Under Alfonso XIII’s reign, the Spanish government was constitutional monarchy and this set-up remained until 1936. It was ironic to think that Spain, known for its aggressive colonization in the 16th century became a neutral country, signed peace treaties with other countries to prevent its involvement in wars and yet, the government’s neutrality did not stop the brewing violence of the Spanish Civil War (Ponce 53-55). The Civil War lasted for more than two years and nine months; abruptly ended just five months prior to the start of the Second World War. Scholars see this event in the Spanish history as one of the bloody conflicts as well as the proof that Spain was a country caught in the middle of other countries’ political and ideological strife (Ponce 58; Frank 368; Turnbull 4). Back then, the Spanish society was divided into three groups: the elitist consisted of the rich capitalists, the landed gentry or the aristocrats, and the third were the ordinary citizens who lived in poverty. Wealth was unequally distributed; people who had access to luxuries were both the capitalists, aristocrats, and the church. Throughout the years, Spain was shaken by revolutionary activists protesting against the government’s failure to protect its international territories such as Cuba and its Asian territory in the Philippines (Alpert 4). Morocco was an important Spanish colony; Morocco was rich in iron ores and Spain needed an extension to dump its exports; therefore becoming neutral in the First World War would ensure that their trade would not be halted by the Germans (Casanova 58; Fleming 34). In 1921, one uprising started in Morocco which was part of Spain at that time; the government sent military forces to pacify the rebels; the Catholic Church became involved as well as the Catholic citizens. Altogether, they supported the government military to stop the Moroccan revolt. However, Morocco heavily experienced the negative effects of government incompetence and corruption and as a result; the country became a boiling pot of violence. The military sent by the government was defeated and the people saw the government as corrupt and incompetent (Alpert 4-5; Fleming and Fleming 85). Furthermore, corruption was also endemic in Spanish mainland and there was no widespread industry to other regions; businesses were only concentrated in the Basque region and in Barcelona alone. The rest of the country had no economic growth and remained tied to agriculture in order to survive. “Spaniards were divided on the type of government that they wanted. Monarchists were conservative and Catholics and did not want to reform Spain. Those who wanted a republic were anti-clerical and hoped to reform Spanish society.” (Tonge, “The Spanish Civil War”). While Tonge’s statement was based on his analysis of Lorca’s House of Bernarda Alba, Casanova explained it in full: The Catholic Church hated the radical people power, decisive reforms, and secular government simply because the views introduced by means of rational reasoning cannot uphold the Catholic values they instill on people’s minds. Therefore, the 1931 was indeed a dark period for the Church because the monarchy was abolished and the leftist party grew stronger. Thus, the society became divided into two separate Spains: one that calls to retain the traditional order and the other that forces to remove the tradition and destroy the oppressive government (9). Three months later in 1923, King Alfonso XIII proclaimed Primo de Rivera as the country’s new leader. The struggle was resolved through efficient negotiations. The king even considered Rivera as Spain’s Mussolini; and it was due to Rivera’s efforts that Spain saw its future to become one of the European superpowers. His leadership focused in improving the Spanish life and infrastructure by investing money to build mass transportation, public roads, and creating new industries to support Spain’s booming economy. His regime also ended the Moroccan issues through political negotiations and removing Spanish forces from the protectorate’s premises (Payne 31; Wadsworth 80; Fleming and Fleming 86). During the Great Depression, Spain’s economy was also affected many industries collapsed and poverty became rampant again. There was widespread chaos as a result of the Wall Street crash. According to Beevor, although Spain progressed in terms of infrastructure, the money used to fund these projects came from increased taxes and loans from foreign banks. The decreased value of Spanish peseta led to the collapse of the economy (21). The people became violent towards their leaders which led to Rivera’s resignation in January 1930 (Wadsworth 80). The Nationalist party led by General Francisco Franco organized an attack to oust the Republican government in 1936 but failed; both Nationalist and Republican factions sought aid of their allies. Italy and Germany became the protectors of the Nationalists and supported them throughout the duration of the war; Britain and France proceeded to impose strict rules not to mingle with Spanish affairs which led to the formation of International Non-Intervention Committee in London in the 9th of September, 1936. This prohibits other countries from involving one another in the conflict of other nation (Frank 368; Thomas and Thomas 2). Despite this, Russians sent military aid to neutralize the Nationalists and allied themselves with the Republican faction. Yet, it was the Nationalists effective use of their resources that led to their triumph in March 1939 (Frank 368). The Republicans fell and Franco’s violent regime had begun. The Spanish Civil War was a violence concocted from unequal distribution of wealth, religious fanaticism, and the emergence of the social triad: the aristocrats, the middle class, and the poor people.
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