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Azana appointed President of Spain
He was a founding member of the liberal party, republican acction. He succeeded the former prime minister, Niceto Zamora, in October 1931. Azana worked to build a secular, more liberal government for spain, up until the Spanish Civil War broke out. -
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General Unrest in Many Parts of Southern Spain
Following the ban of multile right-wing parties in Spain, riots and anarachy took hold in several parts of Spain and Spanish Morocco. These riots would continue in small, unorganized pockets, util Francisco Franco arrived on July 19, 1936 to begin to bring order tothe situation. He was able to unite many of these groups and form a Nationalist army to oppose the Spanish Second Republic. This army would grow in strength and eventually reach the Spanish mainland with Gemrna assistance. -
Franco takes command of military uprisings in Spanish Morocco
This wass the first time the dissent towards the current corrupt leadership of the Second Republic had one person to lead the uprising. It also showed to the world who would come into power should the nationalists win the Civil War. As he came to power, he was able to request help from Germany and Italy. -
Formation of the Condor Legion
The Condor legion was a group of German Army and Air force (Luftwaffe) volunteers who assisted the nationallists heavily throughout the Spanish Civil War. They started out with only 81 volunteer members and a few transport aircraft, but would grow to include significantly more people and aircraft. The legion assisted the Nationalists in amny major batles, including the siege of madrid, the relief of the siege of the Alcazar. The legion was active until March 1939. -
France closes Borders with Spain
Recognizing the military threat,a nd wanting to avoid another europeqan war, France closed its borders with Spain at this time. This also marked the beginning of an unofficial non-intervention policy with the Civil war, whereby the government did little officiallyregarding the war, but did not stop volunterrs from heping the Republicans through providing aid., -
Russian Aid arrives for Republicans
While not nearly as much aid as would come to the Nationalists, Russia did provide the Repblicans in Spain with some arms andbasic supplies to maintain a relatively functional force to resist Nationalist incursion. The aid was spured to help institute another Soialist/Communist country, as opposed to another Facist country in Europe. The aid, along with multiple International volunteer brigades would prove enough to keep the Nationalists at bay for at least a few years. -
Italy and Germany recognize Franco as Spanish head of state
This event signifies a major turning point in the war, as the Natioanlists now had two major powers backing their efforts to take control of Spain. Additionally, these countries now showed that they backed a facist government in Spain. These two factors led to increased support of the republicans from foreign sources, but not nearly to the extent seen on the side f the nationalists. -
First Americans begin journey to Spain to fight for the Republican groups.
THe first shipcarrying Americans destined for the Spanish Civil War was the SS Normandie. These first people to come over to the war, did so knowing that they were risking their US citizenship. There numbers would become large enough that they became known as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. This was a gorup of several thousand americans who came over to fight for what they believed in, despite their government claiming neutrality to the situation, in maintaining their strategy of isolationism. -
Battle of Jarama Ends
A Nationalist attempt to remove the Republican strongholds along the river Jarama were largely unsuccessful. While they were able to push the Republicans back some distance from the banks, the land gained was so little as to be nearly useless, for the amount of causalties taken on the Nationalist side. Major republican casualties were taken after a alrgely unsuccessfu attempt to recatpure ground wqas taken in the final days of the battle. -
Battle of Guadalajara ends
This battle was a victory by the Republicans because of heavy support form international brigades. The nationalist's offensive was intended to encircle Madrid. The first few nationalist pushes were held back, allowing the republicans enough time to launch a counter-offensive and force a Nationalist retreat. -
Bombing of Guernica
This bombing of a small Spanish Village b the Gemrna Luftwaffe, was the inspiration for Picasso's painting (pictured), named after the village. This was one of the first examples of airbombings of civillian targets, a strategy that would become widley used in World War II, just a few years later. This particular bombing resulted in over 2,500 civillian casualties and succeded in its goal of terrorizing a populace. -
George Washington Battalion Formed
As more American volunteers arrived, a second group was formed, named the Georg washington Battalion. Although smaller in number, they still played parts in several major battles of 1937. These volunteers most notaly participated in Barcelona and also worked to relieve the Abe Lincoln brigade in Jarama, after the Lincolns had spent 4 months in the trenches. -
Washington and Lincoln Battalion/Brigade joined together
Because of the increasngly high casualties in both groups, the two merged together. This group maintained the Abraham Lincoln name after the merge. This group would continue to fight until the end of October 1938. A few members of the brigades however, did remain, either as prisoners of the Nationalists until the end of the war, or, in smaller numbers, to fight in other Republican groups. -
Vatican officially recognizes Franco as the leader of Spain
The Vatican's recognition of Franco showed the position of the church on who it supported in the Spanish Civil war. This was to be expected, as Franco wanted to run the country based on a Catholic set of morals and way of life, The republicans wanted a Secular society, allowing some things in direct violation of what the Church wanted. These factors led to the relatively early recognition of Franco's leadership in
Spain. -
Republican government moves to Barcelona
The republicans, relaizing the increasing threat of the Nationalists, move their headquarters further into territory they control. This move allowed the government to operate with a reduced threat of land attack. However, because of its location, it was open to aerial atttack, a factor which would become ever more apparent as the war went on. -
Continuous bombing of Barcelona by Nationalist forces 16-18 March
Over these two days, Barcelona was faced with 48 hours of continous bombing. This bombing was carried out by both the German and Italian air forces, with three hour intervals between each raid. 17 of the 19 raids were carried out by the Italian airforce. These bombings resulted in 1,300 civillians being killed and over 2,000 being wounded. Barcelona would fall into nationalist hands by January of the next year. -
Nationalists Reach the Mediteranean at Vinaroz
This military push by nationalist forcesresulted in splitting the Republican-held parts of Spain in two. This was a critical blow to the morale and efficiency of the republicans in Spain, as there was now a break in the ability to communicate as well as supply all parts of the republican groups. -
Farewell Parades Held for Internstional Brigades
After realizing the war was lost, most of the international brigadesbegan to pull out of Spain. All international bigades ont eh republican sides were removed from the front lines. These parades were held to thank the survivng members of these brigades for their service. After these parades, many, including the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, moved to the border with France to begin the repatration process with their respective countries. -
Britain and France recognize Franco as the leader of Spain.
The official recognition of the Nationalist's control of Spain by these democratic governments signalled that the world had come to the realization that the nationalists had won the Spanish civil war. By this time, nearly all of the major cities once held by the Republicans were under control of Franco's nationalist forces, with Madrid falling just one month later. This set the stage for the rpeublicans to begin a full scale retreat from the country. -
Nationalists Surrender Unconditionally
The unconditianal surrender of the Republicans came just 5 days after Madrid fell to the Nationalists. Madrid had been the last stronghold of the rpeublicans, and with that, any hope for even the surrender on the condition that Republican supporters not be punished, which had been the goal for a time after it became apparent the war was lost, was lost.
