Hello everyone.
I'm still relatively new to the forum, and I've finally gotten around to posting my first thread.
Before I begin, I have to give credit to the people who have inspired me to join ah.com. I've been a longtime lurker, but joined relatively recently. People like Beedok, B. Munro, Hrvatskiwi, and others have pretty much ignited my interest for alternate history. I just wanted to thank all of you guys for your awesome work.
So, like I said, this is my very first timeline, so please excuse any major errors in my posts; I'm sure that there are more than a few. I intend for this to be my flagship timeline, so it will be receiving most of my time outside of college. No clue about an update schedule, but I'll try to post whenever I can. The format is supposed to be in the manner of a history textbook, although it's not exactly perfect in that regard. Anyways, without further ado, I present to you Stars, Sickles, and Tricolors.
The Flames Advance: The Spanish Civil War
August 1st, 1936- Francisco Franco winced as the Ju-52 transport entered another bout of turbulence. His was one of several transports en route to the Nationalist-held city of Seville from Morocco, transporting some of his army to the mainland for the revolution. "No," he corrected himself mentally," the Republicans would stage a revolution; he was staging the liberation of his homeland from the Red menace!"
Suddenly, one of the pilots began shouting in alarm. "Enemy aircraft approaching from the northeast!" Franco glanced out the window, spotting a silvery metallic glint from several approaching planes. They could only be enemy fighters. As one plane flashed by, another passenger, a defector from the Air Force, named the threat. "Nieuports!"
As his transport began to dive to gain airspeed, Franco caught a glimpse of another Ju-52 falling in flames. Then his plane staggered, and the pilots began cursing, mirroring Franco's own string of obscenities. Franco glanced out of his window again. The right engine was in flames, and part of the wing was gone. His world tilted crazily as the plane suddenly spiraled to the left, and he was thrown against the window with a violent blow. Momentarily stunned, General Francisco Franco opened his eyes to glimpse the Spanish countryside rushing up towards him, before he and the rest of his flight of transports entered into oblivion.
The Spanish Civil War was one of several warnings the world received about the coming cataclysm, one that was looked at but ignored by the major powers. Britain and France, who both provided some aid to the Spanish Republic, sat on the sidelines for the entirety of the conflict. Meanwhile, Italy and Germany both provided the Nationalists with aid and volunteers. It was a foreshadowing of things to come.
The opening stages of the conflict, ignited by a military coup in Spanish Morocco, went quite well for the Nationalists. The Canaries, the Balearics, and Seville were all quickly secured, while the primarily conservative areas of Old Castille and Leon rose up in support of the rebels. However, the first major blow to the Nationalist cause came in early August with the death of General Francisco Franco.
He was the most widely respected leader of the rebels, and his death while en route to take command in Seville was a serious blow to the leadership of the Nationalists. With his death, the choice of his successor became a contentious issue among the various groups of the Nationalist cause. The Falangists preferred General Juan Yague, while the Alfonsists supported Marshal Jose Sanjurjo. This split led to severe mistrust among the Nationalists, and cost them the critical initiative in the early days of the war.
In the end, a compromise was worked out: Sanjurjo would oversee the critical southern theater, while Yague would command the northern theater. This compromise was worked out due to the ongoing battle near Seville. Immediately after its conclusion, Sanjurjo took command and repulsed the Republican offensive. Up north, Nationalist forces managed to link up near Gijon before laying siege to the Republican bastion of Bilbao. Bilbao managed to hold out for two months, before the Republicans staged a breakout and retreated north to the town of Guernica. Meanwhile, the fighting going on in close proximity to their southern border deeply concerned the French. When a few stray artillery shells landed in the border village of Hendaye, the French government acted; it shifted its policy from verbal to physical support of the Republicans. The first shipments of Dewoitine D.500 and D.501 fighters began arriving in January of 1937. The British were not idle either; they began shipping arms and supplies to the Republic in March of 1937. The ranks of volunteers who began trickling in, not only from France and Britain but also the Soviet Union and United States gave the Republic fresh soldiers and new expertise to combat the uprisings.
The Nationalists were also recipients of foreign aid, although to a slightly lesser extent than the Republicans. Both German and Italian volunteers arrived soon after the outbreak of hostilities, the most famous of which were two aerial squadrons, the Condor Legion and the Aviazione Legionaria, from Germany and Italy respectively. Although these volunteers fought valiantly, by the end of 1937 it was clear that their cause was doomed.
While their initial thrust at Seville had been repulsed, the Republicans had managed to regroup and establish a line of defense stretching in an arc from Malaga to Cordoba and Barracota. In the north, naval support as well as a steady stream of foreign supplies kept the Republicans in control of the coast from Portagulete to San Sebastian. In April of 1937, the Republicans launched their first major offensive, aimed at retaking Bilbao. With new Soviet-made 'Rata' fighters, tearing through the surprised Nationalists, the Republicans smashed resistance outside of Guernica after a week of heavy fighting. Bilbao was then retaken with relatively light losses. In southern Castille, the Nationalists were agian routed near Segovia, pushed back further from Madrid. In the heat of June, the fighting picked up in intensity. The Republican army was nearly obliterated near Vitoria. However, the public execution of nearly 100 Basque civilians by the Nationalists turned the Basque against them, and the Nationalists were unable to seize the moment.
In the south, the war turned into a near-stalemate reminiscent of World War One, with neither side making much progress until late in the year. On October 31st, the Republicans pulled off a near-miraculous breakthrough along the Genil River, advancing halfway to Seville. Seville itself fell to the Republicans in late November. Disheartened, the Nationalists pulled back towards Cadiz, where they were holed up for the rest of the war.
After the success of the Winter Offensive, the Republicans prepared a final attack to end the Civil War. Beginning on March 5th, the Republicans used Soviet tanks to advance nearly 60 miles, moving their artillery within range of the provisional Nationalist capital of Burgos. After weeks of shelling, Burgos surrendered on May 17th. The surrender convinced many Nationalists to lay down their arms. By the end of the month, the fighting was officially over.
Internationally, the end of the Spanish Civil War received little attention, as the world was focused on the ongoing crisis over Sudetenland, and the Japanese advances in China. However, one nation which moved to take advantage was the Soviet Union. A significant leftist movement had been present in Spain before the civil war, and the polarization of the nation led to further leftist sympathies in the Republican government. Some of the more radical leftists, such as communists and socialists, called for the establishment of a Spanish Soviet Republic based upon the Russian example, a call eagerly supported by the Soviet Union.
However, instead of moving his nation into a full-blown communist regime, President Manuel Azana instead sought a compromise to solve the issues which had caused the Civil War. He managed to push through several economic reforms which were acceptable to both conservatives and liberals. Seen as a stab in the back to the Popular Front which had elected him, Azana's former backers split along ideological lines. The Communists, Socialists, Republicans, and several splinter groups all went their separate ways. In saving the Republic, President Azana had inadvertently guaranteed civil turmoil for years to come.