The Spanish Republican Army (Spanish: Ejército de la República Española) was the main branch of the Armed Forces of the Second Spanish Republic between 1931 and 1939.
It became known as People's Army of the Republic (Ejército Popular de la República) after it was reorganized, following the disbandment of the voluntary militias that were formed in July 1936 at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War.
The Asturian Revolution was a major conflict that happened in Asturias from October 4-19, 1934. It started with a mass strike action undertaken by miners in Asturias against the new government which included the conservative CEDA party. The strike and subsequent demonstrations eventually developed into a violent revolutionary uprising in an attempt to overthrow the government. The revolutionaries took over Asturias by force, killing many of the province's police and religious leaders. Armed with dynamite, rifles, and machine guns, they destroyed religious buildings, such as churches and convents. The rebels officially declared a Proletarian Revolution and instituted a local government in the territory. The rebellion was crushed by the Spanish Navy and the Spanish Republican Army, the latter using mainly colonial troops from Spanish Morocco.
The war minister, Diego Hidalgo wanted Francisco Franco to lead the troops against the rebellion but Spain's president, Alcalá Zamora, opted to send general Eduardo López Ochoa to Asturias to lead the government forces in an effort to limit the bloodshed. Soldiers from the Civil Guard, colonial troops, and the Spanish Legion were dispatched under López Ochoa and Colonel Juan Yagüe to relieve the besieged government garrisons and to retake the towns from the miners. The brevity of the confrontation led historian Gabriel Jackson to observe
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.
The Spanish Republican Armed Forces (Spanish: Fuerzas Armadas de la República Española) were initially formed by the following two branches of the military of the Second Spanish Republic:
The International Brigades (Spanish: Brigadas Internacionales) were volunteer soldiers organized by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The International Brigades existed for two years, from 1936 until 1938. It is estimated that during the entire war, there were some 32,000 Brigaders, yet at no single moment were there more than 18,000 actually deployed. Beyond the Spanish Civil War, "International Brigades" is also sometimes used interchangeably with the term foreign legion in reference to military units comprising foreigners who volunteer to fight in the military of another state, often in times of war.
The headquarters of the brigade was located at the Gran Hotel, Albacete, Castilla-La Mancha. They participated in the battles of Madrid, Jarama, Guadalajara, Brunete, Belchite, Teruel, Aragon, and the Ebro. Most of these ended in defeat. For the last year of its existence, the International Brigades were integrated into the Spanish Republican Army as part of the Spanish Foreign Legion. The organisation was dissolved on 23 September 1938 by Spanish Prime Minister Juan Negrín in a vain attempt to get more support from the liberal democracies on the Non-Intervention Committee.
The Spanish Republican Air Force was the air arm of the Armed Forces of the Second Spanish Republic, the legally established government of Spain between 1931 and 1939. Initially divided into two branches: Military Aeronautics (Aeronáutica Militar) and Naval Aeronautics (Aeronáutica Naval), the Republican Air Force became the Air Forces of the Spanish Republic (Fuerzas Aéreas de la República Española (FARE)), also known as Arma de Aviación, after it was reorganized following the restructuring of the Republican Armed Forces in September 1936, at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War.This defunct Air Force is largely known for the intense action it saw during the Civil War, from July 1936 till its disbandment in 1939.
The Spanish Republican Air Force was popularly known as "La Gloriosa" (The Glorious One). But, according to some historians, the command structure of the Spanish loyalist forces was marred by ineptitude and lack of decision-making throughout the Civil War. Starting from the crucial first weeks of the conflict in July 1936, the rebel side was able to undertake a massive airlift of troops from Spanish Morocco using mostly the slow Ju 52, without any Spanish Republican interference. This was the world's first long-range combat airlift and the military planes on the Spanish Republican side failed to check it.
The Battle of Guadalajara (March 8–23, 1937) saw the victory of the Spanish Republican Army (Ejército Popular Republicano, or EPR) and of the International Brigades over the Italian and Nationalist forces attempting to encircle Madrid during the Spanish Civil War. The Nationalist forces involved in the Battle of Guadalajara were primarily the Italian Corps of Volunteer Troops (Corpo Truppe Volontarie, or CTV).
The battle opened with an Italian offensive on 8 March. This offensive was halted by 11 March. Between 12 and 14 March, renewed Italian attacks were supported by Spanish Nationalist units. These were halted too. On 15 March, a counter-offensive of the Republicans was prepared; it was successfully launched between 18 and 23 March. The battle was decided by the superiority of Soviet armoured vehicles over Italian ones; in Britain, the defeat of Italian forces drew mocking comments by former-UK Prime Minister David Lloyd-George, who called it "the Italian skedaddle".