The World In Protest, Revolution or Civil War? Part Thirteen
This was first published in February 2012.
"Polarization of the Spanish Civil War" Part 8 (Final)
The Popular Front's failure to unite in the governance of Spain left the government unable to stabilize the country. The government tried to pacify the more revolutionary elements on the left with worker programs (public works, as unemployment was high) and the release of leftist political prisoners,* and thus bring them into the government, but the group was essentially set in its demands for much more dramatic change, and its leaders hoped to replace the more moderate (in their view) government with a truly revolutionary government, and communist influence was rising within the revolutionary element of the leftists. Even the moderate ideas from the government brought intense opposition from the rightists, whose armed militias also wrought havoc (attacks on leftist leaders**) in the hopes of further destabilizing the Popular Front government, and thus bringing the army to the rescue to establish a military dictatorship. The rising power of the (fascist) Falange made the group more apt to not only take on the leftists, but also to try to bully and attack more moderate rightists. A Falangist hit squad killed pro-Republic officers of the urban police, and in retaliation, a prominent rightist politician was then arrested and killed by police while in custody. The situation was on the verge of an explosion, and rightists proclaimed the nation would be taken over by communists.
Rightist and army leaders decided to move to overthrow the government in mid July 1936. In Spanish Morocco, the military took control quickly, with plans to send troops stationed there to the Spanish mainland to aid rightists involved in the coup in Spain itself. As word of revolt in Spanish Morocco spread, leftists began to arm for action against the imminent rightist coup. The coup failed to displace the Spanish government, but it did succeed in gaining footholds in parts of the country from which to launch further attacks on the Republic. Troops arrived from Spanish Morocco to support the rebellion, and the government distributed arms to civilians to resist the insurrection. The war lasted until 1939 and ended with a victory by the Nationalists (rightists and fascists), led by General Francisco Franco, who then became the leader of Spain.***
As the civil war approached, the two sides had become so polarized, there was seemingly just no way to reconcile the differences. The rightists called the leftists "marxists" and "communists," and the leftists called the rightists "fascists." Eventually (Fascist) Italy and (Nazi) Germany sent aid and actual military forces to aid the rightist (Nationalist) cause, while the Soviet Union sent aid and military advisers to support the Republic. With other major nations still trying to recover from the Great Depression, they had little desire to get involved in the war in Spain; thus ceding the field, correctly or incorrectly, to the extremes, where support of either side was political poison.****
The are many books and articles about the Spanish Civil War, so if the subject is of further interest to you, please check out your local library. A good source, which I used, is "The Battle For Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939," by Anthony Beevor, published in London, in 2006, as a reprint and update of the original release from 1982.
* These political prisoners had been locked up by the previous rightist government. The release of any such prisoners by the leftist government only confirmed to the rightists what they had told voters during the recent election campaign (February 1936), that "criminals" would be released into the general population (remember, the leftists, however, didn't view these prisoners as "criminals"). The problem for the government was, it not only did not appease the far left, but it inflamed the right, only adding to their charges that the country was heading for anarchy.
** There were then often leftist retaliations against rightists, and the whole situation began to spiral out of control.
*** I'm not going to actually re-fight the Spanish Civil War here, but for a little more info, see my article: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/07/german-question-part-one-hundred-twenty.html
**** Even with the limited aid of the Soviet Union, the successful labeling of the pro-Republic forces (also called "Republicans" or "Loyalists") as "communists" would have set off the political right in many countries, including in the United States; while the successful labeling of the Nationalists as "fascists" would have set off the political left in other nations, including the U.S. No doubt about it, the vast military support of the Nationalists by the two fascist powers (Italy and Germany) certainly gave credibility to the Republican charge of their opponents being "fascists;" although General Franco never repaid Hitler's and Mussolini's help, as he kept Spain out of World War Two, which proved a wise decision, and Hitler once said something to the effect that meeting with the difficult Spaniard was worse than going to the dentist to have several teeth extracted.
WORD HISTORY:
Front-Some believe this word traces back to an Indo European source, but evidence is scant, at best; thus I prefer to say the origins of the word are uncertain. Latin had "frons," which meant "forehead," and from this also developed the notion of "things to the fore, things that face an opposing item, the outermost area of something" ("frontier" is derived from the same source; "border, outermost area of a nation, or region"). Old French, a Latin-based language, inherited the word from Latin as "front," with the same general meaning. English borrowed the word from French, with the same spelling and meanings (including "forehead"), during the 1200s. The word also had developed the military meaning of "place where opposing forces face off/clash," as well as the later political term, "unified group opposing someone or some other group," and it also came to be applied to meteorological events in terms of advancing weather systems, "cold front" and "warm front." The verb form developed from the noun with the meaning, "to form a group to face or confront an enemy/opponent," and the additional, "to cover or conceal information by joining together with the same story line, or to stick to a story line." German also borrowed the word from French as "Front" (all German nouns are capitalized, it is feminine; thus, "die Front," "die" being pronounced as "dee"), with the same military, political and weather meanings, but German didn't borrow the word until the 1600s.
