Events of the Spanish Civil War

Date

Event

1898	United States defeats Spain in the Spanish-American War. Spain loses possession of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.
1910	CNT, anarchosyndicalist trade union organization forms, signaling the growing popularity and strength of anarchism in Spain.
1917	Labor movement agitation increases, and working class power grows.
1921	Spanish Communist Party, PCE, forms.
1923	Miguel Primo de Rivera leads a military coup, and King Alfonso XIII appoints him head of the government.
1929	Worldwide economic crisis adversely affects Spain's economy.
1930	Primo de Rivera resigns in the face of declining support and economic problems.
1931	Elections force Alfonso to leave Spain and lead to the Second Republic.
1932	Catalonia gains limited autonomy under the Statute of Catalonia. Land reforms begin the redistribution of large estates to peasants.
1933	José Antonio Primo de Rivera, son of the late dictator, organizes the fascist Falange party. UME, a group of right-wing army officers, organizes to counter left-wing movements and eventually organizes a military rebellion.
November 1933	Conservatives win elections and attempt to undo liberal policies of the Second Republic.
1934	Trade unions strike to protest the government's growing conservatism; Asturian miners revolt in October, leading to government persecution of leftists.
1935	Spanish Popular Front organizes to regain control for the Spanish left.
February 1936	Leftist Popular Front coalition wins general elections.
May 1936	Manuel Azaña becomes president of the republic.
July 1936	Army generals launch a rebellion, capturing a third of Spanish territory, which becomes known as the Nationalist zone; supporters of the government successfully resist the rebels in the rest of the country-the Republican zone.
July 1936	Social revolution spreads through the Republican zone. Anarchists form agrarian and industrial collectives, and popular militias gain control in many areas; as part of the so-called Red Terrors, thousands of Catholic clergy are killed, and church buildings are destroyed or converted to secular use.
August 1936	As part of the so-called White Terrors conducted by the Nationalists, nearly 2000 civilians are killed in the bullring at Badajoz.
August 1936	Twenty-seven countries attend the first meeting of the Non-Intervention Committee. Most sign the Non-Intervention Agreement, agreeing not to intervene in Spain's war.
September 1936	Socialists take over leadership of the Second Republic government, and Francisco Largo Caballero becomes prime minister.
September 1936	General Franco abandons a planned attack on Madrid to save Nationalists trapped in the Alcázar at Toledo; following his success, Franco is named Generalísimo (Commander-in-Chief) of the Nationalist forces.
October 1936	The Nationalists name Franco as head of state on October 1.
October 1936	German chancellor Adolf Hitler forms the Condor Legion to provide air support for the Nationalists.
October 1936	Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) sends first shipments of aid to the Republicans; first units of the volunteer International Brigades arrive in Spain.
November 1936	Second Republic government moves to Valencia shortly before the Nationalists attack Madrid.
December 1936	First groups of Italian troops arrive in Spain as part of Italian leader Benito Mussolini's aid to the Nationalists.
January 1937	After two months of fighting, Franco's troops abandon attempts to take Madrid, as the Republicans and the International Brigades defend the city.
February 1937	Málaga falls to Nationalist and Italian troops on February 3; within a week, the Nationalists execute approximately 4000 people.
February 1937	Battle of Jarama begins on February 6; it results in a stalemate, although both sides suffer serious casualties.
March 1937	Republican troops defeat Italian troops in the Battle of Guadalajara.
April 1937	Franco merges all right-wing parties into the FET/JONS, a single Nationalist party under his control.
April 1937	Under orders of the Nationalist high command, a squadron of German aircraft bomb the Basque market town of Guernica on April 26; the town is destroyed, and about 900 civilians are killed.
May 1937	In Barcelona fighting among Republican parties results in the death of approximately 500 people and the triumph of the more moderate PCE and PSUC parties; Juan Negrín replaces Largo Caballero as prime minister.
June 1937	Bilbao falls to the Nationalists, enabling them to take the rest of the Basque region.
July 1937	Battle of Brunete begins when Republican troops break through Nationalist lines; the battle ends on July 25 without a decisive victory.
August-October 1937	The remaining Republican-held territory in the north falls to the Nationalists.
January 1938	Republicans capture Teruel and resist Franco's counter-offensive for nearly eight weeks.
February-April 1938	Nationalists retake Teruel from the Republicans in late February and continue through Republican territory to the Mediterranean Sea, dividing the Republican zone in two.
July 1938	Republicans initiate the Battle of the Ebro and advance into Nationalist territory.
November 1938	Nationalists win the Battle of the Ebro, devastating the Republican army.
November 1938	Last International Brigade volunteers leave Spain.
December 1938	Nationalists launch an offensive against Catalonia.
January 1939	Negrín's government leaves Barcelona for the border town of Figueras, and within days Barcelona falls to the Nationalists.
February 1939	The Republican government and thousands of Spanish refugees flee across the border into France; the rest of Catalonia falls to the Nationalists.
March 1939	Colonel Segismundo Casado and a group of anti-Nationalists take over the Republican government and try unsuccessfully to negotiate peace.
April 1939	After weeks of fighting, Madrid surrenders to the Nationalists on March 27, and on April 1 Franco declares victory, ending the war.
1939-1975	General Franco rules Spain as caudillo (supreme leader) until his death on November 20, 1975.
Sources: Spain at War: The Spanish Civil War in Context, 1931-1939; George Esenwein and Adrian Shubert, Longman, 1995; Spain's Civil War, second edition; Harry Browne, Longman, 1996.