Chapter 826 Spanish Civil War

Because of the wedding of Prince Juan and Princess Anna, the Spanish royal family in exile has become one of the protagonists of European public attention in a short period of time.

But at the same time, the situation in Spain is not good. The game between the left and the right has made the political situation in Spain very chaotic.

Both sides have made decisions for the sake of opposition, so that Spain's industry and economy have not only not gained any growth since the demise of the country, but have also fallen into extremely embarrassing and terrible negative growth.

For the nobles and large estate owners in Spain, such a chaotic situation does not have much impact.

After all, most of Spain's land and resources are controlled by these classes, and the turmoil of the government does not matter to them.

But for ordinary Spanish people, the turmoil of government order has seriously affected their quality of life.

Although Spain has emerged from the shadow of the economic crisis, this does not mean that Spain's economy has ushered in a recovery after the economic crisis.

On the contrary, after the end of the economic crisis, the economic order in Spain has become more chaotic.

Especially after the demise of the country, any policy formulated by any government will soon be completely rejected after the next government takes office.

What's terrible is that since the revolution broke out in 1931 and the establishment of the Second Spanish Republic, Spain has experienced 28 governments in about three years, and the average term of each government is only about one month.

This is a very exaggerated data, which can also show how chaotic Spain is at this time.

Officials know that their term of office is not long, so it is naturally impossible to customize some national development policies with great effort.

In any government, they focus on internal consumption and struggle, which also exacerbates the contradictions within Spain.

Up to now, the contradictions between various classes in Spain have become very sharp, even to the point where they are fundamentally irreconcilable.

The first is the contradiction between the new Spanish Republic and the old landlords and aristocrats.

The history of the Kingdom of Spain is too long, which has led to the birth of a large number of large landowners and aristocrats in Spain.

Even if the kingdom collapses, these large landowners and classes are not so easy to be eliminated.

Landlords and nobles occupy the majority of the Spanish military and government, which is also one of the reasons for the frequent changes of Spanish regimes.

Another very terrible point is the contradiction between the Spanish Republic and the Catholic Church.

According to the Spanish Constitution, the political power and the religious power are separated, and the two should not interfere with each other.

However, when the Second Spanish Republic was established, it tried to form an anti-Catholic government and strongly interfered with the Catholic Church.

Such behavior caused dissatisfaction among the Spanish Catholic Church and intensified the contradiction between the government and the Catholic Church.

In the end, the Spanish government even began to allow anti-Catholic radicals to attack monasteries and believers.

As a countermeasure, the Spanish Catholic Church also began to spread anti-republican government ideas to believers.

For most ordinary people, the welfare system for workers and the people has not been effectively implemented, and most Spanish capitalists do not fulfill the eight-hour work system.

The result of this is that the quality of life of the Spanish people has been greatly reduced, and the people are very dissatisfied with the government and the current situation, which makes the flames in Spain burn more vigorously.

Spain is by no means stable. In the second year after the fall of the kingdom, in August 1932, Jose Sanjujo, who was a soldier, launched a coup, but failed and was arrested and imprisoned.

However, Jose Sanjujo's coup pointed out a clear way for those who have never been able to reach the center of power in Spain.

Since it is impossible to achieve your goal in a peaceful way, it is better to declare war on your political enemies.

At this time, in addition to internal conflicts and disputes, Spain also had a lot of external intervention.

First of all, in order to find allies, the two major military groups in Europe have set their sights on Spain, which is geographically important.

Secondly, because of Gibraltar, the British also attach great importance to Spain and will not allow Spain to fall into the hands of their enemies.

In addition, the marriage between the Spanish royal family and the Australasian royal family has expanded the influence of Australasia to Spain.

This also means that a small Spain has gathered six major powers including Germany, Italy, France, the Austrian Empire, the British Empire and the Australasian Empire.

With the intervention of these six powers, it is impossible for Spain not to have a civil war.

As expected, in September 1934, a large-scale riot broke out in Spain, which eventually evolved into a major civil war throughout Spain.

The cause of the civil war also has to mention the election held in Spain last year. The right-wing Radical Republican Party won, and Alessandro Lelus became president.

