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Historical Notes for

"...and they put handcuffs on the flowers."

THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR.
     Because the events of the Spanish Civil War figure so prominently in this play, it is worthwhile to review some basic facts about this Civil War that had so much impact on history.
     A detailed timeline of the war is included below.

HOW IT BEGAN.
     After the dissolution of the Spanish Monarchy in 1931, a coalition of moderates, progressives, and radicals known as the "Popular Front" won the national elections in February of 1936.  Spain's privileged classes feared that the socialists, anarchists, and communists involved with the Popular Front would institute radical reforms redistributing wealth and land ownership and curtailing the power of the Catholic Church.  Openly pro-fascist groups like the Falange organized on the streets of Spain preparing for battle.
     On July 17th, 1936, General Francisco Franco launched a military coup with the goal of wresting power away from the progressive civilian government.  The coup quickly drew support from the vast majority of Spain's army, property holders, and clergy.
     On July 19th, 1936, anti-fascists forces started to mobilize.  Angry groups of workers stormed the barracks of Barcelona, disbanded the garrison, and seized effective control of the city.  They immediately began organizing a series of peoples' militias out of various left-wing trade unions and political parties -- the largest being the militia of the Anarchist Trade Union, the C.N.T. -- to resist Franco's coup.  In the days that followed, similar uprisings occurred in Madrid, Valencia, Cartagena, and throughout many of Spain's most important industrial centers.
     By September of 1936, Spain had polarized into two combat-ready camps owing allegiance to the extreme opposites of the political spectrum.  Roughly speaking, Franco's forces (also know as the "Nationalists") controlled Spanish Morocco and the northwest and southwest of Continental Spain while the supporters of the democratically elected Republic (often referred to as "Republicans" or "Loyalists") controlled the central areas surrounding Madrid as well as much of the east and northeast of the peninsula.
     Internationally, Franco enjoyed the blessings of the Vatican as well as the military and financial support of Hitler and Mussolini.  Meanwhile, the Loyalists were supported by the Soviet Union and Mexico as well as by the "International Brigades." 

THE INTERNATIONAL BRIGADES.
     The International Brigades were anti-fascists from all over the world who volunteered to travel to Spain and join the struggle against Franco.  Recruits were organized into separate battalions based on their nationality.  Volunteers from the United States made up the "Lincoln Battalion", from Ireland, the "Connelly Battalion", etc.
     The International Brigades attracted large sections of idealists, activists, and artists of the day including soon-to-be-famous writers like George Orwell and Ernest Hemmingway.

RELIGION.
     The Civil War divided Spain not just geographically, politically, socially, and economically, but religiously as well.
     Franco portrayed himself as a latter-day crusader determined to rid Spain of the "godless scourge of Communism" as well as other non-Catholic elements that were considered "undesirable" (particularly homosexuals and ethnic and religious minorities such as Spain's Basque, Catalan, and Muslim populations).  
     The Catholic Church openly supported the military coup giving blessings to Nationalist forces while often denying communion to Loyalists.  The Pope would later give Franco complete authority over the Catholic Church in Spain (one of the very rare occasions where the Vatican bestowed such power upon a head of state).
     Loyalists (many of whom were fairly anti-religious to begin with) were outraged by the actions of the Catholic Church and struck back with no less vigor.  It was not uncommon for churches in Republican controlled areas to be burned or converted into latrines for Loyalist forces.  Anti-fascists would often enter graveyards and chip crucifixes and other religious emblems off of the tombstones of loved ones rather than see them rest under the insignia of the institution that had so bitterly turned against them.

