Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Mallorca in the Civil War
The 1931 nationwide elections brought unprecedented results: the Republicans and So-
cialists together won an absolute majority in Palma, in line with the results in Madrid.
The Confederatión Espanola de Derechas Autónomous (Spanish Confederation of the
Autonomous Right) won the national elections in 1933 and all the left-wing mayors in
Mallorca were sacked by early 1934. They were back again in a euphoric mood after the
dramatic elections of 1936 again gave a landslide victory to the left.
For many generals this was the last straw. Their ringleader, General Francisco Franco,
launched an uprising against the central Republican government in July 1936. In Mal-
lorca the insurrection found little resistance. On 19 July rebel soldiers and right-wing
Falange militants burst into Cort (the town hall) and arrested the left-wing mayor, Emili
Darder (he and other politicians would be executed in February 1937). They quickly oc-
cupied strategic points across Palma with barely a shot fired. More resistance came from
towns in the Part Forana, but was soon bloodily squashed.
By mid-August battalions of Italian troops and warplanes sent by Franco's ally, the
dictator Benito Mussolini, were pouring into Mallorca. The island became the main base
for Italian air operations and it was from here that raids were carried out against Bar-
celona with increasing intensity as the Civil War wore on.
On 9 August 1936 a Catalan-Valencian force (apparently without approval from cent-
ral command) retook Ibiza from Franco and then landed at Porto Cristo on the 16th. So
taken aback were they by the lack of resistance that they failed to press home the advant-
age of surprise. A Nationalist counterattack begun on 3 September, backed by Italian
planes, pushed the hapless (and ill-equipped) invaders back into the sea. Soon thereafter
the Republicans also abandoned Ibiza and Formentera. Of the Balearic Islands, only
Menorca remained loyal to the Republic throughout the war.
With Franco's victory in 1939, life in Mallorca followed that of the mainland: use of
Catalan in public announcements, signs, education and so on was banned. Rationing was
introduced in 1940 and stayed in place until 1952. Of the nine mayors the city had from
1936 to 1976, four were military men and the others conservative.
A RIGHT ROYAL DILETTANTE
As the first battles of the Italian campaign raged in 1915, Archduke Luis Salvador
sat frustrated in Brandeis Castle in Bohemia, writing furiously but impeded by the
fighting from returning to his beloved Balearic Islands. He died in October that year
of blood poisoning after an operation on his leg.
