page_title: History of Catalonia
section_title: Civil War
hierarchical_section_title: History of Catalonia / Modern period (1808–1939) / Civil War
caption_attribution_description: English: spanish civil war evolution in Catalonia Català: evolució de la guerra civil espanyola a Catalunya
context_page_description: Catalonia was first settled during the Middle Palaeolithic era. Like the rest of the Mediterranean side of the Iberian Peninsula, the area was occupied by the Iberians and several Greek colonies were established on the coast before the Roman conquest. It was the first area of Hispania conquered by the Romans. It then came under Visigothic rule after the collapse of the western part of the Roman Empire. In 718, the area was occupied by the Umayyad Caliphate and became a part of Muslim ruled al-Andalus. The Frankish Empire conquered the area from the Muslims, ending with the conquest of Barcelona in 801, as part of the creation of a larger buffer zone of Christian counties against Islamic rule known as the Marca Hispanica. In the 10th century the County of Barcelona became progressively independent from Frankish rule.
context_section_description: The defeat of the initial military rebellion against the Republican government in Barcelona by forces of the Generalitat and workers' militias placed Catalonia firmly in the Republican camp. The loyalist victory allowed to the workers' self-armed militias, predominantly anarchists, to became the real power of the streets, which meant the beginning of a harsh repression in Catalonia against those elements of being "fascist" or right-wing simpatizers. Both the Generalitat and the central government were unable to stop the arbitrary revolutionary violence. During the war, there were two powers coexisting in Catalonia: the de jure power of the Generalitat and the de facto power of the armed popular militias. In order to began the recovering of some control of the situation, Companys authorized in July 21th the establishment of a joint body by the different Catalan republican parties and the anarchist CNT and socialist UGT trade unions, The Central Committee of Antifascist Militias of Catalonia (CCMA), becoming the effective Catalan government until its dissolution, two months later, replaced by a new government of the Generalitat which included anarchist ministers. Throughout Catalonia many sectors of the economy fell under the control of the CNT and the UGT, where workers' self-management was implemented. These included any kind of industry and services and thousands of dwellings previously owned by the upper classes. Initially, the newly collectivized factories encountered various problems. In response to these problems, the Generalitat, backed by the CNT approved a decree on "Collectivization and Workers' Control" on 24 October 1936. Under this decree all firms with more than 100 workers were to be collectivized and those with 100 or less could be collectivized if a majority of workers agreed. Violent confrontations between the workers' parties culminated in the defeat of the CNT-FAI and POUM in the 1937 May Days, against whom the PSUC unleashed strong repression. The local situation resolved itself progressively in favor of the Generalitat, but at the same time the Generalitat partially lost its autonomous power within republican Spain.
  The military forces of the Generalitat, weakly structured between December 1936 and May 1937 in the People's Army of Catalonia (Exèrcit Popular de Catalunya), were concentrated on two fronts: Aragon and Majorca. The latter was an utter disaster. The Aragon front resisted firmly until 1938, when the occupation of Lleida and Balaguer destabilized it. Finally, Franco's troops broke the republican territory in two by occupying Vinaròs, isolating Catalonia from the rest of republican Spain. The defeat of the Republican armies in the Battle of the Ebro led in 1938 and 1939 to the occupation of Catalonia by Franco's forces, who abolished completely the Catalan self-government and brought in a dictatorial regime, which took strong measures against Catalan nationalism and culture. Only forty years later, after Franco's death (1975) and the adoption of a democratic constitution in Spain (1978), did Catalonia recover its autonomy and reconstitute the Generalitat (1977).
  George Orwell served with the POUM in Catalonia from December 1936 until June 1937. His memoir of that time, Homage to Catalonia, was first published in 1938 and foreshadowed the causes of Second World War. It remains one of the most widely read books on the Spanish Civil War.
caption: Francoist offensives during the occupation of Catalonia
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