On July 17, General Francisco Franco Bahamonde, Captain-General of the Canary Islands, embarked in Tenerife for Tetouan, after declaring himself against the Republican government. On July 18, the "National Movement" was launched on the impulse of General Franco,' who launched a manifesto the same day. On the 19th, a troop transport crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and landed in Algeciras. The civil war has begun.
Until then, the ideas were rather vague and the men undecided. As soon as hostilities were opened, ideas became clearer and new men appeared alongside the old ones. In each camp, one evaluates its moral forces and one counts its material forces. Political and military problems were closely intertwined and there was great confusion at first, both on the Republican side and among those who were not yet called Francoists.
On the government side, the moral forces are embodied by the left-wing political parties and the autonomists:the Republican Left, the Republican Union, the Catalan Left and the Basque Nationalists. They will be flanked, on the extreme left, by the workers' parties:socialist, communist, unified socialist of Catalonia, communist trotskyist - the P.O.U.M. — and anarchist — the Federaciôn anarquista ibérica — and the two big unions:the U.G.T. — Union general del trabajo — and the C.N.T.
— Confederacion national del trabajo
the first, a socialist and the second, an anarchist. Such a political spectrum results in differences in the objectives to be achieved. The far left does not separate war from revolution. It advocates a workers' army, supported by the international proletariat. The republican parties, the Catalan and Basque autonomists, the right wing of the socialist party and the communist party claim that the war must be won. After the victory, we will make the revolution.
Two opposing tendencies which will be at the origin of the disparate character of the government army. Its material forces, in fact, if they include all of the navy and almost all of the air force, lack cadres. Admittedly, they have brave and enthusiastic leaders:Generals Hernandez Sarahia, Asensio, Miaja, Riquelme and Colonels Mangada, Escobar and Villaba. But the junior officers are rare and the troops inexperienced, which is normal, because it was necessary to mobilize in all haste, in the industrial regions, workers who had never held a gun. The political factor is predominant. For the most part, these improvised soldiers are above all militants and often anti-militarists. Making them obey is not easy. If they accept the discipline of the party, they do not accept that of the army. “Militiah, yes, soldiers_ no! »