The Spanish Civil War is a colorful period in which to game. The many different troops and units all add to the flavor of the war, but they can also be very confusing. Sometimes it is even hard to tell which side a unit is fighting on, since it may hate its allies even more than the enemy. Below is a brief generalization regarding many of the troop types found in the war. I hope it make things less confusing.

The Republic

This was the democratically elected government of Spain at the time of the war. It was a coalition of primarily leftward leaning parties. The policies of the government tended along socialist lines, though as other parties such as the communists came in and out of favor, policies changed. At the beginning of the war, much of the military and almost all the officers joined the rebellion, so the government relied on militias formed from the various parties and unions for troops. These were eventually regularized into a new peoples army in 1939. The Republicans were generally characterized as liberal, anti-church, and working class.

The Nationalists

The Nationalist were a military coup against the government. It was organized by high ranking army officers who felt the governments left leaning socialist programs were ruining the country. Franco eventually emerged as the head of the Nationalist front. Nationalists tended to be conservative and right-wing, pro-church and anti-labor. While atrocities were certainly committed on both side, with the Nationalist it was more a matter of policy. This was especially true early in the war when they were few in number. They relied on terror to keep the populations of the territory they held in line.

Carlists

The Carlists were old enemies of the Spanish government. Their origins lay in the disputed succession to the Spanish throne in 1833. They had been against every government since. They hoped to restore the monarchy to Spain. They were very Catholic and very conservative. Even before the war they had been training their own militia units, the Requetes. You can usually spot then on a game table by their red berets. These troops fought well and were especially valuable in the early months in the war when the Nationalist had little other trained troops available. Toward the end of the war they were somewhat forcibly merged with the Falange by Franco. Neither the Falange nor the Carlists were particularly happy with the situation.

The Falange

The Falange's political views are tough to characterize. They started as an intellectual college organization that espoused a strange mixture of fascist ' anarchist, and socialist ideas. Most of their numbers came from university students, though they also attracted many disaffected anarchists and socialists. They were not a very large group, especially when compared to the CNT or the Carlists, but they made a lot of noise.

In the days before the war, Falangist hooligans enjoyed cruising around in cars at night looking for militant Leftists to shoot, or newspaper offices to bum. The Falange leaders were in on the military coup. Their blue shirted militias supported the first uprisings against he government. The Falange troops were very motivated, but not very effective militarily. They preferred blowing up newspapers and rounding up subversives to charging machine guns.

The Militias

When the war began, large numbers of militias formed in defense of the government. The Nationalist had militias as well, though they were dull and ordinary in comparison to their Republican counterparts. There was little or no uniformity amongst the early militias. They were simply street mobs to which the government had distributed arms. Soon a uniform of sorts was adopted. Most milicianas wore the ubiquitous "mono", which was a denim coverall. Many also wore military "gorillo" caps with the tassel and piping ripped off.

The more organized militias came from the political organizations and trade unions, such as the CNT, and the UHP. The CNT were anarchists, and were found in great numbers in Barcelona and Madrid. The CNT's secret police was the FAI. The anarchist militias were naturally undisciplined. They resisted any form of rank or authority on principle. They even thought traffic laws were against the principles of personal liberty. When the uprising began, the anarchists responded by burning churches and murdering the upper class and the professionals. The UHP was a socialist union that was the CNT's rival. When the was began, a truce of sorts was formed between the two. Differences were laid aside until the fascist threat was ended.

The Communist also had their own militias. In contrast to the anarchists, they were formed with Soviet style discipline. The Communist were small in number at the beginning of the war. Their big chance came during the defense of Madrid. After the Government abandoned the city for Valencia, the Communist took it upon themselves to assume many of the government's function. Their gift for propaganda made them very valuable. As the Communist benefited forrn Russia support of the Republic, the Communist militias benefited from the Communists growing power in the government.

After the first couple of month of the war, the militias began to be organized into a regular army, the Ejercito Popular Republicana. The Anarchists and the CNT both resisted this. They were enjoying their first real taste of power. The Communists were more accepting. Due to their growing authority in the government, they knew they would be able to place good Communist commanders at the head of the new formed ranks.

The Moors (Regulares)

The Regulares were the native troops recruited from the conquered Riff tribesman in the mountains of Morrocco. The were well trained, and excellent fighters. At the start of the war, they were unfortunately also in Morrocco.

One of the first real challenges for Franco was getting the Moors and the Foreign Legion ferried to Spain, which he accomplished with airlifts and troopships.

The Regulares had a reputation for being real animals. The were known for bayoneting the wounded, and mutilating corpses. Of course, being backwards tribesmen had some disadvantages. During the fight for the University City in Madrid, they suffered casualties when they ate some sheep being used in vaccination experiments.

The Foreign Legion (Tercio)

The Spanish Foreign Legion was an elite corp of real hard cases. They had gain experience fighting the Riff tribesmen in Morrocco. They had a real passion for violence. They would go into battle singing songs about how their bride was death. Their motto was "Down with intelligence! Long live Death!" They were ruthless, and quite effective. When the battle was over, they could also be counted on for helping with the mop up round of terror and executions.

