Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil War was a domestic war in Spain from 1936 to 1939. On one side was the Republic of Spain, the government that had come to power in 1931 when King Alfonso XIII (1886–1941) left the country. Supporters of the Republic were called Loyalists. On the other side were the revolting Nationalists, led by the Spanish military under General Francisco Franco (1892–1975). The Nationalists won by April 1939.

The Spanish Civil War was the result of government policies that were unpopular with powerful parts of Spanish society. After coming into power in 1931, the Republic confiscated land owned by the Roman Catholic Church in Spain. The Church accused the government of violence against Catholic priests and nuns. The Republic also imposed government policies that threatened landowners and other wealthy Spaniards.

Precursor to world war

Europe was divided over the war. England and France tried to remain neutral. Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) in Germany and Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) in Italy supported the revolting Nationalists, which some feared wanted to impose a fascist government on the country. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin (1878–1953) supported the Republic, which made the Republic's opponents fear that Spain would follow the Soviet Union and become a one-party Communist state.

The Spanish Civil War affected American society in a number of ways. At the time, the United States had a neutrality law that barred arms shipments to nations at war with one another. Technically, the law did not apply to the Spanish conflict, so American manufacturers sold aircraft and other supplies to the Loyalists. Congress reacted in January 1937 with a law imposing the restrictions on the Spanish conflict, broadening the neutrality act to cover civil wars, too. President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945; served 1933–45) and Congress wanted to stay out of the conflict, as did most Americans.

The Abraham Lincoln Brigade

The United States remained officially neutral throughout the Spanish Civil War. Many Americans, however, fought in the conflict in support of the Republic as part of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. The brigade was raised, trained, and transported to Spain by the Communist Party of America. Out of approximately twenty-eight hundred men, eight hundred died in the fighting.

The arms question and the politics surrounding the whole conflict led to division in American society. Most American Roman Catholics, appalled by the Republic's treatment of the Church, supported the Nationalists. Many of them feared Communism in the ranks of the Loyalists. Most American Protestants and Jews supported the Republic as the legitimate government of the country and feared the fascists among the Nationalists.