Los estados mayores del ejército ante el 18 de julio

Abstract

We discuss the relevance of the study of the officer corps in the Spanish army in 1936. Then we develop a case study on the group of the General Staff. It is well known that out of twelve generals, commanders of the main Army divisions, only three rebelled against the Government in July 1936. Various authors have claimed that most of the Staff’s colonels (just below in hierarchy to the general commanders of the organic divisions) were involved in the Spring of 1936 conspiracy against the Republican Government, and moreover claim they had a key role wherever the July military uprising was successful. In this article we establish, on the contrary, that only a minority of them were involved in the conspiracy. Likewise a minority of them were initially part of the rebellion, even if all but three finally joined the rebels. We also discuss the persistance of a simplistic view on the attitudes of the army officers with respect to the July 18th uprising.