Spanish Civil War: Key Battles and the Republican Exile

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The Spanish Civil War: A Divided Nation

In late July 1936, Spain was divided into two main areas: one controlled by the Republicans and the other by the rebels. The rebel-held territories included parts of Andalucia, Castilla y Leon, Galicia, the Balearic Islands, and a sector of Aragon and Extremadura. These were primarily agricultural areas with a conservative political orientation.

The Republican territories encompassed the North, Catalonia, the entire Levant, Madrid, Castilla-La Mancha, and part of Andalucia. These areas included major cities, industrial centers, and a large working-class population.

The Advance Towards Madrid

The rebels' strategy focused on advancing from the south towards Madrid, aiming to capture the capital quickly. By August, they had occupied Extremadura, and in September, they took Toledo. The Republican government, anticipating an imminent attack, evacuated Madrid. However, in November, Republican forces, including the army, militias, volunteers, and international brigades, successfully halted Franco's offensive.

Subsequent attempts to penetrate the city, such as the battles of Guadalajara and Jarama, failed. By the spring of 1937, the rebel high command, led by General Franco, shifted their strategy.

The Battle of the North

Between April and October 1937, the Battle of the North saw Franco's troops attacking northern cities. On April 26, the German Condor Legion bombed Guernica. In June, Franco's forces captured Bilbao and the industrial and mining areas of northern Spain. While Republicans launched offensives elsewhere (Belchite, Brunete), they could not prevent the fall of Santander in August and Asturias two months later.

The Battle of the Ebro

In 1938, rebel troops advanced through Aragon, reaching the Mediterranean near Castellon, isolating Republican Catalonia. To counter this, the Republican government concentrated its forces in the Battle of the Ebro, an offensive aimed at pushing back the enemy. After heavy fighting, the Republicans retreated across the Ebro in November 1938. From then on, Franco's advance into Catalonia was unstoppable. Barcelona fell on January 26, 1939, and soon after, Francoist troops reached the French border.

The End of the War and Exile

By February 1939, only central Madrid remained in Republican hands. Negrin's government attempted to resist, but a military coup in Madrid led to the creation of a board that unsuccessfully tried to negotiate with Franco. Between February and March, Franco occupied the remaining territory, and on April 1, 1939, the war officially ended.

The Republican defeat led to a mass exile, with over half a million Spaniards fleeing to France to avoid repression under Franco. About half of these exiles returned to Spain within a few months, while the rest faced a long exile. Thousands of Spanish Republicans who had exiled to France participated in the resistance against the Nazis during World War II. Some were arrested by the Germans and confined in concentration camps like Treblinka, Dachau, and Mauthausen, where nearly 16,000 Spanish Republicans were killed. Others found refuge in Latin America or the USSR. The American group included many politicians and intellectuals. The Republican government itself established a government in exile in Mexico.

The war's stages and events led to a mass exodus of people of all ages across the French border into exile.

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