Scen01  Great Campaign nat

Dates: 07-17-1936 to 09-01-1939


CVL Reina Isabella has been added. Located in Kiel she is an Argus (UK) class carrier with an aircraft capacity of 18. She carries two squadrons - one of torpedo bombers with 10 aircraft and one of fighter-bombers with 8 aircraft. See Mod Design Notes for more detail.


Historical context:

The Spanish Civil War (Spanish: Guerra Civil Espanola) was a civil war in Spain fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republicans and the Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the left-leaning Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic. The Popular Front was composed of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), the Communist Party of Spain (PCE), and the Republicans - Republican Left (IR) (led by Azana) and Republican Union (UR) (led by Diego Martinez Barrio).
This pact was supported by Galician (PG) and Catalan Nationalists (ERC), the POUM, socialist union Workers' General Union (UGT), and the anarchist trade union, the Confederacion Nacional del Trabajo (CNT).

Many anarchists, who would later fight alongside Popular Front forces during the Spanish Civil War, did not support them in the election, urging abstention instead. The Popular Front fought against an insurrection by the Nationals, an alliance of falangists, monarchists, conservatives and traditionalists, led by a military Junta, among whom General Francisco Franco quickly achieved a preponderant role. Due to the international political climate at the time, the war had many facets and was variously viewed as class struggle, a religious struggle, a struggle between dictatorship and republican democracy, between revolution and counterrevolution, and between fascism and communism. According to Claude Bowers, U.S. ambassador to Spain during the war, it was the "dress rehearsal" for World War II. 
The Nationalists won the war, which ended in early 1939, and ruled Spain until Franco's death in November 1975.

The war began after a "pronunciamiento" (a declaration of military opposition of revolt) against the republican government by a group of generals of the Spanish Republican Armed Forces, with General Emilio Mola as the primary planner and leader and having General Jose Sanjurjo as a figurehead. The government at the time was a coalition of republicans, supported in the parliament by communist and socialist parties, under the leadership of centre-left president Manuel Azana.

The nationalist group was supported by a number of conservative groups, including CEDA, monarchists, both the opposing Alfonsists, the religious conservative Carlists, and the Falange Espanola de las JONS, a fascist political party. After the deaths of Sanjurjo, Emilio Mola and Manuel Goded Llopis, Franco emerged as the remaining leader of the national side.

The coup was supported by military units in Morocco, Pamplona, Burgos, Zaragoza, Valladolid, Cadiz, Cordoba, and Seville. However, rebelling units in almost all important cities - such as Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Bilbao, and Malaga - did not gain control, and those cities remained under the control of the government. But Spain was militarily and politically divided. The nationalists and the republican government fought for control of the country.

The Nationalist forces received munitions, soldiers, and air support from fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, while the republican side received support from the Soviet Union and Mexico. Other countries, such as the United Kingdom, the French Third Republic, and the United States, continued to recognise the Republican government but followed an official policy of non-intervention. Despite this policy, tens of thousands of citizens from non-interventionist countries directly participated in the conflict. They fought mostly in the pro-republican International Brigades, which also included several thousand exiles from pro-nationalist regimes.

The Nationalists advanced from their strongholds in the south and west, capturing most of Spain's northern coastline in 1937. They also besieged Madrid and the area to its south and west for much of the war. After much of Catalonia was captured in 1938 and Madrid cut off from Barcelona, the Republican military position became hopeless. Following the fall without resistance of Barcelona in January 1939, the Nationalist regime was recognised by France and the United Kingdom in February 1939. 

On 5 March 1939, Colonel Segismundo Casado led a military coup against the republican government, following internal conflict between republican factions in Madrid in the same month. The new Republican government asked for peace and, finally, Franco entered the capital and declared victory on 1 April 1939.

Hundreds of thousands of spaniards fled to refugee camps in southern France. Those associated with the losing Republicans who stayed were persecuted by the victorious Nationalists.

Franco established a dictatorship in which all right-wing parties were fused into the structure of the Franco regime.

The war became notable for the passion and political division it inspired and for the many atrocities that occurred on both sides. Organised purges occurred in territory captured by Franco's forces so they could consolidate their future regime. Mass executions on a lesser scale also took place in areas controlled by the Republicans, with the participation of local authorities varying from location to location. It was the darkest page in Spanish history.

Even today, the SCW is a topic that provokes discussion in Spanish society.


Units:

At the beginning, you have the best troops in Africa and several army units on the peninsula. Your units and officers are better than the Republicans, but less numerous. In the following months you will recruit many militias and military units to support your campaign. In the autumn of 1936 you will begin to receive german and italian aid. By 1937 you should have a large army for great offensives.

Your air force is scarce at the beginning of the war, but German (Legion Condor) and italian aid will help build up your aerial forces starting in the autumn of 1936.

At sea, you start with a smaller but more experienced fleet. You have the main naval base, Ferrol. 


Goals:

You must get the troops from Africa to Spain ASAP. In 1936, your main target is the capital of Madrid. If you capture the city before mid-December, you'll have instant victory. But first you should link your northern and southern areas, controlling the entire border with Portugal.

If you can't take Madrid, you have more options. Conquering the Northern Republic would be the best (and historical) path, as it would leave the Republicans without much manpower or supplies. Of course, you must prevent the Northern Republic from linking up with the Republicans. Later (or sooner) you can try the march to the Mediterranean coast cutting the Republicans in two areas or try another attack on Madrid. There are many options, but the enemy has them too.
 
