HAEC IB History 07 The Spanish Civil War

King Alfonso XIII

Monarch who left the country in 1931 as Spain became a Republic.

Latifundia

Large estates of the south of Spain where poverty was particularly acute.

Carr

Historian who described Spain's peasant population as the 'most wretched in Europe.'

CNT

Anarcho-syndicalist trade union that had c.700,000 members in 1931.

Convents

Buildings burnt in attacks in May 1931.

Azaña

Prime Minister of Spain 1931-33 and President 1936-39.

Agrarian Reform Law

1932 law which tried to redistribute land but had limited impact.

The Catalan Statute

1932 law that gave some autonomy to Catalonia.

CEDA

Right-wing coalition led by Gil Robles which won the November 1933 election.

Biennio Negro

Name given by the left to the period 1934-35 when their reforms were reversed.

The Asturias Uprising

Uprising in 1934 violently repressed by the right-wing government, killing 1,335 people and wounding 3,000.

Popular Front: 285 Right: 132

Distribution of seats in the Cortes (Parliament) in 1936 despite the vote share being 48% to 46%.

Ben-Ami

Historian who said that Spain became a 'Republic without Republicans' in the 1930s.

Pronunciamiento

The long-standing idea/tradition that the army would intervene in politics.

Sotelo

Assassination of this right-wing political leader was the spark for the coup.

Army of Africa

Elite army unit stationed in Morocco, airlifted to the mainland by the German air force at the start of the war.

General Franco

General who became leader of the Nationalists during the Civil War.

International Brigades

Foreign volunteers who arrived in time to save Madrid in 1936.

Talavera de la Reina

Town held by several thousand Republican militiamen that fell in one day due to their military inexperience.

Condor Legion

German air fleet that helped the Nationalists win control of northern Spain.

Barcelona

Location of the Republican 'May Days' in 1937, a civil war within the civil war.

Hugh Thomas

'Disunity among the Republicans was a prime factor in their defeat.'

Twice

Amount of aircraft and artillery supplied to the Nationalists compared to the Republicans.

Munich Agreement

Event in Europe that led the USSR to stopping aid for the Republic.

Dominic Tierney

'What substantially determined the result [of the war] was the nature and extent of foreign intervention.'