Ruling Military Dictatorship: Spain 1923

The Conservative Spanish Confederation of Autonomous Right (CEDA), under Jose Maria Gil Robles, a Catholic politician, governed Spain until the election of 1936. During this short period many of the religious and social reforms made by the previous government were overturned. At the same time the Falange, a new party founded by Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera, the son of the former dictator, along with monarchists supporters called for an overthrow of the divisive Second Republic. The Falange held fascist ideologies of Italian fascists Benito Mussolini and Nazi German leader Adolph Hitler. They supported a form of nationalist totalitarianism. Also plagued by socialists-led workers in Asturias and Catalonia’s proclaimed independence, the government imprisoned thousands of leftist who had revolted with brutal attacks against the government.

During the 1936 elections the New Popular Front won by a small victory. This new faction was made up of radical republicans, socialists and small Spanish communists. They controlled the government briefly while the people continued to have street battles, group rivalries, assassinations and widespread strikes. Although the Popular Front revived progressive reforms and granted amnesty to hundreds of political prisoners, the nation became paralyzed by the mounting turmoil.

A conspiracy to overthrow the government soon took shape under General Emilio Mola and other prominent military leaders. The particular assassination of Jose Calvo Sotelo, a monarchist leader, ignited military rebellion. On July 17, 1936, a Spanish military force stationed in Morocco proclaimed a revolution against Spain’s elected government. This uprising marked the beginning of the Spanish Civil War.