Matrix Games

Why did we decide to create the War in Spain 1936-39 game? 

As a team, we wanted to create a new series of games with the type of War in the Pacific-style gameplay that we all enjoy.  So, how did we end up making a wargame about the Spanish Civil War, on the other side of the world? Partly because we were already looking at the Mediterranean Sea and a conflict that did include both land, sea and air forces and partly because of my own interest in this subject.

I joined the team because I wanted to help in the creation of a game that many spanish wargamers and other fans have wanted for a long time: a deep and detailed game about the civil war that devastated my country during three long years of fights and massacres. A war that confronted the three most relevant ideologies of its time and served as a test of tactics and weapons for three major powers that would fight in the World War that was coming: Germany, Italy, and the USSR.

But why was there a civil war in Spain? Currently, there are still many spanish historians who discuss the causes of the start of this civil war and, therefore, there is no final consensus on the main reasons that led to the military uprising. Depending on the academic’s background and, sometimes, their ideology, they give more importance to some facts than others.

The indisputable fact is that the conflict was caused by a military coup against the spanish legal government, with the goal of the coup being the establishment of a dictatorship. The coup began with the uprising of spanish troops who were in north Africa, between July 17-18, 1936. 

However, the coup failed, and the country fell into a civil war.  Spain had become a republic in 1931, after the expulsion of king Alfonso Xlll, but the ideological divisions in the country, as in other parts of Europe, led to several protests and revolts by both left-wing and right-wing activists. 

In February 1936, the left won the elections and many army officers who were more favorable to the right did not agree with the result. So, they decided to take power. The reaction by the government of the republic, at first, was to downplay the issue. The military revolt did not triumph in the main cities and more than half of the country. The government thought that the coup d'état would soon be over, but that was not the case.

The war reached an international scale. The fascist governments of Germany and Italy quickly helped the coup plotters by sending weapons (later by sending military units), which strengthened their positions, and they began to conquer territory. The government of the republic had no help from the english or french democracies, only international volunteers. Stalin’s government, on the other hand, saw an opportunity to create an ally on the other side of Europe.  However, their help would take months to arrive. 

Furthermore, in the government of the republic there was a power vacuum in the first months of the war, because the workers and union members, who had ended the military coup in cities like Madrid and Barcelona, took justice into their own hands, by not obeying the orders of the government. Violence was unleashed against the "allies of the fascists": clerics, rich people, landowners, right-wing politicians, etc. 

On the opposite side, the military (now "nationalists") began to shoot the 'allies of the communism": workers, union members, government officials, schoolteachers, etc. There were more killed behind the front than on the front line. As general Franco said in an interview with the American journalist Jay Allen: “I will save Spain from marxism at any price”. “Do you mean that you will shoot half of Spain if necessary?” “l said at any price.”

The War in Spain 1936-39 would be bloodier than the American Civil War. It would have more deaths in a country that is only the size of California. As is often the case in Civil Wars, kinship, mercy and forgiveness were replaced by political and religious hatred.

From a military point of view, the War in Spain 1936-39 was a test or proving ground for the tactics of the future World War. The use of tanks, bombing of cities, close air support for ground units were all examples from which the germans drew many conclusions. They later would apply these lessons against Poland and France. But this war was also a trench war in the style of World War l, with more modern weapons and popular participation.

The main battles took place around Madrid in the first months, which prevented Franco from conquering the capital. They were the only republican victories, or draws, in epic and pyrrhic battles. As Artur Koestler (Spanish Testament, 1937) said: 'l can no longer aspire to be objective... Anyone who has lived in the hell of Madrid with their eyes, their nerves, their heart, their stomach, and then pretends to be objective, he is a liar. If those who have machines and printing ink to express their opinions remain neutral and objective in the face of such bestiality, then Europe is lost."

Franco, after the failure of Madrid, decided to prolong the war, gradually conquering the rest of the country with the help of german units (Condor Legion) and Italian units (CTV). On the republican side, socialists and communists argued with the anarchists about how to wage war, until conflict broke out in Barcelona in May 1937, like a civil war within the civil war. The communists and socialists won the struggle, forcing the anarchists to integrate into the republican army, increasingly under Soviet Communist influence, because Stalin was the main supplier of weapons and instructors to the republic.

In 1937, the Nationalists conquered the north slowly, without regard to the losses or destruction caused (see the bombing of Guernica).  Franco's repression was brutal. Few prisoners were taken. The republicans counterattacked by taking the strategic Teruel at the beginning of 1938, after a long winter battle, which historians would call the "Spanish Stalingrad."

Franco became obsessed with recovering Teruel, and he achieved it in just over a month. In April 1938, the nationalist advance reached the Mediterranean Sea and cut the republican territory into two parts.

The war seemed like a loss for the Republicans, but they decided to carry out a last attack on the Ebro River with their best troops to reunite their two sides. It was the hard-fought Battle of the Ebro (July-November 1938). The final great battle of the war. The result would be a republican defeat. The war was lost and Soviet aid was no longer enough to change the outcome.

The Republicans tried to prolong the war, because they suspected, rightly, that Europe could enter into conflict soon, and they would be able to receive more help from the enemies of Germany and Italy. However, they didn't hold out long enough, because troops and material were scarce for the resistance. 

Barcelona was conquered by Franco in January 1939, and in March a coup d'état triumphed against the communists within the republican side. The new republican government surrendered to Franco hoping for clemency. They didn't know the "Generalissimo", because there would be no forgiveness for almost anyone.

The defeated republicans would suffer a hard repression for decades: shootings, prison or exile. So, the consequences of the civil war are still very much present in Spanish society today. The War in Spain 1936-39 is a topic of conversation that can still be the cause of strong debates at dinners or gatherings of friends.

This wargame tries to reconstruct the conflict in its military and logistical aspects, within a system that is unlike any other. In my opinion, we have done this in a historical way that is respectful of both sides and we hope this small masterpiece will help wargamers understand what happened here.
 

By Alejandro Carneiro (Piteas)
Game Designer "War In Spain 1936-1939"

Joint Warfare Simulations

WISHLIST THE GAME NOW.