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“The Three-Cornered Hat and the Tri-Colored Flag” The Civil Guard and the Second Spanish Republic, 1931–1936
Gerald Blaney Jr
Gerald Blaney Jr is
the Cañada Blanch Fellow in Spanish History at the London School
of Economics and Political Science. He has published several
works on the Civil Guard, and policing issues in Interwar Europe.
The Civil Guard, Spain’s paramilitary constabulary, played a highly influential role in the trajectory of the Second Republic. Many scholars have observed that when the military rebelled in July 1936, the division of Spain in those first few days roughly corresponded to the split of the loyalties amongst the Civil Guard in favour of either the Popular Front government or the insurgents. In this sense, the defection of so many civil guards was instrumental in turning a military coup into a civil war. The impact the Civil Guard had on the Republic can also be seen in other ways. Arguably second only to the Catholic Church in its polarizing symbolism, the violence that occasionally accompanied confrontations between civil guards and workers did little to calm tensions during Spain’s first democracy, and at times caused national controversy and heated debates about the nature of the Republican regime.
… Despite the undeniable importance of the Civil Guard, it largely has been neglected as a topic in its own right by historians of the period. In this first full account (and the only one in English) that consults in a systematic fashion available primary sources, the author seeks to place the Spanish experience within the broader context of Interwar Europe. While some studies have emerged on Germany and Italy, the Spanish case has often been overlooked despite its scope and significance. This book will appeal not only to historians of 1930s Spain and Interwar Europe, but also to scholars who have an interest in issues of the evolution of police forces, (democratic) reform, and political violence and social conflict.
Published in association with theCañada
Blanch Centre for Contemporary Spanish Studies
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