Vive le Front Populaire!

Vive Le Front Populaire!

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President Manuel Azana of Spain, and Prime Minister Leon Blum of France, leaders of the Popular Fronts in their respective states at the outset of the Spanish Civil War.
By July 1936 social tension in the Second Spanish Republic had reached a breaking point. The military leadership was in the final stages of planning a coup against the leftist Popular Front government (elected in February). The date chosen was July 24th, to capitalize on the distraction caused by the People's Olympiad in Barcelona.[1] Secrecy was tight, and the uprising launched with complete surprise. The rebel generals seized control of Morocco, and the large army stationed there, by nightfall. Fighting soon broke out in cities and garrisons across Spain.

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Olympic Stadium in Barcelona
The People's Olympiad was conceived as a protest to the games of the XI Olympiad soon to begin in Nazi Germany. To complement its boycott of the Berlin games Spain invited athletes from a range of countries to compete. Most competitors, as well as spectators, were from trade unions or leftist parties. The competition was quite good, even if fewer records were broken than in the official Olympiad.

At the outset of the uprising the rebel officers in Barcelona marched their troops to the stadium, citing various incidents with the Olympic crowd to allege an anarchist conspiracy. Though initially successful with their attack into the city, military forces were halted, and then pushed back, by a spontaneous coalition of loyalist Assault Guards, Anarchist militia, and hastily organized Olympic attendees. Though the Republicans win control of the city by the next day, their initial surprise has led to heavy casualties, particularly among civilians.

While the battle for Spain rages, the news media assembled for the People's Olympiad spreads the news across the world, framing the initial international reaction to the war in a pro-Republican light. In France in particular the pressure on Prime Minister Leon Blum to send aid to Spain is immediate. Blum also has reason to fear a military uprising, and agrees to only a small shipment of surplus arms to the Spain. While not much at first, this official aid provides cover for significantly larger unofficial assistance. Soon the first brigade of international volunteers to cross the border into Spain.

[1] The POD is that the initial Spanish coup launches one week later than in OTL, allowing it to coincide with the originally cancelled Olympoc protest games.
 
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Interesting, I don't think I'll like the outcome of this TL however... Jose Antonio never gets the love he deserves....
 
Interesting, I don't think I'll like the outcome of this TL however... Jose Antonio never gets the love he deserves....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/José_Antonio_Primo_de_Rivera Is this who you mean? Seems an intersting character who wasn't too far away from a prisoner exchange OTL...

The Opening of the Spanish Civil War

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An approximate map of the front in August 1936. The blue areas remained loyal to the Republic, the pink to the military plotters, and many small pockets of resistance remained on both sides.
Though the Spanish Republic withstood the initial military uprising, its situation remained dire. While most of the navy and small air force stayed loyal, the bulk of the Army was with the coup plotters. The bulk of loyalist forces were either paramilitaries from the Assault and Civil Guards, or workers militia and volunteers who retain large degrees of autonomy from the government. Though highly motivated, the loyalist soldiers were less well armed, trained, and disciplined than their opponents in the early days of the war.

Nonetheless the northern front looked promising for the Republic at least. Quick action had kept Catalonia and the northern coastal regions loyal, and soon militia columns marched forth, besieging Leon and Zaragoza. Swelled by foreign visitors to the Olympics, as well as the arrival of the first arms and volunteers from France, the Republican forces in Barcelona could also send a significant force south to reinforce Madrid.

In the south the situation did was not so optimistic. While most cities remained in loyal hands, both Cadiz and Seville fell quickly to military conspirators. The bulk of the Rebel army in Morocco was airlifted into southern Spain, over a blockade by loyalist naval forces, by Italian and German transport planes. From Seville the leader of the rebels, General Fransisco Franco, declares a National Defense Council as the legitimate government of Spain. It is soon recognized by Italy, Germany, and Portugal. With a large professional force at his command Franco marches north, clearing the Portugese border of leftists and loyalist while moving into position to assault Madrid.

