Spain+1930-1940

Spain 1930-1940

__Timeline of Spain 1930 t__ __ o 1940 __


 * 1933 law allowed Catholic Right to win control of Parliament
 * 1936 Spanish Civil War began
 * 1939 Spanish Civil War ended
 * 1939 Dictatorship formed under Francisco Franco

In 1939 after the Spanish Civil War Francisco Franco rose to power. Francisco first started out in the military in 1919 when he was posted to Morocco. He eventually rose up the ranks in the military. In 1936 the Spanish Civil War began and Francisco took on a leading role in leading the Nationalists. Towards the end of the war Francisco's side was winning. Franco was winning because unlike his enemies who had divisions between them Francisco had united people. “ Franco was able to unite Monarchists, Falange (Phalanx) elements, rural conservatives, and Catholics behind a single cause: keeping a united Spain out of the hands of leftist Republicans”("Franco, Francisco"). At the end of the war Franco became the leader of Spain. When Francisco Franco rose to  power he set up a dictatorship under him. During the Civil War the goals of Franco were to force the republicans out of Spain and by doing this win the war. Francisco was successful in completing this goal. Francisco’s goals once he was in power was to protect Spain and keep it away from any influence from liberals. Franco wanted to outlaw anything that did not agree with the catholic religion in Spain. What happened because of this was that the catholic church and Spain became one force together that ruled over Spain. Francisco’s goal of forming and leading a dictatorship over Spain was helped by Hitler’s Germany and Mussolini’s Italy. So when World War II started he was aligned with them and this led to the start of World War II. But during the start of the second World War Spain was non-belligerent in the war which means that they did not participate in actively fighting in the war. Franco did not really support Hitler and Mussolini in the war as in fighting with them even though they supported Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War. Instead Spain decided to stay non-belligerent during World War II and not actively fight in it. Spain and Francisco Franco were still considered aligned with Nazi Germany and Mussolini’s Italy. The relationship between America and Spain and Great Britain and Spain during World War II was not too good because Spain was technically part of the Axis Powers which was made up of Germany and Italy. The Axis Powers were fighting against the Allies which included America and Great Britain. What made each of their relationships not too bad was that Spain was non-belligerent throughout most the war.  The most important thing happening during the time period of 1930 to 1940 in Spain would have to be the Spanish Civil War. The Spanish civil war started in 1936 and lasted three years until 1939. The Spanish war represented “a battle to settle crucial issues that had divided Spaniards for generations: agrarian reform, recognition of the identity of the historical regions (Catalonia, the Basque Country), and the roles of the Catholic Church and the armed forces in a modern state”(Alpert, Michael). The causes of the Civil War were in place many years before the war started in 1936. Even though it was a Civil War in Spain other countries were involved in it as well. Other countries didn't fight in it but they supported different sides of the war.

Spanish Dictator Franco Francisco



__Works Cited__

"Francisco Franco." Historic World Leaders. Gale, 1994. World History in Context. Web. 10 Jan. 2014.

"Franco, Francisco." International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Ed. William A. Darity, Jr. 2nd ed. Vol. 3. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008. 186-187. World History in Context. Web. 10 Jan. 2014.

"Spanish Loyalists during Civil War, 1936." Gale World History in Context. Detroit: Gale, 2010. World History in Context. Web. 10 Jan. 2014.

"Spanish Civil War." Europe Since 1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of War and Reconstruction. Ed. John Merriman and Jay Winter. Vol. 4. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006. 2416-2424. World History in Context. Web. 9 Jan. 2014.