Spanish Civil War Analysis

The Spanish Civil War in 1936-1939 is a historically complex event interwoven in both internal and foreign agendas. This was manifest in the involvement of various factions from militia, unions, and parties of different standings and ambitions. Not less important was the overt interest of other countries in the Spanish national affairs, such as the direct intervention of Germany and Italy or the non-intervention stance of Britain and France; an aspect which would ultimately decide the outcome of the civil war itself. The war is predominantly recorded as a fight between the Right-winged Nationalists and the Left-winged Republicans, the Conservatives versus the Liberals, and to many, Spanish Civil War had been seen ultimately as a warfare waged …show more content…
In this sense, the Republican’s egalitarian aspiration in redistributing the social and economic power across the different classes in Spain was arguably their primary struggle. Note that this process of wealth redistribution necessarily involved challenging the prevailing socio-economics status of the privileged upper classes namely the latifundistas, the mine owners and the industrialists. Furthermore, the republicans also sought to severe the relationship between the Church and the State, as well as make a drastic changes in the army in order to deliver transformations across political, economics, and social planes as expected by their …show more content…
It should be acknowledged that there were many social reforms made able as a consequence of passing some of the legislations, such as the abolishment of the Church’s education system in exchange for a national, non-religious education, particularly in the primary level. Indeed, the decreasing illiteracy rate in Spain and the improvement of the education system would remain to be the Republic’s most important achievement. In the period between 1931 and 1933, the Republic had reduced the rate of illiteracy which in time of monarchy were nearly 50 per cent, and they also established 7000 schools in just three years – a striking contrast to the last 22 years which only saw 1000 schools being built. Education was among the primary objectives during the reign of the Republic, with initiatives such as teacher-training and Garcia Loca’s travelling theatres. Even throughout the war, the militiamen under the Republic continued to study in the trenches. Another transformation discernible through the republicans’ policies was the uprising of the women’s movement. The Republic’s constitution granted women suffrages, which was in effect for the first time in the 1933 election. The presence of militiawomen during the war was a demonstration to this phenomenon, with almost 1000 of them fighting at the front, while many more (figure is at the thousands) supported at the