News of the fascist airlift was better received in Paris than in Madrid. Premier Blum's initial offer of support was met with criticism on all sides, as his communist allies said it was far too little, while the right wing began openly calling for the French military to imitate the example of their Spanish counterparts. Such direct and consequential foreign assistance to Franco muted criticism in France, as Blum and his allies skillfully played up fears of German aggression. Though members of the French military began considering their own uprising, publicly the French military agreed with the strategic need to prevent France's encirclement by fascist nations. In addition the Italo-German intervention reduced pressure on France from its ally in Great Britain to join a pact of non-intervention.

Next up: the Battle of Madrid, developments in France, and reactions from other powers.
 
This looks interesting- but if the uprising starts a week later, how come Franco is still the leader of the uprising? His predecessor's death was pretty much a freak accident, and happened after your POD.


Edit: I don't want to leap in and nitpick right away, it just leaped out at me. Spanish Civil War timelines are rare, and I hope this blossoms.
 
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This looks interesting- but if the uprising starts a week later, how come Franco is still the leader of the uprising? His predecessor's death was pretty much a freak accident, and happened after your POD.


Edit: I don't want to leap in and nitpick right away, it just leaped out at me. Spanish Civil War timelines are rare, and I hope this blossoms.
Well, Franco can still declare the government. He was the one in charge of the Army of Morocco, the best fighting force in Spain at that time.
 
Sanjurjo's crash was pretty much his own fault - death by excess baggage.
The pilot tried to warn him about the excessive baggage weight but he responded that "As Spain's Caudillo, I must be handsome [as, "In my military uniforms.]".
The rest is simple, the plane didn't took off and bursted into flames at the end of the runway, killing him and the pilot(s?).

Talk about a stupid death...
 
The pilot tried to warn him about the excessive baggage weight but he responded that "As Spain's Caudillo, I must be handsome [as, "In my military uniforms.]".
The rest is simple, the plane didn't took off and bursted into flames at the end of the runway, killing him and the pilot(s?).

Talk about a stupid death...

Actually, the plane got off the ground, cleared the trees at the end of the "runway", and then crashed. (IIRC, the "runway" was actually the backstretch of of a horse-race track.) The pilot, Juan Ansaldo, survived the crash.

The really funny part of the story is that two planes were available. One was a seven-passenger twin-engine de Havilland "Dragon Rapide" (the same plane that had transported Franco from the Canary Islands to Spanish Morocco).

The other was a little two-seater which belonged to Ansaldo, known as a "daring aviator"; also a long-time monarchist associate of Sanjurjo.

Sanjurjo decided it would be more dramatic to fly to Salamanca with Ansaldo than in the Dragon Rapide. But "How can I be Caudillo of Spain without my proper clothes?"

And the rest (as they say) is history.
 
Actually, the plane got off the ground, cleared the trees at the end of the "runway", and then crashed. (IIRC, the "runway" was actually the backstretch of of a horse-race track.) The pilot, Juan Ansaldo, survived the crash.

The really funny part of the story is that two planes were available. One was a seven-passenger twin-engine de Havilland "Dragon Rapide" (the same plane that had transported Franco from the Canary Islands to Spanish Morocco).

The other was a little two-seater which belonged to Ansaldo, known as a "daring aviator"; also a long-time monarchist associate of Sanjurjo.

Sanjurjo decided it would be more dramatic to fly to Salamanca with Ansaldo than in the Dragon Rapide. But "How can I be Caudillo of Spain without my proper clothes?"

And the rest (as they say) is history.

Thanks for explaining better than me. XD
Oh well, he died because of his ego (and his clothes)...
 
Oh hey, a Republican Spain TL.

I actually asked at one point what would've helped them the most. Turns out that if you can prevent the Moorish Cadre from entering the country, having the blockade be universal, or even just have France give a bit of a crap and offering some supplies would really stretch out what they can get.

And since this is a Popular Front TL, I figure a bit of music might help:
 
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