After the right-wing party regained power in the government, it completely canceled all the reforms enacted by the previous government, abolished the Spanish Constitution and the Autonomous Region Law, and released many right-wing and royalist members.

But this immediately caused dissatisfaction among the left-wing parties and promoted the second election of the Spanish government.

The second election completely changed the situation of the first election. The left-wing party returned to the dominant position in Spain and began to suppress the right-wing party with armed force.

You know, right-wing parties include nationalism, fxsism and royalism.

These people all have a common characteristic, that is, they hold high positions in the military and have a certain say.

After the Spanish left-wing forces began an armed suppression of the right-wing forces, they caused riots throughout Spain.

The result was assassinations between the left and the right, with both sides sending more and more personnel, and eventually it turned into a military turmoil.

This military unrest began in the Spanish colony of Morocco and quickly spread to the Spanish mainland.

On September 17, 1934, after careful preparations, military generals such as Francisco Franco and Emilio Mora launched an armed rebellion and quickly headed north to reach the Spanish mainland through the Strait of Gibraltar.

Because of careful preparation, the rebels quickly occupied Spanish Morocco, the Canary Islands, the Paris Islands and the northern and southwestern provinces of mainland Spain before the government could react.

By the time the Spanish government forces reacted, the rebels had already announced the establishment of a National Defense Executive Committee in Burgos and led a mighty army to Madrid.

As the leader of this rebel army, Franco launched the slogan of "attack Madrid from the north and the south and restore Spain gloriously", and united with other rebels to advance towards Madrid, the capital of Spain.

On the other side, a large number of reluctant Spanish people were forced to take up arms to defend their homeland.

But it has to be admitted that some Spaniards still have deep feelings for their country.

Even though the Spanish Republic was the most chaotic era of the 20th century, it still could not stop their recognition and love for Spain.

In just one week, more than 350,000 Spaniards signed up to join the militia, the so-called Spanish Popular Guard.

Thanks to the efforts of these 350,000 people and government troops, rebellions in large and medium-sized cities such as Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Valencia, Cartagena, Malaga and Bilbao were quickly quelled.

Although the situation is still in a confrontational situation, the government forces control all Spain's industrial and political centers, as well as important port transportation lines and agricultural production.

On the other hand, the rebels control all economically backward provinces such as Andalusia in the south and Galicia, Navarre, and Old Castile in the north.

This also led to a certain gap in strength between the rebels and the Spanish government. Without any external intervention, the final outcome of this rebellion would still be failure.

But Spain, which was already divided by many great powers before the civil war, how could it not have the intervention of the great powers after the civil war?

In fact, as early as when the Spanish civil war reached a stalemate and was even about to enter a full-scale war, both the Spanish Republican government and the rebels thought of another solution, which was to find support from external powers.

It is obvious that the government of the Spanish Republic is favored by the French government, and the national extremist rebels are favored by the German government.

"Your Excellency the President, Your Excellency the Prime Minister." The French Foreign Minister said solemnly: "Before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, the Spanish Falang Party had contact with Italy and Germany.

If it were not for the support of these two countries, I am afraid that the Spanish Civil War would not have happened so quickly.

We have reason to suspect that if the Spanish rebel offensive is suspended or even at a disadvantage, Germany and Italy will take even more crazy actions, such as sending volunteers to the Iberian Peninsula.

This is a heavy blow to the order of the Iberian Peninsula, the order of Spain and the stability of Europe. It will also seriously affect our layout in Spain. "

At this time, the French government adopted a dual-heads-of-heads system, with the positions of president and prime minister at the same time.

The French president is elected by the French people, and the prime minister is elected by the French Congress, representing two different forces.

In terms of the division of power, the French president is responsible for external affairs and the French prime minister is domestic, and the nominal power of the president is greater than that of the prime minister.

But it cannot be denied that the dual-heads-of-heads system is not so good for the current France. Conflicts between the French president and prime minister also happen from time to time.

"Is there any definite news about Germany and Italy sending troops?" French President Albert Le Brun asked.

"No, Mr. President. The news we have confirmed so far is that the Italians transported a batch of military weapons to Spain." The French Foreign Minister shook his head and gave a negative answer.

