Spain

Background:

After the bloody first Spanish Civil War, for nearly 40 years Spain had been under a military dictatorship under general Francisco Franco. The regime had characterized itself as the defender of Spain and its “traditional values” (Catholic faith, unity, militarism, traditional family, anticommunism, authority, order and law) against all enemies external and internal. After an autarchic period from the end of the war to the mid-’50s, in which the economy hardly grew and internal repression was very intense, the country softened the repression and opened its economy, growing the economy through the development of agriculture, heavy industry and tourism. The economic situation improved during the end of the ’50s until the end of the ’60s, helping the regime validate itself to the general population.

During this time of openness, the calls for women’s equality and democracy started to gain traction across the younger population, and the separatist aims of Euskadi and Catalonia reignited. Although not mainstream during the period of economic growth, this period ended, and the economy took a turn for the worse at the end of the ’60s. Discontent with the regime grew, seemingly unable to stop inflation, rising prices and lowering wages. Furthermore, the government unwillingness to invest in space exploration and colonization disappointed the nationalists, who saw how the country was falling behind. The relative comfort the emergent urban middle class eroded with increasing speed each year.

Political opposition to the regime, organized with the help of exiled republican politicians was led by the illegal Spanish Communist Party (PCE) and was channelled in student associations in universities and newly formed worker unions. Although these were largely non-violent, several terrorist groups also opposed the government, such as basque separatist ETA and communist GRAPO.

The leading years:

In 1969, Franco named Juan Carlos, the grandson of Alfonso XIII, the last king of Spain, as his successor, while he promoted hardliner Luis Carrero Blanco to Prime Minister, hoping to reverse the worsening situation. Instead, the hardliner government was only able to escalate the situation with mass detentions and executions of opposition members, both pacific and violent. Mass demonstration only grew in number, while the Army grew more and more uncomfortable with the situation. ETA killed Carrero Blanco in a terrorist attack in December of 1973. Carlos Arias Navarro, who was seen as a conciliating figure between the different factions of the regime, was named Prime Minister in January 1973.

Franco’s health would worsen over the following two years, while calls for the end of the dictatorship grew stronger and stronger. He died in November 1975, while Morocco occupied the Western Sahara. Juan Carlos was crowned immediately. He renewed the government to a more reformist continuist hybrid one, which was too much for the Army and too little for the democrats. Due to the strong opposition by the army and hardliner politicians, few plans were made for a democratic transition, instead only marginal advances were made: censorship and repression were relaxed, but no political parties were legalized. This was seen as a clear sign that the dictatorship planned to stay after the death of Franco. During this period political violence continued to escalate, with the creation of several terrorist organizations supporting the regime.

Discontent grew stronger. In 1976, pressured, Juan Carlos dismissed Arias Navarro, and named aperturist Adolfo Su´arez prime minister, that promised a more democratic approach. This move proved popular with the opposition, but was the final straw to the hardliners. During a democratic demonstration, several civil guards disobeyed their orders and applied lethal force. When the government tried to trial them, several hardliners came to their defense, and forced the judges to retire all charges. During 1977 the government would lose their control over the army and the police, until in June 1977 several generals launched a coup after Su´arez announced democratic elections for the end of the year.

Arturo Espinosa Yuste took the position of Prime Minister. Su´arez was forced to go into exile, while king Juan Carlos was kept away from the government, but not removed from his position.

This was the breaking point for the democrats. Massive anti-coup demonstrations were met with counter-demonstrations and extreme repression. The UN condemned the coup and called for the celebration of democratic elections. In September 19th 1977, the PCE held a meeting in C´ordoba in which Juan Antonio Nieto Pe˜na, leader of the local chapter, called for an open insurrection. With the support of local GRAPO members, he led a massive demonstration that managed to put on the run the civil guard garrison that tried to repress it. The demonstrators proceeded to assault the civil guard barracks in the city, and with the help of some supporters that were serving the obligatory military service, they took the nearby Cerro Muriano small military base.

In panic and furious, Espinosa Yuste secretly ordered the evacuation of all loyal forces from C´ordoba. The rumours about the order took the city like wildfire. Many tried to flee the city in fear of what the government might do. That same night their worst fear was confirmed: at 1:55 AM, Spanish Aviation indiscriminately bombed the city.

Start of the war and first phase:

Espinosa Yuste hoped that the bombing would serve as a demonstration of force by the regime to instil fear in the population. Instead, the opposite happened. Fighting broke out in many cities across Spain. France, the US and the UK immediately broke diplomatic relations with Spain, while even traditional allies of Spain like Italy, Russia and Germany condemned the bombing. The loyal forces to the government were demoralized, and were took by storm by the rebelling population.

