The July 1936 military uprising in Barcelona, also known as the Battle of Barcelona, was a mutiny that occurred in Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, from 19 to 20 July 1936. The uprising was carried out by the Nationalist faction of the Spanish Army, which was defeated by a popular resistance led by anarchist militias and Republican loyalists.
The Spanish coup of July 1936 took place in reaction to the election of the left-wing Popular Front, which was opposed by far-right military officers and politicians. In Catalonia, forces loyal to the Spanish Republic were coordinated by the Catalan government, although its forces were outnumbered by the rebellious military. Most of the resistance to the coup came from the anarchist movement, organised by the trade unions of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) and the affinity groups of the Iberian Anarchist Federation (FAI). In the days leading up to the coup, the anarchists sought to arm themselves, but their requests for weapons were repeatedly rejected by the Catalan government.
On the morning of 19 July 1936, detachments of the Spanish Army in Barcelona left their barracks and marched into the city centre. There they were confronted by anarchist militias and Assault Guards, who had constructed barricades and aimed to isolate the military detachments from each other. Clashes took place throughout the city, with the tide turning against the military following their defeats at the Pla de Palau and Avinguda del Paral·lel. By the time the Nationalist commander Manuel Goded arrived in Barcelona, the rebels were already facing defeat. The intervention of the Civil Guard on the side of the Republic resulted in the defeat of most of the Nationalist detachments, with Goded surrendering later that afternoon. Fighting continued into the following day, when the Drassanes barracks were finally taken by the anarchist militias, bringing an end to the uprising.
The defeat of the uprising in Catalonia culminated in the Spanish Revolution of 1936, during which anarchists brought much of the region's agricultural land and industrial economy under collective ownership. The Catalan government effectively lost its monopoly on violence, with power being concentrated in the hands of the anarchist militias. Despite this change, the anarchists refused to seize power from the Catalan government, instead preferring to uphold a united front against the rise of fascism. They led the formation of the Central Committee of Antifascist Militias of Catalonia (CCMA), a coalition of anti-fascist forces which oversaw the establishment of militia columns to fight in the Spanish Civil War.
Background
Civil conflict in Spain
During the early 19th century, Spain was politically divided and facing constant civil conflict: the Carlists opposed all modernisation and wanted to return Spain to a traditionalist order; the liberals supported the introduction of a centralised government and capitalism in Spain; and republicans advocated for the creation of a new federalist society based on the precepts of utopian socialism. Following the Glorious Revolution of 1868, Spain had its first experiments with democracy, culminating in the establishment of the First Spanish Republic. By this time, the International Workingmen's Association had gained influence in the country, introducing the new political philosophy of anarchism to Catalonia and Andalusia. As the rise of the republican and socialist movements threatened the hegemony of Spain's ruling classes, the new bourgeoisie and the old aristocracy put aside their differences and restored the monarchy. The ruling order of the new regime coalesced around the Liberal and Conservative parties, which shared power in a two-party system during the late 19th and early 20th century.
The collapse of the Spanish Empire in 1898 gave way to a rise in reformist sentiments known as Regenerationism. In Catalonia, the bourgeoisie began to turn towards Catalan nationalism, while the working classes carried out a series of strike actions that culminated in the 1917 Spanish general strike. Rising political tensions resulted in the rise of pistolerismo, when the Catalan bourgeoisie hired mercenaries to repress the labour movement, and later in the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. In 1931, the monarchy collapsed and was replaced with the Second Spanish Republic. Republicans and socialists, led by Manuel Azaña, took control of the government and passed a series of reforms during their time in power. The government faced opposition from both sides, with conservatives attempting a coup in 1932, while trade unions became increasingly revolutionary in orientation. Social conflict in Spain thus crystalised into a three-way dispute between republican reformists, revolutionary socialists and reactionaries.
Following the 1933 Spanish general election, the right-wing CEDA party took power, prompting fears that they would establish a fascist dictatorship. In an attempt to prevent this from happening, left-wing forces carried out the Revolution of 1934. In Catalonia, the regional President Lluís Companys proclaimed the establishment of a Catalan State; in some parts of the region, the largely political revolution took on aspects of a social revolution. In rural areas, class conflict erupted between workers and tenant farmers on one side and landlords and clergy on the other. The Spanish right-wing came to believe that the revolution justified a military coup. The political repression that followed the 1934 Revolution set the country on a path towards civil war. In Catalonia, 3,400 people were arrested, including the entire Catalan government. The region was placed under martial law, the Statute of Autonomy was suspended and local officials were replaced with right-wing figures such as Joan Pich i Pon. Catalan landlords also evicted thousands of tenant farmers and sharecroppers, driving up working-class resentment in rural areas.
1936 election and coup
The rise of the right-wing in Spain coincided with the rise of fascism and the decline of democracy throughout Europe, with the establishment of Nazi Germany and the Federal State of Austria increasing international tensions. In response, the 7th World Congress of the Communist International adopted the strategy of the popular front, which advocated for electoral alliances between all progressive parties and abandoned the goal of social revolution. This strategy solidified the division of the Spanish left into reformist and revolutionary factions, with the former advocating for a popular front, while the latter believed that revolution was the only way the workers could stop fascism. In late 1935, a series of corruption scandals brought down the government of Alejandro Lerroux, prompting President Niceto Alcalá Zamora to dissolve the Congress of Deputies and call the 1936 Spanish general election.
