The Skin of Sepharad: a Spanish nightmare.

[Kurt_Steiner]

Background

The fall of the Bonaparte dynasty after the crushing defeat suffered at the War of the Three Emperors (1916-1919) gave birth a new world, with the Russian Empire emerging victorious but fatally weakened by the war effort and the former ally of France, Austria-Hungary, teetering on the verge of collapse and only kept it place by the fears of Nicholas II to the emerging power of the newly formed German Empire, which had completely eviscerated the pro-French kingdom of Poland. Furthermore, Berlin was also closely watched by the British Empire, which had remained neutral during the conflict.

As France plunged into chaos with the proclamation of the Republic and the constant threat of a Bolshevik revolution, Spain began again to find a way to proclaim its independence and to expel the French administrators and officials that remained in the country. Before the Armistice, Napoleon IV, anxious to secure Spain, had instructed Albert-Pierre Sarraut, Governor-General of Spain since May 1917, to find suitables candidates to form a "Spanish" cabinet which would cooperate with France and to declare Spain independent of France. However, this "independence" would rest on the government's willingness to co-operate with France and accept the French military presence. From March to August 1919 Spain underwent this mirage of "independence" which was constantly undermined by Paris. The French were determined to minimize internal change in Spain that would affect their military situation and, thus, the government that was formed with Augusto González Besada as its prime minister had no power at all, as all the Spanish affairs were still in the hands of the French.

Ironically, this was an opportunity for the Spanish nationalists. Temporarily freed from French repression, Spanish revolutionaries had much greater freedom of movement. In May 1914, Salvador Seguí had formed the Liga por la Independencia de España (LIE₂ - League for the Independence of Spain), during a clandestine meeting of the Spanish Communist Party at Huesca. In 1919, as the French were content to control the large cities as their forces in Spain were constantly reduced to reinforce critical sectors of the Western Front, the LIE took advantage of the situation and used their revolutionary cells to take control of the countryside and adopted a guerrilla warfare style as the nucleus of its revolutionary strategy while carrying out propaganda activities and organizational work all over the country to prepare for the anticipated popular insurrection.

However, the LIE was not the only ones that readied themselves for the as several political parties, groups, and associations were formed throughout Spain. In Castille, because of the weak status of the communist movement, the LIE had little weight in the preparation for the insurrection; in Madrid the LIE was under the control of Francisco Largo Caballero, who proved to be too radical even for his closest allies, Indalecio Prieto and Julián Besteiro. In the north, in Navarre, a monarchist organization called Comunión Tradicionalista (CT - Traditionalist Communion), who supported the rights to the Spanish throne of Don Carlos, Count of Molina (1788–1855), the second surviving son of Carlos IV of Spain and the younger brother of the deposed Ferdinand VII. In 1919 they supported Don Carlos' great-grandson, Jaime, Duke of Madrid, born in 1870. Ironically, Jaime also claimed the French throne as Jacques I and used the style Duke of Anjou; he had also joined the Russian Imperial Army, fighting in its ranks during the Boxer Uprising (from summer 1900 till spring 1901) and the Russo-Japanese War (starting the spring of 1904, until he retired from the army in 1909₃. Traditionalist leaders opened talks with the heads of other southern nationalist groups, including the Communists, to fight for an independent Spain.

On top of all that there was the 1918 influenza: between May 1918 and April 1919 the flu killed 200,000 Spaniards and greatly contributed to the crisis of authority in the country. The French did not take effective measures to fight the epidemic and González Besada's government could do nothing without French consent. The misery and anger caused by the flu led many to take a new interest in politics, especially among the younger generation, which the LIE turned to its advantage; they conducted raids on French military hospitals and the private clinics which were exclusive of the French high class and their Spanish collaborators, the so-called afrancesados. Thus the LIE not only increased their popular support and ridiculed González Besada's cabinet for its impotency, further enhancing the popular hatred against the French and the afrancesados even if it came with a price, as the French retaliated in kind against the population, which, in turn, increased the popular anger and the support to the LIE,

Eventually, Seguí, Largo Caballero, Prieto and Besteiro were able to reach an agreement upon a common plan of action with the so-called Zaragoza Pact.. It began with the UGT, an established socialist union in Madrid and Basque Country, organizing a revolutionary general strike in August 1919, which received the support of the CNT, a Comunist union₄ operating mainly in Catalonia. The manifesto that LIE, UGT and CNT prepared for the strike began:
​

Con el fin de cambiar a las clases dominantes a aquellos cambios fundamentales del sistema que garanticen al pueblo el mínimo de condiciones decorosas de vida y de desarrollo de sus actividades emancipadoras, se impone que el proletariado español emplee la huelga general, sin plazo definido de terminación, como el arma más poderosa que posee para reivindicar sus derechos.₅​

Negotiations began with the bourgeois parties, namely Alejandro Lerroux’s republicans, as the Conservative Party was considered to be too afrancesado and the Liberals too unreliable. They discussed the formation of a provisional government, with the moderate Melquiades Álvarez as president and the Socialist Pablo Iglesias as minister of labor.

Then, on August 3, 1919, Phillipe Petain unexpectedly arrived to Madrid.

Trains stuck in the railway station of the mining area of Riotinto
due to the sabotage carried out by the LIE guerrillas.​

₁ - IOTL Seguí was a Catalan anarcho-syndicalist. ITTL, Communism is stronger than IOTL.
₂ -Acronyms can be funny from time to time.
₃ -Sometimes real history is even stranger than any TL of this forum.
₄ -IOTL, CNT was an anarchist union, but ITTL it's changed into a Communist one for the sake of the history.
₅ -"With the goal of holding the ruling classes to those fundamental changes of the system that guarantee the public, at minimum, decent living conditions and the development of their self-emancipation, the proletariat of Spain must employ a general strike, with no specified end date, as the strongest weapon that it possesses in reclaiming its rights."

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

Armistice in Europe, Revolution in Spain.

Petain wasted little time to put his plans into action. In 1916, when the war began, the French Army had in Spain nine divisions, each division with one cavalry and three infantry brigades. The cavalry brigade had one French and two Spanish regiments while the infantry brigades consisted of one French and three Spanish battalions. Those divisions were weaker than the ones based in France, as the Spanish battalions were smaller than the French units and the Spanish divisions had less artillery than a French one. The beginning of the war led to the withdrawal of half of the French brigades and at least five hundred French officers that were part of the Spanish units. This led to a planned expansion of the Spanish army, which was to increase its size to sixteen divisions, including three of cavalry. However, by 1919 the army had not only not expanded, but also lost one of its divisions, which was disbanded to replace the French units sent to France. Furthermore, following the example of the French army in the war, the cavalry units had been cut in size and the artillery expanded as much as possible, but nowhere near the level of France. During the war, Spain had sent several Expeditionary Forces to support France. The first two of them went to Flanders and Alsace, but they were poorly equipped to resist the cold, leading to low morale. Thus, they were withdrawn from the trenches and redirected to the Mediterranean Front and to North Africa.

Then, in 1919, Petain was determined to use the Spanish army to bolster his own forces. The Army of the Commune was larger than Petain's and had managed to recapture the territory previously lost, pushing him back to Marseille and Toulouse. Thus, Petain decided to bolster his forces with Spanish reinforcements. He selected four divisions to be sent to France, the ones closest to the border to speed the process. Thus, on August 14, 1919, the local commanders in Barcelona, Zaragoza, Pamplona and Valencia were ordered to have their units ready for an immediate redeployment. As the troops formed in their parade grounds to march towards the docks and train stations, troubles started. In Valencia, on August 16, three hundred and fifty soldiers of the 8th Infantry Division refused to obey orders and even staged a demonstration against the mobilization. As the ringleaders were arrested, on the following day worse news arrived from Zaragoza, where 1,000 soldiers of the 5th Infantry Division had openly mutinied, but, a day later, they gave up and surrendered. However, that same day, two hundred and fifty soldiers refused first to obey orders and then marched to the city hall of Barcelona to demand the mutineers' release. As their demands remained unheard, they turned to the CNT trade union. Àngel Pestaña, the leader of the CNT, met with Antoni Fabra i Ribas, the leader of the PSOE in Catalonia, and proposed to launch a strike in Catalonia, Valencia and Aragón to support the mutineers.

The strike surprised even its organizers. In its very beginning, on August, 19, it paralyzed Barcelona and, from there, expanded quickly, first to Tarragona (August 20) and then the rest of Catalonia in the following days. However, it did not stop there and, by August 23, the striking wave reached Zaragoza and Valencia. Then, Pestaña's plans took on a life of their own. People's Revolutionary Committees' across the cities and the countryside took over administrative positions, often acting on their own initiative. On the morning of August 26, Seguí and his men took control of Barcelona, seizing Catalonia, Valencia and Aragon in the next few days. González Besada's government collapsed and the prime minister resigned on August 29. Thus, Seguí declared independence for the newly-established People's Republic of Spain on 2 September 1919. However, Seguí and Pestaña'success were limited to the eastern regions, as the rest of Spain remained eerily quiet. Neither Seguí nor Pestaña had been unable to establish the same degree of influence in Castille and Andalucia as in Catalonia, even if in Sevilla a wilde strike suddenly erupted on August 27.

On August 29, the communists established a Provisional Executive Committee which took over public administration in Seville. By then, London, worried by the development of the Spanish events, dispatched an infantry division to reinforce the garrison of Gibraltar and was preparing an expeditionary force that was destined to land in Galicia. Thus, on September 6, 1,500 British soldiers landed in La Coruña. By the end of that month, 16,000 British and 6,000 Canadian soldiers would arrive to Galicia under the command of Edmund Ironside and 40,000 to Gibraltar. To his surprise, Ironside and his men were enthusiastically welcomed by the Spaniards. The British general wrote that unless something were done quickly, the state of anarchy would worsen. That the control of Largo Caballero over his followers and allies was almost non-existent did not help to improve this situation. On September 16 the first British brigade reached Madrid. A week later, most of the city was under British control. For the next few days, parties of armed Spanish Communists clashed with British patrols, with the Spaniards suffering mounting losses with each encounter.

Arrival of the first British guns at La Coruna, August 1919​

 

[Gibby71]

Hmm, I think I know the answer here, but is the POD that the French win the Franco-Prussian War? By an alliance with Austria-Hungary? Also, the Russians win the Russo-Japanese War? Did both France and Russia have more competent leaders, and how did the Austrians manage to defeat the Prussians? So many questions: could you add a little more backstory please? Otherwise, this is a really interesting world, and a fresh take on the Spanish Civil War.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

Hmm, I think I know the answer here, but is the POD that the French win the Franco-Prussian War? By an alliance with Austria-Hungary? Also, the Russians win the Russo-Japanese War? Did both France and Russia have more competent leaders, and how did the Austrians manage to defeat the Prussians? So many questions: could you add a little more backstory please? Otherwise, this is a really interesting world, and a fresh take on the Spanish Civil War.

In fact, the POD goes a bit further back than 1870, but to a twist in the Napoleonic wars, where Napoleon managed to keep a friendly Russia to his side after Tilsit as his ally for a longer time than IOTL; furthermore, Spain, which was never invaded by Bonaparte but also kept as an ally under Charles IV, became rather unpredictable, unstable and unreliable with Ferdinand VII, who got dethroned by Napoleon, who wanted for himself the Spanish throne (not for Spain but for its empire), and this corner of Europe became ruled by a Bonaparte, but not by Joseph, but by the future Napoleon II (OTL King of Rome and Duke of Reichstadt), who incorporated the kingdom to France when he succeeded his father.