THE WAR AND THE MASSACRES.
     While Loyalists won some important initial victories (making advances on the Aragon front and successfully defending Madrid and Guadalajara throughout late '36 and early '37), Franco's forces gradually gained the upper hand capturing various cities in the southeast (most notably Toledo in September of '36 and Malaga in February of '37).
     As Nationalist forces advanced, they frequently conducted large scale massacres not just of supporters of the Republic, but also of random sections of Spain's general populace.  Nationalist firing squads executed over 4,000 after the capture of Badajoz in August of '36.  The City of Irun was completely burned to the ground a month later.  After the fall of Malaga, the victorious troops were particularly vengeful executing almost 10,000 civilians in merely hours.  The slaughter was so severe that even Mussolini appealed to Franco to show more restraint.  Franco replied that these events were beyond his control.
     Perhaps the most notorious of all of Franco's massacres was the destruction of the Basque City of Guernica in April of 1937.  With the help of Hitler's newly unveiled Luftwaffe (air force), Nationalist forces conducted one of the first aerial bombardments in modern warfare leaving Guernica in ruins and almost all of its residents maimed or dead.  The devastation of this assault shocked world opinion like never before.  Pablo Picasso chronicled the wanton devastation of this event with his timeless masterpiece "Guernica."  

SECTARIAN BATTLES.
     Loyalists forces were greatly hindered by a grave lack of weapons, ammunition, supplies, training, and organization as well as by a virtually endless series of sectarian differences within their own ranks.  The disparate factions that made up the struggle against Franco (primarily socialists, communists, and anarchists as well as elements of mainstream elected officials from the original Republic) were constantly at odds.
     While Anarchists and Trotskyists called for a radical campaign to redistribute property, wealth, and political power in areas under Republican control, the Communist Party and pro-Republic sections of Spain's middle classes called for a more moderate program that they hoped would attract the support of Western democracies (particularly the U.S., France, and Britain).
     There was also considerable disagreement about how to wage the war.  While Anarchists fiercely defended the non-hierarchical structure of their various militias, the Government and the Communist Party wanted to see the militias disbanded in favor of a unified -- and better organized -- "Popular Army."
     Tensions between these factions finally came to a head in Barcelona in May of 1937 as government & Communist Party supporters battled against the very Anarchist groups that had originally launched the struggle against Franco!  After days of fighting, Government forces from Valencia occupied the city banning several Anarchist political parties, arresting hundreds, instituting censorship on a wide level, and forcibly disbanding certain militias (especially targeting the Anarchist/Marxist fusion party, the P.O.U.M.).
     The daring populist spirit that had originally fuelled the struggle against Franco was severely diminished by authoritarian measures such as these.

DEFEAT.
     While Loyalist forces were able to hold out for another two years, Nationalists continued to make steady gains.  In November of 1938, the International Brigades were ordered to withdraw from Spain for their own safety.  As Valencia, Cartagena, and Barcelona fell in late '38 and early '39, Republican troops scattered -- some surrendering (almost always to face summary execution), some fleeing abroad, and some retreating into the hills, while others attempted (usually unsuccessfully) to return to their old lives under the new regime.
     When Franco launched his final offensive on Madrid in the spring of '39, it met no resistance.  The Loyalist armies had simply melted away.  On April 1st, 1939, Franco declared total victory over all of Spain.  The Republic was no more.
     Shortly thereafter, Franco received a telegram from the Pope expressing the Holy See's joy at this "Catholic Victory."

THE AFTERMATH.
     Once Franco assumed complete control, the bloodshed only got worse.  Throughout the 1940s, millions were sent before firing squads as military tribunals (little more than kangaroo courts) sentenced "Enemies of the Fatherland" to execution after trials that often lasted less than five minutes a piece.
     Millions were imprisoned (in fact, one of Franco's first acts as Head of State was to order the construction of more prisons since they were always filled well beyond capacity).  Millions more were sentenced to years of forced labor.
     Anyone even suspected of having sympathy for the Republic could expect arrest -- the lucky ones were released only to be arrested again . . . and then released and then arrested again and thereby left in a continual state of peril.  Priests reported members of their flock who failed to attend Mass during the Civil War as this was considered proof of Republican allegiance -- yes, in Franco's Spain even failure to attend Mass could land you in prison!
     The rights of Spain's Muslim, Basque, and Catalan populations were devastated as never before as the Nationalist Government conducted massacres that approached the scale of outright ethnic cleansing.
     Amazingly, this hideous dictatorship would survive for almost four decades until Franco's death in 1975.

Chronology of the Spanish Civil War--Emphasizing the Lincoln Battalion Involvement