R1.3 - Glossary - The Spanish Civil War

Accidentalists

Accidentalists

Conservatives in Spain who believed in republicanism and worked legally within the Republic, but lost influence to catastrophists after the election of the Popular Front in 1936.

Africanistas

Ambitious army officers who served in Morocco and supported the 1936 coup, unlike many peninsulares.

Agrarian Reform Bill (1932)

Created the Institute of Agrarian Reform and aimed at redistributing unworked land to peasants and tenant farmers in central and southern Spain.

Alfonsist

A supporter of Spanish monarchism and the restoration of Alfonso XIII as King of Spain.

Anarchism

A political philosophy that rejects institutions of power such as the state and looks to self-governed voluntary institutions.

Anarchists (CNT, FAI)

Spanish anarchist groups that rejected the need for disciplined revolutionary organization and advocated for a working-class revolution.

Anarcho-syndicalism

A theory of anarchism that views revolutionary industrial unionism as a method for workers to gain control of the economy and influence society.

Anti-clericalism

Hostility to organized religion, particularly the Catholic Church in Spain.

Article 15

Gave the government the power of marriage and removed it from the jurisdiction of the Catholic Church.

Article 26

Banned state funding of churches and gave the state power to dissolve and nationalize the assets of religious bodies that posed a danger to state security.

Article 27

Secured freedom of conscience and the right to practice any religion.

Article 44

Targeted the Spanish oligarchy, allowing for expropriation of wealth for social utility and the socialization of ownership.

Assault Guard

Special police units created by the Spanish Republic in 1931 to deal with urban violence, supporting the Republic during the Spanish Civil War.

Asturian Uprising (1934)

Major strike action by miners against the entry of CEDA into the Spanish government, crushed by the Army of Africa.

Basque Country

A cultural and political region of northern Spain where the Basque people live.

Bienio Negro (1933-36)

Refers to the rule of the right from November 1933 to February 1936.

Bourgeoisie

The capitalist class who own most of society's wealth and means of production.

Bracero

A landless agricultural worker and antagonist of the latifundistas.

Carlists

Extreme reactionary monarchists from Navarre who supported a rival royal dynasty and regional autonomy.

Casas Viejas incident (1933)

Anarchist rebellion in central and southern Spain that resulted in violent reprisals by government forces.

Catalonia

A region in northeastern Spain with a distinct cultural heritage and a history of seeking autonomy from centralized power.

Catastrophist

Rightists committed to the violent destruction of the Republic, pushing for a coup and overthrow of the republican government.

Catholic Church

The most powerful religious institution in Spain, which supported the rightist republic and the 1936 coup.

CEDA (JAP)

A political alliance of right-wing Catholic parties that won the election of 1933 but rapidly disintegrated after failing to win in 1936.

Civil Guard

The national police force founded in 1844, responsible for maintaining and restoring land ownership and servitude among the peasantry.

Collectivization

Organizing something based on shared ownership by the people or the state, rather than private ownership.

Communists (PCE, JSU)

Spanish communist parties that grew in influence during the Republic and the Spanish Civil War, but were wary of a full-scale socialist revolution.

Constituent Cortes

The Spanish parliament.

Falange

A fascist movement founded in Spain in 1933, opposing the Republic and attracting intellectual support.

General strike

A decision by workers across different industries to not go to work, demonstrating the power of workers and forcing political reforms.

Generalitat

The system of regional government in Catalonia.

Hispanidad

An ideology subscribed to by Francisco Franco, arguing that Spain had always been at the center of world history defending Catholicism.

Institute of Agrarian Reform

Formed by the Agrarian Reform Law (1932) to carry out land reform, but did little to enact substantial reforms.

La Sanjurjada (1932)

The Spanish army's failed coup attempt in 1932, leading to the passage of the Statue of Catalan Autonomy and the Agrarian Reform Law.

Latifundia

Great estates of land found in central and southern Spain.

Latifundistas

Landlords of great estates.

Law of Municipal Boundaries (1931)

Prohibited the hiring

Regionalism

The theory or practice of regional rather than central systems of government.

Republic

A state without a monarch as its official head.

Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE, UGT, FNTT)

One of the main parties of the Second Spanish Republic, divided into three wings:a leftist revolutionary Marxist wing, a moderate social-democratic faction, and a reformist one.

Spanish Associations Law (1933)

Required the heads of all religious orders in Spain to be Spanish, abolished church schools, and nationalized church property.

Spanish Constitution of 1931

Created a secular democratic system based on equal rights, introduced female suffrage, civil marriage and divorce, and established free, obligatory, secular education for all.

“Two Spains” thesis

The idea of a divided Spain, each half antagonistic to the other half, used to justify the causes of the civil war.

Practices of the Spanish Civil War / Foreign Involvement

The involvement of the Army of Africa, Battle of Badajoz, Battle of Ebro, Battle of Teruel, Battles of Jarama and Guadalajara, Bombing of Guernica, Falange Espanola Tradicionalista (FET), International Brigades, martial law, May Days, Moors, Nationalists, Non-Intervention Committee, Northern Campaign, Operation Magic Fire, PSUC, Republicans, Rojos, Spanish Foreign Legion, Thirteen Points.

Effects of the Spanish Civil War

Caudillo, Law of Political Responsibilities (1939).

Law of Political Responsibilities

A law issued by Franco that targeted loyalist supporters of the Second Spanish Republic and penalized membership in the Popular Front. It gave legal cover to the repression carried out during the dismantlement of republican institutions and imposed fines, expropriations, and other penalties on defendants and their families.

Movimiento Nacional

The nationalist-inspired mechanism during Francoist rule in Spain, which claimed to be the only channel of participation in public life. It consisted of the single-party state (FET), trade union organization (Sindicato Vertical), and civil servants, and was led by Francisco Franco.

Sindicato Vertical

The only legal trade union organization in Francoist Spain, part of the Movimiento Nacional apparatus. Other unions like CNT and UGT were outlawed, and it was the sole representative of workers' interests.

White Terror

A series of politically-motivated acts of violence, rape, and crimes committed by Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War and Franco's dictatorship. It targeted republican loyalists, including Popular Front adherents, liberals, Socialists, Communists, anarchists, and regionalists, with the aim of eradicating "leftism" in Spain. The violence was carried out by the military, Civil Guard, and Falange, with the support of the Roman Catholic Church. Estimates of the death toll range from 150,000 to 400,000 people.