.svg/2000px-Flag_of_Spain_(1931–1939).svg.png)
Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Spanish Republican Army
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 Spanish Republican Army went through two clear phases during its existence:
Following the loss of Spain's last colonies, Cuba and Philippines, in 1898, the country's armed forces grew disgruntled and the public's view toward them worsened. Military leaders resented the attitude of the Spanish politicians and the public opinion who unjustly blamed the Spanish Military for the failures in the colonies. In November 1905 Spanish Army personnel stormed the offices of Catalan magazine Cu-Cut!, where En Patufet and La Veu de Catalunya were also located, for having published a caricature ridiculing the military.
Following the attacks, the Captain generals of Sevilla, Barcelona and Madrid openly opposed the prosecution of those members of the military involved in the storming. This crisis led in 1906 to the approval of the Ley de Jurisdicciones ("Law of Jurisdictions"), which severely restricted freedom of expression in Spain by making speech against "Spain and its symbols"—the Spanish Armed Forces including themselves as one of the symbols— a criminal offence. According to renowned writer Salvador de Madariaga the Spanish Armed Forces became henceforward a "State within the State" that would interfere in civilian matters in an overbearing manner, becoming a major player in Spanish politics. Other Spanish intellectuals such as Miguel de Unamuno and Ramiro de Maeztu were seriously worried at the time about the future implications of the "Law of Jurisdictions". Unamuno openly expressed his concern that it would be left to the military to define what was correct regarding patriotism.
The "Moroccan Question" (Spanish: la cuestión marroquí), however, would be the main cause of the ensuing fractures in the political and social life in Spain. The disastrous wars in Morocco ended up bringing about severe social reactions in Spain that could no longer be silenced by means of the "Law of Jurisdictions". The Tragic Week protests in Barcelona in July 1909, which quickly turned anticlerical, were primarily the result of the unpopular Moroccan wars that "merely satisfied the needs of the Military" in the eyes of the public.
The consequence of such developments was that the division between the Spanish military and the Spanish people became deeper. The liberal traditions that the Spanish Army had spearheaded in the 19th century were replaced by a defensive, reactionary outlook. The mutual suspicion led to the creation of the Juntas de Defensa (Boards of Defence) during the 1917 Spanish crisis caused by the First World War. The Spanish military had an excess of officers, as much as 16,000 officers for 80,000 troops at one point and the economic crisis, coupled with a low pay, brought the problem of the economic hardships of military families to the fore. Allegedly the aim of the Juntas de Defensa was to defend the interests of Spanish military officers, but their intention to get involved in political issues was clear to the public. Finally on 13 September 1923, General Miguel Primo de Rivera made a successful coup d'etat. After overthrowing the parliamentary government he established himself as dictator with the tacit consent of King Alfonso XIII.
The General's dictatorship, however, did not solve the problems of the Spanish Armed Forces for the support of the military institution for General Primo de Rivera's move was not unanimous. Already in 1926 there was the first serious attempt of a coup, popularly known as La Sanjuanada (after St John), against the dictator in which four high-ranking generals —Valeriano Weyler, Domingo Batet, Francisco Aguilera and José Riquelme y López-Bago, as well as Colonel Segundo García and Lieutenant colonel Cristino Bermúdez de Castro— were involved. Besides the failed coup, the resistance of the Artillery branch of the Spanish Army to General Primo de Rivera's attempts to integrate and reorganize the Spanish military, created uneasiness within the ranks and in the face of the stubbornness of the Artillery officers in Pamplona, he had to declare Martial law (Estado de Guerra). Henceforward the Artillery officers would develop a pro-Republican stance.
Hub AI
Spanish Republican Army AI simulator
(@Spanish Republican Army_simulator)
Spanish Republican Army
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 Spanish Republican Army went through two clear phases during its existence:
Following the loss of Spain's last colonies, Cuba and Philippines, in 1898, the country's armed forces grew disgruntled and the public's view toward them worsened. Military leaders resented the attitude of the Spanish politicians and the public opinion who unjustly blamed the Spanish Military for the failures in the colonies. In November 1905 Spanish Army personnel stormed the offices of Catalan magazine Cu-Cut!, where En Patufet and La Veu de Catalunya were also located, for having published a caricature ridiculing the military.
Following the attacks, the Captain generals of Sevilla, Barcelona and Madrid openly opposed the prosecution of those members of the military involved in the storming. This crisis led in 1906 to the approval of the Ley de Jurisdicciones ("Law of Jurisdictions"), which severely restricted freedom of expression in Spain by making speech against "Spain and its symbols"—the Spanish Armed Forces including themselves as one of the symbols— a criminal offence. According to renowned writer Salvador de Madariaga the Spanish Armed Forces became henceforward a "State within the State" that would interfere in civilian matters in an overbearing manner, becoming a major player in Spanish politics. Other Spanish intellectuals such as Miguel de Unamuno and Ramiro de Maeztu were seriously worried at the time about the future implications of the "Law of Jurisdictions". Unamuno openly expressed his concern that it would be left to the military to define what was correct regarding patriotism.
The "Moroccan Question" (Spanish: la cuestión marroquí), however, would be the main cause of the ensuing fractures in the political and social life in Spain. The disastrous wars in Morocco ended up bringing about severe social reactions in Spain that could no longer be silenced by means of the "Law of Jurisdictions". The Tragic Week protests in Barcelona in July 1909, which quickly turned anticlerical, were primarily the result of the unpopular Moroccan wars that "merely satisfied the needs of the Military" in the eyes of the public.
The consequence of such developments was that the division between the Spanish military and the Spanish people became deeper. The liberal traditions that the Spanish Army had spearheaded in the 19th century were replaced by a defensive, reactionary outlook. The mutual suspicion led to the creation of the Juntas de Defensa (Boards of Defence) during the 1917 Spanish crisis caused by the First World War. The Spanish military had an excess of officers, as much as 16,000 officers for 80,000 troops at one point and the economic crisis, coupled with a low pay, brought the problem of the economic hardships of military families to the fore. Allegedly the aim of the Juntas de Defensa was to defend the interests of Spanish military officers, but their intention to get involved in political issues was clear to the public. Finally on 13 September 1923, General Miguel Primo de Rivera made a successful coup d'etat. After overthrowing the parliamentary government he established himself as dictator with the tacit consent of King Alfonso XIII.
The General's dictatorship, however, did not solve the problems of the Spanish Armed Forces for the support of the military institution for General Primo de Rivera's move was not unanimous. Already in 1926 there was the first serious attempt of a coup, popularly known as La Sanjuanada (after St John), against the dictator in which four high-ranking generals —Valeriano Weyler, Domingo Batet, Francisco Aguilera and José Riquelme y López-Bago, as well as Colonel Segundo García and Lieutenant colonel Cristino Bermúdez de Castro— were involved. Besides the failed coup, the resistance of the Artillery branch of the Spanish Army to General Primo de Rivera's attempts to integrate and reorganize the Spanish military, created uneasiness within the ranks and in the face of the stubbornness of the Artillery officers in Pamplona, he had to declare Martial law (Estado de Guerra). Henceforward the Artillery officers would develop a pro-Republican stance.