Help of the USSR to Spain 1936. The Spanish Civil War: the triumph of General Franco

The state final certification in the XI classes in history is carried out orally by tickets. Each of the 25 tickets consists of 3 questions.

The first question to test the knowledge of the course " recent history 1900 - 1939" (X class). The second question to test the knowledge of the course "The latest and modern history(1939 - beginning of XXI c.)”, studied in the XI grade. The third question to test the knowledge of the course “History of the Fatherland in the XX - at the beginning of the XXI centuries (1939 - beginning of the XXI century)”, studied in the XI class.

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"Causes, results of the Spanish Civil War 1936–1939."

Ticket 13

13.1. Causes, results of the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939.

Civil War 1936-1939

The reasons:

Polarization of society.

Miscalculations of the Popular Front government:

1) did not disarm the radical forces;

2) reactionary generals remained in the highest military positions, who enjoyed the support of financial magnates, the landed aristocracy and the higher clergy;

3) the economic situation worsened.

July 19, 1936 - The Popular Front government, headed by the leftist Republican José Giral, began distributing weapons to the population in order to organize a rebuff to the rebels. A civil war broke out in Spain.

The governments of Great Britain, France, and the United States pursued a policy of "non-intervention" in Spanish affairs.

The Republic was deprived of the opportunity to buy weapons, military equipment, also take loans in the UK, France, USA.

The Franco regime was assisted by Germany, Italy, Portugal.

The USSR helped the Popular Front.

The Catholic Church took the side of the Nazis

Results of the Spanish Civil War:

a fascist dictatorship was established in the country;

1. large sums of money were spent on the war;

   great human losses;

   the country lay in ruins;

   immigration;

   The defeat of the Spanish Republic contributed to the outbreak of World War II.

According to the Historical Dictionary, a civil war is an organized armed struggle per state power between classes social groups and groupings. The following types and forms of civil war are distinguished: slave uprisings, peasant and guerrilla wars, armed war of the people against a totalitarian or exploitative regime, war of one part of the army against another under the slogans of various political parties.

The reasons that led to the civil war in Spain were formed under the influence of the international situation of the 20-30s. XX century and were the result of the First World War. To understand what was going on in Spain at that time, it is necessary to analyze the influence of the political and economic events of the interwar period.

First World War for different countries had significant consequences of its own. In particular, for Spain, it was the cause of the economic crisis. post-war years, since during the war Spain adhered to a policy of "non-intervention", the warring countries were interested in its raw materials - the Spanish industry flourished. So, for example, if in 1918 the positive balance trade balance exceeded 385 million pesetas, then in 1920 foreign trade balance became sharply negative and the deficit reached 380 million pesetas. Spain faced economic difficulties. There was an oversupply of workers and a lack of jobs. This led to the activation of the strike movement. Obviously, with the onset of the crisis in the economy, it was difficult for the Spanish government to avoid a political crisis.

To pacify the people, King Alphonse XIII canceled all constitutional guarantees. Not only revolutionary workers were persecuted, but also representatives of the petty bourgeoisie and the intelligentsia. For one and a half goals in Catalonia alone, there were about 500 victims of the White Terror. Class contradictions intensified in the country, a political crisis began.

Despite the measures taken, the Spanish government failed to stop the movement of workers, whose labor continued to be exploited by the feudal lords, in whose hands most of the land was concentrated. Then the king had to restore some constitutional guarantees, because he could not solve the agrarian question in the direction of the working class, since the big bourgeoisie and big feudal lords were the backbone of the state.

In 1923 there were 411 strikes involving 210,568 workers. Unrest intensified in the army, peasant uprisings became more frequent, and there was a further upsurge in the national liberation struggle in Morocco. The working class continued to fight for reform political system Spain. In this regard, the Republicans won the elections in June 1923.

