Key figures (brief)

• Francisco Franco — Leader of the Nationalist rebels, later head of state of Spain.
• Manuel Azaña — President of the Spanish Republic (during key periods of the war).
• Dolores Ibárruri (La Pasionaria) — Prominent Republican speaker and symbol of Republican resistance.
• International Brigades — Volunteers from many countries who fought for the Republic.
• General Emilio Mola — One of the main plotters and Nationalist commanders (died 1937).
• Buenaventura Durruti — Anarchist leader who played a role on the Republican side.

(Names and roles are documented in ILN coverage and standard histories of the conflict.)

Key Events

• July 17-18, 1936 — Military uprising begins
  A coup by parts of the military against the Second Spanish Republic starts the civil war. Wikipedia+2spanishcivilwar.ca+2

• July-Sept 1936 — Nationalists seize large areas
  The rebel forces quickly take control of areas like Seville, parts of Morocco, and large swathes of western/central Spain. History of Spain+1

• Late 1936 — Siege of Madrid and international aid begins
  The battle for Madrid becomes symbolically important. Meanwhile the rebel side receives increasing foreign support (Germany, Italy) and the Republic receives Soviet aid. Homeschool Spanish Academy+1

• April 26, 1937 — Bombing of Guernica
  German and Italian air forces bomb the Basque town of Guernica, showing the war’s brutality and foreign involvement. Homeschool Spanish Academy+1

• May-November 1938 — Battle of the Ebro
  One of the largest battles in the war, the Republican attempt to change the momentum, but ultimately the Nationalists prevail. Homeschool Spanish Academy+1

• January 1939 — Fall of Barcelona / March 1939 — Nationalist capture of Madrid
  Key Republican strongholds fall. The capital Madrid is taken, marking the imminent end of the war. History of Spain+1

• April 1 1939 — Franco declares victory
  Francisco Franco formally proclaims the end of the war and begins his dictatorship.

 

 

Who Were the Rebels?
The Rebels — later known as the Nationalists — were led by General Francisco Franco and other senior officers who rose in July 1936 against Spain’s elected Popular Front government, the left-wing administration of the Second Spanish Republic. Their ranks included much of the regular army, particularly units from Spanish Morocco, together with monarchists, conservatives, and members of the Falange (Spain’s fascist movement). They received crucial support from Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Portugal.

The opposing Republicans comprised socialists, communists, anarchists, and regional nationalists, supported by the Soviet Union and the International Brigades of foreign volunteers.

 

In the German warship alleged to have been attacked by an unseen Spanish Goverment submarine

 

The civil war in Spain by Carlos Tejada

 

 

Madrid NW suburbs after 8 months fighting

 

In Bilbao after its fall: The population over Francos rule July 10th 1937

 

Types of General Franco's forces: More Tejada drawings

 

Just after the "Deutschland" was bombed: Remarkable photographs

 

The Batteries nrer Gibraltar: The question pictorially explained July 24th 1937

Art by Tejada

 

The "Kitchener's army" of Republican Spain:
Men of the new "Ejercito Popular" units
now being trained, changing guard outside their barracks

August 21st 1937

 

Madrid's slow agony: Scenes in the bombarded capital August 28th 1937

 

Men wounded in the the Spanish Civil War entering France:
Goverment militiamen being inoculated on landing at Bayonne