In Spain in southern Europe, the smoke over it is also getting thicker.

At the turn of the century, Spain was an economically poor and politically backward agrarian country. Spain's political system was still feudal and autocratic, and most of the government officials and military generals were high-ranking Catholic monks or noble landowners. The semi-feudal system of large estates prevailed in the countryside, with large landlords in charge of the vast majority of the country's land and resources, and the lower classes living in poverty.

Miguel Primo de Rivera, with the consent of King Alfonso XIII, staged a coup d'état on September 13, 1923, establishing a seven-year dictatorship to forcefully suppress civil unrest.

However, in 1931, the Spanish Revolution overthrew de Rivera, Alfonso XIII went into exile, and Nissetto Alcalá-Zamora established the Second Spanish Republic.

But the Second Spanish Republic was also in turmoil, with at least 28 governments formed.

The first government was the left-wing Socialist Alliance, led by Zamora, which implemented a series of democratic and agrarian reforms, as well as a series of measures such as disarmament and the closure of military academies.

However, these reforms did not work very well, and the landlords and royalist officers still made up the majority in the Spanish parliament and government army. The same was true of the agrarian reform, when most of the land was nationalized or bought from the landlords at a high price, and the poor peasants were given only a small portion of the royal land.

Catholics were also opposed to the republican government, attacking each other and the constitution provided for the separation of church and state. However, the government took advantage of the establishment of the Second Republic to organize an anti-Catholic government, forcefully interfering in the Catholic Church, banning religious groups from proselytizing, restricting property rights and investments, and banning the Society of Jesus.

Even by allowing anti-Catholic activists to attack monasteries and believers, the Catholic Church spread anti-republican ideas to its adherents.

The welfare system of the working class was not vigorously enforced, the capitalists did not comply with the eight-hour working day, and the demands of the autonomous communities were only permissible in Catalonia.

In August 1932, General José Sanhujo attempted a coup d'état, but was arrested after a failed attempt. Internal strife and the Great Depression of the 30s caused social unrest in the country, and Marxism and communism spread rapidly in Spain. The country is full of political forces of different ideologies, and the left and right wings are in conflict with each other, uniting with other activists to expand their own power.

Among them, the Phalangists and the Spanish Communist Party were the most intense. Their high level of violence in the country has also intensified the factional antagonism of the civil war, leading to the escalation of the scale of the conflict.

In October 1935, the Spanish Left Bloc formed the Popular Front of the Communist Party of Spain (PCE), the Marxist Workers' Party (POUM), the Union of Workers (UGT), the Basques, Catalans and the Anarchists.

The Popular Front's political propositions before the elections included pardon for political prisoners arrested and imprisoned by the right-wing government, the provision of basic salaries and restrictions on working hours for peasant workers, the restoration of the constitution and the establishment of autonomous regions, the democratization of public institutions and the army, the banning of *** and royalists, the reduction of taxes and land rents, etc., which were widely supported by the workers and peasants and the petty bourgeoisie, and won the 1936 elections and regained power.

José Sanjujo founded an organization called the Spanish Military Alliance, which planned to overthrow the republican government by force, impose a right-wing dictatorship, and restore order in the country.

The supporters were divided into three factions, the conservative military on the Kulaks, the liberals on the middle-class interests, and the Falangists, on the margins on the interests of the small peasants and craftsmen. There were not many active officers in the group, but many were retired, and Sanjujo himself was still living in Portugal at the time, and he was commanded by Brigadier General Emilio Mora in the country.

At the same time, the royalists also opposed the reform of the republic. The leader of the royalist party was Antonio Gorechia, who in 1937 had claimed the collapse of the republic through a military coup or civil war, and had gone to the Kingdom of Italy to gain Mussolini's support. The leader of the Orthodox faction was Farr Günt, who was also ready to overthrow the republican government by force and train militias in the mountains of Navarre.

In 1933, Spain held another election, and the right-wing radical Republican Party won and regained power with Alejandro Leruz as president.

Lelus undid the reforms of his previous government, including the end of the agrarian reform, the restitution of ecclesiastical property, the abolition of the constitution and the autonomous communities, and the release of many right-wing and royalists. The right-wing government has imposed armed repression on its opponents.

In the February 1936 elections, out of a total of 9.25 million votes, Syriza narrowly won 4.75 million votes and regained power again. It won 267 seats in the National Assembly, while the right-wing coalition won 132 seats. Manuel Azaña is the president and Cassalos Giroca is the prime minister.

