Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War) in the context of "Materiel"

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⭐ Core Definition: Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War)

The Nationalist faction (Spanish: Bando nacional), also called the Rebel faction (Spanish: Bando sublevado) and Francoist faction (Spanish: Bando franquista), was a major faction in the Spanish Civil War of 1936 to 1939. It was composed of a variety of right-leaning political groups that supported the Spanish Coup of July 1936 against the Second Spanish Republic and Republican faction and sought to depose Manuel Azaña, including the Falange, the CEDA, and two rival monarchist claimants: the Alfonsist Renovación Española and the Carlist Traditionalist Communion. In 1937, all the groups were merged into the FET y de las JONS. After the death of the faction's early leaders, General Francisco Franco, one of the members of the 1936 coup, headed the Nationalists throughout most of the war, and emerged as the dictator of Spain until his death in 1975.

The term Nationalists or Nationals (nacionales) was coined by Joseph Goebbels following the visit of the clandestine Spanish delegation led by Captain Francisco Arranz requesting war materiel on 24 July 1936, in order to give a cloak of legitimacy to Nazi Germany's help to the Spanish rebel military. The leaders of the rebel faction, who had already been denominated as 'Crusaders' by Bishop of Salamanca Enrique Pla y Deniel – and also used the term Cruzada for their campaign – immediately took a liking to it.

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Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War) in the context of Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil War (Spanish: guerra civil española) was fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republicans and the Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the left-leaning Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic and included socialists, anarchists, communists, and separatists. The opposing Nationalists who established the Spanish State were an alliance of fascist Falangists, monarchists, conservatives, and traditionalists supported by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy and led by a military junta among whom General Francisco Franco quickly achieved a preponderant role. Due to the international political climate at the time, the war was variously viewed as class struggle, a religious struggle, or a struggle between dictatorship and republican democracy, between revolution and counterrevolution, or between fascism and communism. The Nationalists won the war, which ended in early 1939, and ruled Spain until Franco's death in November 1975.

The war began after the partial failure of the coup d'état of July 1936 against the Popular Front government by a group of generals of the Spanish Republican Armed Forces. The Nationalist faction consisted of right-wing groups, including Christian traditionalist party CEDA, monarchists, including both the opposing Alfonsists and the religious conservative Carlists, and the Falange Española de las JONS, a fascist political party. However, rebelling units in almost all important cities did not gain control, leaving Spain militarily and politically divided. The rebellion was countered with the help of arming left-wing social movements and parties and formation of militias, what led to rapid socioeconomic and political transformation in the Republican zone, referred to as the Spanish Revolution. The Nationalist forces received munitions, soldiers, and air support from Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany while the Republican side received support from the Soviet Union and Mexico. Other countries, such as the United Kingdom, France, and the United States, continued to recognise the Republican government but followed an official policy of non-intervention. Despite this policy, tens of thousands of citizens from non-interventionist countries directly participated in the conflict, mostly in the pro-Republican International Brigades.

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Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War) in the context of Francoist Spain

Francoist Spain (Spanish: España franquista; English: pronounced Franco-ist), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (dictadura franquista), or Nationalist Spain (España nacionalista), and Falangist Spain (España falangista), was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title Caudillo. After his death in 1975, Spain transitioned into a democracy. During Franco's rule, Spain was officially known as the Spanish State (Estado Español). The informal term "Fascist Spain" is also used, especially before and during World War II.

During its existence, the nature of the regime evolved and changed. Months after the start of the Civil War in July 1936, Franco emerged as the dominant rebel military leader and he was proclaimed head of state on 1 October 1936, ruling over the territory which was controlled by the Nationalist faction. In 1937, Franco became an uncontested dictator and issued the Unification Decree which merged all of the parties which supported the rebel side, turning Nationalist Spain into a one-party state under the FET y de las JONS. The Spanish Natioanlists received crucial support from Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Estado Novo Portugal, allowing them to win the civil war over the Spanish Republicans. The end of the Civil War in 1939 brought the extension of the Franco rule to the whole country and the exile of Republican institutions. The Francoist dictatorship originally took a form described as, "fascist or quasi-fascist", "fascistized", "para-fascist", "semi-fascist", or a strictly fascist regime, showing clear influence of fascism in fields such as labor relations, the autarkic economic policy, aesthetics, the single-party system, and totalitarian control of public and private life. As time went on, the regime opened up and became closer to developmental dictatorships and abandoned the radical fascist ideology of Falangism, although it always preserved residual fascist trappings and a "major radical fascist ingredient."

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Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War) in the context of Second Spanish Republic

The Spanish Republic (Spanish: República Española), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (Spanish: Segunda República Española), was the democratic government of Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931 after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII. It was dissolved on 1 April 1939 after surrendering in the Spanish Civil War to the Nationalists led by General Francisco Franco.

After the proclamation of the Republic, a provisional government was established until December 1931, at which time the 1931 Constitution was approved. Over the next two years of constitutional government, known as the Reformist Biennium, Prime Minister Manuel Azaña initiated numerous reforms. In 1932, religious orders were forbidden control of schools, while the government began a large-scale school-building project. A moderate agrarian reform was carried out. Home rule was granted to Catalonia, with a parliament and a president of its own.

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Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War) in the context of Republican faction (Spanish Civil War)

The Republican faction (Spanish: Bando republicano), also known as the Loyalist faction (Bando leal) or the Government faction (Bando gubernamental), was the side in the Spanish Civil War of 1936 to 1939 that supported the government of the Second Spanish Republic against the Nationalist faction of the military rebellion. The name Republicans (republicanos) was mainly used by its members and supporters, while its opponents used the term Rojos (Reds) to refer to this faction due to its left-leaning ideology, including communist and anarchist groups, and the support it received from the Soviet Union.At the beginning of the war, the Republicans outnumbered the Nationalists by ten-to-one, but by January 1937 that advantage had dropped to four-to-one.

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Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War) in the context of National Defense Junta

The Junta de Defensa Nacional (English: National Defense Junta) was a military junta which governed the territories held by the Nationalist faction of the Spanish Civil War from July to September 1936. The junta's president was Miguel Cabanellas and its head of state was Francisco Franco. The junta was dissolved when Franco was proclaimed caudillo of Spain.

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Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War) in the context of Francisco Franco

Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde (4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War and thereafter ruled over Spain from 1939 to 1975. This period in Spanish history, from the Nationalist victory to Franco's death, is commonly known as Francoist Spain.

Born in Ferrol, Galicia, into an upper-class military family, Franco served in the Spanish Army as a cadet in the Toledo Infantry Academy from 1907 to 1910. While serving in Morocco, he rose through the ranks to become a brigadier general in 1926 at age 33. Two years later, Franco became the director of the General Military Academy in Zaragoza. As a conservative and monarchist, Franco regretted the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of the Second Republic in 1931, and was devastated by the closing of his academy; nevertheless, he continued his service in the Republican Army. His career was boosted after the right-wing CEDA and PRR won the 1933 election, empowering him to lead the suppression of the 1934 uprising in Asturias. Franco was briefly elevated to Chief of Army Staff before the 1936 election moved the leftist Popular Front into power, relegating him to the Canary Islands.

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Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War) in the context of Spanish Republic at War

The phrase Spanish Republic at war refers to the Second Spanish Republic during the Civil War of 1936–1939. It represents the last stage in this war's history. The territory that remained under its control after the coup of July 1936—which was called the republican zone or the loyalist zone—gradually reduced as the rebel zone spread, until it was finally occupied in its entirety by the Francoist side (which had referred to the areas as the red zone throughout the civil war).

During this time, there were three consecutive governments: the one presided over by José Giral, from Republican Left, although during his short term (July–September 1936), real power was actually in the hands of the hundreds of committees that were created when the social revolution of 1936 broke out. The next government was presided over by Francisco Largo Caballero, the leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and the Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT), one of the two trade unions that had led the revolution. Finally, the third government was presided over by Juan Negrín, also from the PSOE, as a consequence of the fall of Largo Caballero's government after the events of May 1937. Negrín governed until early March 1939, when Colonel Segismundo Casado's coup took place, putting an end to the Republican resistance and giving way to the victory of the rebel faction led by General Francisco Franco.

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Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War) in the context of Spanish Revolution of 1936

The Spanish Revolution was a social revolution that began at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, following the attempted coup to overthrow the Second Spanish Republic and arming of the worker movements and formation of militias to fight the Nationalists. It featured takeover of power at local levels by the Spanish workers' organizations and social movements, seizure and reorganization of economic facilities directed by trade union groups and local committees, and widespread implementation of socialist, more narrowly, libertarian socialist and anarchist organizational principles throughout various portions of the Republican zone, primarily Catalonia, Aragon, Andalusia, and parts of the Valencian Community.

Much of the economy of Spain was put under worker control; in anarchist strongholds like Catalonia, the figure was as high as 75%. Factories were run through worker committees, and agrarian areas became collectivized and run as libertarian socialist communes. Many small businesses, such as hotels, barber shops, and restaurants, were also collectivized and managed by their former employees. The revolutionary principles implemented with the revolution continued to evolve as much as the Republican zone existed, until the end of the civil war with the victory of the Nationalists.

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Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War) in the context of Non-intervention in the Spanish Civil War

During the Spanish Civil War, most European countries followed a policy of non-intervention to avoid potential escalation or expansion of the war to other states. This policy led to the signing of the Non-Intervention Agreement in August 1936 and the setting up of the Non-Intervention Committee, which first met in September. Primarily arranged by the French and British governments, the committee included the Soviet Union, Fascist Italy, and Nazi Germany. Ultimately, the committee had the support of 27 states.

A plan to control materials coming into Spain was put forward in early 1937, effectively subjecting the Spanish Republic to severe international isolation and a de facto economic embargo. The plan was mocked by German and Italian observers as amounting to immediate and decisive support for the Spanish Nationalist faction. The subject of foreign volunteers in Spain was also much discussed by the European powers, but with little result; although agreements were signed late in the war, they were conducted outside the committee. Efforts to stem the flow of war materials to Spain were largely unsuccessful, with foreign involvement in the war proving instrumental to its outcome. Germany, Italy and the Soviet Union consistently broke the Non-Intervention Agreement, and France occasionally did so. Britain for the most part remained faithful to the agreement.

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