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Spain from Democracy to Dictatorship: Republic, Civil War and Francoism, 1931-1953

Module description

Between 1931 and 1953, Spaniards experienced the birth and collapse of their country’s first democracy, a three-year civil war and the fierce Francoist repression of the immediate post-war period. This module will introduce students to this tumultuous period, examining the key events in both a national and international context. We begin by analysing the social and political mobilisation, change and fragmentation of the democratic Second Republic (1931-1936). The course then covers the Spanish Civil War (1936 – 1939) and the most repressive period of the Francoist dictatorship (1939 – 1953).

This module is suitable for all Hispanic Studies students at level two.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to:

• Provide you with an overview of the key events and themes in Spanish history during the 1930s, 1940s and early 1950s
• Assess the political, social and cultural changes inaugurated by the Second Republic, as well as exploring the motives and mentalities which lay behind the 1936 military coup which escalated into the Spanish Civil War
• Analyse the course of the civil war, as well as the violence which occurred in both zones of Spain (Republican and Insurgent) during the conflict
• Survey the fierce repression of the early years of the Francoist dictatorship, as well as the reasons behind the failure of the armed guerrilla resistance to Franco
• Analyse themes like mass political mobilisation, the Francoist nation building project and the outcome of the Civil War in a broader European context
• Analyse primary sources and to formulate sophisticated written and verbal arguments in relation to these themes

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate a sound general understanding of the key themes of the period of Spanish Second Republic, Civil War and early Francoist dictatorship
• 2. Evaluate the main developments within Spain during the period, developed through independent study and seminars
• 3. Demonstrate critical familiarity with a range of secondary and primary texts (in English and Spanish) relating to these themes and developments

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Present a detailed argument in the appropriate register of English, mustering a range of historical and textual evidence in its support
• 5. Analyse the key developments within a particular historical environment
• 6. Identify, focus on and comprehend complex issues
• 7. Recognise and apply, in written or oral contexts, a range of political and historical terminology in a comprehensible manner
• 8. With some guidance from the course tutor, evaluate and apply a range of historiographical approaches and interpretations to the material covered

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 9. Undertake defined learning activities with a measure of autonomy, asking for guidance where necessary
• 10. Select, criticise and organise material in order to produce, to a deadline, a written argument
• 11. Using course material provided, research, plan and write an essay on a chosen aspect of the subject, to a specified length and deadline

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

• Introduction to the course /key themes in twentieth-century Spanish history
• Spain before 1931
• The Second Republic 1931 – 1933: Reform and Reaction
• The Second Republic 1933 – 1936: The ‘Bienio Negro’ and the Popular Front
• The military coup of 17-18 July 1936 and the escalation to civil war
• The Civil War: The Republican Zone
• The Civil War: The Francoist Zone
• The international context: appeasement, Non-Intervention and geostrategic considerations, 1931 - 1953
• Franco’s ‘peace’: mass trials, denunciation, social complicity and the prison universe
• Resistance: Republican identity, everyday resistance and the antifrancoist guerrilla

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Raymond Carr, Modern Spain 1875-1980 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980) 946.08 CAR
• Julián Casanova, The Spanish Republic and Civil War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010) 946.081 CAS  (original Spanish version: República y guerra civil, Barcelona: Crítica, 2007) 460.141 RUI Top of Form
• Julián Casanova (coordinador), Francisco Espinosa, Conxita Mir, Francisco Moreno Gómez, Morir, matar, sobrevivir: la violencia en la dictadura de Franco (Barcelona: Crítica, 2004) 946.082 CAS 
• Giuliana Di Febo and Santos Juliá, El franquismo (Barcelona: Paidós, 2005) 946.082 DIF  
• Josep Fontana (ed.), España bajo el Franquismo (Barcelona: Critica, 1986) 946.082 ESP
• Helen Graham, The Spanish Civil War: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005) 946.081 GRA  
• Helen Graham, The War and its Shadow: Spain’s civil war in Europe’s long twentieth century (Brighton and Portland: Sussex Academic Press, 2012) 946.081 GRA
• Stanley G. Payne, Spain's first democracy : the Second Republic, 1931-1936 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1993) 946.081 PAY  
• Paul Preston, The Spanish Civil War: Revolution, Reaction and Revenge (London: Harper Perennial, 2006) 946.081 PRE
• Paul Preston, The Spanish Holocaust: inquisition and extermination in twentieth-century Spain (London: Harper Press, 2011) 946.081 MUS/PRE  
• Francisco J. Romero Salvadó, The Spanish Civil War: origins, course, and outcomes (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005) 946.081 ROM   
• Francisco J.Romero Salvadó, Twentieth -century Spain: politics and society in Spain, 1898-1998 (Basingstoke : Macmillan, 1999) 946.08 ROM  
• Adrian Shubert, A social history of modern Spain (London : Unwin Hyman, 1990) 946 SHU  Top of Form
• Giles Tremlett, Ghosts of Spain: travels through a country's hidden past / Giles Tremlett (London : Faber and Faber, 2006) 946.08 TRE  

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=7545
• Archivo del No-Do franquista (Noticias y Documentales), Televisión Española http://www.rtve.es/filmoteca/no-do/historia/
• Hemeroteca de ABC http://hemeroteca.abc.es/
• Hemeroteca de La Vanguardia http://www.lavanguardia.com/hemeroteca/
• Hemeroteca Digital, Biblioteca Nacional de España http://www.bne.es/es/Catalogos/HemerotecaDigital/
• Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, Portal de Archivos Españoles (PARES)   http://pares.mcu.es/
• University of California, San Diego, Online Resources, From the Southworth Spanish Civil War Collection (particularly Spanish Civil War Memory Project, Audio Visual Archive of the Francoist Repression). http://libraries.ucsd.edu/locations/mscl/resources/index.html
• Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archive http://www.alba-valb.org/
• Google Cultural Institute, The Spanish Civil War http://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/?hl=en-GB#!exhibit:exhibitId=QRWI5SN-

Key words search

Spain; Spanish History; European History; Second Spanish Republic; Spanish Civil War; Francoism