Second Spanish Civil War | ||||||||||
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Part of the First Cold War | ||||||||||
The situation in Spain and Spanish Africa, mid 1974. | ||||||||||
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Belligerents | ||||||||||
Spanish State | Third Spanish Republic
Supported by: |
Spanish Socialist Republic
Supported by: Euskadi (1971-1976) | ||||||||
Commanders | ||||||||||
Luis Carrero Blanco Gonzalo de Córdoba Adolfo Colombo |
Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo Fernando Martorell François-Xavier Ortoli |
Rodolfo Llopis Boris Gromov | ||||||||
Strength | ||||||||||
235,000
Total: 260,000 |
200,000
Total: 355,000 |
175,000 1,000 Total: 241,000 | ||||||||
Casualties and losses | ||||||||||
56,000 dead 76,000 wounded or captured Total:132,000 |
94,000 dead 61,000 wounded or captured Total: 155,000 |
70,000 dead 45,000 wounded or captured Total: 115,000 | ||||||||
The Second Spanish Civil War (Spanish: Segunda Guerra Civil Española) was a civil war fought in Spain between 1971 and 1978. Falangist government forces fought against a coalition of republican and democratic forces in the northern and western parts of the country, a socialist rebellion in Andalusia and Murcia, and a variety of separatist groups centered around several of Spain's ethnic groups. The war was also intervened in by numerous world powers, most notably the United African Republics and it's seizure of Spanish possessions in Africa. The war has been called the last proxy conflict of the First Cold War, due to the interventions of both the Soviet Union and United States & European Community. The Republican forces won the war, establishing the Third Spanish Republic which existed until the federalization of the European Union in 2047.
The tipping point which began the civil war was the assassination of Caudillo Francisco Franco in a roadside bombing on March 14, 1971 by the armed Basque nationalist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA). The assassination came at the height of mass unrest across the country protesting Spain's economic stagnation and diplomatic isolation from the rest of Europe. Following the assassination, the ETA began seizing government facilities in the Basque Country and subsequently proclaimed Euskadi and independent nation, being followed shortly after by the Catalan nationalist group Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC).
Following Franco's assassination, Vice President Luis Carrero Blanco was sworn in as Franco's successor, immediately