Hi.
Im the Political Junkie.
"Madrid será la tumba del fascismo" There was a lot of aggressive, violent confidence
in this city.
If you stood here during the Spanish Civil War from 1936-1939, you'd see this iconic
banner.
"No Pasarán", "They shall not pass!".
The forces of the Spanish Republic held this city against the Nationalist rebel forces
during the entirety of the Spanish Civil War.
After the outbreak of the war, the Nationalists- the rebels, approached this city at lightning
speed.
Led by General Francisco Franco, the Nationalists- thousands of them engaged with the Republicans
in the parque del oeste, just about a mile from where I'm standing.
The nationalists were so confident in victory that fascist radio prematurely and totally
incorrectly announced that Franco had already entered the center of Madrid, and conquered
the Puerta del Sol on a white horse.
But as it turns out, the siege of Madrid would last over two years.
I want to show you how that played out using animation, some original footage I took here
in Madrid, and of course a cool book which I think you should read.
But first let's go a little bit deeper with this topic:
this dynamic of the Republic holding out in the center of Spain against the attacks of
the Nationalist forces... this wasn't the situation from the very beginning.
There was a scramble in July 1936.
Once it was clear that a right-wing coalition was conducting a military coup against the
elected government of the Republic, each Spanish city became a microcosm of the conflict.
For example, in Leon and Malaga, the soldiers stationed there had to make the decision to
join the rebellion, or remain loyal to the Republic.
This was of grave concern to the nationalist plotters of the coup, who toiled over the
difficulties in taking strategic centers like Seville, Barcelona, and Madrid (Thomas 199).
After all, were the coup successful, there'd be no Civil War for us to talk about.
This struggle to win over cities was most poignant in Madrid, where the military takeover
was botched, leading to an explosion of violence.
July 18, 1936 inside the Cuartel de la montaña, a barrack in West Madrid, a group of about
2000 soldiers was making the decision to stick with the Republic, or join the coup.
But they lacked clear leadership.
General Galarza, the coordinator of the plot in Madrid had been taken into custody a week
prior, and the Republic government cut the barrack's communication lines.
The prevailing strategy inside was to wait- stall to see if rebel reinforcements would
arrive from Carabanchel to the Southwest.
While they dithered, left-wing militias assembled outside- angry at the insurrection, they eventually
convinced the government to distribute them 65,000 arms.
Though only 5,000 of these rifles had bolts, those surrounding the barrack knew that further
ammunition lay inside- added incentive to attack and end the stand-off.
This is the modern location of where the Montana Barracks once stood-the militias assembled
on the streets behind me, the Calles Ferraz and Ventura Rodriguez, riflemen were placed
on the rooftops above, while heavy artillery was brought in to the Republican loyalists
through the Plaza de Espana across the street, and up to San Vicente Hill to the south.
But things got even more serious after a full 24 hours of inactivity.
According to Hugh Thomas in his classic, 'The Spanish Civil War':
"That night Dolores Ibarruri, La Pasionaria, made the first of many violent speeches, on
the radio, calling on 'workers, peasants, anti-fascists, and patriotic Spaniards'
not to permit the victory 'of the hangmen of Asturias'.
No Pasaran, they shall not pass...During the night of 19-20 July, fifty churches in Madrid
were set on fire.
The working-class parties, led by paramilitary units, of which the [communist militia] was
the most important, gained effective control of the streets...On 20 July, a crowd even
larger than that which had gathered the previous day assembled in the Plaza de Espana.
All shouted, 'death the fascism' and 'All to the aid of the Republic' with exultant
monotony.
The lance of Don Quixote, whose statue stands in the center of the square, was enthusiastically
interpreted as pointing to the Montana Barracks.
Five hours of bombardment of that fortress followed.
Loudspeakers encouraged counter-rebellion among the soldiers inside the barracks,"
The decision to stay loyal to the Republic or to rebel was massive.
For the soldiers inside: choosing the right side was literally a matter of life and death.
For Spain: had the rebels taken control of Madrid from the beginning, there may have
never been a wider conflict.
I actually used to live right down the street for two years, and I had no idea that anything
happened here.
When you find out what did occur, you'll understand why the government has placed no
clear markings or historical information in this beautiful park.
It might now be pertinent to now ask, 'What were these two sides between which the soldiers
were choosing?'
The Spanish elections of 1936 were close- really close.
The areas in the center there represent the electoral successes of National Front, a coalition
of parties with conservative catholics at its core, but bolstered by monarchists, industrialists,
and landowners.
