Spanish civil war starts a little differently

[rob in cal]

In some cases it was pretty arbitrary who won control of different regions of Spain at the start of the civil war. I believe Saragossa was considered an Anarchist stronghold, but was taken right away by Franco's forces. Also, in Sevilla General Quiepo de Llano bluffed his way into taking the city, parading the same troops around town to create the impression that he had many more troops than he really had in those critical first days.
If he doesn't take Sevilla, how does this impact the rest of the war in the south, and the future transport of the army of Africa to the mainland? I'm wondering what areas that the Republic held onto were close run things? IIRC the Nationalists were hopeful about taking Valencia. In terms of Madrid if they were better organized they might have taken more than the one garrison, but I wonder about the chances of total victory there.

 

[David T]

Hugh Thomas thinks the war could have ended in a victory for one side or the other in a matter of days: "Nearly everywhere, the civil governors followed the example of the government in Madrid, and refused to cooperate with the working-class organizations who were clamouring for arms. In many cases, this signed the death warrants of the civil governors themselves, along with local working-class leaders. Had the rebels risen in all the provinces in Spain on 18 July, they might have been everywhere triumphant by 22 July. But had the government distributed arms, and ordered the civil governors to do so too, thus using the working class to defend the republic at the earliest opportunity, the rising might have been crushed."
https://books.google.com/books?id=4a5RAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA209