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The start of the Civil War
-July 17, the uprising starts in Morocco. The Army of Africa is the most prepared. Its support for the rebels is decisive. -
Military coup d'état
-The general Francisco Franco, military commander of the Canary Islands, declares a state of war and arrives in Morocco to takes control of the troops.
-On mainland Spain, Cádiz, Córdoba and Sevilla are controlled by rebels.
-In the north, the coup is supported by military units in Pamplona, Burgos and Valladolid. -
The uprising
-The uprising is defeated in Madrid and Barcelona.
-País Vasco, Cataluña and Valencia remain loyal to the government. -
General Sanjurjo
-At the beginning of the rebellion, a military council was in charge of rising.
-The coup leader General Sanjurjo was killed in a plane crash on 20 July, leaving the command split between General Mola in the north, and General Franco in the south. -
The African troops are airlifted
-In the first week of August, Hitler and Mussolini provide Franco with planes to carry out the first major military airlift of troops from Africa to Sevilla. -
Objective Madrid
-General Franco leads the African troops from the south, and General Emilio Mola commands the army from the north.
-By September, the Francoist troops take Badajoz and arrive in the Tajo Valley.
-Mola´s troops in the north take Gipuzkoa and close the French border to the Republicans. -
Nationalist victory in Toledo
-Franco turns his army south to Toledo, where the Nationalist soldiers are resisting the Republican siege in the Alcázar.
-Franco´s troops win a symbolic victory. -
The Battle for Madrid
-Nationalist troops reach the capital.
-The government decides to evacuate Madrid and head to Valencia.
-International aid arrives in time, and the Republicans resist.
-The Nationalists besiege Madrid for much of the war. -
Germany and Italy recognised Franco's government
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The Northern front
-The Gernika bombing helped the Nationalists gain a decisive victory in Bizcaia.
-Despite the Republican offensive in Aragón to slow down the Nationalist advance, the strategic heavy industry and mining zones of Cantabria and Austrias are also taken. -
Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista
-Franco ordered the amalgamation of the rightist political groups, including the Falange, Carlistas and Renovación Española, into one party, Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (FET y de las JONS), know as "Movimiento Nacional", with himself as Caudillo (leader).
-One part of the Falange was opposed to this, but it was severely repressed.
- A one-party state was established. -
Barcelona May Days
-The two sides confronted, POUM and PCE, each other on the streets of Barcelona.
-The Barcelona May Days brought about the fall of Largo Caballero.
-Juan Negrín, backed by Soviet advisors, was named president of the new government.
-POUM was declared illegal.
-From then on, the slogan was "resist to win" in the hopes that the imminent European war would soon bring allies. -
Spanish bishops publicly endorsed the Movimiento Nacionalista
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The Battle of Teruel
-It is one of the bitterest battles of the war.
-Nationalists gain a strategic victory that allows them to advance towards the Mediterranean.
-The Republican zone is now cut in two and Cataluña is isolated. -
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The Battle of the Ebro
-The Republican government launches an all-out campaign to reconnect their territory.
-It fails, and Franco deploys mass forces to invade Cateluña.
-His troops enter Barcelona on 26 January 1939.
-Only Madrid, Valencia and few other strongholds remained for the Republican forces. -
Goodbye hopes for the republican side
-In October 1938 these hopes vanished when the International Brigades were dismissed as a consequence of Stalin´s friendship with Germany. -
Civil War within the Civil War
-A plot within the Republican Army causes the government in Valencia to fall.
-A National Council of Defence is formed to negotiate a peace deal.
-Franco only accepts an unconditional surrender.
-Juan Negrín, the president of the government, flees to France. -
National Catolitism
-Franco´s government was recognised by France and Britain.
-The Vatican followed suit.
-National Catholicism, the ideological identify of Francoism, was established. -
The end of the war
-The Nationalists start a general offensive.
-On 28 March, they occupy Madrid, and by 31 March, they control all Spanish territory.
-The Republican forces surrender.
-Franco proclaims victory on 1 April.