King Alphonse XIII, in agreement with the Catholic Church, the generals and the landlord-financial oligarchy, on September 14, 1923, transferred all political power in the country into the hands of the "directorate" headed by the military governor of Catalonia, General Primo de Rivera. Who was introduced to the Italian king Victor Emmanuel by the general as "my Mussolini". Broadcast political power into the hands of the military governor says that the king can no longer control the situation in the country - the threat of revolution looms. In turn, Primo de Rivera, as well as the monarchical government, represented the interests of the landowners and the bourgeoisie, who, this time, were the support for the military-fascist dictatorship, therefore, the working class continued to be the most oppressed. It is also known that the big bourgeoisie and feudal lords represented by Primo de River were closely connected with foreign capital - this led to Spain's economic dependence on foreign monopoly.

Monopolies formed in industry. In 1924, Primo de Rivera created an economic national committee through which the monopolies received subsidies from the government. As a result, the state began to support large enterprises, while the small ones went bankrupt, people lost their jobs, and there was no competition in the market, which led to a decrease in the quality of goods.

Due to Spain's dependence on foreign capital, it was natural that it was not spared by the economic crisis of 1929-1932. Namely: the country's industrial output declined, many firms and banks went bankrupt, unemployment increased (in 1930 - 40% of the population were left without work), the number of strikes in 1929 reached 800, the peasants continued to suffer from unbearable dues.

In March 1929, there were a number of anti-government protests by students and professors. They were successfully suppressed. However, the students continued to fight, a bourgeois-democratic revolution was approaching the country. The situation was exacerbated by a massive republican movement in 1930. The inevitability of the collapse of the dictatorship gradually began to be recognized by everyone. Being in a hopeless situation, Primo de rivera was forced to submit on December 31 to the King and the Council of Ministers a draft in which it was proposed to prepare the conditions for the replacement of the dictatorship by a new government by September 13, 1930.

Further, until the end of the year, there were strikes of workers, anti-monarchist actions, the population of Spain by all possible methods tried to call on the government to overthrow the dictatorship, the power of the feudal lords and the big bourgeoisie. However, the authorities were limited only to the formation of a new government. The king resolutely did not want to admit that the problem of the state lies not in the composition of the government, but in the established state system. Then the people decided to take the situation into their own hands, and on the morning of April 14, 1931, excited crowds of people began to seize municipal buildings and proclaim a republic without authorization. At 3 p.m., the Republican flag was raised in Madrid at the Communications Palace and at the Ateneo Club. And in the evening of the same day, the king left the country, arguing his departure with the words: "To prevent the disasters of civil war." .

A provisional government headed by N. Alcala Zamora was formed, as soon as the king of Spain left the throne, on the same day the Provisional Government issued a decree on amnesty and released all political prisoners from prisons. With the overthrow of the monarchy, relief was immediately felt in the country, the feeling of fear disappeared, censorship became more loyal. Political emigrants began to return to the country. The Constitution was adopted, which contained a number of sharply anti-clerical provisions directed against the claims religious organizations and clergy to dominance or influence in the political, economic and cultural fields, as well as in the field of science and education.

However, in two years (from 1931 to 1933) the Provisional Government could not decide main problem- settlement of feudal remnants that interfered economic development countries. Perhaps the government did not want to aggravate social relations by making decisions in favor of one of the classes.

In 1933, elections were held in which the new Catholic party CEDA won the majority of votes. English explorer Hugh Thomas explains given fact because the Republic had enfranchised women, who were mostly zealous Catholics, and therefore voted for the Catholic party. Subsequently, a more moderate government was formed, but this led to a series of uprisings, which are called the "October Revolution of 1934". From this it follows that there were many disagreements in the country, a second political crisis began, and the parties, not wanting to come to a compromise, pulled the blanket over themselves.

Elections were held again on February 16, 1936, the Popular Front won, however, as Gil Robles noted at a meeting of the Cortes on June 16, 1936: “The government was endowed with exclusive rights, but in the four months of the republic’s rule, 160 churches were burned, 260 political assassinations were committed , 69 political centers were destroyed, 113 general strikes and 288 local strikes took place, 10 editorial offices were destroyed. Existing system he called anarchy.

