🚂 Targets
The units raided railways, bridges and supply lines. Blowing up a track or a bridge could stop trains carrying soldiers, weapons and food for hours or days.
The Changing Nature of Warfare, 1919-39 » Guerrilla Tactics in the Spanish Civil War
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Edexcel spec: Paper 2 Section B, Breadth study B6, Key topic 1
- Who fought in the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39, and why it was a testing ground for new weapons
- How Republican guerrilla units attacked behind Nationalist lines
- Why guerrilla tactics had only a limited effect in this war
- How warfare in 1939 was different from warfare in 1919
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Unlock This CourseA war with two sides
The Changing Nature of Warfare and International Conflict, 1919-2011, is one of eight Paper 2 Section B breadth studies. You study only one of them. It is about change over time in land, sea and air warfare, weapons and guerrilla warfare. This lesson looks at guerrilla fighting in Spain, then compares warfare at the start and end of the years 1919-39.
In July 1936 army officers rose up against Spain's elected Republican government. The rebels were called the Nationalists, and General Francisco Franco soon became their leader. The government side was called the Republic. The result was a civil war that lasted until the Nationalist victory in 1939.
Other countries took sides. Germany and Italy sent aircraft, tanks and troops to help Franco. The Soviet Union sent weapons, tanks, aircraft and advisers to the Republic. Spain became a place where armies tried out new weapons and tactics.
Key terms:
- Guerrilla warfare: fighting by small, lightly armed groups who use surprise attacks, raids and sabotage instead of big battles. The word is Spanish for "little war".
- Sabotage: deliberately damaging or destroying things such as railways, bridges or telegraph lines to hurt an enemy.
- Regular army: a country's organised, uniformed army, with heavy weapons and a supply system.
Guerrilla tactics in Spain
Most of the war was fought by regular armies along fronts. But the Republic also used guerrilla units. They were small groups that crossed or slipped past the front line and worked behind Nationalist lines. Some were trained by Soviet advisers in raiding and sabotage.
🎯 Aims
The aims were to slow the Nationalist army, force Franco to keep troops guarding the rear instead of fighting at the front, and make the Nationalists feel less safe.
This was a different style of fighting from the trench battles of the First World War. It depended on small numbers, secrecy and surprise.
Why the effect was limited
The guerrillas were brave and sometimes did real damage, but they did not decide the war. There were three main reasons.
- The war was won by regular armies. The big turning points were set-piece battles, such as the Battle of the Ebro in 1938, fought by large armies with tanks and artillery.
- Air power and heavy weapons mattered more. German and Italian aircraft helped Franco. In April 1937 German aircraft bombed the town of Guernica. A guerrilla unit with explosives could not stop tanks or bombers.
- Raids could be repaired. A damaged bridge or railway could be mended, and small units could be hunted down. The guerrillas were too few to cut Franco's supplies for long.
By early 1939 the Nationalists had won, and the war ended in April 1939. Guerrilla tactics were a useful extra for the Republic, but not a war-winner.
Warfare in 1919 and in 1939
📅 1919: the last war's lessons
Armies had just fought the First World War: gas, heavy artillery, slow tanks used with infantry (as at Cambrai in 1917) and small bomber raids such as the Gotha raids of 1917. U-boats had been fought with convoys.
✈️ 1939: new ideas ready
Germany had panzer divisions (from 1935). Fighters and bombers had been used in Abyssinia and China. Navies trusted sonar and Germany was rebuilding its U-boats. Spain had shown guerrilla raids and air attacks on towns.
What changed: tanks and aircraft became more important and more powerful, and more countries believed the next war would be fought from the air as well as on the ground. What stayed the same: gas was still feared, and big armies and industrial strength still decided who won.
Common mistakes
- Saying guerrilla tactics won the Spanish Civil War. They were a small part of a war won by Franco's regular forces.
- Mixing up the sides. Franco led the Nationalists, who rebelled. The Republic was the government.
- Writing about only one period in a comparison question. You need a fact about 1919 and a fact about 1939.
Exam-style question
Explain TWO ways in which warfare in 1939 was different from warfare in 1919. [6 marks]
Model answer
One difference was in the use of tanks. In 1919 tanks were still slow machines that had mainly been used to support infantry, as at Cambrai in 1917. By 1939 Germany had formed panzer divisions (from 1935), which grouped fast tanks together as the main striking force of an army.
A second difference was in air warfare. In 1919 bombing was still small scale, such as the Gotha raids of 1917. By 1939 fighters and bombers had been used on a large scale, with Italy's attack on Abyssinia in 1935-36 and Japan's bombing of Shanghai and Nanjing in 1937, and many people believed that bombers would always get through.
What lifts it to the top level: two ways, each making a direct comparison with a precise fact about both 1919 and 1939.
Exam tip
Use the pattern "In 1919 ... whereas by 1939 ..." for each way. A way with facts about only one date cannot score more than 3 out of 6.
Recap
- The Spanish Civil War (1936-39) was fought between Franco's Nationalists and the Republic, with foreign help on both sides.
- Republican guerrillas, some trained by Soviet advisers, raided railways, bridges and supply lines behind Nationalist lines.
- Their effect was limited because regular armies, heavy weapons and air power decided the war.
- By 1939 tanks and aircraft had changed warfare far more than in 1919.