The Birth of Fascism in Spain

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Like Portugal, Greece and Italy, Spain entered the 20th century as a country whose past imperial glory seemed to be nothing more than a dream. It was a virtually isolated country and extremely underdeveloped in comparison to the major European powers of Britain, France and Germany. Still largely an agricultural country, the vast amount of cultivable land was managed inefficiently, and several Spaniards were forced to work as landless labourers. In addition to being a relatively poor country, Spain was also tearing itself apart; the people of the Catalan mountain regions were more concerned with preserving their regional identity than pledging allegiance to their country. The constitutional monarchy that had governed the country since 1885 had never been an effective system and the king’s life was now being threatened by communists, socialists, and anarchists. Confronted by this clear threat of revolution, and being unable to deal with the economic problems that hit Spain in 1929 following the Wall Street Crash, the king abdicated and the socialists became the dominant group.

However, things for the socialists were not peachy; they’d planned to reduce the power of wealthy landowners, the Church and the army. They took a number of measures to do so, but this inevitably angered these influential groups, bringing them closer. By 1933, the communists had lost the support of the people, and power was back in the hands of the Church. However, the new government proved to be inefficient and corrupt, and one of their leading politicians was murdered by anarchists in 1936. The Spanish Civil War had begun. A leading nationalist, General Francisco Franco, was flown in from the Canary Isles to assume leadership. Although his soldiers were far more disciplined than the communist fighters, Franco was unable to take control of Madrid and Barcelona, and this proved to be an obstacle. However due to the disunity of the communist soldiers, Franco was able to secure his victory by 1939, when Barcelona and Madrid finally fell to the nationalists.

Deeply influenced by Hitler and Mussolini’s fascist governments, Franco imitated them and appointed himself military dictator. However, unlike Hitler and Mussolini, Franco was an ardent supporter of the Church and restored its control over education. This aspect of his government did not make Spain a typical fascist state.

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