Would Sanjuro's leadership still lead to a Nationalist victory?

  • Yes

    Votes: 23 82.1%
  • No

    Votes: 5 17.9%

  • Total voters
    28
Not many people know this about the Spanish Civil War, and it's a fact that many history buffs can tend to forget, but in the beginning of the conflict it wasn't Francisco Franco who was tapped to lead the Nationalist Forces, rather it was Marshal Jose Sanjurjo a Spanish general who played a key role in the Rif War and was Commander of the Civil Guard. After the formation of the Spanish Republic Sanjurjo was involved in several disputes against the government, and was imprisoned for treason though exiled to Portugal. After the start of hostilities he was invited back into the country by the Nationalists in order to become their leader. He accepted and took a plan to Spain. Unfortunately for him the plane crashed and Sanjurjo died midflight due to his immense amount of personal luggage which was too heavy for the small biplane that he was riding in and threw off the weight of the crash, thus causing his death. But what if either the plane never crashed, or Sanjurjo never brought his luggage and he arrived safely in Spain. Would the Nationalists strategy and outcome change greatly from a new leader? If the Nationalists still win what will Sanjurjo's policy be like? Will he align closely with the Axis? What will Franco's new role be?
 
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BTW, maybe Sanjurjo's survival butterflies away Mola's later death as well? In that case, we can say that Sanjurjo's death deprived Franco of *two* rivals.
 
Hugh Thomas in *The Spanish Civil War* states unequivocally, "Sanjurjo would have proclaimed Alfonso XIII king again." https://books.google.com/books?id=4c4F7KM9UE8C&pg=PT267 But would he? (I'm assuming the Nationalists still win.) He might want to, but to some extent he was a figurehead, and he could not ignore other Nationalist leaders who would oppose such a move.

That would depend on whether the Carlists take a more active role in the War under Sanjuro's leadership. You very well might see another heir selected over Alfonso.
 
Wasn't Carlism pretty dead by end of 1930's? And even Franco declared Juan Carlos as heir several years after SCW. I don't know then how Sanjuro would act. But more intresting quiestion is would Sanjuro join to Axis and participate to WW2. This would be very devastating for Spain when it not be prepared to the war and was still badly ruined due previous war.
 
Wasn't Carlism pretty dead by end of 1930's? And even Franco declared Juan Carlos as heir several years after SCW. I don't know then how Sanjuro would act. But more intresting quiestion is would Sanjuro join to Axis and participate to WW2. This would be very devastating for Spain when it not be prepared to the war and was still badly ruined due previous war.

By the end of the Civil War, yes. But the 1930s saw a genuine revival for the Carlists. Under the Marquis de Cerralbo, the Carlists built up a mass media and propaganda operaction, had hundreds of local cells, women's and youth movements, a strong financial base, and over thirty thousand armed members of the Requetés. Up until the end of the War the Carlists were one of the most important factions within the Nationalist forces, and their terminal decline only really came during the Francoist purge of the royalists in the 1950s. Without Franco, there would have been no Unification Decree, and the Carlists would have continued as an independently powerful movement.

Sanjuro had unofficially pledged the crown to Don Javier, the Carlist regent at the time. I can't see why he would not follow through.
 
As I recall, Sanjuro's political views made Franco look like a radical centrist.

How exactly? It's pretty hard to make Franco look like a moderate and Sanjurjo would have to be Hitler or Stalin levels of crazy in order to seem like the extreme out of the two. From what little I've read it seemed like Sanjurjo was more or less your basic Nationalist in terms of ideology, though he may have favored Carlism far more than the other generals.

Hugh Thomas in *The Spanish Civil War* states unequivocally, "Sanjurjo would have proclaimed Alfonso XIII king again." https://books.google.com/books?id=4c4F7KM9UE8C&pg=PT267 But would he? (I'm assuming the Nationalists still win.) He might want to, but to some extent he was a figurehead, and he could not ignore other Nationalist leaders who would oppose such a move.

Many of the Nationalists did revolt for the monarchy initially so it's possible with someone more monarchist leaning we see Alfonso return before his death, him being forced into a situation similar to Mussolini and Victor Emmanuel.

By the end of the Civil War, yes. But the 1930s saw a genuine revival for the Carlists. Under the Marquis de Cerralbo, the Carlists built up a mass media and propaganda operaction, had hundreds of local cells, women's and youth movements, a strong financial base, and over thirty thousand armed members of the Requetés. Up until the end of the War the Carlists were one of the most important factions within the Nationalist forces, and their terminal decline only really came during the Francoist purge of the royalists in the 1950s. Without Franco, there would have been no Unification Decree, and the Carlists would have continued as an independently powerful movement.

Sanjuro had unofficially pledged the crown to Don Javier, the Carlist regent at the time. I can't see why he would not follow through.

So if everything goes mostly along the lines of OTL in terms of the war effort, after unification would it make most sense for Sanjurjo to invite Don Javier to the throne, setting him up sort of as a puppet under his control? Or was Sanjurjo that much of a Carlist that he would actually give great powers to the King? I can imagine Franco opposing such a move purely because it prevents him from rising further, though at this point it becomes a question on how much of a force within the Nationalists Franco has become, Sanjurjo becoming to the new state a Washington-like figure.
 
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