THE AFTERMATH OF THE INNER CONFLICT IN SPAIN

Spain experienced a civil war from 1936 to 1939 while at the same time there were rivalries amongst the European powers: Britain and France, Germany and Italy and the Soviet Union.  In that context, the Republicans as well as The Nationalists wanted to gain control in Spain which resulted in one of the most savage civil conflicts Europe had ever seen.

The repression was enormous in the Nationalist side as well as in the Republican one. Executions and murders were common in those civil war days. On the national side, most of the executions were directed to labor and peasant militants, but also against some intellectuals such as Federico García Lorca. The ones who suffered the republican repression were mostly priests and clerics and some lays related to Church and the wealthier classes. It s likely that that situation has been the bloodiest persecution in the history of Christianity. Although the exact number of death people during the war is in dispute nowadays, the magnitudes of the repression exerted on the clergy are already familiar. Twenty percent of all clergy, 13 bishops, 4,172 priests, 2,364 monks and friars and 283 nuns and sisters in Spain were murdered during the civil war as a result of political and ideological differences among the two sides.

Universally known is the fact that “the Catholic Church is never bound to one form of government more than to another, provided the Divine rights of God and of Christian consciences are safe”. However, the Church´s alliance to the right side was clearly opposite to that of the left. The Republic constituted a real and grave danger to the Church and its message of hope and salvation, that could have been  the reason why the Church saw Franco as a tool of salvation. Despite the fact that most of the Spain population identified with Franco and the Church, they were not strong enough to impede the Republicans to advance. The historic privileges  of the Roman Catholic Church were attacked. Priests were no longer paid by the state so their salaries were no longer part of the Roman Catholic Church. That religious institution and the government were made two separate entities. Moreover, religious education in schools was stopped since the Church lost credibility among people.

It was not a little war, that civil conflict in Spain provoked not only deaths but also caused irreparable damage in several cities which lead people to tell a story with no end. It is almost impossible to calculate the number of casualties and only an approximation can de made, but it is estimated that some 500,000 died (though some versions say it is closer to one million). Thousands were exiled, many of them to France and South America. Despite all those atrocities, the Spanish civil war inspired several important artists to create thousands of paintings, novels, poetry and films that recount this dark time in Spanish history.

OUTLINE:

Introduction
ARGUMENTATIVE THESIS STATEMENT
(...) 'the Republicans as well as The Nationalists wanted to gain control in Spain which resulted in one of the most savage civil conflicts Europe had ever seen'


Supplementary material

1. Repression, murders and executions
2. Catholic Church outcome

Conclusion

(...) It was not a little war, that civil conflict in Spain provoked not only deaths but also caused irreparable damage in several cities which lead people to tell a story with no end.


GRAPHIC ORGANIZER

RESOURCES

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·         CNA Catholic new agency´s website. Available at http://www.catholicnewsagency.com. Retrieved: September 25, 2013

·         Don Quijote Spanish language learning´s website. Available at http://www.donquijote.org/culture/spain/history/the-spanish-civil-war.asp. Retrieved: September 25, 2013

·         History learning site´s website. Available at http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/spanish_civil_war.htm Retrieved: September 25, 2013

·         Spain thenandnow´s website. Available at http://www.spainthenandnow.com. Retrieved: September 24, 2013

·         The Spanish war history´s website. Available at http://www.spanishwars.net. Retrieved: September 25, 2013

·         UMass Amherst´s website. Available at http://www.umass.edu. Retrieved: September 25, 2013

·         Youtube´s website. Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81RhewkQbOk. Retrieved: September 27, 2013