Spanish Republican Army
The Spanish Republican Army 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 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.
History
The Spanish Republican Army went through two clear phases during its existence:- The pre-Civil War phase, before the coup of July 1936 that would fracture the Spanish military institution
- The Civil War reorganization of the forces that remained loyal to the established republican government.
Background
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, 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", 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 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, 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. Henceforward the Artillery officers would develop a pro-Republican stance.
The Second Spanish Republic was preceded by two pro-Republican coup attempts, the Jaca Uprising led by Fermín Galán and a rebellion of Air Force officers in Cuatro Vientos and Getafe air bases.
The first years of the Republic (1931–1936)
In 1931, following the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic, the armed forces of the Spanish Kingdom became the Spanish Republican Armed Forces. Admiral Aznar's casual comment: "Do you think it was a little thing what happened yesterday, that Spain went to bed as a monarchy and rose as a republic" became instantly famous, going quickly around Madrid and around Spain, making people accept the fact and setting a more relaxed mood. Republicans within the Spanish Armed forces were then a minority, but so were pro-monarchist reactionaries; the majority within the military were at first indifferent.What began to antagonize the Spanish Military against the new government were the reforms of the armed forces introduced by newly nominated Republican Minister of War Manuel Azaña within the first months of the newly installed republic. The officers of the Armed Forces resented that a man without a military background had been appointed to lead the War Ministry.
Later in October the same year Azaña became Prime Minister and continued the reform of the bloated and old-fashioned military the Republic had inherited. This was seen as a necessary step with the goal to modernize the Spanish Military and cut down the expenses of the state in the aftermath of the Great Depression. In order to implement its reforms the Republican Government promoted to high posts military men that it perceived as loyal. As a result, it tended to display favoritism towards the branches of the Armed Forces more amenable to its reforms, the Air Force and, in a lesser degree, the Navy. Officers such as Gonzalo Queipo de Llano and Ramón Franco with a background in the pro-republican Jaca and Cuatro Vientos-Getafe uprisings during the monarchy rose to high posts for which they were not the most competent. In the same manner Spanish Republican Navy officers who displayed pro-republican fervor were rewarded with political posts.
On 10 August 1932 a pro-monarchist general, José Sanjurjo, staged a rebellion in Seville against the Republican Government. He led a group of officers opposed to the military reforms, as well as to the policy of granting autonomy to Catalonia and the Basque Country which they resented as an "affront to the unity of Spain". The rebellion failed and became popularly known as La Sanjurjada. General Sanjurjo was subsequently arrested and court-martialed. Initially he was condemned to death, but his sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment in Dueso. In March 1934 Sanjurjo was granted amnesty by the Lerroux government and went into exile in Estoril, Portugal.
In July 1936, five years after the proclamation of the republic, a section of the Spanish Republican Army in Spanish Morocco rebelled under the orders of General Franco. Although relatively more successful than the 1932 Sanjurjada, this rebellion succeeded only in fractioning Spain, with roughly half of the territory still loyal to the Republic. Instead of giving up or calling for a compromise, Franco began a bloody war of attrition, the Spanish Civil War.
During the Civil War the part of the army loyal the Spanish republican government was forced to fight against the better equipped fraction of the army in revolt and their powerful Third Reich and Italian Fascist supporters.
The Civil War (1936–1939)
After the partly successful coup of the pro-fascist generals in July 1936, militias were formed in many cities in Spain that had not sided with the rebellion lest the units of the Spanish Republican Army stationed in their territory be tempted to join the rebels. Finally in October the Republican government reorganized its armed forces around the military units that had remained loyal and the militias were merged with the new army.October 1936: First wartime reorganization
The government of the areas that had not joined the rebels, known as 'Victory Government', quickly organized a 'Regular Popular Army' . Led by all the parties composing the Popular Front, and by the trade unions Confederación Nacional del Trabajo and Unión General de Trabajadores. The militias that had been hurriedly armed in the wake of General Franco's coup had been loosely coordinated by the Popular Front coalition. The new structure sought to impose a more effective coordination of the loyalist forces, for the Republican government had lost effective control of the armed units defending it.The changes in the structure began on 16 October 1936, doing away with the War Ministry which was replaced by the 'National Defence Ministry', led by the president of the republic, Largo Caballero. By means of this new structure, the Regular Popular Army unified all the branches of the military, including the Fifth Regiment, as well as all scattered militias, a process that was gradually implemented with the goal of completion by February 1937. By 30 October all Spanish males aged between 20 and 45 were being conscripted.
The restructuring of the Spanish Republican Army showed the Communist influence in the new discipline imposed by the Popular Front authorities. The new Republican People's Army instituted the Comisariado de Guerra by means of which political commissars were charged with the mission of lifting the morale of the troops and ensuring their cooperation with their high-rank officers in all units. The commissar had to overcome the mistrust of the troops towards the officers in order to achieve the necessary discipline for proper coordination.
Based on a model that would replace the columns and militias, the Mixed Brigade was the basic military unit of the Republican People's Army. The first six Mixed Brigades were created on 18 October 1936. The first was led by Communist colonel Enrique Líster, the second by Jesús Martínez de Aragón, the third by José María Galán, the fourth by Eutiquiano Arellano, the fifth by Fernando Sabio and the sixth by Miguel Gallo Martínez. The reorganization included as well the XI and XII International Brigades joining the Republican People's Army in its combat. Anti-fascist volunteers from all over the world that joined the brigades were trained at Albacete.