Emilio Mola
Emilio Mola Vidal (born June 9, 1887 in Placetas , Cuba , † June 3, 1937 in Burgos ) was a Spanish general and one of the main actors in the 1936 coup at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War .
Life
Mola was born in Cuba, where his father was stationed as a Spanish colonial officer at the time, as Cuba was still a Spanish colony at that time. In 1907 he enrolled in the Spanish Infantry Academy of Toledo . He served in the Spanish Rif War , received the Medalla Militar as an individual award and gained authority in military matters through numerous publications. As early as 1927 he was Brigadier General.
In 1930 Mola was promoted to director of security. His radical conservative views made him unpopular in this political office with the liberal and socialist opposition. When after the election victory of the Popular Front ( Frente Popular ) the government changed in February 1936, Mola was appointed military governor of Pamplona in order to keep him away from important political matters in the province of Navarre .
Mola soon joined the group of army officers around Francisco Franco , Juan Yagüe , Gonzalo Queipo de Llano and José Sanjurjo who were planning a coup against the Second Republic . Mola became the head of the conspirators. Under the alias " Director " he sent his secret instructions to the various military units that were involved in the uprising. Meanwhile, after their election victory, the Frente Popular succeeded in ousting President Niceto Alcalá Zamora and replacing him with Manuel Azaña , and many rich people fled as a result of the electoral victory of the left, which deprived the country of large fortunes. A major economic crisis with a massive decline in the Spanish currency was the result, accompanied by massive price increases and a series of strikes for wage increases.
Participation in the civil war
After countless postponements, July 18, 1936 was chosen as the date for the coup by Mola and his like-minded people. Despite some premature events in the Spanish protectorate of Morocco , Mola waited until the agreed time and proclaimed the uprising in Navarre on July 19. One wanted to act against the republic and its supporters with harshness and cruelty: "You have to spread fear and terror ... you have to leave behind the feeling of the power of domination that eliminates all those who do not think like us without scruples and vacillations." (Emilio Mola on July 19, 1936, in: Mola: De la Esperanza al Terror, Navarra 1936)
President Azana had on the same day Diego Martínez Barrio to the Prime Minister called and asked to negotiate with the rebels to Mola. Martínez Barrio contacted Mola and offered him the post of Minister of War in his cabinet, which Mola refused with the words "It is too late" (Ya es tarde). When Azaña realized that the nationalists were not ready to compromise, he replaced Martínez Barrio with José Giral Pereira . In order to protect the government of the Frente Popular , Giral gave in to demands to hand out arms to political left organizations in order to be able to counter a military uprising.
The coup failed in an attempt to seize control over the whole of Spain - the coup initially succeeded only in the predominantly rural areas, the Canary Islands , Spanish Morocco , Seville , Galicia, Navarra and Aragón - but it was the largest Part of the Spanish officer corps supported him and the situation quickly turned into civil war. After the death of Sanjurjo in a plane crash on July 20, Franco was elected commander of the insurgents and appointed head of state (" Caudillo ") of the zone of influence of the insurgents by the " Junta de Defensa Nacional ". Mola was given responsibility for the northern insurgent army.
Mola died on June 3, 1937, when his plane crashed in bad weather on the way back to Vitoria near Burgos. After the deaths of Sanjurjo and Mola, only Franco remained as leader of the rebels. This contributed to rumors that Franco instigated the deaths of his two rivals, but there is no evidence to support these claims.
After his fatal accident, Mola was posthumously awarded the Gran Cruz Laureada de San Fernando by Franco .
Oddities
The Chilean poet and writer Pablo Neruda wrote the poem Mola en los infiernos ( Mola in the hells ) in the volume España en el corazón (1937 ).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Boletín Oficial del Estado (PDF; 74 kB) of June 4, 1937
- ↑ Pablo Neruda: España en el corazón (PDF; 57 kB)
Web links
- Literature by and about Emilio Mola in the catalog of the Ibero-American Institute in Berlin
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mola, Emilio |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Emilio Mola Vidal |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Spanish general, significantly involved in the coup that triggered the Spanish civil war |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 9, 1887 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Placetas , Cuba |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 3, 1937 |
| Place of death | near Burgos , Spain |