To contest the election, the Spanish left formed the Popular Front, a broad alliance of all left-wing parties, from centre-left republicans to far-left syndicalists. The goal of the Popular Front was a return to the reformism of the early 1930s, amnesty for all political prisoners detained during the 1934 Revolution, and a return to the normalcy of liberal democracy. Meanwhile, the electoral campaign of the Spanish right was characterised by anti-communism, religious conservatism and anti-Catalan sentiment. In Catalonia, the Popular Front called for the release of the imprisoned Catalan government and the restoration of Catalan autonomy. There was broad consensus that the results of the 1936 election would determine the future of the Spanish Republic. Even the anarchists participated in the election, in a reversal of their abstention during previous elections, leading to record high voter turnout. The election was narrowly won by the Popular Front, with 4.6 million votes to the 4.5 million votes won by the right-wing. In Catalonia, the Popular Front gained 58.9% of the vote, winning a majority in all Catalan provinces, and getting as high as 62.66% in the regional capital of Barcelona.
The election immediately laid the foundations for civil war, with Francisco Franco, José María Gil-Robles and José Calvo Sotelo all calling for the results to be annulled. After Prime Minister Manuel Portela Valladares pledged to accept the results of the election, the right-wing Spanish Military Union (UME) began making plans for a coup d'état. On 19 February 1936, Manuel Azaña formed a new government of left-wing republican parties. As prime minister, he issued an amnesty to all political prisoners of the 1934 Revolution, reinstated blacklisted workers and pursued land reform. Catalan president Companys was released from prison and returned to the Generalitat de Catalunya. The election was soon followed by an increase in social tensions, with strike actions and violent attacks becoming more frequent. According to Gil-Robles, over the subsequent months, "160 churches were burned, 269 assassinations perpetrated, 10 newspaper offices destroyed and 146 bombs exploded." In Catalonia, the political climate was relatively peaceful; the only violent attack of note was the assassination of police chief Miquel Badia by anarchists, in revenge for political repression of the anarchist movement by the Catalan government. Meanwhile, the right-wing Regionalist League of Catalonia sought rapprochement with the left-wing Companys government, resulting in the acceptance of centrists into the Catalan government. Primary sources even described how people from Madrid sought refuge in Barcelona, due to the state of calm in the Catalan capital. But the social peace did not last, as strike actions became more frequent in the cities, culminating in a general strike by dockworkers in the port of Barcelona. Workers increasingly grew to believe that the reformist government would not be able to stop the rise of fascism, and that a social revolution would be required.
In May 1936, Azaña was elected as President of the Spanish Republic, replacing the conservative Niceto Alcalá Zamora. Azaña appointed Santiago Casares Quiroga as prime minister, but within two months, the new government had lost control of the state. Right-wing military officers, led by General Emilio Mola, conspired to overthrow the Spanish Republic. In preparation for an imminent military coup, loyalist soldiers of the Spanish Republican Army made themselves available to trade unions and left-wing political parties. After the execution of the right-wing politician José Calvo Sotelo by Assault Guards, a police corps that was loyal to the republic, military leaders accelerated their plans for a coup, openly declaring their intent to avenge Sotelo at his funeral. On 17 July, General Francisco Franco led a military uprising in Spanish Morocco, igniting the Spanish Civil War. The following day, Gonzalo Queipo de Llano led the military uprising in Seville, taking control of the city. Western Andalusia, the Canary Islands and Morocco all fell under rebel control. While rebel soldiers also captured Zaragoza and Valladolid, the government of Casares Quiroga remained completely inert. On 19 July, Casares Quiroga resigned as prime minister. His replacement, Diego Martínez Barrio, attempted to meet with Mola and request the coup be halted, but the government was not able to resolve the crisis.
Military preparations
Rebels
Luis López Varela, the head of the Catalan branch of the Spanish Military Union (UME), had begun making preparations for the coup since February 1936. The UME established cells in every barracks in Catalonia, bringing many officers onto the side of the coup. But many other officers remained loyal to the Republic, including the Captain General of Catalonia, Francisco Llano de la Encomienda. He supported the Republican Union and had told his subordinates that, in a conflict between communism and fascism, he would side with the former over the latter. The UME was forced to look elsewhere for a commanding officer. Emilio Mola appointed General Manuel Goded as the commander of the uprising in Catalonia. After securing control of Mallorca, Goded was to make his way from his base in the Balearic Islands to the mainland. During this interim, General Álvaro Fernández Burriel would take provisional command of the uprising. Despite being surrounded by conspirators, Llano de la Encomienda refused to declare a state of emergency when it was requested by Burriel. At the Barcelona Military Government building, local military leaders received orders from Ramón Mola, the representative of the military conspiracy in Catalonia.
The rebels were able to rely on other officers of the UME, who were driven by right-wing and anti-Catalan sentiments, to mobilise their troops for the coup. At the time of the coup, the Spanish Army in Barcelona counted between 6,000 and 12,000 soldiers. Of these, Vicenç Guarner estimated that 5,000 "disciplined but poorly led men" would join the uprising, taking with them 24 artillery cannons, 48 machine guns and 20 mortars. The rebel military units that would participate in the coup consisted of: