Editing History of Spain (section)

===Military operations===
[[File:Women at the Siege of the Alcázar in Toledo - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Two women and a man during the siege of the Alcázar]]
The Nationalists under Franco won the war, and historians continue to debate the reasons. The Nationalists were much better unified and led than the Republicans, who squabbled and fought amongst themselves endlessly and had no clear military strategy. The Army went over to the Nationalists, but it was very poorly equipped – there were no tanks or modern airplanes.  The small navy supported the Republicans, but their armies were made up of raw recruits and they lacked both equipment and skilled officers and sergeants.  Nationalist senior officers were much better trained and more familiar with modern tactics than the Republicans.<ref>{{Citation|last=Alpert|first=Michael|title=The Clash of Spanish Armies: Contrasting Ways of War in Spain, 1936–1939|date=2017-05-15|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315234335-14|work=Warfare in Europe 1919—1938|pages=341–362|publisher=Routledge|doi=10.4324/9781315234335-14|isbn=9781315234335|access-date=2022-08-17}}</ref>

On 17 July 1936, General [[Francisco Franco]] brought the colonial army from Morocco to the mainland, while another force from the north under General Mola moved south from [[Navarre]]. Another conspirator, General Sanjurjo, was killed in a plane crash while being brought to join the military leaders.  Military units were also mobilised elsewhere to take over government institutions. Franco intended to seize power immediately, but successful resistance by Republicans in the key centers of Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, the Basque country, and other points meant that Spain faced a prolonged civil war. By 1937 much of the south and west was under the control of the Nationalists, whose [[Spanish Army of Africa|Army of Africa]] was the most professional force available to either side. Both sides received foreign military aid: the Nationalists from Nazi Germany and Italy, while the Republicans were supported by organised far-left volunteers from the Soviet Union.

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H25224, Guernica, Ruinen.jpg|thumb|right|Ruins of [[Guernica (town)|Guernica]]]]
The [[Siege of the Alcázar]] at [[Toledo (Spain)|Toledo]] early in the war was a turning point, with the Nationalists successfully resisting after a long siege. The Republicans managed to [[Siege of Madrid|hold out in Madrid]], despite a Nationalist assault in November 1936, and frustrated subsequent offensives against the capital at [[battle of Jarama|Jarama]] and [[battle of Guadalajara|Guadalajara]] in 1937. Soon, though, the Nationalists began to erode their territory, starving Madrid and making inroads into the east. The North, including the [[Basque Country (autonomous community)|Basque country]] fell in late 1937 and the Aragon front collapsed shortly afterwards. The [[bombing of Guernica]] on the afternoon of 26 April 1937 – a mission used as a testing ground for the German [[Luftwaffe]]'s [[Condor Legion]] – was probably the most infamous event of the war and inspired [[Guernica (painting)|Picasso's painting]]. The [[Battle of the Ebro]] in July–November 1938 was the final desperate attempt by the Republicans to turn the tide. When this failed and [[Barcelona]] fell to the Nationalists in early 1939, it was clear the war was over. The remaining Republican fronts collapsed, as civil war broke out inside the Left, as the Republicans suppressed the Communists. Madrid fell in March 1939.<ref name=ppscw>{{Cite book|last=Preston|first=Paul|url=http://worldcat.org/ocltrc/1017857283|title=The Spanish Civil War : reaction, revolution and revenge|year=2006|isbn=978-0-00-723207-9|oclc=1017857283|pages=266–300|publisher=Harper Perennial}}{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

The war cost between 300,000 and 1,000,000 lives. It ended with the total collapse of the Republic and the accession of Francisco Franco as dictator. Franco amalgamated all right wing parties into a reconstituted fascist party [[FET y de las JONS|Falange]] and banned the left-wing and Republican parties and trade unions.  The Church was more powerful than it had been in centuries.<ref name=ppscw/>{{rp|301–318}}

The conduct of the war was brutal on both sides, with widespread massacres of civilians and prisoners. After the war, many thousands of Republicans were imprisoned and up to 150,000 were executed between 1939 and 1943.  Some 500,000 refugees escaped to France; they remained in exile for years or decades.