"Polarization of the Spanish Civil War" Part 8 (Final)
The Popular Front's failure to unite in the governance of Spain left the government unable to stabilize the country. The government tried to pacify the more revolutionary elements on the left with worker programs (public works, as unemployment was high) and the release of leftist political prisoners,* and thus bring them into the government, but the group was essentially set in its demands for much more dramatic change, and its leaders hoped to replace the more moderate (in their view) government with a truly revolutionary government, and communist influence was rising within the revolutionary element of the leftists. Even the moderate ideas from the government brought intense opposition from the rightists, whose armed militias also wrought havoc (attacks on leftist leaders**) in the hopes of further destabilizing the Popular Front government, and thus bringing the army to the rescue to establish a military dictatorship. The rising power of the (fascist) Falange made the group more apt to not only take on the leftists, but also to try to bully and attack more moderate rightists. A Falangist hit squad killed pro-Republic officers of the urban police, and in retaliation, a prominent rightist politician was then arrested and killed by police while in custody. The situation was on the verge of an explosion, and rightists proclaimed the nation would be taken over by communists.
Rightist and army leaders decided to move to overthrow the government in mid July 1936. In Spanish Morocco, the military took control quickly, with plans to send troops stationed there to the Spanish mainland to aid rightists involved in the coup in Spain itself. As word of revolt in Spanish Morocco spread, leftists began to arm for action against the imminent rightist coup. The coup failed to displace the Spanish government, but it did succeed in gaining footholds in parts of the country from which to launch further attacks on the Republic. Troops arrived from Spanish Morocco to support the rebellion, and the government distributed arms to civilians to resist the insurrection. The war lasted until 1939 and ended with a victory by the Nationalists (rightists and fascists), led by General Francisco Franco, who then became the leader of Spain.***
As the civil war approached, the two sides had become so polarized, there was seemingly just no way to reconcile the differences. The rightists called the leftists "marxists" and "communists," and the leftists called the rightists "fascists." Eventually (Fascist) Italy and (Nazi) Germany sent aid and actual military forces to aid the rightist (Nationalist) cause, while the Soviet Union sent aid and military advisers to support the Republic. With other major nations still trying to recover from the Great Depression, they had little desire to get involved in the war in Spain; thus ceding the field, correctly or incorrectly, to the extremes, where support of either side was political poison.****
The are many books and articles about the Spanish Civil War, so if the subject is of further interest to you, please check out your local library. A good source, which I used, is "The Battle For Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939," by Anthony Beevor, published in London, in 2006, as a reprint and update of the original release from 1982.
* These political prisoners had been locked up by the previous rightist government. The release of any such prisoners by the leftist government only confirmed to the rightists what they had told voters during the recent election campaign (February 1936), that "criminals" would be released into the general population (remember, the leftists, however, didn't view these prisoners as "criminals"). The problem for the government was, it not only did not appease the far left, but it inflamed the right, only adding to their charges that the country was heading for anarchy.
** There were then often leftist retaliations against rightists, and the whole situation began to spiral out of control.
*** I'm not going to actually re-fight the Spanish Civil War here, but for a little more info, see my article: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2011/07/german-question-part-one-hundred-twenty.html
**** Even with the limited aid of the Soviet Union, the successful labeling of the pro-Republic forces (also called "Republicans" or "Loyalists") as "communists" would have set off the political right in many countries, including in the United States; while the successful labeling of the Nationalists as "fascists" would have set off the political left in other nations, including the U.S. No doubt about it, the vast military support of the Nationalists by the two fascist powers (Italy and Germany) certainly gave credibility to the Republican charge of their opponents being "fascists;" although General Franco never repaid Hitler's and Mussolini's help, as he kept Spain out of World War Two, which proved a wise decision, and Hitler once said something to the effect that meeting with the difficult Spaniard was worse than going to the dentist to have several teeth extracted.
WORD HISTORY:
Front-Some believe this word traces back to an Indo European source, but evidence is scant, at best; thus I prefer to say the origins of the word are uncertain. Latin had "frons," which meant "forehead," and from this also developed the notion of "things to the fore, things that face an opposing item, the outermost area of something" ("frontier" is derived from the same source; "border, outermost area of a nation, or region"). Old French, a Latin-based language, inherited the word from Latin as "front," with the same general meaning. English borrowed the word from French, with the same spelling and meanings (including "forehead"), during the 1200s. The word also had developed the military meaning of "place where opposing forces face off/clash," as well as the later political term, "unified group opposing someone or some other group," and it also came to be applied to meteorological events in terms of advancing weather systems, "cold front" and "warm front." The verb form developed from the noun with the meaning, "to form a group to face or confront an enemy/opponent," and the additional, "to cover or conceal information by joining together with the same story line, or to stick to a story line." German also borrowed the word from French as "Front" (all German nouns are capitalized, it is feminine; thus, "die Front," "die" being pronounced as "dee"), with the same military, political and weather meanings, but German didn't borrow the word until the 1600s.
Labels: Benito Mussolini, English, etymology, Falange, Fascism, French, General Francisco Franco, Hitler, Latin, Popular Front, Soviet Union, Spain, Spanish Civil War, Spanish political right, Spanish Republic
posted by Randy at 12:08 PM
3 Comments:
I have to admit I'm reading these from newest to oldest, but I like what I'm reading. I love that about Hitler comparing meeting with Franco to getting teeth pulled. Comic.
I believe the actual base of the comment was, "Ich würde mir lieber drei oder vier Zähne ziehen lassen." (I would prefer to have three or four teeth pulled.")
Always like your posting German words and such. I'm still making progress, slowly but surely. Read a comment a good while ago by someone (American) who lived in Spain while Franco was in power. Said how restricted everything was. He may not have been a car carrying fascist, but he WAS a fascist.
Post a Comment
<< Home