National Faction (Spanish Civil War)

The Nationalist faction (Spanish: Bando nacional) or Rebel faction (Spanish: Bando sublevado) was a major faction in the Spanish Civil War of 1936 to 1939. It was composed of a variety of political groups that supported the Spanish coup of July 1936 against the Second Spanish Republic, including the Falange, the CEDA, and two rival monarchist claimants: the Alfonsists and the Carlists. In 1937, all the groups were merged into the Falange. One of the main leaders (Spanish: Caudillo) of the 1936 coup, General Francisco Franco, would lead this faction throughout the war and later would become the dictator of Spain from 1939 to 1975.

The term Nationalists or Nationals (nacionales) was coined by Joseph Goebbels following the visit of the clandestine Spanish delegation led by Captain Francisco Arranz requesting war material on 24 July 1936, in order to give a cloak of legitimacy to Nazi German help to the Spanish rebel military. The leaders of the rebel faction, who had already been denominated as 'Crusaders' by Bishop of Salamanca Enrique Pla y Deniel —and also used the term Cruzada for their campaign— immediately took a liking to it.

The term Bando nacional —much as the term rojos (Reds) to refer to the loyalists— is considered by some authors as a term linked with the propaganda of that faction, therefore in leftist academic circles the term 'rebels' (Bando sublevado) is preferred. Throughout the civil war the term 'Nationalist' was mainly used by the members and supporters of the rebel faction, while its opponents used the terms fascistas (fascists) or facciosos (sectarians) to refer to this faction.

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