Month: February 2019

The war was mostly a struggle between democracy and fascism. Ultimately, the Nationalist front won, and Spain was ruled by Francisco Franco’s dictatorship until 1975, when Franco died. 

The Spanish Civil War was one of the worst atrocities in Spanish history, so how did it all start?

Spain in the 19^thcentury

The 19^thcentury was a tempestuous time in Spain. The country faced many different reforms, with the liberals advocating for limited powers for the monarchy. In 1812, King Ferdinand VII dissolved the Constitution.

Twelve successful coups were carried out, subsequently. Although these coups and public uprisings reduced some of the ultra-conservatism of the monarchy, discontent among the people was still prevalent. 

In 1874, the Carlists and Anarchists were formed in opposition to the monarchy. The Radical Republican Party helped bring republicanism to the fore front of Spanish politics.

During the First World War, Spain remained neutral. The threat of communism, as perceived by the public, kept growing during this time. Eventually, King Alfonso XII gave in to popular pressure and established a republic in 1931. 

This was the start of the Second Spanish Republic, which remained in power until the escalation of the Spanish Civil War.

Preparations by Franco and the Nationalists

Numerous suspicious military officials, including Francisco Franco, were sacked and moved to Spanish territories abroad. For instance, Franco was transferred to command of the Canary Islands. 

His disloyalty only grew after this. With the help of the British Secret Intelligence Service, Franco managed to escape Spanish supervision and fled from the Canary Islands to Spanish Morocco. 

In the following year, several extrajudicial police killings took place. Public resentment continued and the Socialists and Communists demanded that arms be distributed to the people before the military took over. 

Outbreak of the Civil War

On July 18, 1936, the right-wing Nationalists, led by General Franco, began a revolt. He broadcasted a message calling for all army officials to join the coup d’état and overthrow the existing leftist government. 

Within three days, the Republican government managed to capture Morocco, much of northern Spain, and several key cities in the south. For a while, the government managed to subdue the rebellion.

Franco, who was well-respected by officials in the Army of Africa, planned to bring them over to the European mainland to join the fight. The Nationalists were aided by the conservative Moroccan troops who were also opposed to the leftist government in Spain.

Workers and peasants fought alongside the Nationalist rebels, but in many cities, they were denied weapons. In conservative regions the Nationalists quickly seized control with little bloodshed.

However, in other more liberal regions, such as the city of Bilbao, the fight resulted in many casualties. The revolt against the Spanish navy largely failed. Nevertheless, Franco managed to sail his Army of Africa from Morocco. 

This was a gamechanger and in the following months, Nationalist forces rapidly overran many Republican-controlled regions. In November 1936, Madrid was put under siege. 

In 1937, Franco united the Nationalists with the Falange, Spain’s fascist party, while the Republicans aligned themselves with the communists. 

With those ideological oppositions, both sides sought foreign help. Germany and Italy aided Franco’s fascist rebellion, while the Soviet Union helped the Republican government. 

Additionally, thousands of communists and other radicals from France, the Soviet Union, America, and other places formed International Brigades to support the communist Republican cause. 

A significant achievement from the foreign contribution was the successful defense of Madrid until the end of the war. 

In June 1938, the Nationalists managed to cut the Republican territory in two. Franco mounted a major attack against Catalonia and in January 1939, its capital, Barcelona, fell. Soon after, the rest of Catalonia was also captured. 

This was the end of the Republican cause. Its leaders did try to negotiate a peace deal with Franco, but he refused. On March 28, 1939, the Republican government surrendered Madrid.

Impact on Europe

The Spanish Civil War underlined opposing political sentiments that existed throughout Europe. The right and the Catholics supported the Nationalists as a counter measure to the expansion of Bolshevism.

Meanwhile, labor unions, students, intellectuals, etc. united on the left to support the Republicans to stop the spread of fascism. 

Moreover, anti-war and pacifist movements were widespread as well. Many countries in Europe were concerned that a Civil War in Spain could spark a Second World War. In fact, the Spanish Civil War was an indicator of the growing instability within Europe.

Many non-Spanish citizens also participated in the war, either as soldiers or advisors. Britain and France, as the heads of a political alliance of 27 nations, promised not to intervene in the Spanish Civil War. The USA unofficially aligned themselves with this stance. 

Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union singed the non-intervention agreement officially, but still participated in arms deals with Spain. 

After the War

Franco served as the leader of the newly formed fascist Spain. He implemented harsh reprisals against his former enemies. Thousands of Republicans were imprisoned and at least 30,000 executed. Furthermore, many were put in forced labor camps. 

Hundreds of thousands of Republicans fled the country after the war. Some 500,000 went to France. 

Shortly after the end of the Spanish Civil War, the Second World War broke out in the rest of Europe. Spain did not officially join the Axis powers, although Franco did write to Hitler offering to join the war on 19 June 1940.

Instead, Spain supplied Germany with the Blue Division to fight specifically on the Eastern Front against the USSR in recognition for the aid that Spain received during its civil war from Germany and Italy. 

The actual death toll of the Spanish Civil War is a controversial topic. Particularly, the part related to war and post-war repressions. Many historians, encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc. only provide vague numbers and general descriptions.

