85th Anniversary of Franco’s victory

After almost four years of bloody turmoil, the Spanish Civil War officially ended on April 1, 1939 with General Franco announcing victory on the radio.

Revolution of the ‘young bloods’

Some parties suggest that this was a revolution caused by Army Generals, but history suggests that this is not correct as the majority of officers taking part were of lower ranks.

Traditionally, officers were promoted due to seniority, but this rule had been suspended during the earlier African campaigns and officers were promoted due to their success and gallantry in campaigns rather than ‘dead men’s shoes’.

In some ways one might have expected that these younger men would have been less conservative than the generals but many had seen the rise of the Fascists in Germany and Italy and were scared of the possible effects of the spreading of Bolshevism.

With the support of the Portuguese Government as well as Mussolini and Hitler, the Nationalist’s North African Brigades were a fearsome force, ready to fight for their own benefit as much as for the ‘liberation’ of Spain.

Enter the Condor Legion

International agreements required that foreign countries should not supply arms to either side but whilst the Republicans found it hard to obtain military supplies, (although they did receive fighter planes from Soviet Russia) the Nationalists had fewer problems as Hitler used the Civil War as a training ground for his Luftwaffe in particular with the Condor Legion playing an important part after being equipped with the most up to date aircraft.

The Republicans, with the help of International Brigades formed mainly by left-wing influenced foreign fighters, managed to hold out for nearly four years, but it was the Republicans under Franco who dominated and certainly came down even harder on their enemies once the war finished.