Spanish Civil War

American  

noun

1. the civil war in Spain 1936–39.

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Spanish Civil War British  

noun

1. the civil war in Spain from 1936 to 1939 in which insurgent nationalists, led by General Franco, succeeded in overthrowing the republican government. During the war Spain became an ideological battleground for fascists and socialists from all countries

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Spanish Civil War Cultural  

1. A war fought in the late 1930s in Spain. On one side were the Loyalists, Spaniards loyal to a recently elected government in the form of a republic; on the other side were fascists (see fascism), led by General Francisco Franco. The Soviet Union sent aid to the Loyalists, some of whom were communists; the German and Italian fascist dictators, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, supported Franco. The Spanish fascists won the war and set up Franco's long rule of Spain as a dictator.

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Many Americans favored one side or the other in the Spanish Civil War, particularly people of left-wing sympathies, who supported the Loyalists. The Abraham Lincoln Brigade included Americans who traveled to Spain to fight in the Loyalist cause.

Example Sentences

In 1936, Lam joined the Republican army, made antifascist posters and defended against the Nationalist forces of Francisco Franco, before fleeing the Spanish Civil War for Paris in 1938.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 31, 2026

The opera, one of this century’s most gratifying, portrays the 1936 political execution of the poet Federico Garcia Lorca during the Spanish Civil War through the final minutes of actress Margarita Xirgu’s life.

From Los Angeles Times • May 9, 2025

Technologically speaking, the Spanish Civil War served as a preview to the Second World War.

From Salon • Apr. 17, 2024

Tens of thousands of Spaniards fled along this route to France during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, while many allied forces and Jews escaped in the other direction during the Nazi occupation.

From BBC • Nov. 4, 2023

Facing an uncertain fate, he fought in the Spanish Civil War, eventually settling in Chile.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady