Unión Militar Española (Spanish Military Union) was a pro-fascist secret society of officers of the
Spanish Republican Armed Forces
The Spanish Republican Armed Forces ( es, Fuerzas Armadas de la República Española) were initially formed by the following two branches of the military of the Second Spanish Republic:
*Spanish Republican Army (''Ejército de la República Espa ...
involved in a conspiracy to bring about the restoration of the monarchy during the 1930s. The majority of members of this organization became part of the nationalist forces during the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...
.
Formation
This clandestine group was founded in late 1933 by Colonel and soon linked up with the conspiracies of
Juan Antonio Ansaldo
Juan Antonio Ansaldo y Vejarano (24 June 1901 – 29 April 1958) was a Spanish monarchist and aviator. He was a lifelong friend and supporter of José Sanjurjo, the senior of the three generals who launched the coup of July 1936, which started th ...
. Tarduchy, who had been a partisan for the
Miguel Primo de Rivera
Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja, 2nd Marquess of Estella (8 January 1870 – 16 March 1930), was a dictator, aristocrat, and military officer who served as Prime Minister of Spain from 1923 to 1930 during Spain's Restoration era. He deepl ...
regime, was seen as too sectarian and soon replaced by Captain Bartolomé Barba Hernández.
Stanley G. Payne
Stanley George Payne (born September 9, 1934) is an American historian of modern Spain and European Fascism at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He retired from full-time teaching in 2004 and is currently Professor Emeritus at its Department ...
, ''Falange: A History of Spanish Fascism'', 1961, p. 86 The executive council, apart from Barba Hernández, consisted of 6 other members: Emilio Rodríguez Tarduchy, Ricardo Rada Peral, Valentín Galarza Morante, Luis Arredondo Acuña, Rafael Sánchez Sacristán and Gumersindo de la Gándara Morella. The group soon established cells within many garrisons, although its influence was somewhat limited as it only really attracted younger, lower-ranked officers.
Conspiracies
It was late summer 1935 before
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War and thereafter ruled over Spain from 193 ...
made direct contact with the group through his ally and UME member
Valentín Galarza Morante
''Valentín'' is a 2002 Argentine- French-Italian drama film written and directed by Alejandro Agresti. The film features Rodrigo Noya as Valentín and Carmen Maura as the grandmother. Director Alejandro Agresti also stars as Valentín's father ...
. Franco would later claim that the main reason for the contact was so as he could ensure that the officers did not launch a premature coup themselves. In January 1936 the conspiring members of the UME held meetings along the conspiring group of the military led originally by
Manuel Goded
Manuel Goded Llopis (15 October 1882 – 12 August 1936) was a Spanish Army general who was one of the key figures in the July 1936 revolt against the democratically elected Second Spanish Republic. Having unsuccessfully led an attempted insu ...
, of which
Joaquín Fanjul and
Ángel Rodríguez del Barrio were also representatives. However the conspiring plot around
Emilio Mola took over both two initiatives, and by early 1936 the UME had placed itself at the disposal of the later and was a full participant in the nationalist coup plans. Its membership was now estimated at almost half of all serving officers and included many who held dual membership with the Falange.
Involvement in the Civil War
The group was closely associated with
fascism
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...
and maintained a black list of leading republican officers and in the build-up to the war the top two names,
Carlos Faraudo and
José del Castillo, were both killed. The murders, and the reprisal killing of
José Calvo Sotelo
José Calvo Sotelo, 1st Duke of Calvo Sotelo, GE (6 May 1893 – 13 July 1936) was a Spanish jurist and politician, minister of Finance during the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera and a leading figure during the Second Republic. During t ...
, were instrumental in bringing about the war itself.
[Paul Preston, ''The Politics of Revenge: Fascism and the Military in Twentieth-Century Spain'', 1995, p. 26]
See also
*
1930 in Spain
Events in the year 1930 in Spain.
Incumbents
*Monarch: Alfonso XIII
* President of the Council of Ministers: Miguel Primo de Rivera (until 30 January), Dámaso Berenguer (starting 30 January)
Births
*28 January – Luis de Pablo, composer ( ...
References
Bibliography
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Union Militar Espanola
Monarchist organizations
Spanish Army
Organisations of the Spanish Civil War
Monarchism in Spain
Fascism in Spain
1933 establishments in Spain
Organizations established in 1933
Secret societies in Spain