The Republicans lost the Spanish Civil War because they lacked international support.

To what extent
do you agree with this statement?

The defeat of the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War was the result of the lack of international
support from abroad, as the Republicans had received limited support from the USSR, while the
Nationalists had the support of Britain, France, Italy and Germany, providing a numerical superiority in
many areas over the Republicans. However, there are other factors which contributed to the
Republicans defeat. The Republicans loss of main industrial and food producing territory to the
Nationalists, making it difficult for them to feed their troops, and the embargo on arms imposed by
the British and French had deleterious effects on the Republican war effort. Finally, the most crucial
factor that led to their ultimate defeat was the political disunity from the start. It was a coalition
government and internal divisions had caused infighting amongst the factions, hindering their war
effort as they were unable to unite and fight for one cause.

The Republicans lost the war as they lacked international support and historian Hugh Thomas states
the Spanish Civil war became an international crisis whose solution was decided by external
circumstances. The support which the Republic received from the USSR was very limited and lacking
in many areas, such as the military. Russia sent about 2500 soldiers while one of the allies of the
Nationalists, Italy, sent in 75,000 soldiers, clearly showing an advantage numerically. Although Soviet
aircraft and tanks were better early on than the Germans and Italians, however the Republicans still
had several deficiencies during the war. Their offensives suffered due to a lack of machine guns,
armour and antitank guns, and artillery. Even though they could put up defence with mostly rifle-
equipped troops, but offensives were most often limited to local gains. Once the Nationalists shifted
forces to bring more artillery, armour, and automatic weapons to bear such offensives, they could
then counter-attack against the Republicans.

The International Brigades organised by the Comintern, was a huge boost to the Republics morale
and man-power, unfortunately, most of their members had no experience of warfare and received
only rudimentary training on arrival in Spain, compared to the Nationalists which, under the
command of Franco had experienced army officers and trained soldiers. The inefficiencies and lack of
discipline in the command structure of the International Brigades led to the failure of the Republicans,
as it was often led to needless sacrifice through outmoded military tactics. Historian Anthony Beevor
states that it was the Republics High Command and its Soviet advisors disastrous conduct of war, by
engaging in conventional offensives, normally implemented for the purpose of propaganda
contributed to the defeat of the Republicans.

The Non-Intervention Agreement in 1936 made it hard for the Republic to receive international
support from Republican sympathisers, they were unable to receive sufficient supply and inability to
purchase arms openly hampered its ability to resist the Nationalist threat. One example of this would
be when the leaders of the Spanish Popular Front government looked first to support from France, as
they also headed a similar coalition. However due to the combined pressure of the French radical
Party ministers, generals and most importantly, the British, the plans to supply the Spanish
Republicans were denied. This also meant that to fight against the fascist generals, the Republic was
forced to turn towards the Soviet Union for help. Not only were war efforts hampered by the NIC, in
1938, it ordered the withdrawal of International Brigades - one of the reasons why the Republicans
could hold out for so long against Franco's fascist-backed forces, was largely due to Soviet support
which was now being taken away.
Economically, the Republic's possession of the national gold re-serves in the Bank of Spain is often
seen as an economic advantage for the legal government. In October 1936, however, when Juan
Negrin was Finance Minister, the gold was transferred to Moscow to be held as credit against future
arms purchases. Contrary to a common misconception that Spain was cheated in this transaction,
recent research by Angel Vinashas shown that overall there existed only a tiny accounting gap. The
Republic had little option but to deal with Soviet Union, since Spanish assets had already been frozen
by banking circles in both EngIand and France. The international financiaI community was firmly on
the side of the Nationalist rebels and placed a variety of obstacles, such as refusing to honour or cash
cheques, in the way of the official Republican arms purchasers.
the Republics war effort could not have continued long without the Bank of Spains gold reserves. Aid
from the USSR was paid for by the Republicans, which was spent on arms and supplies. Despite both
Nationalists and Republicans spending a significant amount, Franco however, received not only more
but an inestimably higher quality of arms; unable legally to obtain armaments from the democracies,
the Republic was often forced to use intermediaries and arms dealers, which Historian Julian
Casanova describes as shoddy weaponry and bribes cost the government perhaps $100 million. The
money virtually ran out in August 1938, and the Soviet Union provided a $60 million loan to enable
the Republic to continue the war, however it was soon clear that

In addition, much aid, particularly from Italy, arrived free of charge. The Nationalists were further able
to raise money through a 'National Subscription' whereby jewellery, watches and gold coins were
contributed to the cause. The Texas Oil Company provided the Nationalists with oil on credit in July
1936, whilst other companies, such as Shell and Texaco, did vital and lucrative business with Franco
throughout the war. The Nationalists were also able to export wheat and other foods in return for
foreign exchange, whilst the Republicans, physically concentrated in areas normally dependent on
manufacturing, were deprived of raw materials and therefore had nothing to trade. Multinational
capitalist corporations therefore acted as a major obstacle to the Republic's chances of victory.

