The reign of King Alfonso XIII of Spain ended abruptly but without bloodshed in April of 1931. His Army did not lift a finger to defend him.

Although ostensibly a parliamentary monarchy, Spain had been ruled throughout the Twenties by a rather benign military dictatorship under General Primo de Rivera. With the dislocations caused by the Great Depression and the widespread disgust with his regime, the General was forced to retire and nationwide elections were held for the first time since 1917. The vote was so overwhelmingly in favor of the various left parties that a Republic was proclaimed in many of the large cities. After gauging his level of support with the military the King simply drove to France in his sports car.

The neutrality of the armed forces in 1931 was unusual in Spanish history, especially in view of the hostility of many prominent republican politicians towards military institutions. The Army had overthrown or attempted to overthrow governments it didn't like many times in previous years there had been 43 military uprisings from 1814 to 1923. It appeared there was sentiment for change in the officer corps too as the idea of military dictatorship had been discredited by the corruption and inefficiency of the Primo de Rivera regime.

Certainly change was needed in the armed forces. In 1930 the Army had 16 divisions in Spain with another 4 in Morocco, at least on paper. There was no corps organization; indeed, no infrastructure existed for expansion of the army had a foreign war occurred.

Spain was divided into eight "Captain-Generalcies", a medieval office which had a large degree of civil power in addition to its military authority including the ability to subordinate civil government in times of unrest. Among the powers of the office of Captain-General was the administration of the military "courts of honor", a semi-independent judicial system which dealt with cases involving military officers, making them largely exempt from Spanish civil law.

In 1931 the army had a strength of 258,413, including 17,849 officers one for every 14 enlisted man. The Army's units were mere shells, at 1/3 to 1/2 their theoretical strength, supplying employment for an inflated officer corps. The Navy had kept ships in commission which would have been scrapped twenty years before in any other country, having more admirals than the powerful navy of Great Britain.

More Spanish Army

Introduction
Army on the Eve of the Civil War
Organization of Spanish Army 1936
Distribution of Spanish Army July 1936
Disposition and Characteristics of Spanish Air Force and Navy 1939