There was never a Franco-Prussian War because Prussia was not in a position to become a threat for France in the 1870s. The Pax Napoleonnica lasted for almost half a century after Napoleon passed away (around 1836), until some unlucky turns of events and some bad political judgements (Napoleon II was not even a quarter of a good and lucky ruler as his father ha been and his successors inherited a quite troubled world, too much for their habilities) led to the breaking up of the Napoleonic game of alliances and Russia turned against France and began to support Prussia, who became a kind of Serbia in this TL. In the end, with Britain happy enough watching how the Pax Napoleonnica gave way to a kind of "Cold War" between France and Austria-Hungary in one side and Russia and Prussia in the other. Thus, with London unwilling to take sides neither with France, as the scramble for Africa have given Britain a chance to recover after almost sixty years of French supremacy and being unwilling to side with a colonial rival, nor with Russia, due to the Great Game in Asia, the tensions led to a small version of the Great War with the War of the three Emperors that ended with the defeat of the French block but with a phyrric victory of Russia and the rise of Prussia, now as a victorious Germany. Thus, Britain was quite happy for the demise of France and the Russian and Austrian troubles. It is open to debate if the new German Empire may become a bane worse than the defunct French hegemon.

I haven't worked too much in this background, I must confess. I just thought of a small background which would give some space for what I have in store for Spain. And no, this is not a retelling of the SCW. You could think, and you wouldn't be too wrong, that this is the story of some kind of the Hundred Years' Civil War, so to speak.

However, I'll try to include some update to flesh out that world. It seems I've imagined something very attractive, and it deserves some effort and some developing to flesh it out a bit.

 

[Chris Triangle]

I'm curious as to what territories France, Prussia and Austria actually include at this point. That will certainly indicate what some flash points would be.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

I'm curious as to what territories France, Prussia and Austria actually include at this point. That will certainly indicate what some flash points would be.

After the defeat, the French borders went back to the pre-1789 ones but without Alsace-Lorraine and without Savoy and Nice. As the civil war goes on, you have the Loyalist remnant led by Petain reduced to the south of the country and loosing ground fast against the Communards.

Austria-Hungary remains almost as it was thanks to the kindness of the Tsar, who didn't want Galicia neither to become independent nor part of Poland. The Hungarian Soviet Republic but crushed by the Russian troops (1956 in reverse?), but Italy received the Trentino and the South of Tyrol (as in our 1918 OTL). So, the borders are not too different, but the internal order of the Empire has changed (something close as the A-H of the Kaiserreich universe, so to speak).

Germany looks like it was in 1914, so little changes there, methinks. The Kaiser was tempted to annex Bohemia and Austria, but the Tsar wasn't too interested. One thins is to reduce Poland to a shadow of itself and one quite different to help to expand an ally that might turn into a rival. And, by the end of the war, after the kingdom of Prussia evolved into the German Empire, Russia was beginning to fear that he had nursed a viper in her bossom.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

The independence of the People's Republic of Spain

On the morning of August 28, 1919, at No. 126 Rambla de Catalunya, Barcelona, a former religious school, chairman Salvador Seguí presided over the meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Spain. In fact, the meeting was more a representation of the Catalan and Aragonese branches of the PCE, as few members from the rest of the country had managed or dared to arrive in Barcelona. In the decisions made at this meeting, the Committee unanimously decided to proclaim independence and to present the Provisional Government, assembled in Barcelona, to the people. Seguí invited several members of the Committee to contribute with their ideas to the Proclamation of Independence. It is claimed that, on August 30, Seguí met with Sidney Reilly and invited him to also add his suggestions to the Proclamation. Reilly had been sent to Spain by the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) counter-Bolshevik operations in Spain and in Portugal. After he arrived in Valencia around April 5, 1919. Once in Barcelona and pretending to be a Bolshevik sympathizer, he was introduced to Lluis Companys, an old friend of Seguí. Through Companys Reilly would meet Reilly. Little is known about Reilly 's actions in Catalonia during his stay late April to early October 1919, when Reilly left Barcelona. He was seen alive for the last time in Paris in December 1920. In one of his reports to London, Reilly stated that "the LIE is strong and belligerent and definitely anti-French."

Meanwhile, to fill the vacuum of power left by the unexpected French withdrawal and to combat disorder and establish Spanish rule in Spain, nationalists set up a National Committee in Madrid on August 31, 1919. The committee was composed of 13 persons, including 4 members of the communist party, and headed by a nationalist. On September 2, Seguí read the Proclamation during a public meeting in front of thousands of people, at what is now Catalonia Square, Barcelona, announcing the birth of the People's Republic of Spain and the country's independence from France. Two weeks later, on September 16, Madrid was rocked by a general strike promoted by the Communists. With British support, the National Committee began to organize the Spanish army, making the official announcement of the creation of the Armed Forces of the Spanish Republic on September 13. The Communist members of the committee were arrested in their houses and kept there under a strict guard while Ironside, commander of British forces in Madrid, declared martial law. By October 15, around 35,000 volunteers had joined the Republican army in the Eastern parts of Spain (Ironside estimated that the LIE army in western Spain, mostly in Catalonia, numbered around 25,000 men). By the middle of December, the National Committee, now reformed as the Provisional Government of the Spanish Republic, led by Antonio Maura, claimed that it had gained control of most towns and cities of Castille and Andalusia. However, as some unknown journalist remarked, the government had gained control of the Eastern part of Spain but only "to the extent of 100 meters on either side of all major roads."

After negotiations with other political groups, a new government in Barcelona was set up on late December, 1919, with Seguí as president and Santiago Estapé i Pagès as vice president. Estapé was a Catalan nationalist, leader of the moderate Unió Federal Nacionalista Republicana (UFNR - Republican Nationalist Federal Union). Elections were to follow to elect a national assembly.

The elections were held on January 6,1920. The Frente Popular (Popular Front) led by Seguí and allied nationalist groups won 269 of 350 seats. Even if most observers believed the elections were fair, there were a few charges that voters had been intimidated. However, Seguí soon ran into troubles when he attempted to push for implementing a radical reform of the Republic which would turn the country into into a socialist state. During this time, urban workers began to organize into councils, something that deeply worried not only the most conservative sections but also the moderate ones. Thus, they criticized the government and its actions, as they blamed Seguí for not stopping the "spreading chaos". Furthermore, the food was still a problem due to the restrictions imposed by the war and thus the government's popularity imploded. This was to lead to the May Days (May 3-7,1920).