The International Brigades

When the war in Spain began, many men from all parts of Europe rallied to the cause of the Republic. Many were young idealists, communists and anarchists who were eager to join their brothers at the front line of the war against fascism. The Republic gathered these men together and ran them through a quickie boot camp, and then sent them off to the front lines. The men were organized into units by language, for obvious reasons. This also had the effect of organizing them by nationality. The majority were French, but there were units of Germans, Americans, British, Italians, Yugoslavians, etc.

Their grand debut came during the height of the siege of Madrid. Despite being relatively few in number, they gave a big boost to the defenders, especially in terms of morale and efficiency. While the training they had received was rudimentary at best, the average militia man at the front had received none. The Internationals were able to show them things like how to clean a rifle, and which way to point it before firing.

The International Brigades fought well for the Republic throughout the early war. They slowly began to loose a little of their international flavor as losses were replaced by Spanish soldiers. They were eventually disbanded in late 1938. One has to be careful when reading about them. Contemporary politicians and journalist tended to exaggerate the importance of the International Brigades for propaganda purposes back home.

The Basques

The Basques were a cultural group centered on the northern industrial provinces. They were conservative, deeply religious, and had a large thriving middle class. Despite these similarities with the Nationalists, the Basques threw in with the liberal, godless, working class Republicans. The Basques had always dreamed of gaining some form of self-rule. This idea would be conceivable in a Republican Spain, but not in a fascist one.

In 1934 the Asturian miners in the area rose up and proclaimed their own socialist government. This uprising was brutally crushed by the Tercio, Regulares, and Guardia Civil, with General Franco as their commander. This little incident also influenced their decision.

The Basque region was important because it contained much of Spain's industrial might and arms factories. Accordingly, it was one of the first areas the Nationalist focused on. The Basques fought well and bravely, but were eventually overwhelmed. Basque militia commonly wore black berets. Some of the more interesting units were composed of Asturian miners. These grim soldiers often went to battle armed only with dynamite, looking for some Guardia Civil for a little payback.

The Paramilitary Units

The Guardia Civil, Guardia Asaltos, and Carabineros were all government police forces who rallied to both sides at the start of the war. The Guardia Civil tended toward the Nationalists, the Guardia Asaltos tended to join the Republic, and the Carabineros split roughly in half.

The Guardia Asaltos were a sort of Government Riot Police. The were formed by the government in 1931 after some riots to serve as a police force that answered to and was loyal to only the government. They spent the years leading up to the war fighting members of both the extreme Right and Left. Most joined the Republic at the start of the war. They fought side by side in the trenches with people they were months early trying to arrest. They had a particularly hard time getting along with the authority hating Anarchists.

The Guardia Civil were a police agency that was organized along military lines. Originally organized to stop banditry in the countryside after the Napoleonic wars, they were now used to keep social order. They wore green uniforms with goofy black tricornes. Nobody made fun of them, however. The were grim, ruthless individuals, who had a reputation for brutality. They were never popular with the people, and the sentiment was mutual. Many were ex-Tercio and ex-regular army.

In 1934, they along with some Tercio and Regulares brutally put down an uprising among some Asturian miners. The miners were treated barbarously afterwards. Many were executed and thousands were made prisoners. The Guardia civil just loved this sort of stuff. For obvious reasons, they generally found the Nationalist more to their liking.

The Carabineros were customs agents and border guards. You don't hear much about them in the war. Unlike the Asaltos and the Guardia Civil, they never fought as separate units. They were mostly mixed in with militia units to give them a trained cadre to rely on.

Foreign Allies

The Germans and the Italian aided the Nationalists, while Russia aided the Republicans. Russian Aid came mainly in the form of material. In addition to small arms, machine guns and other war material, Russia provided the Republicans with tanks and airplanes. The T-26 was probably the best tank of the war, and the I-16 fighter ("Rata") for a time ruled the air. The Russians also sent advisers to help train the Republican, but no Russian troops.

The Italians, on the other hand, sent large numbers of "volunteers" to fight for the Nationalists. Unfortunately, the Italians were generally poorly trained, had low morale, and were issued obsolete equipment. Franco recognized their liabilities, and was reluctant to use them aggressively. This brought him into conflict with Mussolini, who was anxious for his troops to gain glory for the mother country. The Italians performed poorly in the war, with large numbers defecting or being captured. The war material provided by Italy was mostly old and obsolete, but they did provide a large quantity of it.

The Germans also provided both men and equipment to the Nationalists. Some of the equipment was first rate. The Junkers transports provided to airlift troops from Africa to Spain at the beginning of the was were instrumental in their early successes. The ME- 109 and Stuka's cut their teeth in Spain. The Legion Condor was a small troop of highly trained Germans who fought for the Nationalist in both planes and tanks. The German's used Spain as a testing bed for the equipment and strategies they would later use in WWII.