50 Fun Facts About Spanish Civil War

In which year did the Spanish Civil War begin?

It ran until the Nationalist victory in the spring of 1939.

Which general was appointed supreme leader of the Nationalists on 1 October 1936?

He ruled Spain until his death in November 1975.

Franco declared victory in Madrid on which date in 1939?

The last Republican forces surrendered the same day.

Which two countries were the Republic's only open and full supporters?

Mexico gave $2 million in aid and later sheltered around 50,000 Republican refugees.

Which Basque town was bombed by German aircraft on 26 April 1937?

The raid killed perhaps 200 to 300 civilians and inspired Picasso's most famous painting.

What was the name of Nazi Germany's air and land force sent to help the Nationalists?

Germany trained some 56,000 Nationalist soldiers and used Spain as a proving ground for tactics.

Italy's volunteer force for the Nationalists was known by which initials?

The Corpo Truppe Volontarie supplied around 50,000 men.

Roughly how many men did the Italian CTV supply to the Nationalists?

Italian warships also bombarded Málaga, Valencia and Barcelona.

American volunteers for the Republic fought in a unit named after which president?

The Abraham Lincoln Brigade served within the XV International Brigade.

Canadian volunteers joined a battalion named after which two rebels?

Both men led rebellions against British rule in 1837.

About how many foreigners fought in the International Brigades overall?

No more than about 18,000 were in Spain at any one time, drawn from a claimed 53 nations.

Which country supplied the largest national contingent to the International Brigades?

France sent roughly 10,000 volunteers, twice the German and Austrian total.

Which English writer fought with the POUM militia and wrote Homage to Catalonia?

He was part of the small ILP Contingent and was shot through the throat at the front.

Which Canadian surgeon built a mobile blood-transfusion service for the Republican front?

He later died serving with Mao's forces in China.

French philosopher Simone Weil briefly fought with the column of which anarchist?

Durruti himself was fatally shot in Madrid in November 1936 in unclear circumstances.

Who was Nationalist figurehead until he died in a plane crash on 20 July 1936?

His death split command between Mola in the north and Franco in the south.

Which general was the chief planner of the 1936 coup and Franco's second-in-command?

Like Sanjurjo before him, he died in an air accident, in June 1937.

Which Nationalist general secured Seville for the rebels in July 1936?

Seville gave Franco's African troops a landing point on the mainland.

Before the coup, Franco had been transferred to command where?

A chartered Dragon Rapide later flew him from there to Spanish Morocco.

What type of aircraft carried Franco to Spanish Morocco in July 1936?

British intelligence agents helped the rebels charter it.

The murder of which monarchist politician on 13 July 1936 became the coup's trigger?

His killing by state police turned a 'limping conspiracy' into open revolt.

The Republican government moved from Madrid in November 1936 to which city?

It moved again, to Barcelona, at the end of 1937 as Franco closed in.

The relief of which besieged fortress in Toledo was a 1936 propaganda triumph for Franco?

Colonel Moscardó's garrison had held out since the start of the rebellion.

What title did Franco take two days after relieving the Alcázar?

The word means chieftain, the Spanish equivalent of Duce or Führer.

Which March 1937 battle was the only widely publicised Republican victory of the war?

Italian troops and blitzkrieg tactics failed and cost the Nationalists some 5,000 casualties.

The Republic's last great offensive in 1938 was fought along which river?

It ran from July to November and forced Franco to take personal command.

Which 1938 deal between Hitler and Chamberlain crushed Republican morale?

It ended hope of an anti-fascist alliance with the Western powers.

The Aragon Offensive of 1938 reached the Mediterranean and achieved what?

The Republic tried to sue for peace in May, but Franco demanded unconditional surrender.

Which fortifications stopped the Nationalist push toward the Republican capital in 1938?

The line stopped the advance south from Teruel after heavy fighting in July.

Barcelona fell to Franco's forces on which date?

Tarragona had fallen eleven days earlier and Girona followed on 2 February.

Which colonel led the March 1939 coup against Negrín's Republican government?

He formed a National Defence Council hoping to negotiate peace, but Franco refused any terms.

Who was Republican prime minister when Casado's coup took place in 1939?

He fled to France on 6 March 1939.

The Republican exodus across the Pyrenees at the war's end is known by what Spanish name?

Some 500,000 people crossed into France, many held in camps like Gurs and Vernet.

Which Chilean poet, as consul in Paris, shipped 2,200 Republican exiles to Chile?

The exiles sailed aboard the Winnipeg in 1939.

Which artist painted the huge 1937 canvas inspired by the bombing of a Basque town?

The canvas is nearly 3.5 by 7.8 metres and became a 20th-century symbol of peace.

Dalí's 1936 painting Soft Construction with Boiled Beans carries what subtitle?

It hangs in the Philadelphia Museum of Art; his other 1936 response was Autumnal Cannibalism.

Which novelist co-produced The Spanish Earth, a 1937 film seeking aid for the Republic?

Lillian Hellman was also involved; the film premiered in the United States in July 1937.

Alexander Calder's Mercury Fountain protested Nationalist control of which mining town?

The town held Spain's famous mercury mines.

Which poet was executed by Nationalists on 18 August 1936?

His politics and his homosexuality were cited by his executioners.

About how many Basque children sailed to Britain on the SS Habana in May 1937?

They became known as los niños vascos; about 250 were still in Britain in 1945.

Portugal's semi-official volunteer force for Franco was called what?

Nationalists even referred to Lisbon as 'the port of Castile'.

Which Irish politician led about 600 followers to fight for Franco?

His 'Irish Brigade' defied an Irish government ban on participation.

After the USSR, which country was the Republic's second-largest arms supplier?

Its government favoured the Nationalists but sold obsolete, overpriced weapons for profit.

Which Republican prime minister ordered weapons handed to civilians in July 1936?

The arming of workers helped defeat the rising in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia.

Which French prime minister was sympathetic to the Republic but signed non-intervention?

France still covertly supplied aircraft and pilots until December 1936.

The British- and French-led non-intervention pact was signed by how many nations?

Germany, Italy and the USSR signed but ignored the arms embargo.

Franco merged the right-wing parties into a single ruling party known as what?

He appointed himself chief and adopted 26 of the Falange's 27 points as its programme.

The Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed after municipal elections in which year?

Alfonso XIII fled the country after the left swept the provincial capitals.

A 1944 invasion by Republican veterans targeted which Pyrenean valley?

The maquis were defeated after ten days; guerrilla resistance lingered into the 1950s.

Who led the Socialist-dominated Republican government formed in September 1936?

He replaced Giral and began unifying command in the Republican zone.