Abstract
1936 to 1939 were explosive years in Spanish history. For some time, social and economic forces complicated by clericalism, regionalism, isolationism, and idealism had been building up to a forceful climax. For two centuries the Spanish state had been corrupt and weak. When the State collapsed in 1808, an unreliable Army seized control. Thus began a struggle between the Army and an implacably conservative Church. After the latter lost its land in 1837, the Church's hold on the working classes diminished. As a result, the only stable and powerful political force was the common people.