Since the withdrawal of the French troops, most of what became later the People's Republic had been under the control of the workers' councils. Just after the elections, their leaders met with the President Seguí, who incorporated the councils into the government. It was just the recognition of a fact, as in Catalonia the councils were the de facto government of Barcelona and most of Catalonia. Seeing that he was loosing control over the revolution there, Seguí attempted to persuade the most prominent members of the committee to become councilors of the government, but with little success.

This led to a climate of distrust and confrontation, not only among the government and the workers' organizations but also between those organizations, especially of anarchists toward socialists, communists and Catalan nationalists. Even among the communists, there was much division. The Communist Party of Spain (PCE) and the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSUC) followed the official doctrine of the Commune de France, but the PSUC tried to adapt it to the Catalan/Spanish experience. The PCE was the major communist party in the People's Republic, but the PSUC was the main communist organization in Catalonia. However, the PSUC included a radical faction that opposed Paris and was deeply distrustful of any attempt to put the PSUC in line with the Commune's dictates. This faction was led by the young Joan Comorera i Soler, who had been a direct witness of the birth of the French Commune. Then, on May 2, 1920, two of the PSUC councilors of the government suddenly resigned. Twenty four hour later, the young Republic was rocked by strikes.

Demonstration in Madrid in support of Russia after the Tsarist army had crushed the Hungarian Soviet Republic
and helped the Austrian Emperor to pacify their subjects. Many Spanish Conservatives hoped that, after smashing
the French Commune, Tsar Nicholas V would send the Cossacks to wipe out the People's Republic.​

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

The May Days

On the morning of May 3, 1920, the soldiers of the 17th Volunteers´ Regiment "Mijail Bakunin" planned demonstrations to carry out later that day. They elected a committee dominated by members of the PSUC to help delegate resources and to gather support. On the evening of that day demonstrations broke out in Barcelona. Led by members of the regiment, armed soldiers marched through the streets, with workers and soldiers from other units quickly joinning as they marched to the Liberty Square₁. Under the slogan "All Power to the Councils!", the demonstrators marched there to meet Seguí, while the soldiers fired their rifles into the air and commandeered vehicles. By the time they reached the square, Seguí and the government had already fled. The following day, May 4, the protests continued, with more soldiers and workers joining in, including some sailors of the naval base and part of the pilots and ground crews of El Prat. At this point, Comorera tried to calm the demonstrators, who were enraged with him and forced him to flee. However, with the PSUC refusing to support them and no one able to take the lead of the protest, by nightfall the protesters began to disperse. In the early hours of May 5, Comorera called for a meeting of the leadership of the party. They agreed to issue a declaration where they blamed some irresponsible low-ranking members of the party for the demonstrations. To this day, it is unclear what kind of role did the PSUC play in the May Days, whether it was an event orchestrated by thm or an spontaneous demonstration that they were unable to control. In any case, the PSUC did not openly support the demonstrators.

Seguí, from the temporary headquarters of the Parc de la Ciutadella₂, prepared the reaction against the demonstrators. The military authorities sent troops against the demonstrators, leading to many arrests and possibly several dozen deaths due to the violence in the streets. All the allies of Seguí, including Estapé and the UNFR (even if by that time Seguí had begun to distrust Estapé), supported punitive measures against the insurgents, who were disarmed. Most of the units of the Popular Militias that had joined the demonstrators were disbanded. After that, arrests followed. On May 6 the headquarters of the UNFR were attacked and vandalized by "unidentified" demonstrators. Peace returned by May 8; by that time Barcelona was again under the control of the Government. Seguí was deeply affected by the May Days. Even if the riots had only taken place in Barcelona and the rest of the People's Republic had not joined the demonstration but for some minor incidents with Anarchist groups in Aragon, Seguí became convinced that the UNFR and the PSUC had conspired to bring down the Republic and to install themselves into power. The official press blamed the PSUC for the events and the Parliament ended May as the scene of several violent confrontations that reached their high water mark when Manuel Serra i Moret, major of Pineda de Mar and a member of the Catalan Socialist Union (Unió Socialista Catalana - USC), came to blows with Juan García Oliver, an Anarchist MP, after a heated session in the Parliament.

By then Seguí was determined to get rid of the UNFR and to pacify, if possible, the PSUC. If not, the PSUC would also follow the fate of Estapé's party. He thus spent May trying to win to his side the new-born Federación Anarquista Ibérica (FAI - Iberian Anarchist Federation). He had little success in the beginning, managing to attract only the factions led by Ángel Pestaña and Andreu Nin₄. While the relations between Pestaña and Seguí would be based in both a deep mutual mistrust and the sincere recognition that both needed each other, Nin and Seguí would reach a deep compromise, based in a mutual understanding of each other's intentions and needs. Even when Nin settled in France to study the Commune, the two politicians would remain in contact until Nin returned in 1926. Seguí was also able to enlist to his side Joaquín Maurín, the leader of the FAI in Lleida. However, in spite of those successes, the bulk of the FAI would remain neutral and refused to take any side, much to Segui's annoyance. The PSUC, however, remained unmoved by Seguí's pleas to collaborate, as they were determined to keep their indeèdence and freedom of action. It was around this time that he recruited a politician that would play a key role in the future events, Jaume Compte i Canellas, as it would be around Compte that Seguí would build his shock elite units.

Meanwhile, Antonio Maura was having considerable troubles to keep together the new Spanish Republic. The Monarchist faction wanted to restore to the throne the Bourbon pretender, Don Jaime, Duke of Madrid. However, this only fuelled the Republican position, as Don Jaime's political views were known for his absolutist ways. Thus, the confrontations in the Cortes were not too different from the ones which took place in the People's Republic. Only their common hatred of the neighbouring Republic kept the two sides together. The U.S. vice-consul in Madrid, James L. O'Sullivan, reported "an imminent danger of an open break between the two Spanish Republics". He also added that "Insurgent groups, earlier reported as destroyed, had reconstituted themselves in Andalusia and Galicia and are gaining strength by winning popular support".