They heavily implied a return to autocracy, regularly borrowing imagery and slogans from
european fascists.
This menacing poster from CEDA, the main Nationalist Front party, stared down at people from la
puerta del sol, the plaza in the center of Madrid.
It featured the disembodied head of their candidate Gil Robles, proclaiming, 'Dadme
la mayoria absoluta y os dare una Espana grande', 'Give me the absolute majority and I will
give you a great Spain,'.
It might remind you of a couple National Socialist posters from 1932, if this one featuring Hitler's
floating head seems like a weak comparison, check out this strong-man slogan from another,
'Gib auch du deine Stimme dem Manne der Kraft', 'Give your vote to the man of
strength'.
This theme of: 'I am a powerful guy and only I can fix your problems,'- there was
no subtlety here, which is why the other side's campaign posters decried the false promises
of the 'Vatican Fascists'.
So the right-wing coalition was victorious in these areas.
Winning along the outside of the map and in the dead-center around Madrid, was the popular
front, an amalgamation of left-wing parties.
If the Nationalist Front was influenced by Fascists in Berlin and Rome, the Popular Front
was the dramatic opposite- the name itself, Popular Front, derived at the 7th conference
of the Comintern aka the Organization pushing for World communism and one giant Soviet Republic.
So, on a practical level, this meant the Spanish Popular Front in 1936 was a combination of
socialist parties, world communists, independent leftists- it even garnered tacit support from
Anarchists.
It would be hard to find a starker contrast between left and right in any electoral contest
ever.
That's why after the left-wing Popular Front narrowly won the 1936 election and formed
a Republican government, plans were immediately made on the right-wing Nationalist side to
overthrow the Congress of Deputies in a military coup.
With that in mind, let's get back to the Montaña barrack in July 36.
The left and right electoral fronts were now military operations.
The 2000 soldiers were choosing between these two sides: the democratically elected coalition
of left-wingers, whose militias were now lined up on the street outside.
Or, many of their own military leaders, right-wing, despising the new government, promising a
return to the way things were- and who importantly, were nowhere in sight, isolated in other parts
of the country.
Unable to make a clear choice, some inside took a third option: for the moment, surrender
to the immediate threat, the militias directly outside.
A white flag was draped from a barrack window signifying the intent to surrender.
Republican loyalists approached the barracks to accept, but surprisingly, were then shot
at from the fortress.
It seems some inside the barrack weren't in agreement with giving up.
Hugh Thomas says this confusing process happened twice- loyalists approaching, then greeted
with machine gun fire.
With this, the militias outside soon became an angry mob.
Thomas adds that the ensuing slaughter 'beggared description'.
But I'll describe it.
After another round of artillery and aerial bombardment, the barrack was stormed.
Around 200 of the defenders were overrun, dragged from their hiding spots, sprayed with
bullets, or thrown out windows.
The rest were dragged to prison, often with undressed wounds.
With Madrid firmly in the Republic's hands, the stage was set for a 2 and a half year
civil war with 500,000 casualties: many of them just like these: ideological, impulsive,
and extrajudicial.
Throughout September and October, Gen. Franco's Army of Africa was storming through Southern
Spain; even with a detour towards Toledo, they confidently devised a plan to begin the
assault on Madrid as early as October 12th.
Franco placed General Mola in charge of the invasion.
Mola had been approaching with his own force through the Somosierra to the North.
He joked that he would be enjoying a coffee with milk in the Puerta del Sol later that
day.
As Madrileños heard of this, one cafe owner sarcastically placed a cafe con leche for
the general out front of his shop.
But there was reason for the defenders of Madrid to lack such confidence: they were
under trained (some not trained at all), their forces split into disunified ias of communists,
anarchists, and independent leftists- there were even rumors of a so-called 'fifth column':
Nationalist sympathizers embedded in the city, ready to assist when the invaders arrived.
To top if off, Franco ordered aerial bombardment with German planes just before the main attack
began.
International reporters were already filing stories describing the last hours of Madrid
as government officials fled to Valencia, changing the location of the Republican capital
in anticipation of defeat.
The nationalists deliberately and deservedly earned a reputation for viciousness on their
way to Madrid.
In Badajoz, they intentionally slaughtered 2,000 to spread fear, even hunting down wounded
in the hospital.
As Gen. Mola put it, "eliminating without scruples everyone who does not think as we
do,".
Jose Millan Astray, commander of the Spanish Foreign Legion, said it even more simply:
¡Viva la muerte!
'Long live death!'
There were two options for invasion, both involved attacking from the West, as between
them and the city proper would lie only the half-mile wide forested Casa de Campo.
