The Civil War: the opposing sides

1.       Answer to the following questions:

Republican side

a)      Who were the presidents of the Republican government during the Civil War? Which party did they belong  to?

F. Largo Caballero and J. Negrín. Both belonged to the Socialist Party (PSOE)

b)      The workers’ committees carried out a revolution. What were their measures?

They divided land, collectivized factories and repressed rebel sympathizers.

c)       Which groups made up Largo Caballero’s government? What were its two main objectives?

Republicans, socialists, communists and anarchists

To create a popular army and to put an end to uncontrolled repression by the workers’ committees.

d)      Why did the Republican coalition split?

Because of the military defeats

e)      What did Negrín try to do about the war? Did he succeed? Why?

He put forward a peace proposal.

No he didn’t, because Franco rejected it.

Rebel side

f)       Which areas of the country did the rebels control after the initial coup?

Canarias, Marruecos, Galicia, Castilla-León, Navarra, Aragón y Baleares.

g)      Who was the leader of the rebel government?

General Francisco Franco

h)      What was the main party in this side of the war? Where was the rebel capital city?

FET and JONS, which included the falangists.

i)        Name the main decisions taken by the rebel government

The prohibition of parties and unions, the annulment of the Constitution of 1931 and all statutes of autonomy, the recovery of Catholicism as the state religion and the dismantling of all Republican reforms.