Spanish Civil War

Originally posted by Mixcoatl I wouldn't really say so. Mexico at the time had one of the most anticlerical constitutions of the world (although by the 1930's not everything was enforced any more).

I voted Republican.

Hello Calvo

@ al jassas

at th time you can safely consider that Catlunya and Euskadi (Basque country) were mostly leftist, in the same way Madrid and Asturias as regions with a strong industrial economy were pro-government. Andalusia had pockets of the traditional Mediterranean left (a bite like Sicily, Languedoc in France or Alentejo in Portugal) but it was the first region to be invaded and it also had a strong rightist minority (traditionally it is a region divided in two parts a Eastern one and a Western one, I think the Eastern part around Toledo was more pro-government and the Western one around Sevilla more rightist, but I'm not sure).

The most clearly Franqusitas regions were Navarra and Galicia, two strongholds of the Catholic church. The Spanish colonies, specially the Rif were also dominated by the army.

Regarding Castile and the Levante region, I couldn't say.

@ WW
you have a way too simplistic vision of the problem. For instance did you know that a significant part of the French catholics started by supporting Franco but after the massacres in Majorca, they changed their mind and became supporters of the government.

Besides, you're having something like a Polish biais, the "leftist" were not all communists and with the exception of the violent anti-catholics feelings of the Catalan anarchists, most of the members of the government were merely opposed to the Church as an institution. Proof being that nothing was done against the Church before July 36 (after that the Church supported the rebellion so it is another matter). Nothing to do with the Soviet Union. If the government wanted to destroy smething it was the Chuch influence on politics, society as a whole and the economy (IIRC the chuch still owned some 35% of the land and sometimes more in some regions).

The fact that the pro-government militias commited awful acts is not denied, but the reverse is also true. For instance, how many Basque priest fighting for the Republic have been killed by the Franquistas? It was a bloody war, many suffered, but I'd say that the most Christian position would be to stand against the war-mongers.

Not mentioning that Franco's regime allowed some bigotic laws to be passed by was not a very Christian one (colonies, support to Nazi Germany, etc).

I stand corrected

What happened was that both camps used "fear propaganda" to demonize the opposing side.

Originally posted by gcle2003 [  What's good about preserving nationalism and aristocracy? And when did Communism have any bias against intellectuals, per se?   Both Soviet communism and the Falange (and other similar movements) destroyed proper education, for much the same reason, since they are essentially the same form of government.   Everybody else has pointed out the error in equating Soviet Communism with the Republican government, so I won't bother.   Thanks, Calvo.

Edited by Władysław Warnencz - 01-Sep-2008 at 13:53

Originally posted by gcle2003 It's interesting, though strictly off topic, that navies everywhere are always less conservative than armies.

Originally posted by gcle2003 It's interesting, though strictly off topic, that navies everywhere are always less conservative than armies.

that's because the army was strictly in the hands of the old aristocratic families, also serving in the Army is always more prestigeous than the navy. non-aristocrats who want to make a career would join the navy because their career-road would be blocked by the old aristocracy in the army.