Spanish Civil War: Reform, Conflict, and Aftermath

Classified in History

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Reformist Biennium (1931-1933)

  • Agrarian Question: In November 1932, the reform was approved. It created the Agrarian Reform Institute.
  • Religious Issue: The adoption of divorce and civil marriage, and religious orders were banned from teaching.
  • Military Issue: Restructuring of the army.
  • Social Issue: Educational reform, improved teaching, and better working conditions.
  • Catalan Autonomy: Beginning of the autonomous process. Approval of the Statute of Catalonia.

Conservative Biennium (1933-1936)

  • Catalan Autonomy: Decrees related to laws and wage and labor improvements for peasants were deleted.
  • Church Relations: A budget for the Catholic clergy was approved, the Church was allowed to return to schools, and confiscated assets were recovered.
  • Military Changes: Senior anti-Republican military officers were returned to their positions.
  • Social Situation: Great social unrest. The majority of labor organizations called a general strike.
  • Catalan Autonomy: The Statute of Autonomy was annulled.

Popular Front (1936)

  • Catalan Autonomy: Resumption of land reform. Peasant land occupation.
  • Church Relations: Intended to reinstate the anti-clerical legislation of the previous biennium.
  • Military Changes: A coup d'état by a sector of the army against the government of the Republic in July 1936.
  • Social Situation: Factory closures and terrorism. Violence in the streets, revolutionary agitation, political radicalization, and the inability to conduct modernization.
  • Catalan Autonomy: Other initiatives to restore autonomy that had been halted in the previous period were reactivated, although the Civil War began.

Consequences of the Spanish Civil War

  • Social Consequences: A high number of deaths, thousands of wounded, prisoners, and exiles; repeal of legal advances made by women; and moral and ideological divisions in Spanish society.
  • Economic Consequences: Abandonment of crop fields, destruction of the industrial fabric, infrastructure, public works, housing, and stocks; loss of labor; and increased external debt.
  • Political Consequences: The defeat of Germany, Italy, and Japan in World War II isolated Spain. This aggravated the economic and social problems.
  • Cultural Consequences: Exile or death of the scientific, literary, and artistic Spanish elite; censorship and imposition of an official culture.

International Brigades

Volunteer organizations that fought in the Spanish Civil War with the government, with the objective of defending the Republic and stopping the advance of fascism.

Rebel Advance on Madrid

The rebel troops took two years to conquer Madrid due to the coordination of military operations, the building of popular militias, the support of the International Brigades, and the use of the first Russian military equipment.

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