As a result, a heated discussion broke out at the meeting of the Cortes about the current situation in the country and its causes, the party leaders blamed each other and did not want to compromise, everyone was sure only that they were right.

It is also worth noting that failures in foreign policy Spain, during the period under review, did not at all contribute to strengthening the position of the government: the national liberation uprisings in Morocco (1921, 1923), the non-recognition of the Tangier zone by the countries of the League of Nations for Spain.

AT given period Fascist states, not encountering any resistance on their way from the victorious countries of the First World War, violated the terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty - deployed preparations for war and aggression. The leading European countries, in particular France and England, adhered to the policy of "non-resistance". They silently watched the actions of the countries of the Nazi bloc, as they were afraid of aggression in their direction and hoped to direct it to the USSR. The Soviet Union remained, perhaps, the only staunch defender of the system collective security rejected by France and England.

They also, together with the United States, financed the creation of a powerful military machine Germany and Italy, which in turn "tried to drag Spain into the fascist orbit." The ruling circles of Spain agreed with Mussolini in March 1934, according to which the head of fascist Italy took upon himself the duty of helping to overthrow the republic in Spain and even, if necessary, unleash a civil war. The imperialist circles of the USA, Britain and France supported the feudal lords of the Spanish state. They did it for their own interests, there were many foreign monopolies in Spain that took advantage of the oppressed position of the Spanish workers, and a republican constitution would give them greater rights and forbid their exploitation. America was interested in injecting its own capital into Spain in order to influence its political life. Here is a prime example: when Admiral Aznar formed the government, New York's Morgan Bank tried to save the dying Bourbon monarchy by lending Spain $60 million.

The United States repeatedly tried to influence the political situation in Spain, after a new financial attack in June 1931, the Spanish government exported most of the gold reserves to France, but the French government froze Spain's accounts.

As for England, her conservative circles contributed to the reactionary movement in the Spanish state, because both of them fought for the restoration of the monarchy and opposed the republican system.

Thus, the following conclusion can be drawn: after the First World War, the state of the Spanish economy began to deteriorate. The state of the country was approaching a period of general economic crisis, which was combined with a strike movement in industry (1919-1923) and a constant struggle for power and influence in the country, this did not contribute to the rise of the economy and the prosperity of the state. Spain needed a strong ruler who would bring order to the country, but since the struggle for power for some party leaders was more important than the fight against the crisis, Spain gradually became mired in its political and political economic problems. The position of the state was also worsened by failures in foreign policy. And Western countries this case, tried only to protect their own interests, thereby exacerbating the multi-vector contradictions in the country, which resulted in a civil war.

It took place between the left-wing socialist republican government of the country, supported by the communists, and the right-monarchist forces, which raised an armed rebellion, sided with most of the Spanish army, led by General F. Franco.

The rebels were supported by Germany and Italy, and the Republicans by the Soviet Union. The rebellion began on June 17, 1936 in Spanish Morocco. On July 18, most of the garrisons on the peninsula revolted. Initially, the leader of the monarchist forces was General José Sanjurjo, but soon after the start of the rebellion, he died in a plane crash. After that, the rebels were led by the commander of the troops in Morocco, General F. Franco. In total, out of 145 thousand soldiers and officers, more than 100 thousand supported him. Despite this, the government, with the help of the army units that remained on its side and the hastily formed detachments of the people's militia, managed to suppress the riots in most of the major cities of the country. Only Spanish Morocco was under the control of the Francoists, Balearic Islands(with the exception of the island of Menorca) and a number of provinces in the north and southwest of Spain.

From the very first days, the rebels received support from Italy and Germany, which began to supply Franco with weapons and ammunition. This helped the Francoists in August 1936 capture the city of Badajoz and establish a land connection between their northern and southern armies. After that, the rebel troops managed to establish control over the cities of Irun and San Sebastian and thereby make it difficult for the Republican North to communicate with France. Franco directed the main blow against the country's capital, Madrid.