Mola wanted to focus efforts on the Northwest University City, spearheading his way into
Madrid.
But Franco preferred a wider, 3-line assault along the Western edge (Beevor, ch.17).
In chapter 17 of his book, 'The Battle for Spain', historian Anthony Beevor describes
well the feeling in Madrid at this moment, "...the decision to defend Madrid inspired
mass bravery.
The terror and loathing which the colonial troops aroused in the Madrileños helped turn
panic into spirit of fierce resistance.
In the Plaza de Atocha a large placard warned, 'In Badajoz the fascists shot 2,000.
If Madrid falls they will shoot half the city.'
Chains of women and children passed rocks and stones for the construction of barricades.
Trenches were dug on the threatened western flank of the city.
Houses in the south-west suburb of Carabanchel were prepared for a street-by street defense….there
was mass mobilization."
Even with the odds mounted against them, Madrileños weren't completely hopeless.
Their Soviet allies had just delivered 91 fighter planes.
Meanwhile, some of the anarchist militias formally joined the Government alliance, consolidating
Republican forces.
Plus, they all had a stroke of luck: Just as fighting commenced in the Casa de Campo
on Nov. 7th, the Nationalist battle plans were actually found on the corpse of a soldier.
And for this reason,when the actual assault began on November 8th, the Republicans already
knew to focus their defense between the University City and Montaña Barrack.
The nationalists took this hill, Garabitas, the highest point in Casa de Campo with a
view over the city.
From here they could take aim at the main artery of Madrid, especially the prized targets
along Gran Via.
Some were military, like the Telefonica Building, where Republican Generals oversaw the battle.
But others were for pure terror.
One of the standards of the Nationalists was to fire pot-shots at the Capitol just as movie-goers
were leaving were leaving the evening screenings.
According to David Mathieson in Frontline Madrid, "Between 8 and 15 November the two
sides slogged it out through the Casa de Campo...the western front of Madrid," this behind me,
"was heavily defended by around 25,000 men and women.
They were mainly civilian members mixed with professional soldiers...Volunteers also arrived
from outside Madrid.
Apart from the volunteers of the International Brigades, 3,000 anarchist militiamen arrived
from the Catalonia front, and their presence too, boosted morale in the city…"
Just below me, between where this killing field ends and the city proper begins, lies
the Manzanares River, the saving grace of Madrid.
Mathieson says around 25,000.
From cross referencing some of these sources, I came up with 28.
Whatever the exact count, Republicans focused their forces along this shallow river; the
remaining 12,000 were kept at Carabanchel in case of another Nationalist buildup there.
These defenders collided with the 20,000 Nationalists sent into Caso de Campo with an explicit mission
to cross the Manzanares.
Now when historians say that the Republican forces were undertrained, that the combat
experienced regulares used by the Nationalists were far better prepared, it's hard to imagine
how big that training gap was.
Lots of Republicans were in Madrid simply trying to escape other conquered areas of
Spain- now forced defend their refuge.
Hugh Thomas writes they, 'carried out their orders almost to the letter not to retreat
an inch,' pumped up on radio propaganda that Madrid was, 'the universal frontier
that separates liberty and slavery.
It is here...that two incompatible civilizations undertake their great struggle,'.
But Beevor adds that, 'Probably less than half of the Republicans had been involved
in earlier fighting and had only learned how to operate the bolt and aim of rifle the evening
before,'.
A bit more humorously was George Orwell's training with the POUM Militia in Catalonia,
which he describes thusly, " In my villainous Spanish, '¿cuándo vamos aprender ametralladora?',
"The answer was always a harassed smile and a promise that there should be machine-gun
training mañana.
Needless to say, mañana never came."
29.
With ravenous motivation and little training, Republicans were basically holding the line
by throwing humans at it; a tactic noted and later used by the soviets in WW2.
And so despite the Nationalist's superior training and backup from German fighter planes,
the Republicans managed to hold the line on the 8th of November.
That night, 2,000 foreign volunteers of the XI International Brigade arrived at the Atocha
Train Station, marched up Gran Via, and were sent straight into an offensive that began
the next day, a hard-fought counterattack against Nationalists gains, especially a troubling
advance across the river as far as the intersection of Marques de Urquijo and Paseo del Pintor
Rosales (Mathieson, 84).
Like many of the other Republican troops, these Communist International Volunteers from
countries like Ireland, France, Germany, Canada, and the UK were ideological and undertrained.
Nonetheless, their startling sacrifice of life helped the Republicans push the line
back across the Manzanares.
