{"id":32528,"date":"2024-07-21T10:22:06","date_gmt":"2024-07-21T15:22:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/?p=32528"},"modified":"2024-07-21T10:31:13","modified_gmt":"2024-07-21T15:31:13","slug":"the-spanish-civil-war-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/?p=32528","title":{"rendered":"The Spanish Civil War (part II)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

[ed. note: The Spanish Civil War is an incredibly complex historical event, and a worthy subject for scholarly research. Our goal here is highlight the similarities between the events leading up to the war, the war itself, and the ensuing dictatorship, then reflect on the current political situation in America. We are not scholars, but promise to portray as accurately as possible our findings.]<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among other sources, we relied on George Levrier-Jones’ concise history: Spanish Civil War – History of a Battle for Europe\u2019s Soul \u2013 Spain\u2019s Great War<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Little Background<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Second Republic began in 1931 following a lot of turmoil and goofy power-sharing schemes. There was an ebb and flow of coalitions, but the reformist Republicans took power and instituted many new laws, but deep divisions in the country prevented actual implementation. There were many extreme factions on both sides. The Republicans had centrists, but also communists, socialists, and anarchists, with different agendas and timetables. This greatly weakened the coalition government, and opened the door to the parasitic Nationalist opportunists to stage a coup attempt and civil war in 1936.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the classic battle: One side wanted to preserve the traditional way of doing things (the Nationalists), the other side wanted reform (the Republicans).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The “traditional way”<\/strong> meant protecting the wealth, land, and privilege of the powerful, allowing the Catholic Church to control the public education system, a return to a monarchy, and weakened unions.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The side advocating for reform wanted secular schools, labor reform, suffrage for women, a democracy (rather than a monarchy), social progress, and a restrained military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Let’s look at the Catholic Church’s influence in public education and the parallels between these two situations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n