On September 20, 1920, Salvador Seguí departed to visit the French Commune. He took with him a small team of advisers, among them Ángel Pestaña, who, in turn, included some of his closest advisers in his entourage, like Buenaventura Durruti. Thus, Seguí and Pestaña were shown the wonders of the new state, which emerged victorious after his final victory over the Loyalist forces led by Petain, who was forced to flee to North Africa. Meanwhile, Durruti was more interested in the security system of the Commune, the dreaded Commissariat du Peuple aux Affaires Intérieures (CPAI - People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs). Durruti went as far to visit some of the "special" jails of the CPAI and there he was able to interview some Loyalist prisoners of war, included some foreigners, including a few Germans from the Maercker's Volunteer Rifle, a German unit that, in an ironic twist of fate, had joined Petain's side. Among them was a young volunteer named Reinhard Tristan Heydrich, then 16 years old. Apparently, Heydrich had surprised his jailers by showing a keen interest in the ideas behind the Commune and thus the young prisoner enjoyed a privileged status with some other few comrades that had also been "awoken" by the ideas that had fuelled the Second French Revolution. It is unknown what Durruti saw in Heydrich, but the German former Freikorps joined Pestaña's entourage when Segui's French tour was over by early December 1920.

The beginning of the demonstrations of May 3, 1920​

₁ - IOTL Saint James Square, where you can find the seat of the Generalitat and the City Hall.
₂ -IOTL it is a park on the northeastern edge of the Old City. It also houses the city zoo and the Palau del Parlament de Catalunya.
₃ -IOT FAI was created in 1927.
₄ -Ironically, Nin follows here the opposite path of Seguí. IOTL, he joined the UNFR in 1911, but he left the party for its lack of a social conscience. After a brief spell in the PSOE, the Russian Revolution made him embrace the Anarchist ideology, but he became a Communist after visiting Russia. ITTL, he does visit the Commune of France, but he remains an Anarchist.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

Valeriano Weyler

Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau (Palma de Mallorca, September 17, 1838-Madrid, October 20, 1936) was a Spanish soldier and politician.

Early Life

Born in Palma de Mallorca on September 17, 1838, he was the son of the military doctor Fernando Weyler y Laviña (Madrid, 1808 - Palma de Mallorca, 1879). Fernando studied in Montpellier and later in Barcelona, where he studied at the School of Medicine and Surgery. Transferred to Paris in 1827 to study at L'École de Médecine, he joined the Medical Services of the French Imperial Army in North Africa between 1835 and 1836. In recognition of his role in the taking of Alger during the First Algerian War (1830-1836) , he was made a légionnaire of the Légion d'honneur.

Mexico

Valeriano studied at the Infantry Academy of Toledo, obtaining the rank of lieutenant at the age of twenty. He was promoted to commander at only twenty-four years old and assigned first to Malta and then to Palestine. Weyler was a man of very short stature (apparently he was only 1.52 m tall), but he was also a tough fighter with great physical resistance. In 1862 he was part of the Spanish Expeditionary Force under the command of General Charles Bourbaki. While the French retreated to Orizaba to await reinforcements, Weyler found himself trapped in Puebla with 150 men, successfully defended the position for three days against 900 enemy soldiers, finally withdrawing without leaving behind no one (not even the dead) or materiel. For this, he was made a chevalier of the Légion d'honneur.

He returned as a hero and was used by Napoleonic propaganda to further rise in fame and to promote the French war aims in Spain. Wyler took full profit from this and, while pretending to play the game that the French were playing for him, he managed to attract 6,000 Spaniards to volunteer themselves to join the Expeditionary Force in México. However, the volunteers made it quite clear that they wanted Weyler as their colonel. With the war in full swing to make Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte Emperor of México as Napoleón I, the French authorities finally bowed to the popular claim and Weyler was breveted to colonel in 1863. Eventually, the French drive recruited some 12,000 men on a voluntary basis to fight in México. There, with his brigade, Weyler proved himself time and again as a courageous soldier in the most vicious hand-to-hand combat in the battles that were to follow. In Orizaba (May 5, 1863), when the French army led by General Charles de Lorencez was ambushed by the Mexican forces of General Ignacio Zaragoza, Weyler saved the day when he carried out a flanking move and launched a massive attack with his brigade that was, nevertheless, repulsed by the Mexican defenders. Reinforced with the French artillery, Weyler attacked again, just to have his assault checked by the precise fire of the Mexican rifles

However, Zaragoza understood the importance of terrain and position, and he chose to withdraw more inward into Mexico rather than fight on open ground. Also, as they had done against the Spaniards in 1829, Zaragoza counted on yellow fever and other tropical diseases to take their toll before he attacked the weakened army in a place of his choice. On his part, with guerrillas harassing his line of communications back to Veracruz, de Lorencez advanced on Mexico City on July 9 with the bulk of his force and Zaragoza began challenging the French army in a series of costly frontal assaults around the right flank of the city defenses and unsuccessfully attacked de Lorencez at Contreras (July 20). Two days later, Zaragoza launched an audacious flank attack which led to the Battle of Churubusco, the bloodiest battle of the campaign. Although Zaragoza came closer to victory than at any other time, the Mexicans were ultimately repulsed, and the dodged resistance of Weyler's men, who were decimated by the enemy onslaught. After Churubusco, the storming of the city gates of Mexico ended the war (August 6, 1863). By then Weyler was acting general and had been among the first men to enter the city through a gap made in its walls followed by the remnants of his brigade, reduced to barely a reinforced battalion.

"Butcher" Weyler

If Mexico made Weyler a hero, Napoleon II made him a general, one of the youngest in the French Army (Weyler was 27 by then). Apparently, the Emperor had enjoyed the stories about the reckless courage of the Spanish hero, who always threw himself into the heart of the fight. Thus, Napoleon II and his heir were to consider Weyler one of his best field commanders and repeatedly sent him to salvage apparently desperate situations in the colonies. Weyler would impress the world by his handling of the Cochinchina campaign, where part of the colonial troops rebelled due to the invasive French-style social reforms, harsh land taxes and the summary treatment of any crime committed by a native. During his first year as Governor-General of the Cochinchina (1873-1881) he crushed the rebels and then proceeded to "pacify" the region using as a model for his tactics what Sheridan had done in the Shenandoah Valley during the American Civil War. By the time he returned to France, Cochinchina was a peaceful place but only after losing a quarter of its population. The myth of "Butcher" Weyler was born.