Estimates say they lost a third of their force on the 9th alone.
Sensing that the main front was becoming inflexible, Nationalists began an offensive South at Carabanchel,
a tactic Franco had wanted to avoid.
The urban-dwelling Republicans now had tactical advantage in the tight, residential neighborhoods
they knew so well, while their artillery punished the Nationalists from the Telefónica.
Despite their success in holding the line, some among the Republicans were still paranoid
of losing the Model Prison and the Nationalist Prisoners it contained.
Like with the Montaña Barracks, killing became their solution.
One thousand of the prisoners were transported to the Jarama Valley and machine-gunned to
death.
A final push came between the 15th and the 22nd November.
With the support from fighter planes and artillery, around 6,000 Nationalist soldiers began an
offensive to capture the Bridge de los Franceses and finally achieve a foothold on the opposite
side of the Manzanares.
Once across, the bloodiest days of the siege ensued inside the University City.
The Republicans, panicked about rebels in the city proper, and Nationalists, now desperate
to make their tiny incursion into something more advantageous, commenced a bottleneck
of violence in this northwest corner of the city.
The machine gun posts can still be found in the area where the battle took place, and
the campus still preserves bullet holes on the faculty of medicine.
The Clinical Hospital became a particular hotspot along with the faculty of Philosophy
and Letters.
Later that day, a small group of nationalist soldiers fought their way onto the Calle princesa,
causing panic as they drove towards the Plaza de España.
The impression was that the city was finally falling.
I like how Thomas described the whole scene as a 'macabre confusion', a 'babble
of tongues, with a 'frequent multilingual singing of the international', the multinational
invaders and defenders throwing orders and insults at each other in the muddy smoky battlefield.
The fighting was street for street, building for building, room for room.
And in the meantime Gen. Mola's coffee was getting colder and colder in the city center.
The battle for Madrid dwindled as 1936 came to a close.
Neither side could make a decisive blow to the other and the lines remained mostly as
they were.
The Nationalists had their foothold across the river, but this uphill position was exposed
on three sides to Republican attack.
Rather than throw more of his best soldiers at the problem, Franco decided on a new tactic.
If he couldn't enjoy success with a traditional invasion force, he'd try a bombing campaign.
As Franco admitted, he'd prefer to "destroy Madrid rather than leave it to the Marxists."
Employing the aid of the German and Italian planes, valuable targets like the Puerta del
Sol, Bellas Artes, and the Biblioteca Nacional were bombarded.
But Madrileños, like Londoners three years later, weren't destroyed by German bombs.
Rather, they became more resilient to defend their city.
But unfortunately for them, fate was moved out of their hands.
After a couple failed attempts to approach Madrid by alternative means, Franco opted
to focus on other parts of Spain, to return when his position was improved.
Whittling down the Republic was no short process, it took two full years, but by February of
1939 the map of Spain appeared like this, with even Barcelona having fallen.
Catalonia was in Nationalist hands, supplies over the French Pyrenees a quaint fantasy,
and Republican Prime Minister Negrín was determined that the war 'must be brought
to an end'.
Madrid's siege left it without medical supplies, heating, and only food for around 3 months
more (Thomas 869).
Within the city, propaganda continued to project false optimism even as rebel troops reentered
Caso de Campo on March 10, 1939.
On the 27th, the Republican line cratered throughout Spain, and on the 28th, Nationalists
walked unresisted into the Madrid city center.
From the start of the coup- through invasion, bombing, and even starvation, Madrid held
out in the center of Spain until the very last.
Until '¡No pasarán!' became, 'han pasado'.
I mentioned at the start of this video the aggressive confidence in Madrid- slogans like,
'Madrid will be the tomb of fascism' were found all over the city.
But as it turns out, Madrid was the tomb, not of fascism, but of the Spanish Republic.
This is a fountain south of Madrid's city center in the Lavapies neighborhood.
Historically, this has been an area of the working class, and more recently, immigrants.
It's said that Franco didn't want to invade Madrid through the South due to the heavy
resistance he could expect trudging through working-class, Republican sympathizing neighborhoods
such as this one.
After the fall of the Republic, the Nationalists made quick work of eliminating the people
and symbols of it.
So apparently their fear of the working-class neighborhoods extended beyond the fall of
Madrid.
This fountain still bears the name of the Spanish Republic.
Franco's ruled Spain for 36 years, and no one ever found it necessary to come here and
tear this symbol of the prior government?
If Madrid was the tomb of the Republic, perhaps this is the tombstone.
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