Spanish civil war

                                                                                                               

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 20^th 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.