Spanish Civil War

Spanish Sahara was the name used for the modern territory of Western Sahara when it was ruled as a territory by Spain between 1884 and 1975. The... territory represented one of the last remnants of the Spanish Empire, and was abandoned following international pressure, mainly UN decolonisation resolutions, as well as internal pressure from native populations and the external claims of Morocco and Mauritania. Its sovereignty remains under dispute. In 1884, Spain was awarded the coastal area of present-day Western Sahara at the Berlin Conference, and began establishing trading posts and a military presence. In the summer of 1886, under the sponsorship of the Spanish Society of Commercial Geography , Julio Cervera Baviera, Felipe Rizzo , and Francisco Quiroga traversed the colony of Rio de Oro, where they made topographical and astronomical observations in a land whose features were barely known at the time to geographers. It is considered the first scientific expedition in that part of the Sahara.
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The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west... of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union. The islands include : Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, La Palma, La Gomera, El Hierro, La Graciosa, Alegranza, Isla de Lobos, Montaña Clara, Roque del Este and Roque del Oeste. The Canary Islands are legally recognized as a nationality of Spain. Geographically it is a part of the African Continent. The archipelago's beaches, climate and important natural attractions, especially Teide National Park and Mount Teide , make it a major tourist destination, with over 12 million visitors per year, especially Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote. The islands have a subtropical climate, with long warm summers and moderately warm winters.
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The Spanish protectorate of Morocco was the area of Morocco under colonial rule by the Spanish Empire, established by the Treaty of Fez in 1912 and... ending in 1956, when both France and Spain recognized Moroccan independence. The territories of the Spanish protectorate of Morocco included northern Morocco , and the Cape Juby or Tarfaya Strip in the extreme South. On the contrary, the small territory of Ifni, being of Spanish sovereignty, was not a part of the Spanish protectorate. The capital of Spanish protectorate of Morocco was Tetuán . The rest of the country was ruled by France, under the name of French Morocco, also from 1912 to 1956. The city of Tangier was declared an international zone, though this status was suspended during World War II when it was provisionally occupied by Spanish troops, from 14 June 1940, on the pretext that an Italian invasion was imminent.
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The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The four largest... islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital city. The co-official languages in the Balearic Islands are Catalan and Spanish. The current Statute of Autonomy declares the Balearic Islands as one nationality of Spain. The main islands of the autonomous are Majorca , Minorca , Ibiza and Formentera, all of which are popular tourist destinations. Among the minor islands is Cabrera, which is the location of the Parc Nacional de l'Arxipèlag de Cabrera. The islands can be further grouped, with Majorca, Menorca, and Cabrera as the Gymnesian Islands , and Ibiza and Formentera as the Pine Islands .
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The Battle of Badajoz was one of the first major Nationalist victories in the Spanish Civil War. A series of costly assaults won the Nationalists the... fortified border city of Badajoz on August 14, 1936, cutting off the Spanish Republic from neighbouring Portugal and linking the northern and southern zones of Nationalist control . In the summer of 1936, German and Italian airlifts, and later the Nationalist fleet, transported almost 10,000 regular troops of the Spanish Army of Africa to southern Spain across the Straits of Gibraltar. The Nationalists, led by Francisco Franco, assembled at Seville and on August 1, General Franco ordered a sweep north to link up with General Mola's distant forces. Led in the field by Colonel Carlos Asensio and Major Antonio Castejón, the Nationalist Army dashed north in motorized detachments, pausing to bombard and capture walled frontier towns. By August 10, when Lieutenant Colonel Juan Yagüe arrived to take command near Mérida, the Nationalists had secured 300 km of the Portuguese frontier.
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Battle of Belchite was a group of military operations that took place in the Spanish Civil War between 24 August and 7 September 1937 nearby the town... of Belchite, in Aragon. After failed attempts to capture Brunete, the Republican military leadership decided to try a new series of offensives to slow down the Nationalist advance in the north. A new campaign, therefore, was planned for Aragon. The decision was based on political as well as military considerations, as the government saw it as a way to decrease anarchist and Workers' Party of Marxist Unification influence in the region by bringing in communist troops and incorporating three anarchist divisions into the newly-designated Army of the East under command of general Sebastián Pozas. Another objective of the planned offensive was to take Zaragoza, the capital of Aragon, which was only a few kilometres behind enemy lines. Capturing the regional capital offered more than symbolic significance, because it was also the communication centre of whole Aragon front.
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The Battle of Bilbao was part of the War in the North, during the Spanish Civil War where the Nationalist Army captured the city of Bilbao and the... remaining parts of the Basque Country still held by the Republic. Bilbao was the capital of the autonomous Basque area established by the Republic after the war began. This establishment was in payment for Basque Nationalist support of the Republic. The Basque people in Spain generally inhabit four provinces, Navarre, Álava, Gipuzkoa and Biscay. The Basque Nationalists were dominant in the latter two provinces. Navarre and Álava had rallied to the rising against the Republic. The Spanish Nationalists troops gained Gipuzkoa early in the war with the fall of Irún in August and San Sebastián, September 13, 1936., isolating the Basque country and the Northern Republican held zone from the French frontier. On 31 March, the Nationalist, led by the General Mola, launched an offensive against the Biscay province. The Basque troops had to retire and by June the Nationalist reached the outskirts of Bilbao.
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The Battle of Brunete , fought 15 miles west of Madrid, was a Republican attempt to alleviate the pressure exerted by the Nationalists on the capital... and on the north during the Spanish Civil War. Although initially successful, the Republicans were forced to retreat from Brunete and suffered devastating casualties from the battle. After the capture of Bilbao on June 19, the Republicans devised the attack on Brunete to divert Nationalist forces from the north and allow the fleeing Republicans time to reorganize. In addition, Brunete was also chosen because it was situated on the Extremadura road and its capture would make it harder for the Nationalists to resupply their forces besieging Madrid. From a political standpoint, the offensive was chosen for Brunete to satisfy communist demands and to prove to the Russians that the Spanish possessed military initiative. In fact, Russian advisors had been pressing for an attack on Brunete since the spring of 1937. Furthermore, assistance from the Soviet Union had decreased due to the successful blockade of Republican ports by the Nationalists.
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