Spanish Civil War Vocab

Monarchists

A person who advocates for, supports, or believes in a monarchy as a form of government led by a king/queen/emperor

Alfonsists believed that Alfonso XIII would return to the throne

Carlists believed that the heir to Don Carlos would come to the throne

Republicanism

A political ideology stating that a country’s ultimate political authority belongs to the people and their elected representatives rather than a monarch/dictator/hereditary aristocrat

Opus Dei

“Work of God” → traditional Catholic idea that normal people should strive to turn everything in their daily lives into a direct service of god

Miguel Primo de Rivera

General Primo de Rivera had a successful pronunciamento in 1923, backed by the monarchy’s support, and ruled until 1930. He was a conservative traditionalist who wanted to unite Spain against separatism

José Antonio Primo de Rivera

Son of General Primo de Rivera who was a Spanish national syndicalist politician who founded the Falange Española

Union Patriotica

Founded April 14, 1924 by Miguel Primo de Rivera to serve as a single party designed to gain support (from Church, businessmen, technocrats) for his regime

Core tenets were Spanish Nationalism, Corporatism, Authoritarian Conservatism

Agrarian Reform

A government backed or systemic policy aimed at redistributing agricultural land ownership and transforming rural institutions to empower landless farmers, reduce poverty and promote social justice

Guernica

April 26, 1937 the Nazi Condor Legion bombed Guernica for 3.25 hours

Painting by Pablo Picasso

Mutual Defense Pact

A formal international agreement in which the signing nations pledge that an armed attack against any single member will be treated as an attack on them all

Reasons for Civil War

Separatism, little industry in the South, concentrations of land ownership in the wealthy and church

Years of political instability between left wing (socialists, communists, anarchists) and right wing (Falangists, monarchists, conservatives)

Popular Front victory motivated the right wing to take action

Calvo Sotelo was assassinated

Socialism

Political/social/economic philosophy that the social or collective seize the means of production

Communism

A political and economic ideology that aims to replace private property and profit based economy with public ownership and communal control of the major means of production

Anarchism

A political philosophy that seeks to abolish all coercive, hierarchical, authoritarian structures, and replace them with stateless societies built on voluntary cooperation, free association, and mutual aid

Fascism

An incomplete, fluid ideology which is far right, authoritarian, ultranationalistic in rhetoric and practice aiming to place the nation above the individual

Republicans vs Nationalists

Republicans - left leaning coalition of worker, socialists, communists, anarchists defending democratic government

Nationalist - right wing rebel alliance of military, fascism, monarchists, catholics led by Francisco Franco backed by Hitler and Mussolini

Emilio Mola

Spanish Military Officer (died in a plane crash in 1937)

Alfonso XIII

King of Spain from ####-1931)

November 1933 elections

Civil Guard

Assault Guard

Agrarian Reform Bill

Falange

Second Republic

Statute of Catalonia

Alcala Zamora

Republican-socialist agreement (1930)

Catalonia

Miners revolt

Manuel Azana

Popular Front

CEDA

Gil Robles

Coup of 1923

Africanistas

Franco Regime

Francisco Franco

Outcome of the war

Foreign Influence

Juan Negrin

Franco’s excessive prudence

POUM

Calvo Sotelo