WHAT WAS THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR?

In July 1936 a military rebellion began in Spanish Morocco. Its leader was General Francisco Franco.

Francisco Franco. Via Wikimedia Commons

The rebels took control of parts of Spain. The country became divided between areas controlled by the Nationalists (the rebels led by Franco) and areas controlled by the Second Republic.

Spanish Civil War August-September 1936. Booshank at en.wikipedia [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], from Wikimedia Commons

Franco and the Nationalists were opposed to the changes of the Second Republic. They wanted to replace the republic with a right-wing dictatorship (Germany and Italy supported them). The Republicans supported the Second Republic (Russia, the Soviet Union, supported them).
For three years there was fighting, until the Nationalists took control of Madrid. The war ended in April 1939. The Nationalists won, the Second Republic ended and Franco established a right-wing dictatorship.

Consequences from the war:

• 365.000 people died.
• Many people lost their family.
• People were imprisoned or killed because of their opinions (Nationalists who lived in the Republican zones and Republicans who lived in the Nationalists zones).
• Roads, bridges, railways and buildings were destroyed.
• People became ill because there wasn't enough food.