Effects of the Spanish Civil War

Human Cost
1. Around 100,000 Republicans and 70,000 Nationalists were killed during the war
  1. 2% of population
2. Killing continued after the war. Franco launched a terror campaign to eradicate opposition known as the 'White Terror'. It is estimated that a further 40,000-200,000 were killed in this period.
3. Thousands of Republicans and their sympathizers were held for years in concentration camps and prisons
4. Often Republican children were taken from their parents to be 're-educated', placed with reliable Nationalist/Catholic families or put in orhanages
5. Divisions and hatred remained in Spanish society for decades
Economic Cost
1. Spain's economy was devastated by war.
2. 10-15% of its wealth was destroyed and per capita income was 28% lower.
3. 70% of Madrid's factory machinery needed to be replaced, and its communications systems including the tram network needed to be rebuilt. Around a third of its merchant shipping was out of action
4. There was high inflation due to the cost of fighting the war and by printing money to pay for it
5. The Republican land reform was reversed by Franco, and the agricultural economy remained inefficient and ineffective
  1. Labourers had to tolerate periodic unemployment and landowners were not interested in modernisation
6. Massive debts to pay
7. Due to the human cost of war, there was a corresponding lack of skilled workers and overriding general labour shortage
8. Spain attempted to find foreign loans for investment but the British and Germans demanded that debt was paid back first before investment
9. The economic situation improved with the outbreak of WW2 and the decision to remain neutral, thus securing trade agreements with Britain and France.
10. German exploitation of Spain's resources during WW2 weakened the economy
Political effects
1. Franco emerged from the war as Spain's dictator, and remained in power until his death in 1975.
2. Franco's regime declared that they had to save the country from communism. The White Terror that ensued led to the killing of thousands of Republicans and exodus of half a million Spaniards, fleeing to neighboring countries
  1. Those that remained had to conform to Franco's authoritarian, Catholic and conservative views
    1. Preston - 'every effort was made to maintain the division between the victors and the vanquished'
3. in 1939, the Law of Political Responsibility made supporters of the Republic, before or after the war, liable to punishment. This included confiscation of land, large fines or even death sentence. Vast amounts of land were transferred from Republicans to state
4. The key objectives of the new regime were to restore the power of the privileged classes and to control the working class
  1. Wages were cut and all industrial political activism was outlawed
    1. Employment for Republicans who had escaped imprisonment was almost impossible
5. All of the Republics reforms concerning the church were repealed. Lannon - 'the Catholic Church enjoyed a great deal of state support. Government and church combines to preach order, hierarchy and discipline'
6. The aspirations of the Basques and Catalans for autonomy also ended, with their languages forbidden and all power centralized in Madrid
7. Fear of state represion meant that Spain appeared more unified than it had been for decades however the suppression and removal of all political opposition led to a period of political instability
8. Under pressure from Monarchists, Franco agreed to restore the monarchy with himself at Head of State
International effects
1. USSR and communism
  1. The result undermined their international credibility. In addition, Stalin's cynical contribution to the cause and the divisions it fostered in the Republic, disillusioned many former supporters and it lost a lot of intellectual sympathy from the West
  2. Accentuated hostility with Germany
  3. Pushed Soviet foreign policy away from attempting to build an alliance with the Western powers to contain Germany
  4. Britain and France's involvement in the NIC proved they were not a sound ally against Hitler
2. Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy
  1. Hitler gained valuable military lessons from the war, which would go on to form tactics such as the Blitz in WW2.
    1. The importance of air power was highlighted in the transport of Franco's forces and providing cover for ground troops
    2. Able to test their bullet-resistant fuel tanks and discovered armoured vehicles needed to use radio contact
  2. Allowed Hitler to carry out without Italian opposition the annexation of Austria
3. Britain and France
  1. The polarized nature of the foreign intervention forces led to more support for their policy of appeasement
  2. Their policy made them viewed as weak by Germany and Russia
    1. Therefore, attempts to avert war by non-intervention actually encouraged Hitler to be more aggressive
4. Lead to WW2?
  1. The war emboldened Hitler by increasing his popularity both at home and abroad
  2. Hitler drew closer to his former enemy Italy
  3. Hitler gained practical military lessons he would later apply in campaigns
  4. It was a distraction for Britain and France and pushed US further into isolation
  5. It fostered a new direction of Soviet foreign policy meaning there would be no broad alliance in Europe to contain Hitler

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Effects of the Spanish Civil War

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	Created by Noah Lawson over 9 years ago