With Spanish territory increasingly falling into Nationalist hands, the Republic's tenuous existence was
further threatened by economic bankruptcy and sheer physical starvation.
However the Nationalists had an economic advantage as it was backed by the business community,
could get credit to buy war supplies, their successes in the north also contributed to their victory as
they added the main industrial areas to their control, the evidence of the first ten months of the war,
in which the Republic lost far more territory than in the remaining twenty-three
By mid-1937 the Nationalists had gained control of most of the major food producing areas in Spain;
they had enjoyed other economic advantages, relating to international purchasing power, since the
start of the war. Statistics also show that the key areas of production of Catalan fell by two-thirds
between 1936 and 1939. Increasingly affected by raw material shortages
(Historian: Paul Preston)/ Areas under anarchist control, industries, public utilities and transport were
taken over by workers committees, in the countryside collective farms were set up. However, neither
of these systems could supply the needs of the Republic to fight the war.// entire Republican north,
with the Basque Countrys heavy industry, had fallen to the enemy by October 1937, tipping the
balance of power in Francos favour.

The most import factor which ultimately led to the defeat of the Republicans was the political
divisions. They politically divided in ideology and influence, -Key divisions were communists and
socialists,revolution should now be postponed until the war was won in contrast
Instead of fighting the overall war, many small conflicts were fought/these were not replaced my
more unified war tactics until mid 1937 which was already too late.
had different ideologies, such as the anarchists, dominant in Catalonia, won through revolutionary
policies= Communists and socialists wanted victory in the war to strengthen the Second Republic,
whereas the anarchists wanted a new revolutionary regime
-Different divisions had influences over different regions
-The relations between the key divisions deteriorated as May Days happened, and the communist
led an attack on the POUM and anarchist leaders, leading to political dissension.
-Communists Party, the only republican group which received clear foreign support from the USSR. Its
most graphic expression emerged early in the war in the form of what has been termed a situation of
'dual power'. Thus, although the Republican state retained de jure power, de facto power lay with a
variety of extra-state bodies, mainly associated with revolutionary elements such as the anarchist
CNT, the dissident Marxist POUM, and left socialists in the P-SOE. These groups were actively working
independently as part of the revolutionary process. The key problem facing government leaders in the
Republic, therefore, was how to re-establish their own political authority, a task massively
complicated by the earlier granting of a significant degree of regional autonomy. Once again, there
was a lack of unity within the military as there was no unified command

When the Communists were able to seize the military initiative on the Republican side and organise
the Popular Army, which became the backbone of the Republican war effort. However, its
effectiveness was undermined by the political rivalries endemic to the Republican cause. In order to
maintain their dominance and ensure the total collapse of the revolution, the Communists denied the
forcibly militarised CNT militia columns adequate weaponry. At no point were the Republicans able to
have anything other than local success in seizing the initiative. They remained on the strategic
defensive for most of the war, and eventually lost a battle of attrition.

-Anarchist militias and Basques refused to by led by a central command structure, different fronts
operated separately /did not permit their forces to defend areas outside their own territory

In contrast, the major strength and the key to success was the unity of the Nationalists was unity,
despite being in the same situations as the Republicans, Franco could achieve political unity and
merge parties together under one control.

Importantly German and Italian aid arrived on request and was channelled through Franco while
Soviet aid came through one of the Republics factions, the Communists. Soviet aid was principally
designed to prolong resistance while German and Italian aid was designed to secure victory.

In conclusion, one crucial difference between the two sides was that the Nationalists united in terms
of what they were fighting against, the Republican forces were divided over what they were fighting
for - in defence of the constitution and political institutions of the Second Republic and those who
sought to use the war as the launch-pad for social revolution. This division on the Republican side,
exacerbated by the role of the Soviet Union, was a crucial factor in the ultimate defeat of the
Republic. If it was more discipline and order in the armed forces, together with continued Soviet
supplies, were essential to the Republic's chances of victory. Most importantly and tragically,
however, they were often at war with themselves. Internal political conflicts, the international context
within which the war erupted, together with military and economic inferiority, combined to ensure
that the Republic was effectively doomed from the moment Franco's uprising became a civil war.
Internal conflict regarding priorities, with some members of the Republican faction choosing to
pursue revolutionary political agendas as the top priority when hindsight shows us that focusing on
military concerns might have been more prudent