July-August 2021 Edition

PAST EVENTS THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR – PART 2 So this was Geoff Fabron’s, again eagerly awaited, continued talk on the Spanish Civil War and was to cover the actual very nasty civil war of 1936 to 1939.

Again the presentation time was scheduled for 2:00 after the weekly Thursday meeting and an excellent club lunch featuring ‘bangers and mash’ prepared this time by Diane and Brenda.

Geoff gave a brief resume of the lead up to the outbreak of the war in 1936, namely: Attempts at forming an acceptable Constitution had failed miserably due to the main factions being totally opposed to each other’s views with Authoritarian Rule v Liberal democracy, central Madrid rule v Regional rule, the wealthy Aristocratic v the Middle Class and a strict Catholic State v a Secular State, indeed a very complex state of affairs.

The Spanish national psyche was shattered and growing unrest, polarisation and violence had lead to a Right (Nationalists) versus Left (Republicans) situation. The population was totally split with total distrust on both sides, and the stage was set for civil war.

The military declared a revolt and on 18/19 July 1936 took control. The army of Africa was transported (by German and Italian aircraft) to the mainland.

However in Madrid the uprising failed and effectively there were two rebellions, a military uprising and a left wing/separatist revolution.

Franco flew in from the Canary Islands. Police and soldiers sided with who was in control. Mayhem presided. Both sides were fairly well balanced but very disorganised. Terror and revenge ruled on both sides, with political opponents rounded up then imprisoned or executed.

Gradually from August 1936 to March 1937, Franco and the Nationalists advanced towards Madrid but suffered heavy losses. They joined up with the Nationalists in the north (Pamplona under General Mola). Then a change of tactic saw the north of the country fall to the Nationalists (April 1937 to October 1937).

With the Soviets/Stalin supplying arms to the Republicans, in the winter of 9