The Spanish Civil War lasted only four years (1936-1939), but it had a tremendous impact on the rest of the world and the start of World War II. The country had been at war internally for decades. The years preceding 1936 were referred to as the “black two years” by weary citizens, split between the Radicals and Conservatives. Growing unrest and political violence finally exploded on July 17, 1936.

Generals on the side of the Conservatives had been planning an uprising for months. With the unexpected murder of Conservative politician José Calvo Sotelo, General Franco’s forces gathered to overthrow the government on July 18. Repercussions of that night precipitated the start of a working class revolution. Civilians took control of major factories and businesses, collectivized land, and formed militias. Churches, once a bastion of political power, were shunned. The people of Spain sent a message of hope to the rest of the working class world – especially the United States, which had been in a state of depression for several years.

General Franco began to trade iron ore and copper for military assistance from Italy and Germany. Rebels sought to attack and capture the port of Bilbao in Northern Spain. Republicans fought Franco’s men, but they ran into numerous problems, such as a lack of suitable weaponry and supplies. Furthermore, the U.S., France, and England refused to provide assistance. Without their support, Spain’s republic turned to the Soviet Union for military aid. This pact caused nothing but trouble between non-communist and communist Republicans, and the once-cohesive group began to drift apart.

Since General Franco had the twin forces of Mussolini and Hitler on his side, he was able to take over most of Spain with the exception of the Basque area. Hitler agreed to lend his Condor Legion to air bomb the civilian city of Guernica on April 26, 1937. This type of brutal attack was unheard of in prior campaigns, but it ultimately succeeded in capturing the Basque region. Estimations put the death toll at 10,000 innocent people. Pablo Picasso was deeply moved by the destruction, which he recreated in his Cubism masterpiece entitled “Guernica.”

By January 1939, General Franco’s troops had won the city of Barcelona. The Republicans were done fighting, and so Franco proceeded to Madrid to claim his victory. He was made the Head of State and the Generalissimo of the Fascist Army. Thousands of enemies of the new leader were swiftly imprisoned and/or murdered outright. Half a million people fled to France, where they stayed in dismal internment camps. Several thousand ended up in Germany’s Mauthausen concentration camp, where they ostensibly died