Civil War

S1 E4: By the summer of 1936, the democratic experiment known as the 2nd Spanish Republic is in free fall, as a cadre of military generals launch a coup, seeking a return to a more traditional Spain. In Barcelona, the coup is repelled, with the help of armed workers and anarchists. The war, pitting the Nationalist Rebels against the Republicans, will rage for three years, tearing the peninsula apart, and resulting in a death toll that is, to this day, unknown, with estimates ranging from 250,000 to 2 million. Significant events include a workers revolution in Barcelona, the city’s “Civil War within the Civil War,” the bombing of Barcelona, and the rise to power of Francisco Franco. Introducing major figures Vladimir Antonov-Ovseyenko, Joan García Oliver, Emilio Mola, José Sanjurjo, the episode concludes with the coup organizer’s victory, and the Nationalist march on Barcelona.