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In-Depth Information
picious of the fascist elements that had sur-
faced throughout the country. Moreover he
recognized personal weaknesses in some of
the very generals whom he was obliged to
work with as he laid the foundation for the
uprising: the impulsiveness of G
ONZALO
Q
UEIPO
DE
L
LANO
in S
EVILLE
; the egotism of
J
OSÉ
S
ANJURJO
, who was expected to return
from exile in L
ISBON
to head the Nationalist
regime; and the personal ambition of F
RAN
-
CISCO
F
RANCO
, whom Mola himself had pre-
dicted would play a vital part in leading the
Army of Africa over from Morocco to help
defeat the Republicans.
As the “revolution” broke out in summer
1936, it met more determined opposition
from friends of the republic than Mola had
anticipated. His elaborately structured plan
for a coordinated national seizure of power
failed in many parts of Spain due to vigor-
ous counterblows by the Loyalists or to
blunders by military commanders. His own
zone of responsibility—including Pamplona
and Burgos—was among those harder to
control than the rebels had envisioned.
Nevertheless, as the first anniversary of the
rising neared, notable progress had been
made. Yet Franco's assumption of national
leadership after Sanjurjo's death in a plane
crash was not pleasing at all. Mola, as the
“brain” of the national movement, had his
own convictions to assert and was undoubt-
edly encouraged to do so by his admirers.
In June 1937 he undertook a short flight to
Franco's stronghold in S
ALAMANCA
in order
to challenge the increased favoritism shown
to monarchists and Falangists at the expense
of professional soldiers. His plane crashed,
and Mola was killed. His death, in circum-
stances so similar to that of Sanjurjo a year
earlier, removed the only other general
who could challenge Franco for mastery of
the Nationalist forces. As in the earlier
crash, accusations against Franco were
made, but no proof has ever been found.
Whatever the truth, the death of Mola, the
purist of Spanish militarism, left the stage
to Franco, the pragmatist.
Moluccas
This group of islands lies at the eastern end
of what is now the Indonesian Archipelago,
between Celebes and New Guinea. As the
Portuguese pursued their course of empire
building toward the Pacific shore of Asia,
they occupied in 1512 the most important
of the islands, rich in cloves and cinnamon,
and usually referred to as the S
PICE
I
SLANDS
.
The Portuguese thus became the masters of
the tremendously profitable spice trade that
provided Europe with the condiments that
enriched and preserved its food. Much of
Portugal's wealth during its Golden Age
depended upon its mastery of the Moluccas.
The arrival in 1521 of Spanish forces from
the expedition of F
ERDINAND
M
AGELLAN
pre-
cipitated an armed struggle between the
two Iberian colonial powers in which they
were supported by local rulers. Portugal's
exclusive right to the Moluccas was not rec-
ognized by Spain until 1529. Between 1605
and 1621 the new rising colonial power in
the East Indies, the Dutch Republic, suc-
ceeded in ousting Portugal from the Moluc-
cas and went on to gain dominance over the
whole region, which the Netherlands
retained until after World War II.
Mombasa
This island off the coast of present-day
Kenya was visited by V
ASCO
DA
G
AMA
in
1498 on his voyage to India. Between 1529
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