In October 1934, there was a left-wing revolt against the conservative government, based in several cities. In Asturias, the fighting developed into a small, short-lived civil war: the Asturian miners' strike of 1934. 50,000 workers, mostly miners, armed themselves with dynamite and captured Oviedo after heavy fighting. They gained control of the arsenal with 30,000 rifles and machine guns. The Army Chief of Staff, General Francisco Franco sent in soldiers who overpowered the rebels after severe street fighting that left 3,000 rebels dead and 7,000 wounded. The cathedral was badly damaged, with its eighth-century chapel blown up by a mine. In the aftermath, many false atrocity stories circulated.