Spanish Civil War essays

Spanish Civil War essays On the Nationalist side, there were four main factions; the Carlists, the Catholic Church, the Falange, and the Monarchists. The Carlists supported the claim of the descendants of Don Carlos to the throne of Spain. They wanted a return to a traditionalist ultra-Catholic monarchy. The movement's support came from the Requetes, the Pelayos and the Margaritas, whose recruits were mainly drawn from the families of Navarrese smallholders. The Catholic Church supported CEDA, a composite right-wing Catholic party founded in 1933 by Gil Robles. It was formed from the Accion Popular and Partido Agrario, and had a youth movement known as the JAP. Although successful in the 1933 elections, the Party virtually collapsed after the Popular Front victory in 1936. The membership of JAP then switched to the Falange. The Falange was a small fascist. It gained some popular support when it merged with the JONS in 1934 to form the Falange Espanola de las JONS. The Monarchist groups, which inclu ded Accion Espanola and Renovacion Espanola, supported the claim of the descendants of Queen Isabella II to the throne of Spain. The Monarchist movement, which had the support of conservative army officers, became the focus of opposition to the Republic after the abdication of King Alfonso XIII. On the Republican side were the Anarcho-Syndicalists, the Basques, the Catalans, the Communists, the Marxists, the Republicans, and the Socialists. The Anarchist movement in Spain was the strongest in Europe. Its main support came from the industrial workers of Barcelona, who formed the anarcho-syndicalist trades union in 1911. The Anarchist also founded a youth movement, the FIJL, to promote anarcho-syndicalist beliefs amongst the young. The most influential organization within the Anarchist movement was the FAI; this was a federation of militant anarchist groups founded in 1927. It worked in secret, and formed the backbone of the Anarchist Militias at the o...