Francisco Largo Caballero was a Spanish politician and trade unionist who served as the prime minister of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. He was one of the historic leaders of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and of the Workers' General Union (UGT). Although he entered politics as a moderate leftist, after the 1933 general election in which the conservative CEDA party won the majority, he took a more radical turn and began to advocate for a socialist revolution.
Manuel Azaña Díaz was a Spanish politician who served as Prime Minister of the Second Spanish Republic, organizer of the Popular Front in 1935 and the last President of the Republic (1936–1939). He was the most prominent leader of the Republican cause during the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939.
The Popular Front was an electoral alliance and pact formed in January 1936 to contest that year's general election by various left-wing political organizations during the Second Spanish Republic. The alliance was led by Manuel Azaña. In Catalonia and the modern-day Valencian Community, the coalition was known as the Front of the Lefts.
Diego Martínez Barrio was a Spanish politician during the Second Spanish Republic, Prime Minister of Spain between 9 October 1933 and 26 December 1933 and was briefly appointed again by Manuel Azaña on 19 July 1936 - two days after the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. From 16 March 1936 to 30 March 1939 Martínez was President of the Cortes. In 1936, he was briefly the interim President of the Second Spanish Republic, from 7 April to 10 May.
The Republican Union was a Spanish republican party founded in 1934 by Diego Martinez Barrio.
Santiago Casares y Quiroga was Prime Minister of Spain from 13 May to 19 July 1936. Casares Quiroga resigned just 48 hours after the beginning of the military insurrection that led to the Spanish Civil War.
José Giral y Pereira was a Spanish politician, who served as the 75th Prime Minister of Spain during the Second Spanish Republic.
Augusto Barcia y Trelles was a Spanish politician, several times member of the Congress of Deputies, who served as acting Prime Minister of Spain from 10 May 1936 to 13 May 1936 due to former PM Manuel Azaña being elected as President of the Republic. He was also a lawyer and a Freemason.
Republican Action was a Spanish left-liberal republican party between 1930 and 1934.
The Spanish Republic, commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic, was the form of democratic government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931 after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII. It was dissolved on 1 April 1939 after surrendering in the Spanish Civil War to the Nationalists led by General Francisco Franco.
The Government of the Spanish Republic in exile was a continuation, in exile, of the government of the Second Spanish Republic following the victory of Francisco Franco's forces in the Spanish Civil War. It existed until the restoration of parliamentary democracy in 1977.
The background of the Spanish Civil War dates back to the end of the 19th century, when the owners of large estates, called latifundios, held most of the power in a land-based oligarchy. The landowners' power was unsuccessfully challenged by the industrial and merchant sectors. In 1868 popular uprisings led to the overthrow of Queen Isabella II of the House of Bourbon. In 1873 Isabella's replacement, King Amadeo I of the House of Savoy, abdicated due to increasing political pressure, and the short-lived First Spanish Republic was proclaimed. After the restoration of the Bourbons in December 1874, Carlists and anarchists emerged in opposition to the monarchy. Alejandro Lerroux helped bring republicanism to the fore in Catalonia, where poverty was particularly acute. Growing resentment of conscription and of the military culminated in the Tragic Week in Barcelona in 1909. After the First World War, the working class, the industrial class, and the military united in hopes of removing the corrupt central government, but were unsuccessful. Fears of communism grew. A military coup brought Miguel Primo de Rivera to power in 1923, and he ran Spain as a military dictatorship. Support for his regime gradually faded, and he resigned in January 1930. There was little support for the monarchy in the major cities, and King Alfonso XIII abdicated; the Second Spanish Republic was formed, whose power would remain until the culmination of the Spanish Civil War. Monarchists would continue to oppose the Republic.
The Spanish coup of July 1936 was a military uprising that was intended to overthrow the Spanish Second Republic but precipitated the Spanish Civil War; Nationalists fought against Republicans for control of Spain. The coup was organized for 18 July 1936, although it started the previous day in Spanish Morocco. Instead of resulting in a prompt transfer of power, the coup split control of the Spanish military and territory roughly in half. The resulting civil war ultimately led to the establishment of a nationalist regime under Francisco Franco, who became ruler of Spain as caudillo.
The Provisional Government of the Second Spanish Republic was the government that held political power in Spain from the fall of Alfonso XIII of Spain on April 14, 1931 and the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic until the approval of the Spanish Constitution of 1931 on December 9 and the formation of the first regular government on December 15. The King's departure created the need for a provisional government, whose first president was Niceto Alcalá Zamora, who presided until 1936, when Manuel Azaña took over. The new constitution established freedom of speech, freedom of association, extended voting privileges to women, allowed divorce, and stripped the Spanish nobility of their special legal status.
Carlos Esplá Rizo was Spanish Left Republican politician and journalist. For several months during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) he was the first Spanish Minister of Propaganda.
Francisco José Barnés Salinas (1877–1947) was a Spanish professor and Left Republican politician. He was Minister of Public Instruction and the Arts during the Second Spanish Republic. After the Spanish Civil War (1936–39) he went into exile in Mexico, where he died.
Joan Lluhí i Vallescà was a Spanish lawyer and politician. He was a member of the Republican Left in Catalonia, and served in the Second Spanish Republic as Minister of Labor, Health and Social Assurance.
The Ministry of Communications was a department of the Government of Spain active during the Second Republic and the Civil War. Originally, this ministry had powers on the postal service, telegraphs, telephone and radiocommunications. During the first years of the republic its powers gradually saw growth, assuming competences on aeronautics, navigation and air transport. Subsequently, in closer times to the civil war, the department assumed powers over the merchant marine and other transports.
The Republican Alliance was a Spanish political platform that brought together several republican parties and groups during the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. The alliance was formed on 11 February 1926, and consisted of four political groups ranging in various types of republicanism:
The Government-in-exile of José Giral—also known by its supporters as el gobierno de la esperanza— was an executive branch created on 21 August 1945 by the institutions of the Second Spanish Republic in exile and headed by José Giral, the former prime minister during the first months of the Civil War. It tried to put up a united front before the United Nations and the international community with the aim of isolating General Francisco Franco's regime, as well as obtaining international recognition as the only legitimate government of Spain in order to reestablish the Republic.