At the end of October 1936, the German air legion "Condor" and the Italian motorized corps arrived in the country. The Soviet Union, in turn, sent significant batches of weapons and military equipment, including tanks and aircraft, to the republican government, and also sent military advisers and volunteers. At the call of the communist parties European countries Volunteer international brigades began to form and went to Spain to help the Republicans. The total number of foreign volunteers who fought on the side of the Spanish Republic exceeded 42,000. With their help, the Republican army managed in the fall of 1936 to repel the Franco attack on Madrid.

The war took on a protracted character. In February 1937, Franco's troops, with the support of the Italian expeditionary forces, captured the city of Malaga in the south of the country. At the same time, the Francoists launched an offensive on the Jarama River south of Madrid. On the east bank of the Jarama they succeeded in capturing

The fighters of the international brigade formed a bridgehead, but after fierce fighting, the Republicans pushed the enemy back to their original position. In March 1937, the rebel army attacked the Spanish capital from the north. main role the Italian Expeditionary Force played in this offensive. In the Guadalajara region, he was defeated. The Republicans played a big role in this victory. Soviet pilots and tankers.

After the defeat at Guadalajara, Franco shifted his main efforts to the north of the country. The Republicans, in turn, in July - September 1937, carried out offensive operations in the Brunete region and near Zaragossa, which ended in vain. These attacks did not prevent the Francoists from completing the destruction of the enemy in the north, where on October 22 the last stronghold of the Republicans fell - the city of Gijón.

Soon the Republicans managed to achieve serious success. In December

In 1937, they launched an attack on the city of Teruel and in January 1938 captured it. However, then the Republicans transferred a significant part of the forces and means from here to the south. The Francoists took advantage of this, launched a counteroffensive and in March 1938 recaptured Teruel from the enemy. In mid-April they went to the coast mediterranean sea at Vinaris, cutting in two the territory that was under the control of the Republicans. The defeats prompted a reorganization of the republican armed forces. From mid-April, they were combined into six main armies, subordinate to the commander-in-chief, General Miah. One of these armies, the Eastern, was cut off in Catalonia from the rest of Republican Spain and acted in isolation. On May 29, 1938, another army was allocated from its composition, called the Ebro army. On July 11, the reserve army corps joined both armies. They were also given 2 tank divisions, 2 brigades anti-aircraft artillery and 4 cavalry brigades.! The Republican command was preparing a major offensive to restore the land connection of Catalonia with the rest of the country.

After the reorganization, the Popular Army of the Spanish Republic numbered 22 corps, 66 divisions and 202 brigades with a total strength of 1,250 thousand people. On the Ebro army, commanded by General H.M. Guillotte," accounted for about 100 thousand people. The Chief of the Republican General Staff, General V. Rojo, developed an operation plan that provided for the crossing of the Ebro and the development of an offensive against the cities of Gandes; Vadderrobres and Morella. Covertly concentrating, the Ebro army on June 25, 1938 began crossing the river. Since the width of the Ebro River was from 80 to 150 m, the Francoists considered it a formidable obstacle. On the offensive sector of the republican army, they had only one infantry division.

On June 25 and 26, six republican divisions under the command of Colonel Modesto occupied a bridgehead on the right bank of the Ebro, 40 km wide along 1 front and 20 km deep. The 35th International Division under the command of General K. Sverchevsky (in Spain he was known under the pseudonym "Walter"), which was part of the XV Army Corps, captured the heights of Fatarella and the Sierra de Cabals. The Battle of the Ebro River was the last J battle of the Civil War in which the International Brigades took part. In the autumn of 1938, at the request of the republican government, they left Spain together with Soviet advisers and volunteers. The Republicans hoped that thanks to this it would be possible to obtain permission from the French authorities to allow the passage to Spain of weapons and equipment purchased by the socialist government of Juan Negrin

The 10th and 15th Army Corps of the Republicans, commanded by Generals M. Tatuegna and E. Lister, were supposed to surround the Francoist troops in the Ebro region. However, their advance was stopped with the help of reinforcements that Franco had transferred from other fronts. Due to the Republican attack on the Ebro, the Nationalists had to stop their offensive against Valencia.

The Francoists managed to stop the advance of the V Corps of the enemy at Gandesa. Franco's aviation seized air supremacy and constantly bombed and fired at the Ebro crossings. For 8 days of fighting, the republican troops lost 12 thousand killed, wounded and missing. A long battle of attrition began in the region of the republican bridgehead. Until the end of October 1938, the Francoists launched unsuccessful attacks, trying to throw the Republicans into the Ebro. Only at the beginning of November, the seventh offensive of Franco's troops ended with a breakthrough of the defense on the right bank of the Ebro.

The Republicans had to leave the bridgehead. Their defeat was predetermined by the fact that the French government closed the Franco-Spanish border and did not allow weapons for the Republican army to pass. Nevertheless, the Battle of the Ebro delayed the fall of the Spanish Republic for several months. Franco's army lost about 80,000 in this battle. people killed, wounded and missing.

During the Spanish Civil War, the Republican army lost more than 100 thousand people killed and died from wounds. The irretrievable losses of Franco's army exceeded 70 thousand people. The same number of National Army soldiers died of disease. It can be assumed that in the republican army, the losses from diseases were somewhat less, since it was inferior in number to the Francoist one. In addition, the losses of the international brigades in the dead exceeded 6.5 thousand people, and the losses of Soviet advisers and volunteers reached 158 people killed, died of wounds and missing. There is no reliable data on the losses of the German Condor Aviation Legion and the Italian Expeditionary Force who fought on the side of the Franco.

Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 something looks like the current war in Libya, the scale was only bigger. In Libya, it all started with a rebellion of separatists and Islamists in the east of the country, in Cyrenaica, in Spain - with a military rebellion in Spanish Morocco. In Spain, the rebellion was supported by the Third Reich, Italy, Portugal, and other Western powers - France, England, the USA, with their hostile neutrality. In Libya, the rebellion was also supported by most of the Western world.

There is only one important difference: no one officially supported Gaddafi's legitimate government, except for protests. And the Spanish government was supported by the Soviet Union.

It all started with the fact that in the parliamentary elections in Spain in February 1936, the Union of left-wing parties "People's Front" won. Manuel Azaña and Santiago Casares Quiroga became president and head of government, respectively. They made it legal for the peasants to seize land from the landowners, freed many political prisoners, and arrested several fascist leaders. Their opposition included: the Catholic Church, landowners, capitalists, fascists (in 1933, an ultra-right party, the Spanish Falange, was created in Spain). In Spanish society, a split deepened between supporters of progressive changes in society (overcoming the legacy of the Middle Ages in the form of a huge influence catholic church, monarchists and the class of landowners) and their opponents. Even in the army, a split occurred: the Republican Anti-Fascist Military Union, which supported the government, and the Spanish Military Union, which opposed the leftist government, were created. There were a number of clashes on the city streets.

As a result, military supporters of the fascist dictatorship decided to seize power in order to destroy the “Bolshevik threat”. At the head of the military conspiracy was General Emilio Mola. He was able to unite some of the military, monarchists, fascists and other enemies of the left movement. The conspirators were supported by large industrialists and landowners, they were supported by the Catholic Church.

It all started with a rebellion on July 17, 1936 in Spanish Morocco, the rebels quickly won in other colonial possessions of Spain: on canary islands, Spanish Sahara, Spanish Guinea. On July 18, General Gonzalo Queypo de Llano mutinied in Seville, fierce fighting in the city went on for a week, as a result, the military was able to drown the leftist resistance in blood. The loss of Seville, and then neighboring Cadiz, made it possible to create a bridgehead in southern Spain. On July 19, almost 80% of the army rebelled, they captured many important cities: Zaragoza, Toledo, Oviedo, Cordoba, Granada and others.