The left-wing government once again changed the policies of the right-wing, which aroused the dissatisfaction of many nationalist, ***-ism, royalist and other forces in an attempt to overthrow the republican government. Franco's friend, Joaquín Alaras, once described Azania as "the disgusting caterpillar of Red Spain", and Spanish officers particularly disliked Azania, especially since he cut many military spendings and closed military schools during his tenure as Minister of War in 1931.

And in these stormy days, both sides have adopted jaw-dropping "struggle" methods such as shootouts, assassinations, and kidnappings. In four months, there were 260 political murders in Spain, the headquarters of 70 large and small parties and political groups were destroyed, and 10 newspapers were destroyed.

Important political figures are not immune. In 1936, Azua, head of the Constitutional Drafting Committee, and Dr. Martinez, a former minister and democratic-liberal, were assassinated.

Among them, Sotero's death became the fuse that detonated the two parties.

On July 13, members of the commando guards in the service of the government broke into the conservative leader, congressman and former secretary of finance in the Rivera administration, José Bush. Calvo? Sodro's home, kidnapping him. In the small truck of the police, Captain Fernando of the Assault Guards? Cuncas shot Sodro twice in the head. They then dumped the bloodied bodies of parliamentarians in the Madrid Public Cemetery.

When conservatives staged a huge funeral and demonstration for him, Republican police opened fire on the crowd and killed two more people instantly.

Sodro's death came as a shock to Spain and all of Europe. At the same time, it also angered other members of the right, so the famous telegram "The weather is fine in all of Spain today" led to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War.

The Spanish "Foreign Legion" and "Moorish Legion" took advantage of the military exercises in Spanish Morocco and a rebellion broke out. The pro-right-wing officers of the "Spanish Military Alliance" rallied against the republic and elected San Jurgjo, a Portuguese exile, as their leader.

At the same time, the alliance issued a proclamation to all the provinces of Spain and Morocco: all officers participating in the movement would receive promotions and lifetime pensions, and called for the purge of "unreliable" officers and soldiers in the army.

On the afternoon of the 17th, the Foreign Legion stationed in Genta and Melia in Morocco openly launched a rebellion in various cities of Spanish Morocco, with a total of about 35,000 rebels. The rebel forces imprisoned the commander-in-chief, General Gomez, and executed Manuel, who refused to cooperate? General Moslaris.

On this very day, General Franco, the military governor of the Canary Islands, also instigated his own troops to start a rebellion. He made this call: "The army has decided to restore order in Spain...... General Franco is already in place to lead the movement. He appealed to the sentiments of all Spaniards who were willing to work for the revival of Spain. ”

Franco then flew to Tetouan, Morocco, to take command of the rebel forces.

Because Franco was well regarded among the most elite Spanish African Army, other troops stationed in Morocco were also involved in the rebellion. The rebel forces were overwhelmed, capturing Melilla and Ceuta, and controlling all of Spanish Morocco.

On the morning of the 19th, escorted by a cruiser, the rebel troop transport fleet crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and anchored in front of the fortress of Alheciras, which, after a burst of indiscriminate artillery bombardment, surrendered. The rebel Moorish soldiers then landed and occupied the city.

Faced with the army's opposition to the government (80% of the regular army (120,000 officers and soldiers) had switched to the government), the Madrid government called on the workers to fight in the defence of the republic. More than 200,000 workers responded to the call, flocking to Madrid from all over the country.

At the same time, in other parts of the country, fighting between the army and the workers was unfolding. Despite their lack of training, the workers' armed forces were extremely heroic in battle. In the absence of regular weapons, many of them took part in the defence of the Republic with shotguns, knives, forks, grenades or explosive packs.

In some places, the rebellion was suppressed, while in others it was controlled by the National Army. By 20 July, when the first leg of the battle between the two sides was almost over, the National Army had taken control of almost all of Morocco, the Canary Islands, the entire Balearic Islands except Minorca, the Guadalama Mountains and a large area north of the Ebro River.

The government of the Republic occupied the eastern coast, the Basque Country, Catalonia and other places, and cut off the north and south sides of the national army in the province of Badajoz. At the same time, Madrid and Barcelona, the largest cities in Spain, remained in the hands of the republic. Some areas are in a state of stalemate: in the Asturias region, government-controlled areas are intertwined with those controlled by the National Army.

When both sides found that the war might continue, looking for foreign aid became a common choice for both sides.