The Political Forces in the Spanish Civil War

Abstract

The Spanish Civil War was a disastrous event where every class and party lost. One to two million people were killed and the nation suffered disease afterward. Many thousands were imprisoned and major cities were destroyed. Who gained from this destruction and was it necessary? Would the Communists have taken over Spain if Franco had lost the war? Was the war a response to a threatened social revolution or a response to the collapse of political and social structures? These questions may not have satisfactory answers but hopefully by a study of the political forces involved some conclusions to these questions can be reached.