He was to repeat his tactics when he was named Governor-General of Cuba, the last jewel of the Spanish colonial empire that Napoleon I had managed to keep. His tenure (1896-1901) was both his last military appointment and his greatest example of the so-called "política de reconcentración". Named governor with full powers to suppress the insurgency and return the island to political order and the sugar industry to greater profitability, Weyler was troubled by the same factors that had plagued all the French generals that had attempted to apply conventional warfare methods to solve the Cuban question. With the rebels blending with the population, there was only one solution: to put them apart. By 1898, Weyler had managed to achieve his goals by relocating more than 400,000 civilians into "reconcentration camps". By 1899, the Cuban rebels had been crushed, even if at a terrible price: almost a third of the civilians "reconcentrados" died from disease and malnutrition. This devastation caused an uproar in the United States and greatly contributed to damage the standing of the French Empire in the United Kingdom. Even Russia and Austria did not keep their criticism from reaching the ears of Napoleon III.

Retirement and conspiracies

Thus, if Napoleon II made Weyler a General, his son made him a politician and called him back to Europe in 1901. Named as General Governor of Spain, Weyler finally withdrew from active service in 1907. However, Valeriano Weyler, who was then 69 years old, would not vanish into history. With the rising tensions in Europe reaching new heights, Napoleon IV called the old general from his retirement and named him Commander in Chief of the Franco-Spanish forces in Spain in 1912. However, Weyler soon lost Napoleon IV's favor and, just weeks prior to the beginning of the war, he was relieved from his duties by the Emperor. Apparently, Weyler, who was 78 years old by then, accepted with grace the end of his career and retired into a quiet civil life in Madrid. However, thruth was more grim. As the war turned against France, Weyler began to approach his less francophile friends in the Spanish generalship to explore the possibility of taking profit from any French disaster (or even total defeat) to declare the independence of Spain. However, reality moved faster than him and, in the end, dissapointed by the turn of events and the inaction of his former comrades, Weyler began to consider a different option and, while keeping an eye on the army, he began his political career at the age of 81.

Weyler in 1880​

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

The rise of the convert.

The dream of an independent Spain soon turned into a nightmare, The Provisional Government of the Spanish Republic led by Maura found itself at the head of a country with too many problems to solve. It all began by late 1920. With most of the French banks that were creditors of the Spanish economy either fleeing to North Africa or simply vanished in the chaos of the defeat, the country found itself in a crisis that led to the Riots of March 1921. Martial law was declared and the army took the streets. The repression left 6,000 dead on the streets, but could not avoid the fall of Maura. While many pointed to Eduardo Dato as his replacement, the Cortes voted for Joaquín Fernández Prida. This move only contributed to further damage to the political stability of the Republic as many felt that Maura had manipulated the voting to pick one of his trusted collaborators. In addition to this, Fernández Prida had little success dealing with the ongoing crisis. Furthermore, he was hated by most of the Spaniards, who remembered his times as mayor of Madrid, when he proved to be an effective servant of the French in suppressing any protests in the city with the most savage means. Thus, many felt relieved when he finally tendered his resignation on 16 December 1922.

Meanwhile, Weyler had visited Don Jaime, Duke of Madrid, in his residence in Vienna, and discussed Jaime's efforts to return to Spain and his capacity to play some roles in his homeland. However, as a Russian subject, he was not permitted a Spanish passport. His attempts to return to Spain via Portugal and via North Africa with a fake passport were foiled in 1930 and, eventually, Jaime would die of cancer in 1931 in Vienna. While being in Vienna, Weyler also managed to organize a meeting between him and Francis Humphrys, who was on his way to India to join the British colonial administration there as deputy Foreign Secretary. However, Weyler was not successful in winning Humphrys' sympathies, who reported to London that Weyler's anticommunist plans were "just the delusions of a senile French lapdog". Actually, many in London worried that his devout Catholicism could hinder his ability to mobilize support in a Spain which was predominantly non-Catholic country. Then, fate intervened.

After returning to Barcelona from his French tour, Salvador Seguí became quite disgusted with the state of affairs in the People's Republic. By the winter of 1921,Santiago Estapé and the UNFR attempted to paralyze all the legislation that was presented in the Consejo Popular, and eventually Seguí became tired of Estapé and of the Consejo. Ironically, Heydrich was to give him the solution to the problem. Quite surprisingly, Reinhard Heydrich had proved to be quite good at adapting himself to the power games that were being played around Seguí and the Parliament and soon became one of his closest advisors in one of the fastest promotions ever in the then short history of the People's Republic. Then, after one of the endless sessions of the Council in late October 1921, Heydrich pointed out that the stalemate that Estapé had created could be turned against him if aroused the popular anger. Properly fueled, Heydrich added, it could be used to remove the UNFR from the political scene of the Republic. Then Pestaña suddenly realized the young monster he had introduced in the heart of the Council.

The moment to do so presented itself in one of the heated exchanges in the Parliament. Again, with the same protagonists that one of the violent scenes that the Parliament witnessed in May 1920: Manuel Serra i Moret and Juan García Oliver. This time, however, the member of the UNFR took the Anarchist by surprise and attacked first. When García Oliver finished a vicious attack against Serra in the Parliament and mocked the democratic principles of his party, Serra waited for him outside the Parliament and fired a gun against García Oliver. Even if the Anarchist MP was only grazed in the shoulder by the bullet, the event gave Heydrich the excuse he needed. He had studied the events of May with great detail and had pointed out that the explosion of popular rage had only failed for his lack of a clear leadership. Thus, he worked hard to provide good commanders for the next "popular" wave of rage. The first burst of popular violence was directed against the officers of the UNFR in Valencia (November 4, 1922). The ferocity of the attack did not end there, however. Barcelona followed on December 1. There some churches were attacked and burnt, something that repeated itself in Lleida (December 5) and Mallorca (December 10). A week later, a widespread purge began against not only the UNFR but also aimed at all "bourgeois and capitalist enemies of the state that still remained at large". A month of trials and summary executions ended with 2,000 dead and 16,000 people fleeing to the Spanish Republic. By August 1923, the number of refugees reached 40,000. By December of that year, they were around 34,000.

