In the Spanish Civil War, on September 6, 1936, Republican farmers defended their farms outside the Basque city of Irún in northern Spain against Nationalist troops. Beside them were the corpses of fellow Republican peasants who had been killed in action.

　　On September 6, 1936, during the Spanish Civil War, Republican farmers were defending their farms outside the Basque city of Irún in northern Spain against Nationalist troops. Beside them were the corpses of fellow Republican peasants who had been killed in battle. The rebel Nationalist forces failed in their initial offensive in the Battle of Irun on August 9; they attempted another attack on August 27, and after nearly nine days of fierce fighting, Mora's forces captured Irun on September 5. A week later, after conquering San Sebastián, the battle front was quiet for several months.

　The Spanish Civil War began on July 17, 1936, with the outbreak of a military coup in which a group of right-wing generals overthrew Spain's democratically elected republican government. The coup was invaded by Nationalist military units in many Spanish cities. However, some of Spain's largest cities, such as Madrid, Barcelona, and Bilbao, were still under the control of the Republican government.

　Within days of the coup, Hitler and Mussolini intervened on the side of the rebel generals. The Soviet Union supported the Loyalists in the Republican Army. Britain, France, and the United States remained neutral and forbade the sale of arms to the Republic. The battle for Spanish hegemony became a horrific catastrophe that lasted nearly three years. The new medium of photographic reporting brought horrific images of the civil war to people around the world. In a show of international solidarity, some 35,000 volunteers from 50 countries joined an international brigade, risking life and limb to defend the Republic.

 Nationalist forces, supported by Italian and Moroccan troops, moved northward from their strongholds in the south and west, capturing Republican cities weakened by the embargo. Barcelona and the rest of Catalonia fell in early 1939, and Franco's forces were able to capture Madrid on March 28, and on April 1 Franco declared the end of the civil war and victory. He estimated that as many as 500,000 combatants and civilians were killed on the Republican and Nationalist sides in the Spanish Civil War. Atrocities were committed on both sides, and Nationalist forces led by General Franco executed thousands more after the war. It is estimated that more than 100,000 men and women were executed and buried in unmarked graves during the conflict. The defeat of the pro-left forces of the Republican Party by the forces of the Nationalist Party in the Spanish Civil War began the long period of General Franco's dictatorship in Spain, which continued until his death on November 20, 1975.