The story of Franco’s rise to power and the painful, repressive regime he oversaw is fundamentally interlinked with that of the Spanish Civil War. A brutal three-year conflict that laid bare the ideological divisions of interwar Europe, it drew support from fascist governments across the continent. But it also inspired socialists from around the world to fight for the democratic, republican government, and to oppose the rising tide of fascism wherever and however they could. 

What caused Spain's military to turn against the country's civilian government in 1936? Why did a national civil war attract such international attention? And what ramifications does the conflict still have in modern Spain?

This is a Short History Of the Spanish Civil War.

A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. With thanks to Peter Anderson, Professor of Twentieth-Century Spanish History at the University of Leeds.

Written by Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow | Produced by Kate Simants | Production Assistant: Chris McDonald | Exec produced by Katrina Hughes | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Oliver Sanders | Assembly edit by Anisha Deva | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Cody Reynolds-Shaw | Fact Check: Sean Coleman

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