Jacobo Fitz James Stuart y Falcó, 18th Duke of Alba and 10th Duke of Berwick, was by then the President of the Spanish Republic. It had replaced Fernández Prida and, in spite of his best efforts to stabilize the Spanish economy, the country was still suffering from the crisis that followed the French withdrawal. The news and the refugees that came from the People's Republic also caused anticommunist riots in Sevilla (January 16, 1923), where the army was used to keep the city under control after 400 people were killed in the riots. Similar events but of much smaller scale also took place in Córdoba (January 18) and Toledo (January 28). By August 1923 the number of people killed in the riots rose to 650 and 9,000 refugees fled to the People's Republic or to France. Alba was, later on, blamed by the foreign press for doing too little to avoid the bloodshed. In fact, Alba found himself with his hands tied when he discovered that the policemen and the soldiers looked elsewhere when they were sent to end the riots. He would have felt much worse if he had known that, among the refugees that were reaching the Republic those days, Heydrich had infiltrated some dozen spies in their ranks.

Saying goodbye to the past or hello to the future?
The hard fate of the Spanish refugees.​

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

The internal crisis of the two Spains

The Purge of 1923 apparently was a blessing for the People's Republic, as it was followed by a period of unity and solidarity among all the parts involved in the government. However, there was an exception to this. the so-called "Los Treinta" (the Thirty Ones). This group, formed around Ángel Pestaña and Juan Peirò, proposing a revolution led by education and example. Even if they defended the idea of revolution, they claimed that it had to be a well-prepared process and not a test of individual voluntarism. Once achieved a certain level of (revolutionary) education, revolution would be unstoppable. However, their idea greatly worried Seguí, even if they did not rival the Party outside of the major cities, saw the Thirty Ones as a dangerous challenge which became a open threat when Pestaña and his group left the Communist Party to create the Unión Comunista (the Communist Union) in May 1924. However, Pestaña eventually saw that Seguí was not going to tolerate him and, in December of that year, he fled to exile in Paris and, after that, most of his followers were either purged or went underground.

By December 1924 Seguí attempted to solidify his grasp over the government when he dissolved the LIE and attempted to replace it with an alliance between the Communist Party of Spain (PCE), the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSUC) and the Catalan Nationalist Party (Partit Nacionalista Català, PNC). The PNC were the purged remnants of the UNFR, which had also resulted in the creation of the Partido Socialdemócrata (PSD - Social Democratic Party). However, the talks failed and, on January 6, 1925, Seguí called for elections. According to official sources the turnout was approximately 82%.

Party	Seats
PCE	182
PSUC	67
PNC	27
PSD	26

The landslide victory seemed to vindicate Seguí's actions. In the first session of the National Assembly which took place on March 2,1925, he set as its goal to write and ratify the first democratic constitution for the country, even if it was to take six months to do so. Under this constitution, legislative authority was vested in the National Assembly, which was the highest institution in the country. The President of the Republic was in charge of leading the government and was to be elected by the National Assembly for five year terms. The Prime Minister was chosen by the President from among the members of the National Assembly.

Seguí then set himself to solve one of the historical problems of the People's Republic (and of the whole Spain, too): the tremendous social inequality that existed in Aragon and Valencia because, along with the latifundios, that is, large estates owned by a few thousand families, almost two million landless day laborers lived in miserable conditions. The solution applied was the confiscation of land belonging to landlords who were enemies of the regime, most of whom has fled abroad; another option also applied was to purchase with payment in bonds. The land reform was carried out from 1925 to 1928, which moderate results, even if some farming areas did not undergo any land reform at all but only rent reduction.

It was after this Wenceslao Colomer, a high ranking member of the PSUC, attacked Seguí's economic policy as too moderate; he demanded the nationalisation of all industry, agriculture, trade, finance, transport, and communication, something that Seguí refused as it was impractical at that time; only the large capitalist enterprises, such as the banks, railways, larger landed estates, and larger factories and mines were to be nationalized. Colomer and Seguí also clashed on the question of the control of the industry. While the president pressed for a centralised economic control of industry, Colomer demanded that every factory to be controlled by its workers, something that Seguí rejected as being impractical.

Meanwhile, in spite of the best efforts of the Duke of Alba (or due to them), the Spanish Republic was on the verge of collapse. He created the so-called Council of State with some executive functions and aimed to help him to govern, but in the end it only helped to further entangle the already complicated political situation. It all erupted in the Black Week of 1924 (April 20-27), when a wave of strikes rocked the country after the price of bread suffered an incredible rise. With the workers on strike and the army on the verge of launching a coup, Mariano Weyler took the fate of the country in his own hands. On April 28 he entered the Cortes (he had joined the conservative party and was now a member of the parliament in representation of Madrid) and, before Alba could began his speech about the measures he had taken, Weyler just rose and, poiting at all the members of the parliament, he shouted: "you are no Parliament and you have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. I will put an end to your sitting. Now, all of you, go home". The first do so rose from the Conservative benches. Once they began to move, they were followed by the bulk of the parliament until the building became an empty shell. It is claimed that somebody whispered that Weyler had on his side the garrison of Madrid, and that he was ready to use their guns if their words were not enough. In any case, whether Weyler was bluffing while using Cromwell's words to the Long Parliament or he had the backing of the army, the Cortes simply disolved there and then. The last one to go was Alba, who left a triunfant Weyler alone in a deserted building.

Weyler, now President of the Spanish Republic, launched a fast and vicious power-grab. From April 1924 to February 1925, he centered all his effort to centralize power around himself and to destroy any opponents who dared to rise his voice against him. To unite the country he reformed the Constitution to include a paragraph granting religious freedom... if you were a Catholic, of course. All the Spaniards were then "persuaded" to register which faith they belonged to. Once this was done, all those who part of some church that was not the official one saw themselves unable to have any job in the administration. It was just the beginning, as Weyler took all the measures to be sure that all those who were not officially Catholic became a social pariah. Out of fear, a religious burst of faith run through Spain as many citizens had an unexpected "religious awakening" and rushed to the Catholic churches asking for salvation and conversion. Those who remained stubbornly loyal to their beliefs found themselves suddenly resettled in the Spanish Guinea after loosing their rights as citizens.

Edificio del Palacio de las Cortes in the 1920s.
With Weyler, it would fall into oblivion for a very long time.​

 

[PrinceofApathy]

So far so good, but I'm curious about the "Sepharad" title. Does that imply there's some kind of Jewish element to this TL?

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

So far so good, but I'm curious about the "Sepharad" title. Does that imply there's some kind of Jewish element to this TL?

Thanks.

Not really. It's taken from a Catalan poet, Salvador Espriu, who wrote an allegory about Franco's Spain and the harsh treatment received by the non-Castillian cultures. In that allegory he named Spain as Sepharad, following the Biblical sources.

Well, I'm going to use Espriu a little bit but with some twists.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

Dictatorship of Valeriano Weyler

General Valeriano Weyler's dictatorship over Spain began on April 28, 1924 and ended with his death on October 20, 1936. After ousting the liberal government led by Prime Minister Jacobo Fitz James Stuart y Falcó, 18th Duke of Alba with the support of the army and a great part of the populary, Weyler stablished his dictatorship, During the Military Directory (1924–1932), the dictatorship created the official party of the regime, the Movimiento Patriótico (Patriotic Movement).). It also censored the Spanish press and worked to eliminate separatism in the Basque Country and Navarre. Under Weyler's dictatorship, Spain won the Rif War, where Spanish forces fought Riffian tribes in Morocco.

Due to internal pressure, Weyler established the Civil Directory in 1932, Spain was declared a kingdom, but no monarch was designated until 1935, when Weyler designated Don Carlos, Prince of Bourbon-Two Sicilies as his official heir-apparent. However, Weyler was to be succeeded by his son, Eduardo, as Prime Minister with the intention of continuing the regime under the monarchist disguise. The dictator formed good relationships with Russia and Germany and increased its interactions with countries in Latin America and with National France. With German support, the dictatorship invested heavily in Spanish infrastructure, such as roads and railways, and expanded labour laws and moved away from being openly totalitarian and using severe repression to an authoritarian system with limited pluralism. As a result of these reforms and the German economic help, Spain enjoyed a massive economic growth that lasted until the German Depression, which began in the fall of 1936 with the stock market crash and lasted until the Spring of 1940.

Contents

• Establishment
• Government
• Armed forces
• Colonial empire
• The Military Directory (1924-1932)
  • Ideology
  • Policies
  • Spanish authoritarianism
  • Weylerist influence in National France
  • The Rif War
• The Civil Directory (1932–1936)
  • The new government
  • Foreign policy
  • Economic policies
  • Social change
• The legacy of the dictatorship

 

[galileo-034]

Actually, many in London worried that his devout Catholicism could hinder his ability to mobilize support in a Spain which was predominantly non-Catholic country. Then, fate intervened.

Predominantly non catholic Spain? That's odd. Did the impact of French rule lead to growing anti clericalism?

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

Predominantly non catholic Spain? That's odd. Did the impact of French rule lead to growing anti clericalism?

Indeed. Once century of Frenchization did wonders to Spain.

 

[galileo-034]

So, compared to OTL, industries and infrastructures wise, is Spain in a better state ? I mostly think about the instability of OTL that I guess was kept to a minimum ITTL and could have allowed for a better developped country on industrial, infrastructure and financial plans at least...

 

[LordCalner]

Watched!

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

So, compared to OTL, industries and infrastructures wise, is Spain in a better state ? I mostly think about the instability of OTL that I guess was kept to a minimum ITTL and could have allowed for a better developped country on industrial, infrastructure and financial plans at least...

Compared with OTL, Spain is in a better state not only in industrial matters, but also in education, science and technology.

All the instability brought by Ferdinand VII, the Carlist Wars and the failed First Republic were avoided in this TTL. However, the Spanish chauvinistic temper that has been irkling under the surface while the French Eagle flew over the country proved to be an useful tool to Weyler.

To sum up, the French period and Weyler's reforms have left Spain in a great position, in spite of the split.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

Reinhard Heydrich

Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich (7 March 1904 – 2 September 1936) was a German high-ranking politician and police official of the People's Republic of Spain.

[...]

A turning point for Heydrich came with Seguí's response to the raise to power of Weyler. Seguí, who by that time had began to show the first signs of his dementia, was afraid that the remnats of the UNFR were to betray the Republic and sell to the Spanish dictator. Thus unleashed further purges and he chose Heydrich to carry them out. The few leaders of the UNFR that were still at large were falsely accused of preparing a coup d'etat and were tried and executed. Heydrich's success in this task not only led to his further promotion as head of the Security Services of the PRS, but also to become the main advisor of the paranoid Seguí.

Even if he was only the People's Commissar for Internal Affairs, he controlled all the information and security services of the PRS. Apparently he was a devout admirer of Seguí and his foreign origin put him outside of the "establishment". and made him a "safe" choice for Seguí, the kind of man that the leader of the PRS needed to unleash his purge to get rid of any potential opponents. As most of those opponets were also in Heydrich's path to power, he fulfilled Seguí's instructions with glee. His first task from Seguí was to investigate and conduct prosecution of his former mentor Buenaventura Durruti, who, under a interrogation, admited that the was spying for Weyler. Durruti was but the first of many to die by Heydrich's orders under the Purge of 1932-1934 against those considered as "disloyal elements" or "fifth columnists" . By then, the bulk of the Old Revolutionary Guard and a great number of officers of the Armed Forces had been stripped of their positions and imprisoned or executed. During this terror, a great number of ordinary citizens of the PRS were also accused of disloyalty and similarly punished. Heydrych also conducted a thorough purge of the security ranks, removing and executing not only those who had been appointed by his predecessors, but also of those he had promoted and proved to be too dangerous for him, Between 1932 and 1934, at least 130,000 people were arrested and 65,000 were executed for 'crimes against the state'.

[...]

Ironically, Heydrich would be one of the last victims of the terror he had unleashed when the "moderate" faction of the Security Services, led by Antonio Rodríguez Aguado, and Joaquín Jiménez de Anta. He was executed on September 2, 1936