by Adam White

Created on: June 03, 2007

In July 1936 Spain was plunged into a civil war which was the result of several long term factors and tensions exacerbated by short term factors and events occurring in the 1920s and 1930s. For many years there had been protracted ideological struggles between centralism and regionalism and also between authoritarianism and libertarianism, both which partly brought the civil war to fruition. In order to successfully and fully account for the outbreak of civil war in Spain, it is necessary to examine the long term economic, social and political factors that caused the war. The short term events that culminated in civil war were further intensified by the long-standing struggles these events too will also be assessed in relation to the importance of the long term factors to determine their significance in causing the Spanish civil war.

At the turn of the twentieth century Spain was characterised by economic, social and political conflict, as it had been for previous centuries. Spain was late developing economically, and at the period was still predominantly agricultural in nature. A semi-feudal system was still in operation on the land industrialisation had only begun in the middle of the nineteenth century and so large amounts of power still lay with the landowners. Due to the nature of Spain's mainly agricultural, semi-feudal economy, there was extreme wealth and extreme poverty, with the vast majority of people poor with a very low standard of living. Whilst the standard of living had increased perhaps 25% since 1900 by the 1920s, it was nonetheless a poor rate compared to Northern Europe and the US. By the 1930s Spain's economy was still in an early developmental stage, especially in relation to the northern European nations and the US with which it lagged behind considerably. Industry was however on the growth in some areas, namely the Basque, Asturias and Catalonia regions Barcelona in particular was a large industrial hub, largely as a result of textile and shipping growth. Spain was essentially somewhat backward economically, still in an early process of development.

Spain's social structure must also be examined in order to understand the context in which the Spanish civil war occurred. For centuries the centre of Spain's social structure lay with the Catholic Church and the army. Both were incredibly influential and had been an integral part of Spain's social life for centuries. The Church in particular was a pillar of society since Spain was a very

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