The Spanish Civil War
Volume 3 | Issue 6 - War & Peace
Article by Rob Russell. Edited by Ellie Veryard. Additional Research by Rob Dann.
Although a somewhat obvious link between myself and articles on the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) may becoming increasingly apparent, both the fascinating nature of the conflict and the small fact that it is the subject of my dissertation make it a prime candidate for another article. That said, with regards to the relationship between war and peace, the Spanish Civil War and the path of Spain through the remainder of the 20th century is both highly relevant and a prime indicator of the difficulties which can arise in the aftermath of war.
The key facet of twentieth century Spain which tied the civil war period to its aftermath was the Francoist led repression. Both during the Civil War itself and throughout his dictatorship until his death in 1975, the Franco ruled somewhat ruthlessly, removing the majority of his opposition. During the Civil War in the Nationalist rearguard, as a result of either extremist death squads (which were both known to exist and condoned by Franco) or the official military trial courts, 100,000 Spaniards were sent to an early grave. This brutal repression of largely Republican, political opponents carried on into the first ten years of the Francoist regime with vigour, as a further 50,000 people were killed. At the crux of these deaths was political opposition to Franco’s state, and the continuity between both war and peace. Repression of the Republican supporters was not restricted to violence, it was at times more nuanced, the crackdown on regional autonomy being a prime example: the Basque region and Catalonia lost both their autonomy and devolved assemblies, as well as the outlawing of languages other than Castilian Spanish, such as Basque or Catalan. Franco also established Tribunals of Political Responsibility (TPR) which made life extremely difficult for relatives of dead Republicans from the Civil War. They were often fined, excluded from top jobs and state pensions, and above all else refused information on their dead relatives, whose bodies lay in restricted mass graves. This contrasted somewhat sharply with the families of Nationalist victims of violence throughout the conflict, who in the succeeding years were given many benefits and allowed to greave for their loved ones who were depicted as martyrs.
The differing way in which families on opposing sides of the Spanish Civil War were allowed to grieve their loved ones is an excellent example of how one’s wartime activities effect life in peacetime. It is also crucial to view Franco’s use of historical memory, and the way in which he wrote history. As is so often stated, in the somewhat clichéd expression that the victors write history, Franco did his upmost to bring the antiquated remark back into vogue. As textbooks and the public consciousness were quite clearly indoctrinated, all mention of the Nationalist atrocities such as the infamous slaughter at Badajoz where 3,000 Republicans were slaughtered in the town’s bullring over three days in August 1936, were removed. Meanwhile Republicans and their supporters were depicted as savages, and communists thought to suffer from a genetic predisposition which made them susceptible to the terrors of Marxism. Not only were such Nationalist atrocities removed from all public domains, many were even scared to discuss such events in private. Equally the dead from both sides were viewed in a polemical manner, as either martyrs on the Nationalist side, or rebellious Republicans left to rot in unmarked mass graves. Interestingly, so successful was Franco in establishing a stipulated account of the Civil War that it was not until 2006, some thirty years after his death and almost seventy years since the end of the conflict that victims were recognised on both side of the war, with the passing of the 2006 Law of Historical Memory.
In summary, it is apparent that although on the surface war time and the ensuing peace are two very distinct historical periods, with a clear and definitive barrier in between the two epochs, the two are still intrinsically linked. Twentieth century Spain is a prime example of this, as it has in many ways struggled to escape the Civil War which so drastically ripped the country in half. Through both Francoist led repression and control of historical memory, peace time Spain was a deeply unbalanced phenomenon, and a period in history which remains both highly relevant, and something which is only now in the process of being repaired.
• Franco’s full name is Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde
• Notable figures who openly supported the Spanish Republican cause include Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso, George Orwell, W.H. Auden and Laurie Lee.
• The car company SEAT is an acronym for Sociedad Española de Automóviles de Turismo (Spanish Touring Car Company, in English) and was founded by the Spanish state in 1950.