By the end of the month, the government had lost their control northern and western Andalusia, Extremadura, western New Castille, the Canaries, Euskadi, Catalonia and Valencia. Only quick PR moves prevented that more regions rebelled. The rebels seized the weapons and equipment from the fleeing or rebelling local military forces. In Seville, the leaders of the democratic parties joined and proclaimed the 3rd Spanish Republic with a new constitution, seconded by most of the rebelling regions. In northern and western Catalonia instead, the local separatist leaders proclaimed an independent Catalan state, while ETA leaders proclaimed a communist, independent Euskadi.

The army managed to regroup and by early-mid October open fighting had begun in all fronts. It was especially intense in Madrid, as the southern parts of the city had fallen to the rebels, but not the north. The republicans, as no more regions seconded their rebellion, attempted to take Arag´on and eastern New Castille to connect their main areas. By Christmas 1977 they defeated the loyal garrisons in most of Arag´on and Navarre, but were largely unsuccessful in New Castille.

Despite calls from the UN to avoid intervention by individual countries, trying instead to get a solution agreed by all members, France and the UK started to support the republicans, while Germany and Russia the militarist government. In march 1978 they attempted to retake the Valencia region, going from Murcia towards Valencia. However, only the southern parts of the city fell, leaving the north in republican hands. Fighting was also intense in southern Andalusia, as the rich southern coast had not fell to either side completely. The loyal forces tried to retake Toledo the following month to isolate the rebels in southern Madrid, but couldn’t do it. Despite not taking the city, the managed to take enough key points to weaken southern Madrid. The republicans tried instead to give a blow to the forces of the dictatorship by invading Old Castile, but they only managed to get a foothold in the Avila ´ province.

Second phase: “Dirty war” and End:

The frontlines changed very little in the following months. Instead, the two sides, unable to push into the territory of the other, resorted to bombings and guerilla warfare. In Valencia, M´alaga and Madrid the destruction reached levels unseen in the previous. Trying to force a surrender, both sides bombed each other with increasing force. Horrified, the intervening nations and the UN agreed and forced a ceasefire, but it was only made effective in Madrid and it only lasted 3 days before any negotiations broke down. In October, republican forces threatened to destroy the water reservoirs in northern Old Castile if the dictatorship didn’t surrender, but they declined. They didn’t follow through, but the basque rebels planted a bomb in one of the reservoirs, destroying the damn and flooding several cities downstream. The UN forced a second ceasefire immediately, that was followed in the whole country. All sides agreed to not damage more water reservoirs, but negotiations broke down again before any other agreement was made.

In January 1979 the war ended abruptly. The dictatorship launched another attack over Toledo to isolate Madrid. The republican forces intercepted the convoys in the southwest of the Guadalajara province, and rebel aviation bombed the zone. The rebel forces advanced over the loyal forces that retreated behind the Zorita nuclear plant. This nuclear plant sat at less than 70 km of Madrid and at less than 15 kilometres from several water reservoirs. It was undermanned since the beginning of the war, and now it was between the two opposing forces. In the middle of the night, a loyalist bomber tried to hit the rebel position, but due to human error, the bomb hit the plant. The reactor went critical and exploded, liberating tons of radioactive materials to the surrounding areas. Both sides collaborated in the evacuation of the zone, but proper cleanup wasn’t made. The catastrophe put in danger the water supply of all of the Tagus valley, including that of Lisbon. Portugal pleaded for a UN intervention, that was immediately accepted. UN troops deployed all over the country to stop the fighting. After the incident, both sides were unwilling to fight for the foreseeable future.

Paris accords and aftermath:

Both sides agreed to a ceasefire immediately and finally negotiated some kind of peace deal. The country would be divided, at least temporarily, in the current occupation zones. The republican controlled zone and the loyal zone would be made into two different countries, and the zones that the separatists controlled would become independent, as new nations. This left everyone unsatisfied, as no side got what they wanted. The Republic was a country divided in two and had failed to win the war; the Military Dictatorship had lost control of very important zones for its economy and had failed to preserve the unity of Spain; the Basque government failed to take everything that they considered basque, as southern Euskadi was in the hands of the dictatorship; and the Catalan government didn’t control southern Catalonia, Valencia or all of the Balearics.

The UN prevented territorial exchanges between the basques, Catalans and republicans, so the conflict didn’t reignite. The accords also forced both sides to accept occupation zones in some territories. Oliven¸ca was left to Portugal, Catalonia had to cede the Aran Valley to France, a German occupation zone was set up in Menorca, and the British occupied the heavily contested Andalusian coast. A demilitarized zone was established along the frontiers of all new states, maintained by the UN. Lastly, in a very impopular move, the Canaries were made independent. The islands not much fighting had happened on the islands, and they had to resort to UN aid, but they were mostly loyal to the Republic.

This left the cities of Madrid, Valencia, M´alaga and Barcelona divided by the DMZ zone, and Toledo, Alava, Pamplona and Teruel dangerously close ´ to it. With no resolution and no clear winner, the war could reignite in the future.