The figures vary from 250,000 to 1 million victims. The main reason for the ambiguity in the numbers are the different methodologies used to count the victims. Various researches have included different casualties ranging from combat related deaths, terror attack related deaths, to post-war deaths, and extra-judicial killings.

President Richard Nixon was involved in a widescale scandal that eventually led to his resignation. History does tend to repeat itself, as the US president is once again wrapped in an international political scandal. On that note, this article aims to shed light on what really happened during the Watergate Scandal. 

Who was Richard Milhous Nixon?

Before he became president, Nixon was a lieutenant commander in the US Navy during World War II. Afterwards, he became a Californian congressman and senator. He continued climbing the political career ladder and served as US vice president to Dwight D Eisenhower for eight years, before he decided to run for president himself.

In 1960, he entered the presidential race, but lost to John F Kennedy. Needless to say, Nixon was not happy with this outcome. He blamed the media for favoring his opponent. He did eventually make it to the White House in 1968, but that resentment never went entirely away. 

During Nixon’s five-and-a-half years presidency, he waged five overlapping wars: on the media, Democrats, the US judiciary, US history, and not-surprisingly, on the anti-war movement itself. 

His goal was to undermine anyone who he saw as an enemy, including people who leaked the Pentagon Papers. In response, Nixon appointed the so-called ‘White House Plumbers’, who were tasked with stopping the leak of classified documents. Eventually, the ‘Plumbers’ were tasked with other illegal activities. 

The Watergate robbery

In the early morning of June 17, 1972, several burglars were arrested in the Watergate buildings in Washington DC which was the office of the Democratic National Committee. This was no ordinary robbery though. The crime was connected with Nixon’s reelection campaign.

Investigations showed that they found wiretapping phones and stolen documents on the burglars. One of the robbers was identified as E Howard Hunt, an ex-CIA officer and one of Nixon’s ‘Plumbers’. 

As a matter of fact, Nixon never ordered the break-in. However, to make the matter more suspicious, Nixon went to great lengths to cover the crime up. The real scandal was the subsequent collusion to distance himself and his administration from the crime. 

Reportedly, six weeks after the burglary, Nixon ordered his chief of staff Bob Haldeman to cover the incident saying: “They have to be paid. That’s all there is to that.”

Nixon’s second term

Somehow, Nixon was able to overcome the growing discontent surrounding the Watergate break-in and he won the re-election in 1972. He beat his democratic opponent George McGovern with one of the most substantial margins in US history.

During his second term, Nixon’s attempt to obstruct justice continued. Later investigations highlighted how Nixon and his aides planned to instruct the CIA to impede the FBI’s investigation. This plan did not work, however, and in January 1973 seven conspirators were indicted. Five of them pleaded guilty and the other two were convicted in trial. 

Two important personas in uncovering the Watergate scandal were Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. They later won a Pulitzer Prize for their reporting. 

Their work included following the money trail which led the burglary back to Nixon’s people. As they kept investigating the issue, their stories were continuously and vehemently denied by the White House and its press secretary at the time, Ronald Ziegler. 

Much of the information that they received came from an anonymous whistleblower only known as ‘Deep Throat’. Many years later, in 2005, it was revealed that the anonymous source had been W. Mark Felt, a former associate director of the FBI.

The infamous tapes

Several of Nixon’s aides testified in front of a grand jury. Some admitted that the president had secretly taped every conversation that took place in the Oval Office. During the summer and fall of 1973, Nixon tried everything to protect the tapes.

The prosecution would not give up that easily though. A special prosecutor named Archibald Cox was adamant about obtaining the tapes. When Nixon realized that he was not going to give up, he ordered for him to be fired. 

In protest, several officials of the Department of Justice resigned. This event took place on Saturday October 20, 1973, which came to be known as the Saturday Night Massacre. 

The saga continues In March 1974, when seven of Nixon’s officials were indicted. They became known as the Watergate Seven. Meanwhile, the battle over the Oval Office tapes continued and went all the way to the US Supreme Court. Eventually, the court ruled unanimously that the tapes had to be released. 

It came to light that 18 minutes of the recording had been erased. Nixon’s personal secretary Rose Mary Woods claimed that she had done this by accident, but further investigations proved that the tape had purposely been erased in several sections. 

In August 1974, a new audio tape surfaced which contained a recording in the Oval Office in which Richard Nixon and Bob Haldeman hatched a plan to block FBI investigations, claiming that national security was the reals issue in the Watergate break-ins. 

This particular extract from the tape was henceforward known as the ‘smoking gun’. Nixon’s own lawyers later stated that it “proved that the President had lied to the nation, to his closest aides, and to his own lawyers for more than two years.” 

The end of the Nixon era

It was clear that this was game-over for President Richard Nixon. Facing certain impeachment, he decided to resign. On August 9, 1974, Nixon and his wife left the White House. As he stepped into the helicopter, he gave his famous v-sign salute which later became one of his best-known trademarks.

He was succeeded by President Gerald Ford, who issued a presidential pardon for Nixon. Thus, Richard Nixon himself never faced any charges, but in total the scandal resulted in 69 government officials being charged and 48 being found guilty. Reading this story in 2019, one cannot help but be alarmed by the similarities between the Watergate Scandal and the current Russia investigation. As the world continues to watch the American presidency, this might be the year in which President Donald J. Trump’s fate will be decided.