Spanish Civil War (Phalanx Pact)

Spanish Civil War
Part of the interwar period and prelude to the Second World War
Date 4 August 1936 – 25 December 1938 Location Spain, Morocco, Western Sahara, Guinea, Portugal Result Christmas Treaty Cessation of civil war under two-state solution. Reduction of the Second Spanish Republic into the Canary Islands Restoration of the Kingdom of Spain
Belligerents
Republicans France United Kingdom Supported by Mexico Soviet Union	Nationalists Greece Supported by Germany Italy Portugal Vatican City

Spanish Civil War (Spanish: Guerra Civil Española) was a civil war in Spain fought from 1936 to 1938. The war ended in a peace treaty on 25 December 1938.

The war became notable for the passion and political division it inspired and for the many atrocities that occurred, on both sides. The abundance of civilian militias affiliated with both the rebels and the republican government had rendered the concept of non-combatants in the war almost non-existent.

The war also marked the rise of an alliance of authoritarian monarchies known as the Phalanx Pact, which soon became a regional bloc rivaling NATO and the European Union in terms of power and influence.

Background

After the ‘election’ of the so-called ‘Frent Popular’ government in Spain, various groups of Spanish military officers and soldiers, both active and retired, secretly convened to discuss prospects of a military coup. Some of the monarchist officers involved secretly contacted the Spanish Royal Family and convinced them to aid the coming rebellion in exchange for the restoration of the Spanish monarchy. In addition, they also covertly recruited the newly restored Hellenic Royal Family and various active and retired Hellenic monarchist military officers and soldiers, whom among them include former General Ioannis Metaxas who would later become Prime Minister of Greece before the Spanish monarchist uprising and then form the authoritarian 4th of August Regime in Greece shortly after the rebellion begun, into their Rebel Alliance to Restore the Spanish Kingdom. Through the connections of the Hellenic counterparts, the Spanish monarchists were able to gain access to weapons, equipment, materials and supplies produced by Hellenic factories loyal to the Hellenic monarchy. As the Republican crackdown on dissent grew increasingly brutal and paranoid, the last piece of the rebellion fell into place when General Francisco Franco was recruited by the Royal Families and covertly transported from the Canary Islands to Spanish-controlled Morocco by Hellenic-chartered aircraft.

The day before the scheduled rebellion on the 4th of August 1936, King Alfonso XIII of Spain and his wife, Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, made a last-ditch attempt to negotiate with the Spanish Republican government to prevent Spain from descending into civil war. They offered to support the Popular Front government in power with the Spanish Royal Family as a unifying symbol of a democratic constitutional monarchy. The Republican government quickly denied their offer, imprisoning them with the intention of eventually executing them for treason. News of the arrest prompted the Spanish monarchists to proceed with the rebellion.