The Casado coup in Madrid: the state of the investigation and myths resolved 80 years later

Abstract

The causes and symbolism of Casado's coup is under discussion in historiography. The last crisis of the Spanish Second Republic brought down Juan Negrin's government on March 1939 (80 years ago) and provoked a civil war on the Republican side that lasted for a week. The author argues that Colonel Segismundo Casado used the ideological hatred between antifascists to give a coup and end the attempts of long resistance that Negrin and the PCE defended. The author identifies, for the first time, the political beliefs of military units in the clash –which explain the ideological origins of the conflict–, explains the Battle of Madrid and gives the number of victims. He states that Casado's coup was the counterpart of the May Events of 1937 and, as happened then, the role of the anarchists was decisive.