When was the Spanish Civil War?

The Spanish civil war began on the night of the 17th/18th July 1936. The first signs of rebellion appeared at 4.20pm when the Melilla garrison in Morocco rose against the government, followed afterwards by troops in Tetuán.  The following day, General Franco issued a manifesto to the  nation seeking to justify the rebellion.  By the morning of the 18th the whole of Spanish Morocco was in rebel hands.  The Madrid government were initially confident of their ability to contain the rebellion.  However, in the following days, further rebellions occurred and the civil war escalated.  The Spanish civil war officially ended on the 1 April 1939 when Franco announced the victory of the Nationalist forces and proclaimed, "The war has ended", although anti-Franco "guerrilleros" continued to hold out in the mountains for some time.

Source:
Historical dictionary of the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 edited by James W. Cortada. - Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1982. ISBN 0-313-22054-9

Who was General Franco?

Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was born on December 4, 1892.  In 1926 he became the youngest general in the Spanish army.  Following his support, in 1930, for the king during the abdication crisis, the Spanish government removed him from his appointment as director of the Military Academy at Saragossa.

However, his skill led to a renewed military career, and by 1935 he was commander-in-chief in Morocco.  In 1936 he was sent to the Canary Isles as fears of a military rising against the left-wing government spread.  However, he kept in touch with the insurrectionary movement and on the outbreak of the civil war in July he flew to Morocco to supervise the transportation of the Army there to mainland Spain, quickly becoming commander of all the 'Nationalist' forces and political leader of the anti-Republicans.  Following the end of the civil war in 1939, he remained head of state in Spain until his death in 1975.

Sources:
Historical dictionary of the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 edited by James W. Cortada.- Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1982. ISBN 0-313-22054-9
Who's who in military history: from 1453 to the present day John Keegan and Andrew Wheatcroft. - London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1976. -ISBN 0-297-77138-8

What were the International Brigades?

The International Brigades were formed of men and a small group of women who fought on the side of the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War. Estimates for the number of those serving in the International Brigades vary considerably.  Many of them made their own way to Spain during the first couple of months of the war. Following these early days, most of these volunteers arrived in Spain through Communist parties who recruited and organized brigades.

They consisted of people from many different nationalities. These included French, Germans, Austrians, Poles, Italians, Americans, British, Yugoslavs, Czechs, Canadians and Hungarians.
Not all of these volunteers were communists.  Many of them were working class people fighting against the threat of fascism.

For most of the war five International Brigades existed.  These were the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th Brigades.  The other two brigades with international troops were the 129th and the 150th.  The brigades were further organized into two international divisions, the 35th (including the 11th, 13th and 15th Brigades) and the 45th (including the 12th and 14th Brigades).  Attempts were made to organise the Brigades into linguistically homogeneous units.

Sources:
Historical dictionary of the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 edited by James W. Cortada. - Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1982. ISBN 0-313-22054-9

The International Brigade: foreign assistants of the Spanish Reds - Madrid: Spanish Office of Information, 1952. Pbk.

What happened at Guernica on the 26 April 1937?

Aerial bombing, carried out by aircraft of the German Condor Legion, destroyed the entire town. The bombardment began at around 4.30pm, and according to most accounts, the town was struck first by explosive bombs and then by incendiaries. There were also reports of people being machine-gunned by the escorting fighter planes as they fled from their houses. One of the most emotive events of the Spanish Civil War, and the inspiration for one of Pablo Picasso's best-known paintings, the destruction of Guernica was the first occasion in which a town was wiped out by aerial bombardment.

Sources:
Historical dictionary of the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 edited by James W.Cortada. - Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1982.ISBN 0-313-22054-9

The day Guernica died by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts. - London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1975. ISBN 0-340-19043-4