The Battle to Define Spanish Manhood

The Spanish civil war was fought on many fronts. The evolution of gender relations during the twenties and early thirties awoke fears and uncertainties among vast sectors of the population, particularly the most conservative who were very alarmed as they perceived a threat to social stability, moral order, and sacred institutions: family, religion, and nation unity. For the rebel generals in July 1936, the war meant, among other things, the search for an authoritarian solution to this threat to traditional institutions but theirs was also a strong attempt to restore gender order. The present paper follows the interpretation of historian Mary Nash, to “include gender fissures, real or imagined, in the recent historiographical analysis to show the complexity of ‘a society beset by many internal fault lines.” More specifically, the author aims to analyze the discourses that built the ideal “Spanish man” rooted in different ideological positions in the two asides of the conflict, and pay special attention to the model constructed in the ranks of the national faction.