The calamity of a powerful country
War has always been one of the worst
things in humankind´s history. As a result of war thousands people died, and
many other have suffered irreversible damages. The Spanish civil war, which
happened from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939, was one of the most disastrous
calamities of the 20th century. The industrial decline and lots of
Spanish overseas possessions caused confrontation between the Nationalists and
the Republicans, who were in the government at that time. The Nationalists were
conservative and catholic, and had the
support of the Church, the Army, the landowners and the industrialists. On the
other hand, the Republicans were supported by the liberals, the socialists, the
communists and the anarchists. For the Nationalist front the Republicans
victory would represent a socialist revolution, on the contrary, for the
Popular and Republics, the Right victory would represent the Fascism control.
The division of the right and left parties implied the division between the
town and the country side, the wealthy landowners and peasants. So, why is it
that one of the most powerful countries experienced this calamity?
Changes were needed in Spain in many
areas. The Monarchists did not want to reform the country while people who
wanted a republic hoped for reforms in the Spanish society. Some of the reforms
were related to the agriculture area, as Spanish was an agricultural country,
the south worked by landless laborers, and the north was worked by small
farmers in poor economical conditions and starvation. Another aspect that
needed to be reformed was related to the Church, many people resented the power
and the wealth it had. What Is more, the Church had a monopoly in education and
strongly opposed reforms.
Other changes were needed in areas like
the Army. This was over officered and poorly equipped. As regards regionalism,
many areas wanted to be independent from the rest of the country. The regions
had different languages and traditions. Republicans were for these demands, but
conservatives opposed them stating that this could weaken Spain. As a result, the
situation became so appalling that war broke out , cities and towns were ruined
and Francisco Franco, who lead the nationalities group ruled Spain for 36 years
with the support of the most powerful groups which included the Army and other
fascist leaders like Hitler from Germany
and Mussolini from Italy.
I strongly believe that war is the most
dreadful thing that human beings have suffered through history. Many things had
lead people from Spain to a civil war, such as application of new reforms and
differences in personal interests but It is clear that most of the reasons had
to do with strong feelings like alienation, animosity, hatred, enmity and envy
as long as everyone aimed for their own concern, especially those who had more
power.
