would control Barcelona and much of the surrounding Aragonese and Catalan countryside for months. The Republicans held on to Valencia and controlled almost all of the Eastern Spanish coast and central area around Madrid. The Nationalists took most of the northwest apart from Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque Country and a southern area including Cádiz, Huelva, Sevilla, Córdoba, and Granada; resistance in some of these areas led to reprisals...