“Since neither Germany nor Italy has sent troops, then naturally we will not send troops to support Spain.

As for the sale of weapons to the Spanish government, that is the government's responsibility. French President Albert Le Brun said with a smile.

French President Albert Le Brun was the last president of the Third French Republic. During his tenure, the French Third Republic was successfully destroyed, and even set a record for being defeated by the Germans the fastest.

Such an official who gradually became the president from an engineer did not come from the military like French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier. This also caused President Albert Lebrun to be weak in his opinions and try to solve the problem in a more peaceful way. all the problems facing France.

But the problem is that the only problem France faces is war. Resolving the war in a peaceful way is nonsense for the war itself.

As expected, after hearing the decision of President Albert Lebrun, the radical French Prime Minister Edouard Daladier could not sit still and stood up and said: "Mr. President, we cannot ignore the threat of radical Spain to France.

If we wait until Germany and Italy officially send troops to Spain before we act, it will be too late.

Once Germany, Italy and Spain form an alliance, France will no longer be able to resist them in the Mediterranean, and our southern coast will be threatened by Italy and Spain.

At the same time, Spain, as our land neighbor to the south, is very likely to pose a threat to our southern provinces.

If we cannot support the Spanish Republic, the demise of the Spanish Republic is likely to happen again in France."

Hearing the rebuttal of Prime Minister Edouard Daladier, Albert President Lebrun was a little embarrassed and directly retorted: "Even the radical Germany and Italy did not send troops openly, so what reason do we have to send troops to interfere in the war in Spain?

What's more, there is the barrier of the Pyrenees Mountains between us and Spain. No matter what Spain becomes, their army cannot threaten us.

Besides, there are British in the Spanish region, and the British will never let Germany and Italy control Spain.

We just need to wait quietly, waiting for the British in Gibraltar and Spanish radicals, or even the German and Italian volunteers you mentioned, to clash. That's what we want to see most."

Compared with French Prime Minister Edouard Daladier who directly wanted to interfere in the Spanish Civil War, President Albert Lebrun was more inclined to neutrality.

It happened that the presidential power had not been weakened at this time, and the president had absolute repressive power over the prime minister.

Seeing that he could not persuade President Albert Lebrun, Prime Minister Edouard Daladier could only sigh helplessly and cancel all the persuasion plans he had prepared.

Prime Minister Edward Daladier has already seen clearly that he can't persuade President Albert Lebrun by himself.

However, this does not mean that Prime Minister Edward has no countermeasures. Since he knows that he can't persuade President Albert, Prime Minister Edward asked his men to spread the news that President Albert decided to remain neutral, trying to make himself lose his presence in this incident.

In the eyes of Prime Minister Edward, if France gives up this opportunity, it will make the situation in France worse in the future.

If the future war is lost, the person who makes the decision now will be nailed to the pillar of shame of the French Republic.

For Prime Minister Edward now, how to avoid taking responsibility has become the most important issue.

On the other hand, President Albert saw Prime Minister Edward's actions, but he didn't think much of it.

In the eyes of President Albert, even if Spain becomes an ally of Germany and Italy, it does not mean that France and the Austrian Empire will lose in this confrontation.

Let's not talk about how much strength Spain can still exert after the civil war. Even if Spain is in full health, it is just a medium-sized European country with weak industry and economy.

What's more, if Germany and Italy want to help the already disadvantaged Spanish rebels win this civil war, they must pay a lot of manpower, financial resources and material resources.

This is also a weakening of the strength of Germany and Italy. After all, if these troops and weapons and equipment are all used in the Spanish Civil War, doesn't it mean that in the possible war in the future, Germany and Italy will have fewer weapons and equipment?

As for the casualties caused to the German and Italian armies, that is better news.

After all, the armies at this time are all trained elite troops, not cannon fodder troops that were hastily summoned by various countries after the outbreak of the war and were not even trained.

Moreover, President Albert does not think that there will be a war between Germany and France in the short term. At least during his term of office, France is stronger than Germany, and the Germans should not have the courage to start this war.

Today's update is 4,600 words.