The Path to Mass Murder: Rebel Decision Making and Francoist Power in the Spanish Civil War

Abstract

This article analyses the decision-making process of Francoist repression during the Spanish Civil War. Most historians assume that the different phases and methods of Francoist repression were manifestations of a single “extermination plan” allegedly drafted by anti-Republican conspirators before the war and implemented immediately following the coup d’état of July 17–19, 1936. By carefully observing the escalation of the rebels’ repressive policies and decision-making processes in July and August 1936, this article revises that interpretation. It argues that a repressive exterminatory policy that disregarded all legal considerations was the result of a number of incremental decisions made between July 23 and July 31, 1936, by Generals Queipo de Llano, Franco, and Mola. Drawing inspiration from a long historiographical tradition in holocaust and genocide studies, the article discusses the contextual factors and power dynamics behind these decisions. It shows how the rebels secretly and gradually implemented the exterminatory policy in rebel territory throughout August, and how their policy was reinforced by Franco’s accession to absolute power.