The scale of the rebellion came as a complete surprise to the government, they thought that it would be quickly suppressed. On July 19, Casares Quiroga resigned, and the head of the right-wing liberal Republican Union party, Diego Martinez Barrio, became the new head of government. Barrio tried to negotiate with the rebels on negotiations and the creation of a new coalition government, Mola rejected the offer, and his actions caused anger in the Popular Front. Barrio resigned the same day. The third prime minister of the day, the chemist José Giral, immediately ordered to start distributing to everyone who wanted to defend the legitimate government. This helped, in most of Spain, the rebels could not win. The government was able to retain more than 70% of Spain, the rebels were defeated in Madrid and Barcelona. legitimate authority almost everyone supported Air Force(after the victory of the Nazis, almost all pilots will be shot) and the Navy. On ships where the sailors did not know about the rebellion and carried out the orders of the rebels, having learned about the truth, they killed or arrested the officers.

Mola, Emilio.

This made it difficult for the rebels to move troops from Morocco. As a result, the war took on a protracted and fierce character, a quick victory did not work out, it lasted until April 1939. The war claimed almost half a million lives (5% of the population), of which one in five fell victim to their political convictions, that is, was repressed. More than 600,000 Spaniards fled the country, in many ways intellectual elite- creative intelligentsia, scientists. Many major cities were destroyed.

Aftermath of the bombing of Madrid, 1936.

The main reason for the defeat of the legitimate government

The world "democratic community" reacted very negatively to the victory of the left in Spain. Although these leftist parties in Spain were not all allies of Moscow, there were a lot of movements that considered the Stalinist USSR a traitor to the ideals of Lenin and Trotsky, many anarchists, Trotskyists, etc.

The legitimate government would have won if the "world community" had not simply interfered in the internal affairs of Spain. But openly on the side of the Spanish fascists, monarchists and nationalists were three powers - fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, authoritarian Portugal. England, and under her pressure, France, remained hostilely neutral, stopping the supply of weapons to the legitimate government. On August 24, all European countries announced "non-intervention".

Italian_bomber_SM-81_accompanied_by_fighters_Fiat_CR.32_bombed_Madrid,_autumn_1936_g.

Portugal helped the rebels with weapons, ammunition, finances, volunteers, the Portuguese authorities were afraid that the left forces, having won in Spain, would inspire the Portuguese to change the system.

Hitler solved several problems: testing new weapons, testing military specialists in battle, "hardening" them, creating a new regime - an ally of Berlin. The Italian leader Mussolini generally dreamed of the entry of fascist Spain into a single union state under his leadership. As a result, tens of thousands of Italians and Germans, entire military units, took part in the war against the republican government. Hitler awarded 26,000 men for Spain. This is not counting the help with weapons, ammunition, etc. The Italian Navy and Air Force participated in the battles, although Hitler and Mussolini officially supported the idea of ​​"non-intervention". Paris and London turned a blind eye to this: the fascists are better in power than the left.

Why did the USSR come to the aid of the legitimate government?

One should not think that Moscow supported the leftist government of Spain because of the desire to establish socialism and the ideals of the "world revolution" throughout the world. There were pragmatists in Moscow, and they were interested in purely rational things.

Trial new technology in battle. At least 300 I-16 fighters fought for the legitimate government. Tanks and other weapons were also supplied. In total, up to 1,000 aircraft and tanks, 1,500 guns, 20,000 machine guns, and half a million rifles were delivered.

Training of combat personnel in real combat conditions. So, Gritsevets Sergey Ivanovich was the commander of a fighter aviation squadron in the ranks of Republican Spain; became the first twice Hero Soviet Union. For 116 days of the "Spanish trip" he participated in 57 air battles, on some days he made 5-7 sorties. He shot down 30 enemy aircraft personally and 7 as part of a group. In Spain, our pilots, tankers, commanders and other military specialists received unique experience that helped us survive the Great Patriotic War. In total, about 3 thousand of our military specialists fought in Spain, Moscow did not cross the border, did not get involved in the war “with its head”. About 200 people died in the fighting.

Gritsevets Sergey Ivanovich.

Soviet ship with military materials in the port of Alicante.

Moscow thus held back the beginning of " Great War away from their borders. It was impossible to give Spain to the Nazis and the Nazis without a fight; if not for the long civil war that bled the country dry, it is quite possible that the Spanish fascists would have put up in 1941 to help Hitler not one division - the Blue Division, but much more.

Although, of course, we must remember that only the USSR provided purely humanitarian, friendly assistance: Soviet citizens for real imbued with the tragedy of the Spaniards. Soviet people they collected money, they sent food and medicine to Spain. In 1937, the USSR accepted Spanish children, and the state built 15 orphanages for them.

Soldiers of the Republican Guard. 1937

Sources:
Danilov S. Yu. Civil War in Spain (1936-1939). M., 2004.
Meshcheryakov M.T. USSR and the Spanish Civil War // Patriotic. - M., 1993. - N 3.
Chronology of the Spanish Civil War: hrono.ru/sobyt/1900war/span1936.php
Hugh Thomas. Civil War in Spain. 1931-1939 M., 2003.

Spanish Civil War 1936 - 1939, began as a result of a rebellion raised by Generals E. Mola and F. Franco. Although the origins of the conflict were rooted in the dispute hundred years ago between traditionalists and supporters of modernization, in Europe in the 1930s. It took the form of a clash between fascism and the anti-fascist Popular Front bloc. This was facilitated by the internationalization of the conflict, the involvement of other countries in it.

Prime Minister J. Hiral appealed to the French government for help, Franco appealed to A. Hitler and B. Mussolini. Berlin and Rome were the first to respond to the call for help, sending 20 transport aircraft, 12 bombers and the Osamo transport ship to Morocco (where Franco was then located).

By the beginning of August, the African army of the rebels was transferred to the Iberian Peninsula. On August 6, the southwestern grouping under the command of Franco began to march on Madrid. At the same time, the northern group under the command of Mola moved to Caceres.

started Civil War, claiming hundreds of thousands of lives and left ruins behind.

The decision to provide assistance from the USSR in response to the request of the head of the government of the Popular Front, F. Largo Caballero, was made by the Soviet leadership in September 1936. But back in August, along with the Soviet embassy, ​​military advisers arrived. In 1936-39 there were about 600 military advisers in Spain; the number of Soviet citizens who took part in the Spanish events did not exceed 3.5 thousand people.

On the other hand, Germany and Italy sent Franco a large contingent of military instructors, the German Condor Legion, and a 125,000-strong Italian expeditionary force. In October 1936, the Comintern initiated the creation international brigades who gathered anti-fascists from many countries under their banners. September 9, 1936 in London began work " non-intervention committee”, the purpose of which was to prevent the Spanish conflict from escalating into a general European war.

The Soviet Union was represented by the Ambassador in London, I.M. May. On August 7, 1936, the US government ordered all its diplomatic missions to be guided in the Spanish situation by the "Act of Neutrality" of 1935, which prohibited the supply of weapons to the warring countries. The military conflict was aggravated by the creation of two various types statehood: republics where from September 1936 to March 1939 the government of the popular front, headed by the socialists F. Largo Caballero and J. Negrin, and the authoritarian regime in the so-called. the national zone, where Franco concentrated all the legislative, executive and judicial powers in his hands.

Traditional establishments prevailed in the national zone. In the republican zone, the land was nationalized, and large industrial enterprises and banks confiscated and turned over to unions. In the national zone, all the parties that supported the regime were merged in April 1937 into " Spanish traditionalist phalanx y”, led by Franco. In the republican zone, the rivalry between socialists, communists, and anarchists resulted in open clashes, right up to the armed putsch in May 1937 in Catalonia.

The fate of Spain was decided on the battlefields. Franco was unable to capture Madrid until the end of the war; the Italian corps was defeated in the battles of Jarama and Guadalajara. Unfavorable outcome 113-day " battles on the ebro” in November 1938 predetermined the outcome of the civil war.